Dear Tripped Up,
Last March, my daughter and I went from Berlin, where she was studying, to Italy for her spring break. Our flight at 8:50 p.m. the Ryanair flight to Rome was delayed for several hours and finally postponed to the next morning at 6am. They gave us the address of a hotel and told us that we would be reimbursed for it, as well as for transport and meals, according to European Air Passenger Protection. The hotel was full so we found an alternative nearby for 61 euros. As a backup plan in case our flight was cancelled, I booked a second Ryanair “Flexi Plus” flight for the following evening for a total of $908 which would allow us to postpone to a future date as long as we rescheduled it by 2.5 hours before departure. Our original flight took off at about 9am so when we finally got to Rome we tried and tried for two hours to rebook the spare flight for another trip in May on the Ryanair app but the ‘confirm changes’ button just did not work So I got in the queue to chat with customer service – I was number 200 – but eventually the app stopped. I then called Ryanair but the agent told me that rescheduling the flight over the phone would cost 180 euros. I refused and decided to go back to the airline — and file for expenses — when I got home. Neither went well. I got what appeared to be an automated (stupid) response about the app fiasco. And Ryanair’s online reimbursement form requires me to submit my bank account details with an IBAN code — which US banks don’t have. When I wrote to ask about alternatives, what also must have been an automated response ignored what I wrote and directed me back to the same form, twice. I believe Ryanair owes me around €100 for the hotel, taxi and meal, plus a flight for two from Berlin to Rome. Can you help? Tere, Wellesley, Mass.
Dear Tere,
Ryanair owes you a lot more than that, unless the carrier claims the flight was delayed due to ‘exceptional circumstances’. When flights are delayed by three hours or more, European law requires airlines to compensate passengers at least €250 each, in addition to paying for meals, transport and accommodation.
You’ve already claimed €100 to cover these costs and your short flight qualifies for the €250 minimum each, bringing the total up to what Ryanair won’t let you access without that IBAN — or International Bank Number Account — at 600 euros. about $625.
When I contacted Ryanair’s media office in September, it offered an initial response saying it would look into the matter and then ignored multiple follow-ups, including a detailed background check email a week before the holiday.
So you might be out of luck for that May flight to Rome. But I have a possible solution for the $625. You could open an account with an international financial services company like Wise, which offers multi-currency accounts — complete with IBAN numbers — for customers to receive payments in euros. If Ryanair deposits the money, you can either transfer that dollar money to your Wise account (for less than $3, in this case) or transfer it to your own US bank account (for less than $5) .
However, it shouldn’t have been that difficult — Ryanair is required by law to pay “by cash, electronic bank transfer, bank order or bank cheque,” according to the law. No mention is made of excluding Americans or other travelers whose bank accounts do not come with an IBAN (or, for that matter, who write “checks” differently). I imagine Ryanair has a way of doing it if only one person on the carrier would talk to either of them.
(A note here to say that I get a lot of nervous messages from Americans who balk when European companies that owe them money ask for their bank details. This is standard practice in Europe and many other parts of the world. As long as it is done by a trusted company on a secure platform, you don’t have to worry.)
Now to the unresponsive responses you received from Ryanair when you tried to resolve your issues.
From the mail you forwarded, I cannot say for sure whether it was received by a real person or by an automated system. But if he was human, he was not well trained.
When you submitted a customer service request to explain that you didn’t have an IBAN number so you couldn’t complete the claim form, Ryanair sent an email that said: “You used the wrong form to record your claim” and walked you through, unhelpfully , return to the claim form. When you replied the same day explaining the issue again, you received another unsigned reply directing you, again, to the same form that you could not complete.
“Your question is now closed,” the email concluded.
When you wrote a separate request detailing your experience with the Ryanair app trying to change your Flexi Plus ticket, the response was no better. Whoever or whatever read it responded with a letter about refunds — not what you asked about.
I think it’s fair to assume that the problems you’ve had with finding a trained person to help you may be more common with low-cost carriers, one of which is Ryanair. We’ve come to expect and tolerate some combination of limited seats, lean staff, less convenient airports, and charging for anything short of cabin oxygen in exchange for amazing prices. However, cost reduction can also affect the countless and interacting systems that each airline must design and maintain in order to manage its complex operations.
Absurd responses and buggy apps are by no means unique to low-cost companies, of course, and things go right far more often than they go wrong. But when so many things go wrong at once, it’s hard not to suspect you’d be better off with alternative travel plans. Also, I can’t help but point out that the fastest way from Berlin to Rome by train takes about 14 and a half hours, which is about as long as this trip ended up taking you.
If you need advice on a better travel plan gone wrong, send an email to TrippedUp@nytimes.com.
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