Ryanair compensation: how to claim

How Ryanair handles claims

• Ryanair strongly prefers claims through its own EU261 form and has, in its terms, required passengers to claim directly before involving a third party. That is exactly the model this tool fits: you send the letter yourself, in your own name, so there is no third party for them to object to.

• They ask for the booking reference and the email address used at booking. A claim sent from a different email address to the one on the reservation frequently stalls, so use the original.

• Ryanair is an Irish carrier. A Ryanair flight departing a UK airport is UK261; a Ryanair flight from Dublin, Madrid or Bergamo is EU261. The currency and the amount both change with it.

• Rejections often cite ATC capacity or weather at a busy base. Because they fly the same routes many times a day, it is worth checking whether their own later flights on that route operated normally.

What a delay on Ryanair is worth

Amounts are per passenger. The distance is the great-circle distance between the airports, which is what the Regulation uses — not the distance flown.

Claiming from Ryanair, by what happened

• Ryanair: delayCompensation is due when you arrive at your final destination 3 hours or more after the scheduled arrival time.
• Ryanair: cancellationCompensation is due unless you were told at least 14 days before departure, or were told later but re-routed on a flight that fell inside the timing windows set by Article 5(1)(c).
• Ryanair: denied boardingCompensation is due immediately when you are refused boarding against your will — most often because the flight was overbooked — provided you checked in on time with a confirmed reservation.
• Ryanair: missed connectionWhere all your flights were on a single booking, a delay that makes you miss a connection is measured at your final destination.

Ryanair: common questions