A Ryanair flight bound for London was delayed departing from Austria on Monday when bailiffs boarded the plane. The ultra-low-cost carrier had ignored a court order to pay a passenger who had claimed legal costs and compensation for a delayed flight that happened in 2024. The total cost of the order was EU €890 ($1,020).

The bailiffs’ entry delayed the outbound flight to London. A ‘cuckoo’ sticker was placed on the cabin, giving the court legal control of the Boeing 737. The bailiffs requested payment in cash from the crew, but because the budget carrier operates a cashless system, the crew was unable to comply.

A Long-Running Dispute Over Compensation

Credit: Flickr

As suggested by The Guardian, a lawyer who was acting on behalf of the passenger claiming compensation planned to continue enforcement action until the debts were paid. The dispute, which began back in 2024, stemmed from a delayed flight from Linz (LNZ) to Palma De Mallorca Airport(PMI), which faced a delay of more than 13 hours.

Under EU Regulation 261/2004, the passenger was entitled to claim compensation for the delayed flight. Ryanair refused to pay the passenger, and thus the passenger took the case to court. The court decided in the passenger’s favor and ordered Ryanair to pay the claimed sum, in addition to legal costs and interest. As Ryanair continued not to respond, the passenger requested that Austrian authorities step in.

As a result, bailiffs were dispatched to this week’s Ryanair flight, where they looked to place a cuckoo sticker on the 737 and demand payment. A spokesperson for Linz Airport shared the following statement following the incident:

Ryanair Flight 1694 Delayed For Over An Hour

Credit: GCMap

According to data from Flightradar24, the aircraft operating the flight on Monday, March 9, was a Boeing 737-800 NG carrying the Irish registration EI-EXE (serial number 40321). Ryanair had scheduled to operate the afternoon flight FR1694 from from Linz Airport, located in Austria’s third-largest city in the north-central part of the country, to the carrier’s base at London Stansted Airport (STN).

The flight was scheduled to depart at 3:55 pm, but bailiffs entered the aircraft before it could leave, delaying pushback from Linz by one hour and 19 minutes. The plane was eventually permitted to depart and finally left Linz at 5:14 pm. The aircraft then traveled as planned for the one-hour and 30-minute journey to London, arriving at 5:44 pm, 51 minutes behind its scheduled arrival time of 4:55 pm. Further aircraft details below as per ch-aviation:

Ryanair currently operates year-round between Linz and London, with the month of March seeing a twice-weekly service. The airline also maintains a year-round service to Alicante and seasonal services to Bari. Other carriers serving Linz include Corendon Airlines and Eurowings (seasonally), and DAT (year-round to Frankfurt starting on March 29).

Related

€3,230 Fine: Why Ryanair Continues To Punish Unruly Passengers

Ryanair has highlighted several such cases throughout 2025, including one where it claimed €15,000 ($16,818) in civil proceedings.

How Was The Plane Allowed To Depart?

Credit: Flickr

As explained by A View From The Wing, while the bailiffs attempted to receive cash payment for the outstanding funds, the cuckoo sticker, formally known as a Pfändungsmarke in Austria, meant that while the plane was seized, it was not immobilized or required to exit from regular service. This sticker meant that the court could proceed further in taking possession of the aircraft if the debt remained unpaid.

EC 261/2004 protects passengers with compensation for flights that depart from, or within the European Union, that experience delays of more than three hours. The amount of compensation that can be claimed depends on the distance and whether the delay is under the operating airline’s control.

Ryanair eventually paid out the passenger the owed debts this week, and the sticker has been removed from the aircraft.