Online travel agents have won a £2m claim against Ryanair for the costs of refunds to travellers for package holidays where the airline cancelled or made major changes to flights.

Online booking agents On the Beach Limited and Sunshine.co.uk Limited, along with Classic Package Holidays Limited, which operates an online portal where travel agents can sell third-party services, claimed Ryanair has a legal liability to make refunds for cancelled or significantly changed flights.

The claim related to 4,191 holiday bookings, valued at £2,074,674.37. Ryanair disputed that the claimants, who applied for summary judgment, had any legal entitlement to the refunds and applied to strike out the claim.The judgment found the claimants succeeded in the amount of £2,056,745.30.

At the start of his 46-page judgment, in the claim, Mr Nigel Cooper KC, sitting as a judge of the High Court, noted the ‘considerable cost’ of this case and other litigation between the same parties which ‘is being pursued vigorously’. The claimants’ budget for incurred and estimated costs totalled £1,653,523.50 while Ryanair’s equivalent budget is £1,612,525.50.

The judge said: ‘In other words, the incurred and estimated costs through to trial for both parties is £3,266,049, a sum considerably greater than the principal amount in dispute. OTB Group’s estimate of its costs of the action through to the stage of summary judgment is £815,623.50.’

 

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