Ryanair to pay refunds within five working days in customer service boost

Ryanair is pledging to pay customers who are due refunds within five working days and will provide extra information on disruptions through its digital app, in a series of improvements announced on Thursday.

The Irish airline said it was launching a series of improvements to its system to boost service and provide “easy access to all flight information” when passengers most need it.

Ryanair is committing to refunding passengers within five working days via whatever form of payment they used to book flights.

The carrier was one of several caught in controversies over the time taken to refund customers following mass flight cancellations when Covid-19 struck in 2020.

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Dara Brady, Ryanair's director of marketing, explained that refunding passengers who had booked through online travel agents was one of the main difficulties the airline encountered last year.

It has changed its system to allow those customers verify their identities and create accounts on the airline’s app that will then be linked to their booking so they can obtain refunds.

Mr Brady also explained that passengers would be able to see their refund on their account within 24 hours, and could use this to book other flights or opt to have it returned. “Five days is two days earlier than required by the EU,” he said.

During major disruptions Ryanair will broadcast videos and webcasts from its operations centre and will have live updates on new departure times and re-routings.

The airline’s app will have easier access to boarding passes, certificates and other travel documents.

Mr Brady said many of the changes were meant to serve passengers not dealing with delays or disruptions.

Its app will carry details of the passenger’s terminal, departure gate, boarding times and other routine information they need for their trip.

Mr Brady said many passengers sought these changes as the information was not always readily available to them at airports. “On the day of travel, we will be giving them flight status updates,” he said.

An updated myRyanair account will allow customers to store travel documents in one place.

In a statement, Mr Brady said the improvements were driven by input from customer panels.

“These improvements allow our guests to self-serve online when changing flight dates or passengers’ names, updating contact information or adding bags/seats,” he added.

Ryanair used feedback from surveys of customers and a panel of six passengers to determine the changes. The panel will continue meeting twice a year. The airline is introducing the changes from Thursday, October 28th.