If your Ryanair flight is heavily delayed or cancelled you will soon receive your compensation more quickly.
The budget airline has agreed to compensate customers within 10 days instead of the 28 days required by EU law.
Under EU law, operators must pay out between £110 and £530 (though the amount is set in Euros and can vary owing to the exchange rate) if a flight is delayed by more than three hours or cancelled.
From April 1, Ryanair will process 'valid' claims with 10 days as part its 'Always Getting Better Plan', reports the Mirror .
Four months ago, Ryanair was forced to cancelled 20,000 flights because of bungled pilot rotas which led to chaos for thousands of passengers.
As a result the Irish no-frills airline, led by the controversial Michael O'Leary, was rated the worst budget airline.
The airline, which reformed its cabin policy earlier this month, has also promised that 90% of its flights in the next year will be on time, and that its flights will be plastic-free within five years.
Ryanair's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: "We are promising today we will pay any valid claim within 10 days of receiving that claim.
"At Ryanair we have learnt a lot about customer service in the past six months, and the two key things we want to do are reassure customers that if you have a valid claim it's very black and white in terms of what's valid and what's not valid, and we will pay that claim within 10 days.
"We're also introducing new digital initiatives for customer service so if you want to rebook a flight or you want to take a refund, it would be something that you can simply do on the Ryanair app and we're also going to make the claims form and claims process much more simplified on the Ryanair website."
Ryanair disruptions: What am I entitled to?
The amount of monetary compensation you can claim depends on whether your flight was delayed or cancelled; how long it was delayed for; and how far you were flying.
Under EU flight delay legislation, passengers who have their flight cancelled are entitled to either a) a full refund or b) an alternative flight. This legislation also includes "reasonable" expenses - direct costs incurred from the delay of a flight, such as the cost of staying at an airport hotel and any meals eaten while waiting for an alternative flight.
- Travellers should be offered a refund or a replacement flight within seven days (this may be on a different airline/airport and all extra costs should be covered). It must inform you of all next alternative flights available.
- If your flight is delayed by more than two hours, you're entitled to food and drink.
- Three hour or more delays qualify for compensation under EU law ( see further information on the Citizens Advice website )
If the airline doesn't have a suitable alternative flight, you must be booked on a rival airline in line with Civil Aviation Authority rules.
EU rules state that in the interim, "Passengers must be offered free of charge (a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time; (b) hotel accommodation in cases where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary."
Be aware that if you decide to cancel your flight before hearing from Ryanair you may jeopardise both your rights for compensation and a replacement flight.
Compensation thresholds for 3 hours+ delays
This is dependant on how late your flight is and the distance travelled (indicated in kilometres below).
- Up to 1,500km: Three hours or more = €250
- 1,500km-3,500km: Three hours or more = €400
- Over 3,500km: Over 3,500km: Three hours or more and between 2 EU Member States = €400
- Three to four hours = €300
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Over 3,500km: Four hours or more = €600
