How to cancel a Ryanair booking when someone dies

Losing someone you love is hard enough without having to fight an airline’s customer service team. If you have a Ryanair booking affected by a death — whether the passenger who died was on the booking, or a close family member whose death means you cannot travel — this guide explains what Ryanair’s policy actually is, how to contact them, and what your realistic options are.

The short answer is sobering: Ryanair has one of the most restrictive bereavement policies of any major airline flying from the UK. There are no bereavement fares, no cash refunds in most cases, and a strict set of rules about who qualifies and when. For most passengers, travel insurance is the only realistic route to getting money back.

Quick reference:

• Contact method: Live chat at help.ryanair.com (primary route); phone +44 113 868 4151
• Bereavement travel credit: Available for immediate family only (spouse/partner, parent, child); voucher to myRyanair wallet, valid 12 months
• Cash refund: Not available for non-refundable fares; travel insurance is the primary route
• Submission deadline: Must apply before your scheduled flight date
• Documentation: Death certificate required (up to 4MB file)
• Since April 2025: Siblings, in-laws, and extended family no longer qualify for travel credit

The short answer on Ryanair’s refund policy

Ryanair’s standard fares are non-refundable. The airline does not have a compassionate cancellations team in the way that British Airways does, and it does not exercise the same discretion on bereavement cases.

What Ryanair does offer is a travel credit – a voucher issued to the lead passenger’s myRyanair wallet – for passengers who cannot travel because of a bereavement. This is not a cash refund. The credit is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and can only be used to rebook Ryanair flights.

Eligibility for this credit is tightly defined:

• The person who died must be the passenger on the booking, or an immediate family member of someone on the booking
• Ryanair defines “immediate family” as: spouse or life partner, parent or stepparent, child or stepchild
• Since April 2025, siblings, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and other extended family no longer qualify
• The death must have occurred within 10 days before the scheduled flight date
• The application must be submitted before the flight departs

This is a meaningful restriction. If your brother dies, your father-in-law, your grandparent, or any other family member outside the narrow spouse/parent/child definition, Ryanair will not issue travel credit. For those cases, travel insurance is the only route (see below).

The official Ryanair bereavement help page is at help.ryanair.com, and the refund application form is at refundclaims.ryanair.com.

When the booked passenger dies

If the person who has died was themselves the passenger on a Ryanair booking – they purchased the flight for themselves, but did not travel because they died before the flight – the process is:

1. Do not wait. Ryanair’s rules require the application to be submitted before the original flight date. If the flight date passes, Ryanair’s position is that you are no longer eligible. This creates genuine hardship: if someone dies the day before a flight, obtaining the death certificate and making the application within hours may be impossible.

2. Submit the travel credit request online. Go to refundclaims.ryanair.com and complete the form with:

   • The booking reference number
   • The passenger’s name and details
   • A scan or photograph of the death certificate (PDF, JPG, GIF, DOC or DOCX; maximum 4MB)

3. If the death certificate is not yet available. If the death occurred very recently and the certificate has not been issued, you should still submit the application before the flight date and attach whatever documentation you have – a coroner’s interim certificate, or a note from the hospital or GP. Contact Ryanair’s live chat to explain the situation. There is no guarantee they will accept this, but making the attempt before the flight date preserves your position.

4. What happens next. If Ryanair approves the application, a travel credit equivalent to the full booking value will be issued to the lead passenger’s myRyanair wallet. It is valid for 12 months and can be used to book any Ryanair flight.

If the booking was made through a third party (a price comparison site, travel agent, or holiday company), Ryanair cannot process the refund directly. You must contact the original booking provider.

What about taxes and charges?

Even if Ryanair declines a bereavement application, the airport taxes and charges portion of any ticket is always refundable – these are government levies that the airline collects on behalf of airports and must return if you do not fly. Submit a separate refund request for taxes if the main bereavement claim is denied.

When a travel companion dies

The companion scenario – where you booked two or more flights, one passenger has died, and the surviving passenger wants to cancel or change their own ticket – is handled differently.

The surviving passenger’s own ticket is not automatically covered by Ryanair’s bereavement policy. Ryanair’s terms cover the deceased passenger’s seat, and travel credit for immediate family members who cannot travel. Whether the surviving passenger qualifies depends on their relationship to the deceased:

• If the deceased was your spouse, parent, or child, and you cannot bring yourself to travel alone, you may apply for travel credit for your seat as well, submitting the same death certificate and explaining the relationship
• If the deceased was a friend, sibling, or other relationship outside the immediate family definition, Ryanair will not issue credit for your seat under its bereavement policy – even though you booked together

In either case, the application must go through the refund claims form at refundclaims.ryanair.com before the flight date.

Name changes instead of cancellation. Some families have asked Ryanair to transfer the deceased’s seat to another family member rather than cancel it. Ryanair treats this as a standard name change and charges a fee of approximately £100 (the exact amount depends on the fare type and route). There is no bereavement waiver on name change fees. Consumer groups and bereaved families have criticised this policy publicly, but Ryanair has maintained it. If a name change is cheaper than rebooking a new ticket, it may still be worth doing – but factor in the fee.

Travel insurance: the real route to a refund

For most Ryanair passengers, travel insurance is the primary – and often only – realistic route to recovering money spent on flights.

This matters because:

• Ryanair issues travel credit, not cash refunds
• Travel credit expires after 12 months and is tied to Ryanair flights specifically
• Ryanair’s eligibility criteria exclude a significant portion of family relationships (siblings, in-laws, grandparents)
• The “before flight date” requirement can make it physically impossible to claim in some cases

A travel insurance policy with cancellation cover will typically pay out when a close family member dies and you cannot travel. Policy definitions of “close family member” vary between insurers – some are broader than Ryanair’s definition and cover siblings, grandparents, and in-laws. Check the policy wording carefully.

How to claim on travel insurance

1. Notify your insurer as soon as possible – most policies require prompt notification
2. Provide the death certificate and your travel booking confirmation
3. Provide evidence of the relationship to the deceased if required
4. The insurer will assess the claim against the policy terms and pay out the covered amount to you in cash

If you do not have travel insurance, the cost of Ryanair flights is unlikely to be recoverable in cash. Some credit card providers offer Section 75 protection for purchases over £100, but cancellations due to bereavement are generally not covered by Section 75 (which protects against the supplier failing to deliver goods or services, not personal circumstances).

If your travel insurance was purchased through a credit or debit card’s packaged account (a bank account with insurance benefits), check whether travel cancellation is included – these policies vary significantly.

How to contact Ryanair

Ryanair removed its traditional freephone customer service number several years ago. The current contact options are:

Live chat (primary route)

Ryanair’s live chat is available at help.ryanair.com. You will first encounter the Molli chatbot, which handles common queries automatically.

For bereavement matters, ask to speak to a customer care agent rather than using the automated flow. Human agents are available:

• Monday–Friday: 08:00–20:00 GMT
• Saturday: 09:00–18:00 GMT
• Sunday: 09:00–18:00 GMT

The chatbot is available 24/7. For urgent queries outside agent hours – for example, if a death has occurred the evening before a morning flight – the chatbot can log the issue but you will need to follow up with an agent when lines open, or submit the refund claims form directly.

Phone

Ryanair’s UK customer service number is +44 113 868 4151.

Hours: Monday–Friday 08:00–20:00, Saturday–Sunday 09:00–18:00 (all GMT).

Phone agents can discuss bereavement claims, but you will still need to submit the formal documentation via refundclaims.ryanair.com – the phone line cannot process a refund or credit application directly.

Bereavement refund form

Submit bereavement claims at refundclaims.ryanair.com. This is the only route for formal applications.

There is no dedicated bereavement email address or postal route – unlike some other airlines, Ryanair does not accept bereavement claims by post.

What documents Ryanair may ask for

A death certificate is the document issued by the register office after the death is formally registered. In England and Wales, deaths must be registered within 5 days. If the death is subject to a coroner’s investigation, an interim certificate is typically accepted as a starting point.

Ryanair accepts the following file formats for uploaded documents: PDF, JPG, GIF, DOC, DOCX. The maximum file size is 4MB per upload.

Certified copies of the death certificate cost £12.50 each in England and Wales, available from the General Register Office at gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate. Order several copies when registering the death – most companies and institutions require their own copy.

Tips and things to watch out for

The deadline is the most important thing. Ryanair’s requirement to submit before the flight date is non-negotiable under their stated policy. If a death occurs close to a flight departure, prioritise submitting something – even an incomplete application with a note explaining that the death certificate is being obtained – over missing the deadline entirely. Follow up immediately once you have the certificate.

The April 2025 policy change narrowed eligibility significantly. Before April 2025, Ryanair’s bereavement travel credit covered a broader range of family relationships. Since then, it is restricted to spouse/partner, parent, and child. If you read an older article or forum post suggesting siblings or in-laws qualify, that information is out of date.

Travel credit is not a refund. A 12-month voucher tied to Ryanair flights may not suit your circumstances. If the person who was due to travel is now too unwell to fly, or simply has no plans to travel with Ryanair within the year, the credit has limited practical value. This is where travel insurance – which pays out in cash – makes a material difference.

Fare type matters less for bereavement than with other airlines. Ryanair’s four fare bundles (Value, Regular, Plus, and Flexi Plus) determine flexibility on standard changes. Flexi Plus fares include free date and route changes. However, in bereavement circumstances, the standard policy applies across all fare types – there is no enhanced bereavement provision for Plus or Flexi Plus tickets. If you have a Flexi Plus fare, you may be better served using the standard free flight change to reschedule rather than claiming under the bereavement policy.

Name change fees apply even in bereavement. Ryanair will not waive the name change fee (approximately £100) to transfer a deceased passenger’s seat to another person. Several families have reported this publicly and found it distressing. If you need to rebook the seat for someone else, compare the name change fee against the cost of buying a new ticket for the relevant date.

Bereavement fares do not exist at Ryanair. Unlike some full-service carriers (none of which currently offer them either), Ryanair has never offered discounted fares for emergency travel to funerals. If you are booking a new flight to attend a funeral rather than cancelling an existing one, standard Ryanair pricing applies. Book as early as possible once the funeral date is confirmed to get the best available price.

Third-party bookings must go through the original seller. Flights booked via a comparison site, travel agent, or holiday company cannot be refunded directly by Ryanair. Contact the booking provider and ask them to raise the bereavement request on your behalf.

Summary

When someone dies with a Ryanair booking, the key steps are:

1. Act before the flight date – submit the application at refundclaims.ryanair.com with the death certificate before departure. This is the most important timing requirement.
2. Check eligibility first – since April 2025, only spouse/partner, parent, and child qualify for travel credit. Extended family no longer qualifies.
3. Expect travel credit, not cash – Ryanair issues a 12-month myRyanair wallet credit, not a cash refund.
4. Claim on travel insurance – for extended family, for cash refunds, or where Ryanair’s rules leave you uncovered, travel insurance is the primary route to recovering money in cash.
5. Contact Ryanair via live chat or phone – live chat at help.ryanair.com or +44 113 868 4151 (Mon–Fri 08:00–20:00, Sat–Sun 09:00–18:00).

Ryanair’s bereavement process is more restricted than most airlines flying from UK airports, and consumer advocates have repeatedly called for more compassion in how the airline handles these situations. Travel insurance, bought at the time of booking, remains the most reliable protection against losing flight costs when something goes wrong.

For related guidance, see our guide to notifying British Airways when someone dies, our guide to notifying easyJet when someone dies, our guide to notifying Virgin Atlantic when someone dies, our guide to cancelling a TUI holiday when someone dies, and our what to do when someone dies hub.