Ryanair will refuse passenger compensation for volcanic ash airline fiasco...

A controversial budget airline boss last night told thousands of angry passengers that he would go to court rather than refund their bills from the volcano crisis.

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said he would defy European law which obliges carriers to pay the hotel, food and phone costs of those whose flights are cancelled.

Ryanair, which made profits of £348million last year, says it cannot afford to compensate passengers - and will place a cap on the amount it hands to anyone caught in the chaos of the past week.

In a withering attack on the no-fly zone imposed across Europe due to the Icelandic ash cloud, he said: 'Why exactly are the airlines expected to be reimbursing people's hotels, meals and everything else when the governments are the ones who made a balls of this?

'This is a great opportunity to expose this.' More...

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