Paul Murphy Questions Chargebacks and Airline Bans
Paul Murphy questioned whether reports that Ryanair barred passengers who used credit-card chargebacks would be covered by proposed consumer protection legislation. He was told that flight cancellations and refund disputes are handled by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) and that the bill aims to strengthen consumer rights without unduly infringing traders' rights.
Issue raised
He asked if Ryanair's reported practice of banning customers who used chargebacks was covered by the bill or by existing consumer law, and whether a company can bar a customer after a chargeback.
Regulatory responsibility
Officials replied that flights, cancellations and refund rights fall to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) rather than to this bill, and consumers in that situation should seek recourse from CAR.
Scope of the bill
Speakers emphasised the bill's focus is on strengthening consumers' rights and taking to task irresponsible traders, not on restricting the rights of responsible traders. They said the measure does not intend to infringe upon traders' ability to decide who they trade with.
Online retailer hypothetical and next steps
A hypothetical case of an online retailer barring a customer after a chargeback was discussed as unusual and unlikely to be directly covered by the bill. The question was noted as interesting and to be considered further during the bill's ongoing drafting.
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Thanks a lot and thanks a lot for the presentation. I just really have one question which is you might have seen in the papers today there's quite an incredible story about Ryanair which obviously has been in receipt of significant public money throughout the course of the pandemic and there was passengers who were unable to travel due to Covid, they did a charge back on their credit cards and as a result Ryanair is saying that they're banned. from flying in future. Is that something that would be covered by this bill or is it covered by any existing consumer legislation? I mean is that something that a company is able to do as a consequence of someone using a charge back? It wouldn't necessarily be covered by this legislation because flights and consumer rights in terms of flights and cancellation of flights actually is the responsibility of this civil aviation the civil aviation car I think is civil aviation regulation I had to try and think of what the acronym stood for there So they are the Commission for Aviation Regulation so that's who consumers have a recourse to when it comes to any issues to do with flights and particularly cancellation of flights and rights to refunds. So any consumer in that situation should be going to car in the first instance. because that wouldn't necessarily be covered by this legislation, particularly the situation you talk about with a chargeback. Yeah, OK. OK, and then actually just hypothetically then, let's say this is an online retailer. It's nothing to do with flights and let's say I buy something, I feel I don't get it or whatever, I do a chargeback and as a result the online retailer says you're barred, you can't buy anything from us again. Is that something that's covered or is it the right of a retailer to decide that you can't buy something from them? Well, I don't think we're doing anything in this bill to infringe upon traders' rights necessarily. We're just increasing or strengthening consumers' rights and I think in my opening statement I did say that the way responsible traders behave towards their consumers you know, we're not necessarily infringing upon that because they're already in that space, they're already looking after their consumers. What we're trying to do is take to task the irresponsible traders who don't look after consumers' rights. However, I would have thought that traders, the private companies, they have the right to decide who they trade with in the same way as a consumer has the right to decide who he or she trades with. So, that's an unusual example. Deputy, I have to say, in the case, as I say, of an airline, there's very strict regulation around cancellation flights and consumers' rights in terms of an online trader deciding not to trade with somebody in future because they've charged back, you know, they've done a charge back on their card. I don't see how we could cover a scenario like that but you've raised an interesting question and we'd look at it in the context of the drafting of the bill which is still underway. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot.
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