Ryanair promises full refunds or rebooking

Budget airline Ryanair has caved to pressure from the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and published a full list of compensation options for passengers affected by its flight cancellations.

Full details are available here.

It also avoided legal action on Friday by emailing passengers affected by its decision to ground flights due to staffing and punctuality issues.

As revealed in October's edition of Connexion, Ryanair had not made it clear that passengers are entitled to €250 compensation in addition to ticket refunds or alternative flights.

The airline has now promised to give full refunds, and offered to rebook customers on alternative Ryanair flights or comparable low-cost carriers, as well as reimburse 'reasonable out of pocket expenses', including hotels and meals.

Read more: Ryanair cancellation fiasco takes turn for worse

The CAA had ordered the airline to tell thousands of passengers how it would provide alternatives to their cancelled flights.

It was forced to clarify that passengers affected, who previously "may have chosen an option that was not suitable for them as a result of any misunderstanding of their EU261 rights", were entitled to change their mind, and could, for example, take a flight on another airline - such as Easyjet, instead of accepting a refund.

Read more: Ryanair publishes full list of cancelled flights

Ryanair said it had taken on extra staff to cope with the demands of thousands of disgruntled passengers. "We are committed to processing all such claims within 21 days of receipt and hope to have all such claims settled before the end of October," chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said in a statement.

In a bid to win back customers, Ryanair has also cut the cost of some flights from October until February 2018. One-way flights from London Stansted to Grenoble or Lorient are available on selected dates in October from £4.99. Other flights are available from £9.99.

Read more: Ryanair to ground up to 50 flights a day