I BOOKED a flight with Ryanair in January from Edinburgh to Karlsruhe/Baden Baden which should have been leaving on April 3 and returning on April 6. The purpose of my journey was to visit my son and his girlfriend who live near Karlsruhe.

When all flights were cancelled by Ryanair in March, I claimed a refund rather than a credit voucher. My reason for doing so was the fact that this particular flight route is only open from April to September and I would have to fly to Frankfurt outwith this period. I am not at all confident, therefore, that when flights are resumed that this route will be open at all and, to be quite honest, if I have to fly to Frankfurt, which is over an hour away by car from where my son lives, I would be using Lufthansa.

I have received a few emails from Ryanair since applying for a refund, all urging me to claim a voucher, and the latest one virtually said "apply for a voucher or you'll wait until this is all over and we may consider giving you your money back". There was a "click here" link to re-apply for a refund but when you clicked the link there was nothing but instructions on applying for a voucher. Is this not against the law (“Travel operators and airlines accused of breaching the rules over refunds”, The Herald, April 23?

I'm quite honestly sick of billionaires like Michael O'Leary and Richard Branson whingeing about their businesses going bust when claiming help from the governments of Ireland and the UK while confined to one of their several luxury homes while a widow like me in her late sixties is confined to her flat with no garden.

Margaret Thomson, Bo'ness.

LIKE many others I was obliged to cancel my spring break due to the coronavirus outbreak. I had booked my hotel, in Germany, through Booking.com, which was swift and efficient in returning the full amount for my accommodation to my credit card.

I was surprised to see that the amount returned was almost 10 per cent more than I had paid on booking, in January of this year, due to a significant change in the exchange rate. Ten per cent return in three months is better than any of my other investments. Makes me wish I had booked a whole European tour.

Needless to say, like thousands of others, I am locked into a spiral of correspondence in an effort to recover my air fares from Ryanair and will doubtless spend my windfall in my efforts to pursue them.

David G Will, Milngavie.