‘Ryanair lost my booking – now its customer service bots are sending me in circles'
On December 1, I booked a flight from London Stansted to Barcelona Reus for a short break in June. It cost £232 return. This sum was taken from my account but I didn't receive a confirmation email. On the Ryanair portal it gave a booking reference for the flight but listed zero passengers.
I contacted the airline which said it had not received payment due to a banking glitch and the money would reappear in my account within the next 10 days. This didn't happen.
When I approached my bank in early January it said that because it was a 'Faster Payment' it couldn't be challenged but the money had definitely arrived in Ryanair's account as evidenced on my bank statement.
Back at Ryanair I was sent in circles by both bots and humans. I submitted three complaint tickets which all received generic, irrelevant responses. My bank suggested I escalate to the Small Claims Court!
But I am hoping you can offer a beacon of light to burn through Ryanair's red tape.
– Jessica Westwood
Dear Jessica,
Jess got in touch with me on January 14. Ryanair's latest missive said that a customer services agent would be in touch within 10 working days. I thought we would give Ryanair one last chance but by mid-February there was no response so I got in touch with the airline at a more senior level on February 26.
I said that if Ryanair could unscramble the error (given that the 'booking' had a six-digit PNR code) Jess would still like to travel (the fare had now risen to £360). The airline responded saying that Jess had asked for a refund on January 8 which it had processed on February 26, prior to dealing with my query.
A message from Ryanair accompanying the notification of refund claimed that the payment she had 'attempted' was not confirmed by her bank, resulting in the booking not being confirmed. But surely if Ryanair had to organise a refund then the funds were received?
I asked for a better response. 'Ryanair bookings are only confirmed when payment is cleared by the passenger's bank and a confirmation travel itinerary is emailed to the customer,' said a spokesman. 'Unfortunately, due to a minor tech issue, this passenger... did not receive a confirmation email.' This is the nearest I got to Ryanair accepting liability – but no compensation has been offered.
It is worth noting that Faster Payments (the funds sent over instantly from bank accounts) do not offer the same customer protection as credit card payments which, covered by section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, make the bank jointly liable for providing the service paid for and sorting the problem out.
Your travel problems solved
Gill takes on a different case each week – so please send your problems to her for consideration at asktheexperts@telegraph.co.uk. Please give your full name and, if your dispute is with a travel company, your address, telephone number and any booking reference. Gill can't answer every question, but she will help where she can and all emails are acknowledged.
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