Ryanair's help centre, read 17 September 2026, says a claim for a family member or friend must go through their own myRyanair account. Its terms of carriage, effective 07 November 2025, say in clause 15.2.5 that one passenger may claim and be paid for others on the same booking. The two pages do not agree.
Yes, if everyone travelled on the same booking. Clause 15.2.5 of Ryanair's General Terms and Conditions of Carriage says a passenger may submit a claim and receive the payment on behalf of other passengers on the same booking, and that Ryanair may request evidence that the other passengers consented. One parent can file once for a family of four and take the money into one account. The version read on 17 September 2026 carries an effective date of 07 November 2025.
The help centre reads differently. The article Why is identity verification required when claiming?, in the Passenger Rights section of Ryanair's help centre, says that if you are claiming on behalf of a family member or friend, you would need to do it through their own myRyanair account for security reasons. Both statements were live on the same day.
The dividing line that makes both readable is the booking. The clause is written for passengers on the same reference, while the account rule reads as a rule for claiming for someone who was never on your booking. If your relatives sit on separate references, even on the same flight, the clause gives you nothing to lean on and each booking becomes its own claim.
Start with the terms of carriage and keep the help page as the fallback. The terms are the document you accepted when you booked, they carry an effective date, and the claims procedure sits in Article 15. The help centre articles read on 17 September 2026 show no effective date and no version number.
Here is what each page says, side by side.
If an agent quotes the account rule at you for passengers who were on your own booking, quote the clause number back.
| Question | Terms of carriage, clause 15.2 | Help centre, Passenger Rights section |
|---|---|---|
| Claiming for others on your own booking | A passenger may submit and be paid on behalf of other passengers on the same booking | Not addressed |
| Claiming for a family member or friend | Not addressed in those words | Must go through their own myRyanair account |
| Evidence Ryanair may ask for | Consent of the other passengers on the booking | Verification of your travel document |
| Where the money lands | A bank account held by a passenger on the booking | Not stated |
| A third party claiming for you | Needs documents evidencing its authority, clause 15.2.6, unless it supplies your contact and payment details under clause 15.2.3 | Not stated |
| Date shown on the page | Effective 07 November 2025 | None |
It is an identity check on the account, not a check on the flight. Ryanair's help centre article on identity verification says it needs to make sure that the person claiming is an actual passenger on the booking, and that a passenger will need to confirm it by verifying your travel document so that Ryanair can be satisfied they are a named passenger on the booking and the owner of the myRyanair account.
Two things have to line up, the name on the booking and the owner of the account you are logged into. That is why a claim filed from your account for a cousin on a different reference stalls at the first screen. Uploading a document does not change whose account it is.
For a family, that makes the choice of filer mechanical. Whoever holds the booking files, and they should be a named passenger on it.
No. Ryanair's help centre article on an unwelcome compensation decision states that compensation and expense requests are submitted and reviewed separately, and that while it only pays compensation for disruptions it is responsible for, you may still be entitled to expenses. A rejection letter about compensation says nothing about the hotel bill.
That is the most useful line in the section for anyone caught by weather. The article on when compensation is not paid lists adverse weather, de-icing, strike action, issues with air traffic control and bird strike among the circumstances outside Ryanair's control. The care entitlements article lists the assistance separately, meals and refreshments, two telephone calls or e-mails, reasonable hotel accommodation, and reasonable transport to the accommodation.
One condition is attached to that care list, and it is not fault. Ryanair states that those entitlements do not apply if you choose to be re-routed at a later date at your convenience, or if you choose to get a refund. Taking the refund at the desk on the night can therefore cost you the hotel claim.
Two separate reviews mean two reference numbers and two things to chase. File the expenses request even when you expect the compensation answer to be no. What an insurer does with the same receipts is covered in travel insurance, what it covers and in insurance deducts what the airline paid.
Ryanair's terms require you to come to the airline first. Clause 15.2.2 says passengers must submit claims directly to Ryanair and allow it 14 days, or the period prescribed by applicable law if that is shorter, to respond before engaging third parties to claim on their behalf. The same clause says the claim must include details of a bank account held personally by the passenger submitting it.
If the 14 days pass with no answer, or the answer does not satisfy you, clause 15.2.2 says passengers may engage third parties to claim or receive payment on their behalf. Ryanair's help centre article on claims management companies warns that they may deduct up to 50% in fees in exchange for their services, so read the percentage before you sign. Where that market actually sits is compared in what a claims company fee takes.
Check your Ryanair claim eligibilityWorth a look once Ryanair's 14 day window has passed, and only after you have read the fee percentage.Tracked on mobile web only, the page works on desktop too.
The amount is per passenger, which is why filing once for a booking of four is worth the paperwork. The Passenger Rights section of Ryanair's help centre carries one article for each set of bands, both read 17 September 2026.
Ryanair words the middle EU band as intra-EU flights of more than 1,500 km and all other flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km, and the top band as non-internal EU flights of more than 3,500 km. Its UK article words the top band simply as all other flights.
A booking of four on a 2,000 km route from the UK is four times £350 on one claim rather than £350. The eligibility gates come first, though. Ryanair's article on when compensation is not paid states it will not pay where the delay or cancellation was outside its control, where you were notified of a cancellation more than 14 days in advance of the scheduled departure date, or where the flight arrived at its final destination less than three hours late.
The full eligibility test is in EU261 flight compensation. Where two carriers sold one itinerary the payer is the subject of two airlines, one booking, who pays.
| Distance | EU261 | UK APR 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 km or less | €250 | £220 |
| Between 1,500 km and 3,500 km | €400 | £350 |
| Over 3,500 km (UK article, all other flights) | €600 | £520 |
The help centre offers two routes and repeats the split. Contact your local alternative dispute resolution body, for which it points to a list by country, and claim expenses, because compensation and expense requests are reviewed separately. Its article on care entitlements decisions says the same in reverse, if you are unhappy with an expenses decision you may still submit a compensation request.
Before you hand the file to anyone, read clause 15.2.6. Save for clauses 15.2.3, 15.2.4 and 15.2.5, Ryanair says it will not process a claim submitted by a third party unless it is accompanied by appropriate documentation duly evidencing the authority of the third party to act on behalf of the passenger. Clause 15.2.3 covers a third party claim filed before you claimed direct, which Ryanair processes only if it carries your own contact and payment details. A forwarded email is not that document.
Clause 15.2.4 is the one to remember for an elderly parent or a child who cannot file. Where a passenger does not have the capacity to submit a claim themselves, their legal guardian may submit the claim and receive the payment on the passenger's behalf, and Ryanair may request evidence of that authority. Clauses 15.2.2 and 15.2.3, the 14 day direct claim rule, do not apply in that case.
Every quote above was read on the pages named in the sources on 17 September 2026. How we read, date and re-check them is set out in our methodology, and the rest of the series sits in the blog.
Yes if you were all on one booking. Clause 15.2.5 of Ryanair's terms of carriage says a passenger may submit a claim and receive the payment on behalf of other passengers on the same booking, and Ryanair may request evidence that those passengers consented. Separate booking references mean separate claims, even on the same flight.
Because the help centre treats the account as the identity check. Its article on identity verification, read 17 September 2026, says a claim on behalf of a family member or friend has to go through their own myRyanair account for security reasons. The terms of carriage carve out passengers on the same booking, so cite clause 15.2.5 if that is your situation.
The one that puts your name on the booking. Ryanair's help centre says it needs to make sure the person claiming is an actual passenger on the booking, and that you confirm this by verifying your travel document so it can check you are a named passenger and the owner of the myRyanair account. Both have to match.
Yes. Ryanair's help centre states that compensation and expense requests are submitted and reviewed separately, and that you may still be entitled to expenses even where it does not pay compensation. Submit the expenses request with receipts as its own case. A weather rejection on compensation does not decide the hotel and meal bills.
Its terms say yes. Clause 15.2.2 requires passengers to submit claims directly and to allow Ryanair 14 days, or less where the law prescribes less, to respond before engaging third parties. After that, or if you are unhappy with the reply, you may appoint one. Ryanair's help centre warns that claims management companies may deduct up to 50% in fees.
A passenger on that booking. Clause 15.2.2 says the claim must include details of a bank account held personally by the passenger submitting it, and clause 15.2.8 says any payment will be made to the bank account of a passenger on the booking. Ryanair may request evidence that the account is held by the passenger concerned.