Bailiffs board Ryanair plane after airline refuses to pay delayed flight compensation. The company refused to compensate a woman. She sued and won. Ryanair ignored the court order.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/13/bailiffs-board-ryanair-plane-after-airline-refused-to-pay-compensation-over-delayed-flight
350 points · 35 comments · view on lemmy.world
35 Comments
deegeese@sopuli.xyz · 66 pts · 144d
They put a sticker on the plane, Ryanair didn’t pay their debt, and the plane was still allowed to depart.
Different rules for the rich I guess.
Damage@feddit.it · 47 pts · 144d
deegeese@sopuli.xyz · 31 pts · 144d
Missing deadlines is how they got here in the first place. How many warnings do you or I get when dodging a court judgement?
daychilde@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 144d
More than you probably think.
Source: I watch postings of courts on Youtube, and if there's one thing I've learned (that I already knew, mind), it's that justice moves very very slowly and gives many more chances than you'd think in many cases (while zero chances in others).
JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 143d
What would the alternative course of action be? Seize the plane immediately, kick off all the passengers, and screw over a whole new set of people? The sticker may seem toothless, but it's the court going through the (predefined) process. As long as they continue that process, there's no reason to be upset at the court, yet. (If they don't follow through, then perhaps it's pitchfork time.)
deegeese@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 143d
Ryanair screwed those people.
Suggesting otherwise is siding with the abuser.
JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 143d
The logic you're applying here would have all accounts frozen at a bank when a single customer disputes a charge, all parcels held when a carrier misdelivers a single item, grocery stores unable to sell food when one customer should have been refunded.
No one is siding with Ryanair here. But laws can be enforced and justice can be carried out, without disrupting the lives of everyone else. There were likely on the order 200 people on that flight who would have been caught in the crossfire of a dispute they have no part in.
deegeese@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 143d
Sherifs have seized bank office property to enforce judgements. It’s extremely effective at getting business to pay court judgements they have dodged for years.
If we do this more often companies would take court judgements seriously. Only takes one disrupted flight to fix an unjust legal system.
JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 143d
Seizing "office property" isn't going to disrupt customers in the same way as seizing a plane, and again, no one is saying don't seize a plane, or don't punish Ryanair - just don't seize a plane with passengers already on it (at least without going through a process that includes a threat and a deadline, so the customers can, theoretically, be spared).
TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip · -1 pts · 143d
If only the same logic applied to the wife and kids when law enforcement comes knocking down the door.
HasturInYellow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 143d
It would be to seize assets equal in value to the adjudicated amount. It's pretty easy to just seize a jet that is being repaired or something else. But they don't do that.
sockenklaus@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 143d
Maybe because the case gets more media attention when you put seizure stickers on a plane in front of 200 passengers compared to actually seizing an actual plane in the hangar far from public eyes.
This is not about actually seizing a plane (it wouldn't be proportional to the sun Ryanair has to pay), this is about showing Ryanair that the court doesn't give a shit and proceeds by the protocol as intended...
Seriously: Refusing to pay a sum as low as $ 890 after being ordered by court is such a petty move that I think it's hilarious that the court reacts like "You don't want to pay? Well in that case we seize some random plane if you continue to refuse... Your choice Ryanair..."
It's about sending a message like putting a horse head on someone's doorstep.
HasturInYellow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 143d
Sure, that's cool and all, but the message is not "we will seize this" it's "we will temporarily disrupt service for one plane of people who had nothing to do with the suit, costing the company a bit of money for inconvenience and nothing else."
Damage@feddit.it · 5 pts · 144d
More than one. Source: went through some shit.
It's the same for normal people.
AMoralNihilist@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 143d
At least in Germany, about the same amount of warnings. When a debt collector shows up for example they don't immediately seize everything, they do an assessment first and tell you what will be seized if you don't pay up.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 4 pts · 144d
When you are rich or a large enough corporations missing deadlines is a okay.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 144d
She could keep it in her backyard.
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 16 pts · 144d
They can still sell the airplane if Ryanair doesn't pay. Did you want them to screw the innocent passengers for that flight too?
deegeese@sopuli.xyz · 17 pts · 144d
If Ryanair is evil/incompetent enough to screw a whole plane load of passengers over a couple hundred euro, how is that the fault of the original victim?
You want to deny them justice because RyanAir is using other passengers as a shield?
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 18 pts · 144d
Unless Ryanair steals the airplane, the debt will be paid. And if they steal the airplane, then they will have a problem much bigger than €890.
This was a reasonable and proportional solution to the problem.
Mirshe@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 144d
Ryanair operates in numerous countries. What's stopping them from just moving the plane to "coincidentally" operate only in countries that won't bother with seizing the plane?
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 23 pts · 144d
So Ryanair would just need to quit the entirety of the European market, move their entire fleet in record time without anyone noticing, and hope Jordanian and Moroccan courts don't decide to recognize the Austrian court order? For €890.
It's a funny thought exercise, but in practice they are going to pay the compensation.
tomiant@piefed.social · 1 pts · 144d
Am I the only one who has never experienced an issue with RyanAir? Maybe the issues are more pronounced in other countries with laxer regulations and consumer protection laws, but I know what I'm in for when I book RA. I am not the typical traveler, I travel to strange places and alone and very light and (no I don't smuggle drugs except accidentally a few times) have a high pain tolerance, but never had a late flight or got shit that wasn't printed on the box.
Damage@feddit.it · 1 pts · 143d
No I'm sure there's plenty of people who have never been on one of their flights
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 144d
A lot of factors, including that it would mess up positioning for all their fleet and would cost them far more than the fine would.
GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 144d
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 8 pts · 144d
The Lugano Covention means that EU court orders are almost always immediately valid across all EU and EEA member states, and while that leaves out countries like the UK and Serbia, their courts will usually confirm court orders from other European countries (and it would be a big diplomatic incident if they didn't in this case). Equally important, Ireland is a signatory of the Lugano Convention through the EU, so Ryanair would have more to lose than planes really fast if they decided to be irrational.
unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth · 55 pts · 144d
Fuck Ryanair. It is hard to overstate the amount of Schadenfreude I felt reading this article.
alsimoneau@lemmy.ca · 29 pts · 144d
Throw the CEO in jail and fine them a significant percent of their raw income
MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 143d
In 2024 he made $5 million. The fine wouldn't even need to be a significant percentage. 1% fine awarded to her would be a $50,000 payout. Fucking disgusting.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 143d
you can't do that to a CEO. you can't just unilaterally apply the law to them!
I mean, they're rich! think of all the money they could generate for shareholders!
poopkins@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 143d
Neat, Ryanair is nearly as bad as Lufthansa. Ryanair needs to up their game to reach Lufthansa's impressive blanket rejection rate of 76%!
Joking aside, the financial damage of a cheap Ryanair flight is orders of magnitude less. Imagine being defrauded for $1400 when the airline cancels your flight and ghosts you.
It's no surprise that websites like luftscamsa.com exist!
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 143d
I've flown Ryanair twice. That's enough for me. Now, within Europe I fly other carriers, even flag carriers. Comparing flights online often gives you options which are in the same price range. My favorite low cost is Iberia Express, good prices and a really nice experience. for 15€ more I can choose exit seats, which have good leg room, which is usually the bad thing with low costs.
Iberia Express, EasyJet, Air Europa, Vueling, are usually my go to.
I've been flying since the 70's. All airlines have gone downhill in experience, but Ryanair seems to have customer misery in their mission statement.
Having to pay the price of a Big Mac menu to avoid Ryanair seems like a great deal to me.
ms_lane@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 144d
This track is all I know of Ryanair- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FId4gwVtwCw
kittykillinit@lemy.lol · 2 pts · 143d
Rare consumer W
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 143d
Nice job from the unnamed woman.