Ryanair tops the league of passenger complaints
RYANAIR was officially Ireland's most complained about airline last year, making up a third of all complaints examined by the aviation regulator.
The low-fares airline's dominance of the 2007 complaints league comes after interim figures showed Ryanair made up 60pc of all complaints during the first four months of the year.
The final year figures showed Ryanair was the source of 53 of the 158 valid complaints handled by the aviation regulator's office in 2007.
Valid complaints include overbooking, long delays, downgrades and cancellations, but the regulator has no remit for complaints on baggage fees, fuel levis or any other charges applied by airlines.
After Ryanair, the next biggest offender was Aer Lingus, with 30 complaints, followed by Scottish airline Flyglobespan, which only racked up 16 complaints despite leaving 250 Knock-bound passengers stranded in New York last June.
Flight cancellations were the biggest passenger bugbear, accounting for 92 of the 158 cases. The only other category was 'delays of more than two hours', with 42 complaints. Other cases saw nine people allege denied boarding, two allege downgrades and 13 'other' complaints.
By the end of the calendar year 81 of the cases had been resolved, including 19 that were dismissed after airlines successfully argued "extraordinary circumstances" had prompted the service disruptions.
Another 36 cases were settled when airlines made offers to passengers, including 13 instances of compensation and 16 instances where refunds were provided for either a ticket or for expenses not previously paid by the airline.
The remaining 77 cases were open at the end of the year. Last November regulator Cathal Guiomard detailed plans to ramp up his efforts by fining airlines up to €150,000 if they refused to co-operate with his office and announced he had sent "final warnings" to scores of companies.
Niall O'Connor, head of licensing and consumer protection at the regulator's office, yesterday confirmed that no such fines have since been pursued.
