A court bailiff boarded a Ryanair Boeing 737 in Linz, Austria on Monday. They affixed a judicial attachment sticker. Ryanair denied the plane was seized, though, but paid the outstanding debt they owed to a customer within three days.
Linz Airport said it had been told there was a pending court claim against Ryanair, that a bailiff had been instructed by the district court, and airport staff escorted the bailiff to the aircraft so he could carry out the official act.
Back in July, 2024, a woman traveling from Linz to Palma de Mallorca with two other passengers was delayed about 13 hours. They wound up buying a new ticket, and getting a refund from Ryanair – but Ryanair refused to pay EU261 compensation.
- The claim was for €355 total including €250 in statutory compensation
- Interest, legal costs, and enforcement costs brought that to €892.87 (~ US$1,182)
- A court bailiff (Exekutor / Gerichtsvollzieher) was accompanied by the passenger’s lawyer, acting under court authority to seize the aircraft against the funds that were due.
The plane was Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS registration EI-EXE which operated flight FR1695 from London Stansted to Linz and then FR1694 from Linz to London Stansted on March 9. The flight was 44 minutes late arriving at Linz and left 79 minutes late, so at least half an hour is attributable to the bailiff.
The bailiff first tried to collect on the spot from the crew or pilot, but Ryanair flights are cashless. The pilot offered to pay by card, but the bailiff would only accept cash. So they attached a “cuckoo sticker” indicating seizure (in Austria the formal term is Pfändungsmarke, and “Kuckuck” is the colloquial equivalent). So the plane was formally seized, even if it was not physically immobilized or taken out of service.
The sticker marked a judicial attachment and the court could proceed further if the debt remained unpaid. So the plane really could have been auctioned off it Ryanair did not pay.
During the pandemic, Delta Air Lines check-in at London Heathrow was shut down prior to a flight to New York JFK. Bailiffs sought to collect a $3,400 refund that had been owed to a passenger for a couple of years. The customer had obtained a court writ, and the agents went to seize the airline’s property to satisfy the debt. They can seize planes.
Once agents were inside the terminal, check-in staff called their manager, and they had a dispute over whether the check-in desks could be closed. As one agent put it, “it may seem slightly disproportionate when you’re perhaps using a 50 million pound asset for a debt that’s maybe only a few thousand pounds.”
They closed check-in, passengers were turning up and the airline’s queues got longer. So a Delta manager pulled out their personal credit card.
I’ve written about passengers hiring private bailiffs to collect on unpaid flight delay compensation, taking credit cards from airline staff in their offices to avoid seizure and sale of the office furniture.
Bailiffs once showed up at London Luton airport, delaying a Wizz Air flight to collect a refund that was owed to a customer. It caused a flight delay, and then Wizz Air owed EU261 compensation to all of the passengers on board!
Former Slovenian Star Alliance member Adria Airways once even cancelled a flight to Vienna because they expected bailiffs to seize their aircraft over an unpaid 250 euro claim. Weird, because everyone on the cancelled flight would have been owed compensation, too.
U.S. consumers often gaze longingly at European consumer protection laws. In principle they guarantee more to the customer (generating higher costs to airlines, which affect customers too). However, in practice airlines just don’t pay and there’s little enforcement. So cheers to the customers who take matters into their own hands and go get a court order and a bailiff!
(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
A restaurant owner owed my company $5000.00. I sent numerous certified, return receipt letters with proof. His claim was, since I was in the process of selling my company, he didn’t owe the money. WRONG. I sued him in small claims court. He failed to answer the summons and defaulted. Since I had a copy of a prior payment check, I legally seized his bank account, put a lien on his home, automobiles and properties. He was in the process of applying for a franchise from a well known and very popular chain whose payment requirements and honesty are absolute. I know the owners of the chain. The man came to my office with $5000 in cash and begged me not to contact the franchiser and to please release his bank accounts so he could pay his bills. So, in the case of Ryanair, yeah, seizing a multi million dollar asset for a measly $3700.00 got the debtor’s attention REALLY QUICK.
Back in the 90’s at NWA a flight attendant who was owed money (can’t remember for what) couldn’t get the company to pay. Her father was a lawyer and filed the paperwork and had the authorities wrap a chain around the nose landing gear. She got paid.
The Delta incident was on a TV show. Either Can’t pay We’ll take it away. Or Here come the bailiffs. I forgot which one but it’s on YouTube.
Good for the passenger. Gary, your grammar is atrocious. Please just use an AI to check grammar or proofread once before hitting publish.
It reads like someone without a full grasp of the language, yet you’re a native English speaker.
I once sued a guy in small claims court in Los Angeles. I won but he wouldn’t pay, so I garnished his wage. But his employer never sent me a check. So, I called his employer, Zipper BMW, and said simply “Either I have that check by tomorrow or I will own a portion of your dealership”. I got my check of $575.
@ Win — Wow, you seem like a slimebag.
After reading this, it seems to me that airlines in general are stupid for refusing refunds simply because of the potential cascade effect, costing them more money by orders of magnitude.
SMH
@ Gary. Nicely worded…unfortunately he won’t think it applies to his comments.
“U.S. consumers often gaze longingly at European consumer protection laws. In principle they guarantee more to the customer (generating higher costs to airlines, which affect customers too). However, in practice airlines just don’t pay and there’s little enforcement. So cheers to the customers who take matters into their own hands and go get a court order and a bailiff!”
@Gary: This is an ongoing issue with Ryanair where the de facto rule “Don’t ever refund anyone anything”. For example, if <> change their schedule they claim the right to claim whether the new schedule imposed on you works for you. As a result, a two-hour flight arrival change was deemed too little to warrant anything other than useless flight credit for me, despite it implying I would miss a transatlantic connection.
The solution is to deal with the issue that people in your position should write more about: Make airlines suable (sp?) in any country in which a passenger lives. None of this having to pay $6,500 to serve papers in Europe for a flight from the USA by a US resident.
@Win Whitmire: Good example. It is the only thing they will listen to.
As LBJ said “Grab a man by the balls and his heart and mind will follow”
Whoa! Where’s 1990?
In U. S., strongly urge those with legitimate monetary grievance to sue in small claims. When I did in Seattle some years ago, NWA never bothered to show up. Judge was pissed, and added $500 to my award. He sent court letter to them, and I received a check within ten days.
Never accept you are powerless. There is usually a way to win when bad marketing is default for company picking on little guy.
@Alan Z — At your service! Well said. 10/10. You get it. Wish others did, too. We need a US-261!
@ Gene
You’re on the side of the guy who wouldn’t pay vs the guy owed money? Wow!
Seems like not paying what you’re owed would make the person owed a slimeball.
@Win. I don’t know why one poster has a problem with you collecting money owed. I have a friend who represents a local branch of a major food wholesaler. He’s regularly putting chains on the doors of non-payers.
Just a reminder to some and a heads up for the rest. If you’re US citizen. Purchasing the ticket in the US. flying let’s say JFK-LHR return on Delta. If either of those flights get delayed or gets cancelled and the situation meets meets any of the thresholds then Delta still owe you the compensation as applicable to the situation on the day. EU261 is in effect for a citizen of any country where a flight departs from, lands in or has a scheduled stop (refueling) an EU Member State. Or a Participating Country within the EEC. THe UK isn’t either of those anymore but a mirroring Law was introduced after leaving the EU. The carriers fFag State and/or the geographic location tickets were purchased or issued do not remove any liability or legal obligations.
“the airlines just don’t pay the EU penalties” is very false. This is written by someone in the US for sure. Go check out airhelp.com. I used them multiple times when I lived in Denmark and got my money every single time. Maybe corner cases exist where the airlines don’t pay but the vast majority of claims get paid
That got their attention and they made good on their debt.
Nothing happens when you send Demand Notices and still won’t happen if you put a lien on an equivalent value item….like a couple airline hats and snack boxes.
Good for them. It got the attention and appropriate payment.
So the Ryanair flight departing Austria is delayed because Ryanair didn’t pay the money owed to a passenger, and the bailiff action resulted in a delay.
Does Ryanair now owe every passenger on that flight that the bailiff seized eu261 money? It was delayed for reasons that Ryanair could have avoided, (had they paid on time) so Ryanair is responsible.
Is it legal for a manager to use the personal credit card/bank account to pay on behalf of the company?
I believe I had to sign some form that said I could only use my account for personal transactions. Using it to pay bills for a company I dont own smells like money laundering
About 20 years ago, I was once booked on the last flight of the evening from London to Paris. I got to the airport early enough to make the previous flight, but the carrier refused to let me change. So I waited . . . until several hours later they canceled my flight due to their own fault (no staff to clean an incoming plane).
They told everyone that they were obliged by EU rules to provide overnight accommodations and would (it sounded half-hearted) try to rebook for the next day. I was on the phone most to the night until I got them to agree to prioritize my rebooking in the morning on the basis that I had a full fare business class ticket.
They DID NOT announce that they also owed each passenger €250. I did some checking and discovered the rule, so I applied and collected, but it took months and multiple submissions of information they already had. I strongly suspect that a large number of the passengers never applied or were too put off by the procedures to collect.
I love to see the little guy win. This needs to happen more often and daily . We gotta put the larger corporations in check. It’s inconvenient but you will be compensated the money your owed in the end if you just push back.
I would never use my personal money to pay a debt owed by a company (I don’t care how many problems it would “solve”) and if I was the person receiving the money I would refuse to accept it because an employee is NOT responsible for the actions of the company!
So ridiculous.
Making companies more easily litigated just enriches the lawyers.
Here’s the solution: if your time has value to you, the you purchase insurance based on your value.
For most of us, it’s not worth it to raise ticket prices to offset litigation that will never happen for us.
Air travel would be a perfect business – if it weren’t for those pesky passengers.
@Gene,
No, Win sounds like someone who enforces and protects his rights under the law. He sounds like someone who used the appropriate court authorities and processes to be paid his money. I’m sure you’d just let a $5000 debt just walk out the door since you’re so morally superior, wouldn’t you? You’d just let yourself be victimized, right?
Puh-leeze…
“in practice airlines just don’t pay”. Really? A few years ago I lawyered up against Avianca and got compensated for a cancelled flight out of London.
@Jade
I pay company debts on my credit card all the time.. I don’t think I’d pay a legal fine, as I’m not sure our lawyers would want me to (but I would if they instructed me it was OK.)
I’m not necessarily thrilled about it, but it’s often too slow to go through the accounts channel when you’re the person on the spot for a critical project. I always get reimbursed. It’s a bit of a hassle, but better than being stuck without the items you need to keep the project on track.
@Thomas
Huh? I’ve got no issues with Gary’s grammar. And, if just one person online writes without using AI, even if it means the odd bit of clunky phrasing gets through, I consider that a win.
It certainly is true that if you don’t pay your debts, your operating costs go down… at least for a little while!
I agree Gene. Going about it his way has an affect on not just one person but perhaps dozens if not more. It’s also possible that he’s making it up because one specific thing he mentioned isn’t legally possible if he’s in the U.S.
This reminds me of an incident that happened in Boston about 25 years ago. American Airlines lost a passenger’s luggage and refused to compensate him for the replacement cost of the designer luggage along with the value of the expensive clothes that were in the luggage. The passenger sued AA in East Boston Municipal Court. Despite being properly served, American was a no-show at court and the judge awarded passenger (plaintiff) a judgement for the full amount of his claim. American still refused to pay. Early one Friday morning, a rented moving van parked at the curb at AA’s Boston terminal. A Constable (a county official who can be hired to enforce monetary judgements) emerged from the van. Also in the van were two strong moving men. The four men entered the terminal with the Constable pausing to loudly reading a legal notice which gave the plaintiff the power to seize equipment to satisfy the judgement. The movers then moved behind the check-in counters and began unplugging the computer equipment and carrying it to the truck. When the Constable determined that enough equipment to satisfy the judgement had been moved to the truck, the operation ended and the movers drove the truck to their company’s storage warehouse. The plaintiff remained at the airport terminal to discuss payment of the amount due. He demanded cash and after the station manager cleared everything with company headquarters in Ft. Worth TX, an employee was sent to the company’s local bank to withdraw cash to pay off the judgement plus interest and the fees for the Constable and the moving company. AA suffered the embarrassment of, for one morning, having its flight schedule from a major city, interupted.
@Robert
Warning: A friend of mine spent a couple years in state prison for doing something similar. She was a manager, and the owners were neglecting to meet their obligations. She was covering payroll with her personal funds, then reimbursing herself when the money became available. The company eventually went out of business and was sold, but the owners came after her and accused her of embezzlement. The owners had connections she didn’t have, so she never got her day in court, lost a lot of money and went to prison.
Until an airplane is actually seized and SOLD AT AUCTION the airlines really have no incentive to obey LAWS that protect passengers. So it needs to happen…at least once…to wake up the executives who don’t give a rats ass about the customers. And we don’t have strong consumer protection laws in America because we do not have anyone representing consumers. ALL the politicians are OWNED, body and soul by corporate special interests.
I flew last Christmas from
NYC , business class ( or st least where I purchsed the ticket) with Lufthansa . Between the checking counte and the gate my reservation was cancelled
I had to fly economy. Because I am a person with motor handicap and my friends already left the airport. Upon arrival to destination I trued to contact the .” Big wigs “ in the company to report the incident . there was no response . I sent a letter to DOT in Washington DC
They couldn’t care less. So people get ready to be maltreated ( to be read : spit in your face by the administration) nobody gives a darn about what is happening to passengers you fly at your own risk.
@ Gene –
Well, the person who wouldn’t pay the $5000 just showed up!
I am always amused when people, particularly “rich” and “powerful” people run up against the reality of the courts. You really can attach millions of dollars of property over a “tiny” debt. The issue isn’t the size of the asset seized to force compliance, the issue is the debt. If the debtor who has more than enough money to pay will not pay then saying “pretty please” doesn’t work, they have already demonstrated they are unreasonable and a scoflaw, so the court, who remember has the guys with guns to enforce the order, orders the seizure of something that will get your attention or that can be easily auctioned off to pay the debt. Court’s do not care.