Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ryanair Aer Lingus refund legal action

The National Consumer Agency said it was considering taking a High Court challenge against airlines which persist in obstructing travellers in getting refunded money to which they are entitled. Airlines including Ryanair and Aer Lingus have been accused of imposing high administration charges to deter passengers who cancel their flights from reclaiming airport taxes and other charges. AIRLINES which fail to repay Government taxes and airport charges to passengers who buy tickets but do not travel may soon face a legal challenge to force them to offer such refunds.

A survey by a British consumer watchdog in 2007 expressed concern that administration fees charged by many airlines bore no relation to the actual cost of processing claims for such refunds.

It has been estimated that Ryanair may earn almost €40 million each year by retaining taxes and airport charges levied on about two million passengers who fail to take flights for which they have bought tickets.
A Norwegian consumer visited the Ryanair web site and decided to book a flight to the UK. The consumer supplied his personal details and credit card number. However, after he pressed the ‘book’ button an error message appeared on the screen. The consumer assumed that the transaction had not been successful. He then telephoned Ryanair and booked a flight over the telephone. The consumer received a credit card statement some time later and it showed two debits from Ryanair on his account. He wrote to Ryanair seeking an explanation but the response he received was unsatisfactory and he contacted the Norwegian Clearing House for further assistance.

A consumer travelled from France to Ireland with Air France and her luggage was delayed by 7 days. Furthermore, when it arrived it was damaged. Air France refused to pay compensation to the consumer and the consumer contacted ECC Dublin for further assistance.
The ECC Dublin wrote to Air France seeking compensation under the terms of the Warsaw
Convention and Air France promptly compensated the consumer.

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