In the forum 'Airlines, Airports & Routes' there is a thread running:
Topic: New Ryanair Credit Card Charges In which Herod points out:
Since the charge for the wheelchair was £18, if the ratio of wheelchair users is less than one in thirty-six, there will be a gain of 50p per passenger travelling.
Looks like another neat one from RYR. Going to the topic itself, RYR appear to be wanting to cover the costs of the court case by increasing their charges for pax using a credit card. I invite you to read the thread but here are two snippets.
As of 0600 this morning FR are charging a new handling fee for customers purchasing fares on the internet with a credit card. The charge is £1.75 per person per sector.
So family of four flying STN-CIA return will have to pay a stonking £14.00 credit card fee.
Another said:
The charge for Switch is 40p per sector. The new charges make it cheaper for single passengers but much more expensive for two or more. I have checked the charges of some other carriers. FlyBE charges £4 per booking for credit cards and £1 for debit cards. EasyJet & BMI Baby also charge £4 for credit cards but have no charge if using a debit card. BMI charge £3 for credit cards and again no charge for debit cards. Aer Lingus appear to charge £3 a booking made onmline irrespective of the means of payment.
How much Ryanair makes on this depends on the ratio of individual passengers to groups/families of two or more. I guess it will add some more to the coffers.
I guess that RYR know
exactly how many people use credit vs debit cards and how much more cash this will bring in. I have no issue with Ryan charging the full fare in lots of tiny bits, as long as folks work that out. It is certainly true that their fares ARE low. My reasons for not flying with them are unrelated to their cost or pricing strategy.