French Air Strikes

A question about : French Air Strikes

I've just got back off a European holiday where we independently purchased flights through Ryanair.

We were due to fly back on Tues 7th Sep but due to the French air strikes Ryanair cancelled our flight as they were unable to fly through French air space.

We received an email at 15:00 Mon 6th Sep and immediately got booked on the next available flight which was Fri 10 Sep at 19:30.

Due to this we have to pay for the cost of the hotel plus general holiday living expenses we otherwise would not have had to pay.

Our Insurance Company advised this is not covered as the cancellation was Ryanair’s decision. Ryanair will not pay any form of compensation.

Would anyone kind enough to be in the know advice where we legally stand?

Many thanks for your help in advance

Best answers:

• I would say on the legal front that Ryanair are liable they same way as they were and tried to say they weren't for the ash cloud. Under EC 261/2004 (full text here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...4R0261:EN:HTML)
  Article 5 covers cancellation and says that the airline must offer assistance in line with Articles 8 and 9. It also says they must pay compensation (Article 7) unless there are circumstances out of their control which I guess they could claim here. Articles 8 and 9 still apply though - there is no "circumstances out of their control" get out for those.
  Article 8 basically says they must either refund your ticket or put you on another flight (which they did)
  Article 9 is the one for you - Right to care. It says they must pay meals and refreshments, accomodation etc for the duration of cancellation delay, basically your costs (although possibly their idea of what your costs should have been, rather than actually were).
  Even if they try to play the "extraordinary circumstances" card, it doesn't matter. They had to pay out for the volcano, and they should have to pay out for this.
  The other thing to remember is that other airlines flew OK - I know, I was caught up in two of the days last week and the week before with delays of fortunately only a few hours each time.
• I got caught up in the air strike too. My return flight was cancelled and I was offered an alternative 3 days later, which I had to book through a link on the Ryanair site. Even though I tried on two computers, this didn't work and so I was forced to purchase for Ј240 two flights back to the UK, hoping I would get this back on my return. Ryanair are refusing to refund this cost. Does anybody have any idea if I can pursue this? Thanks.
• I do apologise, my mistake. I could not find my post and thought I had not pressed the right button and it was not showing on this thread, whereas I had posted it on another thread where you have answered my question most comprehensively. I have thanked you over on that one now I have realised my mistake.