I am intrigued to see what they do to entice people into keeping the card.
How about diddly squat? Who paid who when each card was taken out? Normally, a bank would pay an affiliate fee for anyone bringing them customers, and knowing Ryanair they paid a licence fee to have their aircraft on the card.
Perhaps there was no fee paid as Raffaels were essentially doing Ryanair a "favour" because the £6 sign up fee was refunded.
Either way, small print will have no doubt said "we reserve the right to charge at any time", or maybe just "if the OFT tell us we have to charge, then we will - without twisting their arm, honest".
Any ideas on number of people who actually took up card? Percentage of bookings paid for using it?
MOL and his colleagues need to think more carefully about the things they say, stop shooting themselves in the foot, and start emphasising the things that they do well.
I think they think very carefully about what they say. Why do they shoot themselves in the foot? No publicity is bad publicity. They aren't bothered about the social snobs who think Ryanair are beneath them. They will never convert those types. As long as Ryanair marketing costs are well below those of their rivals, they have a key benefit of a couple of extra percentage points on margin, and in this industry, that counts for a lot.