A fog-stranded 74-year-old woman and her three daughters were told they would have to wait four days at Liverpool airport for their next Ryanair flight home to Dublin, a court heard yesterday.
Judge Alison Lindsay said in the Circuit Civil Court that while she had great sympathy for the shabby way the four women had been treated, she was unable to compensate them.
She overturned a €281 award which Ms Lorraine Byrne had won in the Small Claims Court for her mother and two sisters - the extra money the foursome had to pay Cityjet to fly them to Belfast from where they bussed it to Dublin.
Ms Byrne, of The Court, Woodpark, Ballinteer, Dublin, said the family group had spent four days in Liverpool but when they turned up at the airport on the Friday night they found the flight home had been cancelled due to fog. They had to collect their suitcases from the apron of the airport and spend the night in a cold departures lounge without food or beverage until the Cityjet flight left at 6 a.m.
Her mother, who suffered from arthritis, did not have enough medication and they could not wait four days until the next Ryanair flight to Dublin. She told Mr Peter Lennon, solicitor for Ryanair, that Ryanair had refunded the group €120 in accordance with the terms and conditions of their flight contract. When she booked the tickets on the Internet she was aware that she accepted Ryanair's terms and conditions of carriage which limited its liability.
Mr Lennon said the terms stated the airline did not provide meals or refreshments or hotel accommodation but refunded the value of the cancelled flight. Ms Siobhan O'Neill, deputy head of Ryanair's customer service department, said the flight had been cancelled because of fog. Ms Byrne had a choice of accepting seats on the next available Ryanair flight out of Liverpool, which was not until the following Tuesday, or accepting a refund back on to her credit card which Ryanair had paid.
Judge Lindsay said Ms Byrne had accepted Ryanair's terms and conditions of carriage and could not recover the extra expense of the Cityjet seats and the bus fares from Belfast to Dublin.
Air passengers gain sweeping rights under new EU rules introduced this week that oblige airlines to offer compensation for delays, cancellations and overbookings. The European Commission has told the Government to set up an independent body to deal with passengers' complaints.
If a flight is cancelled for reasons within the airline's control passengers must be offered a refund of the ticket and a free flight to the initial departure point plus meals and accommodation.