Ryanair delay compensation: what you're owed and how to claim

How much compensation can you get from Ryanair?

Under UK law (known as UK261), compensation depends on the distance of your flight and how late you arrived at your final destination. The amount is per passenger, so a family of four on a qualifying flight can claim four times over.

Lateness is measured by when you arrive at your destination, not when you take off. A flight that leaves 3½ hours late but makes up time and lands 2 hours 50 minutes late doesn't qualify.

Is your Ryanair flight covered?

• Flights departing a UK airport are covered, whichever airline you fly with.
• Flights arriving at a UK airport are covered when the airline is licensed in the UK or the EU, which includes Ryanair.
• Flights departing an EU airport are also covered by the EU's version of the rules (EU261). Compensation for those is set in euros: €250, €400 or €600.

When Ryanair doesn't have to pay

Ryanair doesn't owe compensation if the delay was caused by "extraordinary circumstances" that it couldn't have avoided. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, these mainly include:

• weather that makes it unsafe to fly
• strikes by people who don't work for the airline, such as air traffic control, airport staff or Border Force
• security risks, terrorism, sabotage, or political unrest
• a hidden manufacturing defect that grounds a whole fleet

Technical problems with the aircraft are not extraordinary circumstances. The Court of Appeal confirmed this in Jet2 v Huzar. If Ryanair blames a "technical issue", that is not on its own a valid reason to refuse.

If Ryanair rejects your claim as extraordinary, ask it to explain what happened and what it did to try to avoid the delay. It is up to the airline to show that the circumstances really were extraordinary.

How to claim from Ryanair, step by step

1. Gather your details: booking reference, flight number, date, and roughly what time you actually arrived. Screenshots of delay notifications help.
2. Use Ryanair's own claim form. Ryanair asks passengers to claim through its online EU261 claim form, found in its help centre. You'll need to log in to a myRyanair account.
3. Claim for every passenger on the booking, and add any receipts for meals, transport or hotels you paid for during the delay.
4. Keep copies of everything you submit and any reply you get, with dates.

You don't need a claims company. If you claim directly, you keep 100% of the compensation instead of losing a share in fees.

If Ryanair rejects your claim or doesn't reply

Ryanair is a member of AviationADR, an alternative dispute resolution scheme approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. It's free to use, and its decisions are binding on Ryanair.

• You can go to AviationADR once Ryanair has given you a final response you disagree with, or once 8 weeks have passed since you complained without it being resolved.
• You must take your complaint to AviationADR within 12 months of Ryanair's final response (or of your last written contact with Ryanair, if it never replied).
• Complaints are made online at aviationadr.org.uk.

Going to court is a last resort if ADR doesn't resolve things. For larger or more complicated claims, consider getting independent advice first.

Meals, hotels and expenses during the delay

Separately from compensation, Ryanair has to look after you while you wait (known as the "right to care"). This applies from 2 hours for flights under 1,500km and 3 hours for flights of 1,500km to 3,500km. It covers:

• food and drink in proportion to the wait
• two phone calls or emails
• hotel accommodation and transport to it, if you're delayed overnight

If Ryanair didn't provide these and you paid yourself, keep your receipts and claim the reasonable costs back. You're entitled to care even when the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances.