Having booked flights with Ryanair (their website says no cancellation refunds), we need to cancel for medical reasons and rebook at a later date. Does one have to rebook at the time of cancellation or can rebooking be held over until medical situations are resolved and travel ability known. Being over 70, insurance is not available.
The rules on changing flights are predictably Byzantine. If you don’t have the Flexi Plus fare then you have to pay a charge per person per flight which sometimes makes it cheaper to just book another flight. With the Flexi Plus fare you can change free of charge but with certain restrictions. You always I think have to rebook before the original flight departs but not 100% sure of this.
https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb/categories/12488669481233-Booking-Changes
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Did you take out insurance voyage to use in conjuction with your booked flights? I have just got a world cover including all flights whoever they may be with and cancellation is included if the reason is acceptable. There is no age limit with my cover which includes everything I need for travelling and medical matters.
this.
If not try getting a medical letter and hope Ryanair show some flexibility.
Who did you get your cover with @Shiba ? I’m going to book flights to Greece and need to get some travel insurance sorted.
You should be on the stage, young man, with jokes like that.
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How did you pay for the flights?
If it was with a Visa Premier card, you might be able to claim something through them.
Frankly, I don’t fancy your chances with Ryanair. Unless you paid a lot of money for the flights, I’d forget about it and move on.
Incidentally, if anyone’s ever booking trains in the UK, a friend just made a claim using the Companjon insurance offered on the Trainline site and said they were brilliant. She made the claim and the money was in her account the next day.
Really? I am over age also, but no problems in getting annual travel insuarnce.
My son in law’s nan in the UK is 83, gets a year’s cover at a time for less than £300 and she goes to Canaries for a couple of months at a time. Unless you are extremely ill/disabled, then insurance is always available albeit at a cost if you want more than the standard cover.
I always regard budget air tickets as disposable items. The rebooking rules almost always (well always in my experience) exceed the cost of just dropping them and making a new booking. It is frustrating and wasteful from many viewpoints - the airline staff don’t even allow you to cancel so they can resell your seat even if you are happy to do it without any refund or personal reward.
With hotel booking, like Booking.com etc, I mostly opt for the free cancellation option, which typically adds a premium which is effectively an insurance policy. Why budget airlines don’t do something like this with a rebooking option is beyond me as I would have thought it could be revenue positive for them as well as convenient for the passenger. Yes of course Flexiplus offers this, but at a huge premium that I doubt many people opt for unless paying with someone else’s money (eg corporate purchases).
Yeah, even Michael O’Leary’s mother would get no dispensation I am sure! 
I hope she’s checked the small print on that annual policy for maximum length of trip @Shiba. Quite a lot of them will only cover trips of 28-30 days or less, some do 60, and a few 90 days max. Policies sold as ‘backpacker’ policies intended for people on their gap year may cover longer trips but these are not numerous.
Sound advice. My wife and I get travel insurance with our Nationwide Flex Plus account, however, it’s limited to 31 days maximum. When I enquired about an eleven day extension I was quoted an additional £220.
Same here. I go to see my brother in Bristol 3 or 4 times a year and have clothes etc over there so just go with a backpack. I’ve had to rejig visits a few times and it usually costs more than twice as much to change the flight as it does to book a new one.
Stupid isn’t it.
Yes, all thoroughly tested for the past three years now. Obviously with brexit, she can’t stay in EU zones for more than the max but trips to the US were also taken.
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Not at all, Ryanair is profitable, the only thing that matters when you run a business.
Michael’s rules may not be to your liking but you don’t have to fly Ryanair, you can do the other thing and stay at home.
FWIW A friend of mine has today booked Stansted/Brive out on Friday next and back on the 19th for a total cost of £62 something. I doubt that would pay for 2 day trips from Colchester to Liverpool St and back.
Indeed, which is why I said
Entirely stupid to not allow a customer to forfeit the seat so it can be resold by Ryanair, to make more money. I’ve tried it myself and they are not interested.
You’re really assuming too much here.