'Ryanair is refusing to cover all my expenses after cancelled flight - who is right?'

Every Tuesday in our Money blog, we answer questions about your financial problems or consumer disputes.

This week, a reader asked what her rights were after Ryanair refused to pay her expenses after cancelling her flight. Elaine asked: "My flight from Cork to La Rochelle was cancelled due to a storm.

I had to book a hotel and fly to a different destination, and Ryanair is refusing to pay for all my expenses. Are you able to help me?" Our Money live reporter Jess Sharp says...

When Elaine got in touch with Money, she also told us that there wasn't another flight to her destination for four days, so she opted to fly to a different destination on an earlier flight (but still two days later). She said a member of Ryanair staff had recommended that she take a taxi into Cork's city centre and stay in a specific hotel because the one at the airport was full, and reassured her that the airline would cover her additional costs.

She said she submitted a claim for the following, totalling €435.70: A two-night hotel stay;One dinner at the hotel;One breakfast;One lunch;Two taxis;Fuel costs for the journey from the alternative airport she had to fly to and her house.Ryanair responded to her claim, saying that it had been deemed "expensive" by its policy and that it would only reimburse her €273.70. Ryanair's response My first port of call was to go to Ryanair to see what it had to say.

A spokesperson confirmed Elaine's flight had been cancelled due to Storm Ashley and that all passengers were notified and advised of their options to either change their flight free of charge or to receive a full refund. "Ryanair has not 'ignored' this passenger - on 23 Oct, Ms Foster submitted an expense claim to the value of €435.70 and was reimbursed for all reasonable receipted expenses (€273.70) submitted," they said.

"This was confirmed to Ms Foster via email, in which we explained why the remainder of her expenses did not qualify for reimbursement." The amount refunded was for part of Elaine's hotel stay (€240), €13.70 for meals and €20 in taxi expenses. In an email to Elaine, Ryanair said it couldn't refund the meals she had at the hotel as they were not itemised, and the other €20 taxi costs were not covered by Ryanair's policy.

Passenger rights, what counts as 'reasonable' and making sure you always get everything in writing Under EU regulation EU261, passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to rights of care, including "reasonable" expenses for overnight accommodation and meals. However, it does not give a definition of what is considered to be "reasonable" - leaving consumers in a tough spot when it comes to fighting back.

Ryanair did not give me an answer when I asked its spokesperson how it defined the term. Consumer expert Helen Dewdney offered her expertise, saying the airline must provide customers with food, drinks, access to communications, a hotel and travel to and from it, if a flight is delayed or cancelled overnight.

She explained that "reasonable comes down to what the average person would deem as reasonable.