Ryanair flight compensation: delayed or cancelled

Did you experience a disruption on your flight with Ryanair? Select the relevant section below to learn about your rights in the event of a delay, cancellation, denied boarding, or missed connection.

Ryanair counts as an EU/EEA airline, so these rules can apply both to flights departing the EU/EEA and to flights into the EU/EEA that Ryanair operates. The route and the actual operating carrier always decide a specific case.

Ryanair is an EU/EEA air carrier, so flights actually operated by Ryanair, or by another EU/EEA company in the group, are normally covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EU261), both on departure from the EU/EEA and on arrival in the EU/EEA from a third country. Applicability is always determined by the route and by the operating air carrier in the individual case: not every flight carrying the Ryanair brand is automatically covered. Flights operated by Ryanair UK, for instance, may fall under different rules.

On the group's official website, Ryanair Holdings plc describes itself as "the parent company of Buzz, Lauda, Malta Air, Ryanair & Ryanair UK", so a flight sold under the Ryanair brand may be operated by a group company other than Ryanair DAC. The licence held by the operating air carrier, EU/EEA or UK, may affect which regulation (EU261 or UK261) applies to an individual flight.

Ryanair's Help Centre says that on a delay of two hours or more, passengers are, according to Ryanair, entitled to assistance such as meal vouchers and, if necessary, hotel accommodation, and may take the original flight at its new departure time, request rerouting or change the booking for free. The airline also states that it can take 24-96 hours for its Operations Team to establish why a flight was delayed or cancelled. According to Ryanair, compensation and expense requests are submitted and reviewed separately, and the airline says it checks that the person claiming is an actual passenger on the booking. If you disagree with a decision, Ryanair points to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies in your country. Ryanair Group describes Buzz (Warsaw), Malta Air and Lauda Europe as airlines within the group, and Ryanair DAC has Dublin and London Stansted as its primary operational bases, so the operating carrier may differ from the brand on your ticket.