A Belgian customer of Ryanair, Ms Annabelle Francois, has complained to The Irish Times that the company has refused to pay her promised compensation for out-of-pocket expenses arising from last month's closure of Dublin Airport.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said yesterday that the company did not feel obliged to compensate passengers for the disruption, which was, she said, due to unlawful secondary industrial action by Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta employees.
She could neither confirm nor deny a claim by Ms Francois that Ryanair representatives at Dublin Airport on March 7th and March 8th gave verbal commitments to passengers that claims for out-of-pocket expenses would be met.
Ms Francois also said she was given a circular on Sunday confirming that compensation would be paid and asking her to forward receipts with any claim. However she had not kept it.
Late yesterday Ryanair supplied `The Irish Times' with a copy of a circular the company issued on March 8th. This offered to rebook passengers on alternative flights, but made no mention of compensation or fare refunds.
A spokeswoman for the company said she was not aware of any other circulars being issued that day. Nor could she say how many claims for compensation had been received, or paid.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus, the other main carrier affected by the March disruption, said it had received claims from more than 1,000 people. The cost of settlement would exceed £1 million.
He said that during a strike transport regulations governing compensation for passengers whose flights are cancelled "go out the window". However, it was company policy "to retrieve customers' good will".
Ms Francois was due to fly from Dublin to Brussels on Saturday, March 7th, with a German friend, Ms Sabine Koischwitz. The flight was to leave at 13.55, and Ms Francois said that initially she was told there would be a slight delay.
At 18.00 she was told that, because fire service personnel had withdrawn their services, the airport would be closing. "At that point I complained to staff there and we were told that expenses made as a direct result of the flight [cancellation] would be refunded."
Ms Francois and Ms Koischwitz had a similar experience on March 8th. On this occasion, she said, passengers were given verbal commitments and a circular repeating the promise to pay out-of-pocket expenses.
The two women finally left Dublin on Monday morning. On March 15th, Ms Francois submitted a claim for £149.70 on behalf of herself and Ms Koischwitz. She enclosed receipts for £130 covering hotel accommodation on Saturday and Sunday nights, for £7.20 in bus fares for Sunday travel and £12.50 for a taxi on Monday morning.
Ryanair acknowledged her letter and apologised "most sincerely for the inconvenience you incurred as a result of the closure of Dublin Airport on the 7th and 8th of March last". However, the customer standards executive who replied to Ms Francois said the company had been unable to operate its flights only "as a result of the unlawful secondary action of employees of both Aer Lingus (who physically blockaded our aircraft) and Aer Rianta (who withdrew the fire services)".
In the circumstances, Ryanair said, it could not accede to the request for compensation. Ms Francois faxed Ryanair reminding the company of the verbal and written commitments she said she had received. The company write back saying that its position "remains unaltered".