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Ryanair customer won compo after 'exposing lies about flight delay reason'
Rob O'Malley, 50, was on a birthday trip to Benidorm when he claimed the budget airline had lied about the reasoning for his plane being held up – he was later awarded hundreds in compensation
A switched on Ryanair customer has won a claim in a small claims court after his flight to Bristol Airport was delayed at Alicante Airport.
Rob O'Malley, 50, was on a birthday trip to Benidorm when he claimed the budget airline had lied about the reasoning for his plane home to the UK from Alicante Airport being held up.
The passenger and his party of eight friends were waiting more than four hours for their flight to Bristol – which Ryanair claimed was down to issues surrounding Tropical Storm Hermine.
However, Rob did some digging and found the storm was off the west coast of Africa and had finished the day before the flight was due on September 25, 2022.
It had resulted in heavy rain up to the Canary Islands – some 1,300 miles northeast of Benidorm.
He then spent six months after the holiday in September last year chasing £220 in compensation, with the firm continually stalling, he says.
Rob told the Mirror: "The whole thing was just absolutely appalling.
"They are prepared to take something as far as taking someone to court, just to really try to put people off getting their compensation, it was quite ridiculous."
In response to their initial submission, Rob, a business development manager, wrote to Ryanair's solicitors trying to get them to realise their "mistake", which he says they ignored.
"We ended up in court and the judge found in my favour," he said.
On March 28 he was awarded £220 compensation by Warwickshire County Court, as well as his court costs to be covered bringing the total to £516.
Rob described the defense document the airline's legal team provided as "very technical" and so he read the Air Traffic Control manual to see what some of the terms related to.
He explained: "I discovered that it was the code for not having enough cabin crew to operate the flight."
"Then they subsequently missed all the slots they'd been allocated. The documents also showed that they had planned to use a different plane but ended up sending it to Riga instead of Alicante this plane was on time.
"Ryanair obviously assumed that I wasn't going to work out what all of their documents meant."
Rob added: "I submitted a response saying that every other plane was taking off, there was nothing to show that there was any tropical storm."
He described Ryanair as "very arrogant", claiming the firm's lawyer "basically backtracked when the judge criticised them".
He said: "She said it was an air traffic management decision because the slots were moved. But the slots were moved because they hadn’t got enough staff. Even their documents showed they hadn’t got enough staff."
Rob estimates the whole process in the end cost Ryanair around £2,000.
He said: "It’s a good job I’m switched on but so many people get frightened off when they see solicitors getting involved."
Ryanair said it did not wish to comment when approached.
Daily Star Sunday
Rob O'Malley, 50, was on a birthday trip to Benidorm when he claimed the budget airline had lied about the reasoning for his plane being held up – he was later awarded hundreds in compensation
A switched on Ryanair customer has won a claim in a small claims court after his flight to Bristol Airport was delayed at Alicante Airport.
Rob O'Malley, 50, was on a birthday trip to Benidorm when he claimed the budget airline had lied about the reasoning for his plane home to the UK from Alicante Airport being held up.
The passenger and his party of eight friends were waiting more than four hours for their flight to Bristol – which Ryanair claimed was down to issues surrounding Tropical Storm Hermine.
However, Rob did some digging and found the storm was off the west coast of Africa and had finished the day before the flight was due on September 25, 2022.
It had resulted in heavy rain up to the Canary Islands – some 1,300 miles northeast of Benidorm.
He then spent six months after the holiday in September last year chasing £220 in compensation, with the firm continually stalling, he says.
Rob told the Mirror: "The whole thing was just absolutely appalling.
"They are prepared to take something as far as taking someone to court, just to really try to put people off getting their compensation, it was quite ridiculous."
In response to their initial submission, Rob, a business development manager, wrote to Ryanair's solicitors trying to get them to realise their "mistake", which he says they ignored.
"We ended up in court and the judge found in my favour," he said.
On March 28 he was awarded £220 compensation by Warwickshire County Court, as well as his court costs to be covered bringing the total to £516.
Rob described the defense document the airline's legal team provided as "very technical" and so he read the Air Traffic Control manual to see what some of the terms related to.
He explained: "I discovered that it was the code for not having enough cabin crew to operate the flight."
"Then they subsequently missed all the slots they'd been allocated. The documents also showed that they had planned to use a different plane but ended up sending it to Riga instead of Alicante this plane was on time.
"Ryanair obviously assumed that I wasn't going to work out what all of their documents meant."
Rob added: "I submitted a response saying that every other plane was taking off, there was nothing to show that there was any tropical storm."
He described Ryanair as "very arrogant", claiming the firm's lawyer "basically backtracked when the judge criticised them".
He said: "She said it was an air traffic management decision because the slots were moved. But the slots were moved because they hadn’t got enough staff. Even their documents showed they hadn’t got enough staff."
Rob estimates the whole process in the end cost Ryanair around £2,000.
He said: "It’s a good job I’m switched on but so many people get frightened off when they see solicitors getting involved."
Ryanair said it did not wish to comment when approached.
Daily Star Sunday