Ryanair cancelled flights: Airline says ‘sorry’ with £40 voucher for each passenger

But terms and conditions apply - winter only, and not Christmas or New Year

Around one-third of a million passengers have had their flights cancelled by Ryanair between mid-September and the end of October (John Hughes)

After cancelling more than 2,000 flights and disrupting the travel plans of one-third of a million passengers, Ryanair is now sending travel vouchers to those affected by the “mess up” of pilot rosters.

Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Europe’s biggest budget airline, has signed a letter to tens of thousands of travellers whose flights were abruptly cancelled by a shortage of pilots.

Ryanair's apology letter (Michael O'Leary)

He writes: “We wish to apologise sincerely for the inconvenience we caused you.” The letter also includes a travel voucher for £40 or €40 per passenger per flight cancelled — though terms and conditions apply.

Bookings must be made during the month of October, with all travel completed by 20 March next year — before the busy Easter spell. Anyone hoping to use the voucher over Christmas and the New Year will be disappointed, too, because the voucher cannot be used between 20 December and 7 January.

The vouchers cannot be redeemed on the Ryanair App and infants do not qualify for them.

The letter concludes: “Rest assured there will be no repeat of last week’s roster related flight cancellations.”

Ryanair says it will email all the voucher letters by Friday 29 September. Passengers who booked through agents will need to contact them to ask for the vouchers, which have been sent to the email address on file.

The voucher is in addition to compensation due under European passengers’ rights rules.

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