Court ruling means Ryanair could face €850m bill for passenger compensation

“If Ryanair had won, all airlines might have been able to put a two year time bar on all existing and future claims”.

A Manchester County Court has today ruled that the two year limit is unlawful and the airline must abide by the six year limit.

Legal firm Bott & Company, based in Wilmslow, Cheshire, which represented the two passengers who brought the case against Ryanair, say it could amount in up to £610m (€856m) of past claims for Ryanair.

Ryanair intends to appeal the ruling and said a six-year time limit for submitting such claims is “both unnecessary and unreasonable”.

The test case is likely that all other flight compensation claims in England and Wales across will now follow the decision.

However, Ryanair said passengers who choose to fly with them accept their terms and conditions, including the two year claim period.

Ryanair have today lost a crucial court battle over delayed flights.

The budget carrier had sought to shorten the limit for claiming compensation, from the European Union-mandated six years to just two years.

Solicitors speaking on behalf of the winning claimants said they potential losses could be closer to €850m, with a total of 2.26 million passengers now able to claim compensation.

Although the ruling is not legally binding, it sets an important precedent and could benefits millions of airline passengers.

However, the Supreme Court ruling in a previous case, Dawson v Thomson Airways, clarified passengers in England and Wales have SIX years to take a claim to court in October 2014.

In response to the ruling Ryanair released a statement saying they would be challenging the decision of the court.

According to the Denied Boarding Regulation, passengers who are delayed for three hours or more are entitled to compensation – as much as £440 – unless the delay was due to “extraordinary circumstances”.

A previous ruling by the Supreme Court stated that claims could be made going back as far as six years. “We found ourselves running a complicated court case arguing the fine points of contract law”.

He added: “We are prepared to hold them to account in each and every instance where the law says compensation is payable, and with the courts continuing to find on behalf of consumers we’ve real cause to be optimistic that passengers will receive the compensation they are entitled to”.

Bott & Co brought the test case to court in January 2014, five years and eight months after the delays took place.

Although no other airlines are running the two-year limitation argument, it said, the majority have a similar clause in their terms and conditions.