Flight delayed - worth trying to claim compensation?

[miss direct]

I had a bad flight experience last night. Flight was delayed, no communication from anyone in Belfast airport. Ours was the only flight still waiting to go at the airport, so no facilities as everything was closed. They should have offered us drinks/food after two hours, but there were no staff around.

The flight landed 2 hours and 58 minutes after it was scheduled to (it needs to be a three hour delay to be eligible for compensation) but then we sat on the plane in a remote corner of Manchester airport for about 15 minutes waiting for buses. The farce continued when the bus pulled up to the terminal, and the driver just walked off with everyone locked inside. After about 10 minutes (hot and airless) inside, people started banging on the windows and shouting. I finally got home at 5am, having to walk through creepy dark streets on my own.

Ryanair have emailed offering a free flight but is this just them trying to wiggle out of paying £220 under EU law? Is it worth me pursuing this?

PS Just reading the news about air traffic problems today. This is not related.

 

[Ax^]

I'd purse it anyway , try airhelp as I've claimed off Ryanair with them and it did not cost me

 

[miss direct]

I just ran the details through that site and it says "not eligible for compensation" although it doesn't give any reason. Will keep researching!

 

[Spymaster]

Bahnhof Strasse is good for this stuff.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

EU compo kicks in if the aircraft turns the engines off at the arrival gate 3 hours or more late. 2:58 won't work, not just cos Ryanair are scummy, all airlines are as bad on this, (we had Iberia Madrid to Malaga a few years ago, >3 hours late leaving, when it landed there was a Follow Me car to guide the plane to the gate as quickly as possible, it raced to the gate, 2:59 when the engines went off, shame as there were 5 of us so would have been nice.

Sounds like you had a rubbish night of it, a free flight (if it includes tax and baggage) wouldn't be so bad...

 

[miss direct]

Thank you for the info. We didn't have a gate - I don't think Ryanair flights do - we were in a far away corner of the airport. How can I know when the engine was turned off?

I'll definitely go for the free flight...wish they went to Iceland though.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

A gate doesn't have to have an airbridge, just a stand where planes park is a gate.

Flight Tracker - Track the current status of your flight to find out when your flight 'arrived'.

 

[miss direct]

Gah, it says two minutes less than three hours as "arrived."

Also, I re-read my email from Ryanair - don't think they have offered a free flight at all. Just poor wording and me being tired meant I misunderstood.

This link seems to say "arrival" means when the doors are opened though. EU Ruling On The Definition Of Arrival For Flight Claims | Bott and CO

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

2 hours 58 mins late