The Guardian this morning is reporting that Ryanair is demanding that passengers who secured chargebacks via their credit cards when they could not travel (but Ryanair operated the flight) are being told that they must reimburse the airline before they can travel on new tickets.

This seems limited to flights that Ryanair operated but which the passengers could not board due to Government restrictions.

Ryanair is quoted as saying that as it is a ‘no refunds airline’, and its terms and conditions allows it to do this. They state also that they have offered refunds on the new bookings if the passenger did not wish to pay the chargeback amount.

Some passengers have been contacted by the Ryanair fraud department just a few hours before their new flights with large sums (£400-£650) being demanded before travel is allowed.

The original reports are from the UK based consumer advocacy site – Money Saving Expert. Their article can be found here. It contains the emails received by the passengers from Ryanair.

Unlike most other airlines serving the UK, if the flight operated Ryanair refused refunds or vouchers or a chance to rebook.