A legal dispute between a passenger and the airline Ryanair ended with an unusual situation at an Austrian airport: a bailiff entered an Irish airline aircraft and placed a seizure notice after the carrier failed to comply with a court order. According to the newspaper, the action took place at Linz airport, when the plane was preparing to leave for London.
The case dates back to a flight taken in 2024 between Linz, Austria, and the Spanish island of Mallorca. According to the same source, the trip was delayed by around 13 hours, leading a passenger to demand compensation and reimbursement for additional expenses she had to incur to complete the journey.
An ignored court decision
After going to court, the passenger obtained a favorable decision that forced the airline to pay 890 euros, an amount that included legal costs and compensation related to the delay. The newspaper writes that Ryanair did not comply with the court decision within the established deadline.
Given the lack of payment, the woman asked the Austrian authorities to take measures to enforce the sentence. A district court in the city of Traun authorized the intervention of a bailiff to ensure compliance with the order.
Intervention at the airport
The action occurred when a company plane was parked at Linz airport before a flight to London. The bailiff boarded the aircraft and asked the crew to immediately pay the outstanding amount. As the company operates flights without cash transactions on board, the amount could not be delivered at that time. The publication adds that, given this impossibility, a seizure notice was placed in the plane’s cabin.
This mechanism gives the court legal control over the property until the debt is resolved. In practice, the court may decide to sell the plane at public auction if payment is not made within the established deadline. Still, says the newspaper, the aircraft was authorized to continue operating under certain conditions while the process takes place.
Reaction from the airport and the company
A spokesperson for Linz airport confirmed the intervention of the judicial authorities. “We were informed that there was a pending case against Ryanair in court and that a bailiff had been instructed by the district court in the city of Traun to carry out an official act,” he said.
According to the same official, the airport authorities accompanied the officer to the aircraft to ensure that the procedure was carried out. According to the same source, the flight later departed for London.
Ryanair disputes seizure
Ryanair reacted to the case by denying that the plane had actually been seized. The Guardian writes that the company refused to comment on whether the legal notice had been placed or whether the debt had already been paid in the meantime.
The episode comes in a broader context of criticism directed at low-cost airlines. According to the same source, passenger protection associations accuse some carriers of resisting the payment of compensation provided for in European legislation.
Compensations provided for in European legislation
European Union rules state that passengers affected by significant delays may be entitled to financial compensation. As the newspaper explains, costs can reach 600 euros when the delay exceeds three hours, depending on the distance of the flight.
Disputes of this type rarely lead to the seizure of aircraft, as many companies end up paying before legal enforcement action takes place. A similar case occurred in France in 2018, when authorities seized a Ryanair plane during a process related to subsidies considered illegal, a situation that led to the company paying 525,000 euros.
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