Ryanair welcomes German court decision to reject passenger compensation claim for bad weather cancellation
Friday 9, April 2010
Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, today (8th Apr) welcomed the decision of the German Courts which correctly found that a Ryanair flight which was cancelled due to an unsafe weather conditions in Jerez in Oct 2007 was exceptional circumstances under EU261 regulations. The Court ruled that no compensation was due to passengers in such exceptional circumstances.
The passenger, who was seeking compensation of over €800 as a result of this unavoidable cancellation, had his claim dismissed by the German Court having appealed the Oct 2008 decision of the Lower German Court to reject their compensation claim as well.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:
“This decision of the German Courts reinforces the provisions of EU261 which provides that no compensation is due to passengers in cases of exceptional circumstance such as unsafe or adverse weather. We understand that cancelled flights can be frustrating. However, we must always make decisions which prioritise the safety of our passengers, crew and aircraft.
“In this case bad weather made it unsafe to attempt to land at Jerez and we had no alternative but to cancel this flight. We welcome this decision by the German High Court which confirms that compensation does not arise in cases where exceptional circumstance such as bad weather forces airlines to put passenger safety ahead of passenger convenience”.
Ryanair were assisted in successfully defending this case by Alpers & Stenger Partnerschaft, Hamburg.
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