Skycop caught Ryanair and Passengers win in Lithuania

Lithuania based Žilvinas Alekna, the social media manager of Skycop is excited. he told eTurboNews that December 23 should be marked as the day when justice sent a Christmas gift to air passengers in Lithuania. He feels justice was served to air passengers when  Ryanair loses the battle against its unfair Terms  and Conditions

He explains Skycop has embarked on a mission to make sure that every single passenger, who’s experienced flight delays, cancellation or overbooking, gets their compensation from the airlines. A team of highly trained professionals with 10+ years of experience in aviation, legal and finance business is here to help you receive airline passenger compensation in the fastest and easiest way possible.

Skycops attorney Nerijus Zaleckas has been providing legal services since 2007. He has three master’s degrees from Vilnius, Amsterdam, and London, and experience from leading international law firms.

Nerijus and his partners provide corporate, commercial, regulatory, antitrust and litigation services to local and international clients mostly in the Baltic region, the EU, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.

Earlier this week Lithuanian court recognized that Ryanair cannot prohibit its passengers to assign claims under Regulation 261/2004 to third parties.

“Passengers do not need to file claims directly to Ryanair allowing Skycop and their legal representation to represent the interest of passengers against Ryanair.  “Passengers are also free to agree on financial and other terms with third parties helping them to recover compensations,” the court said.

In the case under consideration, the passengers did not file claims directly with Ryanair and did not wait for 28 days for Ryanair’s response as it is stated the terms and conditions in rules dictated by Ryanair.

When this passenger assigned their rights and their claim,  Skycop became the owner of the claim. Ryanair refused to pay stating that the passengers had to file the claim directly and wait for 28 days, and could not assign their rights to compensation.

The court ruled that assignment agreements are valid and Ryanair may not prohibit passengers from assigning their rights to compensation if passengers believe that in such a way their rights will be exercised quicker and more conveniently.

The court added: “Restrictive Ryanair Terms and Conditions are unfair and null and void. Therefore, passengers may conclude Assignment agreements and do not need to file claims themselves.”

“The court emphasized that such Ryanair Terms and Conditions breach consumer rights,” said Nerijus Zaleckas.

The court also stated that by filing the claim via email Skycop fulfilled all conditions for compensation payment and Ryanair is obliged to pay. It means that claim companies such as Skycop do not need to use Ryanair’s claim filing platform as it is actually not even designed for such companies.

It is expected Ryanair may appeal against the ruling.

The ruling came out after the same court imposed a 5000 EUR fine against  Ryanair for unfair behavior at court. Ryanair tried to postpone court hearings constantly and by any means.