McDonagh — care duty is UNLIMITED, even in extraordinary circumstances

The McDonagh ruling (ECJ C-12/11, 31 January 2013) is a major victory for passengers: even when the carrier can invoke extraordinary circumstances for Art. 7 compensation, the care duty under Art. 9 remains fully and unlimitedly applicable.

The case. Mrs McDonagh booked a Ryanair flight Faro (Portugal) → Dublin in April 2010. During the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, European airspace was closed for 8 days. Ryanair argued that care under Art. 9 (meals, hotel) was either not applicable (force majeure) or limited to a "reasonable" duration. They refused McDonagh's €1,130 claim for 7 days of survival costs.

What did the ECJ decide?

1. Care under Art. 9 applies unlimitedly in duration and amount, as long as the delay continues.
2. Extraordinary circumstances only exempt Art. 7 compensation — not Art. 9 care. The legislator structured this deliberately: in force majeure, the stranded passenger needs more protection, not less.
3. No implicit cap — Ryanair argued unlimited care was "disproportionate". The ECJ rejected this: the price of passenger safety is "a price that is not disproportionate".

Practical. For prolonged disruptions (ash clouds, strikes, COVID grounding, infrastructure problems): keep ALL receipts for meals, hotel, transport, phone costs. In the claim: cite Art. 9 + McDonagh explicitly. The carrier must reimburse, regardless of whether the disruption was extraordinary.

Post-McDonagh applications: COVID-19 groundings (March-May 2020), Ryanair strikes 2018, KLM/Schiphol slot restrictions 2023-2024 — McDonagh has been cited repeatedly to push through care claims that carriers tried to refuse.