Scottie Dog,
I recall a ruling in an Irish court which instructed Ryanair to refund any taxes/fees they were withholding on unsed/canx tickets. I believe this is still the case. Not sure if this ruling was carried to the European courts. The onus still lies with the pax to request a refund and of course there is a fee for doing so imposed by RYR.
Ignorance of your right to have unused taxes/fees refunded together with a penalty for applying means the carrier still retains monies not rightfully theirs.
I recall the first time I booked online with RYR only to be charged an additional fee for using my credit card. This from the company slating airports for increasing airport fees and thus driving the cost of air travel upwards. For a company to penalise you for using the very service they set up to avoid paying commissions to agents is remarkable. How else do you use their service (Ok debit cards are not charged but not every card is a charge/debit card). Fees for using credit cards are a normal part of life when paying for services but usually only attracting an additional 5%. Ryanair charge £/Euro5 thus making their average fare £/Euro100. This additional fee is hard to swallow when you are buying a fare of £/Euro return. Low fares-yes but high charges to use the only service you can book on to get these low fares.
Not in anyway RYR bashing. I have travelled with them extensively and find their contribution to low cost travel in Europe superb.