Ryanair is to appeal a court ruling over flight delay compensation claims, which could benefit millions of passengers.
A Manchester court said Ryanair could not cut the amount of time a passenger has to claim flight delay compensation from six years to two.
Ryanair has been arguing that by accepting the airline’s Terms and Conditions when they buy a ticket, passengers agree they only have two years to make a claim.
"We note this ruling which reverses Lower Court orders that a two-year time limit for claims is reasonable,” the airline said in a statement.
“Since we believe a six-year time limit for submitting such claims is both unnecessary and unreasonable, we have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal this ruling.”
Legal firm Bott & Company, which represented the two passengers who brought the case against Ryanair, said the ruling could potentially total up to £610 million of past claims for Ryanair.
“We’re delighted that the court has dismissed yet another argument put forward by the airlines to restrict passenger rights,” the company said.
“The Supreme Court decision last year said passengers have six years to bring a claim. That is a definitive, binding, clear judgment from the highest court in England and Wales.
“This should have concluded matters but unfortunately Ryanair have been able to tweak the argument; we found ourselves running a complicated court case arguing the fine points of contract law.
“We fully expect the airlines to continue to fight these cases but we are prepared to hold them to account in each and every instance where the law says compensation is payable, and with the courts continuing to find on behalf of consumers we’ve real cause to be optimistic that passengers will receive the compensation they are entitled to.”
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