Ryanair flight delay compensation: infant awarded over £300 in landmark court ruling
Ryanair has said that it would consider doubling the cost of infants travelling on parents' laps if it fails to overturn a controversial flight delay compensation ruling.
Ryanair has threatened to double the fee for infants under two sitting on laps on its flights, from £20 to £40.
The remark follows a ruling which awarded an infant £342 in flight compensation.
Experts reckon that this ruling could lead to claims totalling £10 million, dating as far back as 2011.
Tell me more about the case
Andrew Varey was travelling with his partner and their two daughters, one of whom was six months old at the time.
The family were due to fly with Ryanair from Lanzarote to Birmingham in December 2015, with the youngest daughter sitting on Andrew’s lap.
However, the flight was delayed for over nine hours, making them eligible to claim for compensation.
What about the ruling?
The judge of Liverpool County Court ruled that the infant was due over £300 in compensation. Ryanair argued that she wasn’t a passenger as she didn’t have a seat and was sitting on her father’s lap.
For a bit of context, the EU261/2004 flight delay law says:
"This Regulation shall not apply to passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public."
The judge said that the infant “was not travelling free of charge” because of the £20 admin fee. Therefore, her father had paid for her to travel and Ryanair accepted her as a passenger.
His Honour Judge Pearce said: “Many passengers in many situations (for example, on buses and trains) travel without having a seat. They are nonetheless passengers for that, and I can see no justification for restricting the meaning of the word in this one situation to exclude those without their own seat.”
In response, a spokesman for Ryanair said:
"We have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal this daft ruling. It is absurd that infants under two years of age who do not pay an air fare or occupy a seat, can now apply for up to €250 (£214) EU261 ‘compensation’ for a flight delay, when their accompanying adults will already have been compensated.
"In this case, the two parents and a sister have already received €1,200 (£1,027) in EU261 compensation, which is almost four times the three one-way airfares they paid of just £104. This is compo culture gone mad. If this ruling is not overturned we will have to consider increasing the infant fee to cover these idiotic infant compo claims."
It has requested leave to appeal against the decision.
Will there be more claims like this?
As the ruling was made in a county court it doesn’t set a legal precedent but if the case gets taken to any higher courts, it potentially could. At the very least, the ruling is expected to attract a wave of claims of this nature.
Kevin Clarke from flight delay solicitors Botts and Co said:
"We have always considered this to be a straightforward argument and we welcome this judgment from the court.
"The history of this regulation has been legal challenge after legal challenge from the airline industry and we are pleased the court has provided another pro-passenger decision.
"This is another significant judgment that will assist UK passengers in claiming the compensation to which they are entitled."
Think you could claim? Read Claim compensation for delayed and cancelled flights to find out more.
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