View Full Version : Ryanair settle out of court...
PanzerJohn
4th May 2013, 00:33
Why UK passengers pay more on Ryanair: And why this man's victory could open the floodgates | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319142/Why-UK-passengers-pay-Ryanair-And-mans-victory-open-floodgates.html)
PAXboy
4th May 2013, 01:54
Other carriers have done this in the past and countless hundreds of UK companies make money out of their clients by using 0845 and higher numbers for their call centres, when the same companies use 0800 in the USA and other places.
Most companies will get away with whatever they can get away with. Nothing new in this, although well done to the bloke for getting his money.
Not certain why Cryanair tried to 'hush this up' because directional pricing is not new. The Croatia to UK market is completely different to the UK to Croatia market even on exactly the same days.
This weekend is a bank-holiday in the UK meaning that demand is higher and (economics 101) prices are going to be higher than the previous/next weekend for UK Departures. But it isn't a holiday in Croatia and FR will be pricing based on their expected demand for the Croatian market.
The European Commission investigated directional prices of IATA fares almost 20 years ago and concluded that directional pricing was not unlawful.
Unless the fares are in the same currency it would be impossible to have exactly the same fares in both directions.
PAXboy
4th May 2013, 12:38
Indeed ExXB. We have discussed the subject in here before. But my guess is that FR reckon that (in this type of case) no publicity is good. The amount of info in this kind of coverage is much less than that of a full court case. Also, the costs are much less to FR, irrespective of outcome.
As I said, congrats to the pax but nothing to write about here.
The SSK
6th May 2013, 08:45
Quoi?
From the EU's passenger rights website - the very first item on their list
Firstly, you may not be charged a higher price for a ticket because of your nationality or where you are buying the ticket from.
EU - Air passenger rights - Your Europe (http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm)
Absolutely correct SSK, that is the law.
But it isn't what happened here. The Croatian passengers booking from the UK travelling to Croatia and return paid exactly what a British passenger booking from the UK or a Spanish passenger booking from Spain would have paid for exactly the same journey (booked at exactly the same time). There was no discrimination based on the nationality of the passenger/purchaser. In fact there is no way for FR to know the passenger's nationality until after payment is made.
The complaint is that a round trip journey from the UK to Croatia is a different (in this case more expensive) price that a round trip journey from Croatia to the UK on (aproximately) the same times/dates.
And the price of eggs in the UK vs. in Croatia? Or the price of insurance for a UK resident vs. a Croatian resident?
Also, until 31 May, Croatia isn't part of the EU.
The SSK
6th May 2013, 14:56
That isn't the way I read it. I appeared to be reading about the same journey, booked from different locations. There have recently been successful actions against this very practice - I forget the organisation which did the researchm I have a feeling it was a Spanish consumer organisation.
Of course the difficulty is that you have to 'book' a flight from two different locations at precisely the same moment. Of course, if the numbers quoted are exactly the same, except that one is in sterling and the other is in euros, that's a bit of a give-away.
Rereading the story, it certainly implies that they were buying the same journey in different locations but the final comment: "A spokesman for the airline said: ‘Passengers pay for flights in the currency their flight departs from.’" implies the opposite.
If it is the former then Cryanair is breaking EU law. If it is the latter they are not.
Edited to add. I believe Cryanair's charges are the same in £s and in €. i.e. what is €30 is £30. At one time the exchange rate was close to 1 to 1, but not any longer, but they have neglected to fix this. (And be careful what you ask for - they won't reduce the £ amount, they'll increase the €
occasional
6th May 2013, 20:39
Perhaps we could start at the origin of the story.
How do I persuade RYR to quote me a price in euros for a flight starting in the UK when I am in the eurozone ?
I don't think they will quote you in euros. The standard procedure (of all airlines) is to quote the price in the currency of the country of origin of the first flight. So a price UK-anywhere-UK will be quoted in GBP.
If you do the opposite, say IE-UK-IE, you will get the price quoted in euros.
If you buy a GBP ticket, your credit card company will convert the fare to your currency at their standard rate.
CelticRambler
7th May 2013, 21:48
As said above, RA prices tickets in the currency of the departure airport unless it is booked as a return leg. If booking a separate return and charged in another currency to that of your payment card, there is a well hidden option on the payment screen to allow you to opt out of RA's exchange rate, but it is there.