Airline add ons
We have a place in Mojacar. There are few flights from London to Almeria during the winter. We looked at alternatives and have bought £15 pp tickets for flights there and back next March. Yes, the £5 per person per flight Booking Fee (unless Visa Electron, now available at only a few places, such as the Halifax) is a pain, but we still have a very cheap deal and obviously do not expect much for it. Any other flights were approx double and either involved more travel in UK or in Spain. On arrival we will still have time in hand in Spain to shop for essentials and get to our apartment at sensible time, not crack of dawn or dead of night. We don't need hold baggage and can manage for a couple of hours without buying inflight food/drink (OK, if it were sensibly priced, then I'm sure we'd avail ourselves). Ryanair obviously chose to get maximum out of a few, rather than a little from most, but if that's their business plan, I won't buy anything. The next time we go out, we'll see what the best deals for us are, and book accordingly. If Ryanair can keep in business on these fares then I'll use them when it suits. We have happily paid more (substantially so) with another preferred airline many times previously, but we can't simply ignore deals that are about half the others price.
Join Date: Mar 2007
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I have an Abbey Electron card and I use it only for booking flights, trains etc. online. There is no money in it, I just transfer it across online instantly and save a fortune!
I have flown with Ryanair on 22 bookings during 2008 which I think means I have saved over £100 - please correct me if I am wrong. Coincidently - I haven't paid more than that in total for all the flights!
I know many people don't like paying the extra fees. If you have baggage - go with BA etc. If you don't FR/U2 are fantastic!
I have flown with Ryanair on 22 bookings during 2008 which I think means I have saved over £100 - please correct me if I am wrong. Coincidently - I haven't paid more than that in total for all the flights!
I know many people don't like paying the extra fees. If you have baggage - go with BA etc. If you don't FR/U2 are fantastic!
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Knievel,
I understand that. Ryanair have told you that if you want to save yourself the charge then get an Electron card.
Answer: Phone your bank and ask for an electron card or get an account that will offer one.
It's not rocket science, is it?
I understand that. Ryanair have told you that if you want to save yourself the charge then get an Electron card.
Answer: Phone your bank and ask for an electron card or get an account that will offer one.
It's not rocket science, is it?
Join Date: Nov 2006
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I understand the arguement that is being made re the airfare of 1p plus £10 credit card charge.
The credit card charge is not reflective of the actual charge by the bank or the credit card company. Big companies have deals as low as 1% of the price or 1.2% in some cases that I have seen.
So in any fare that Ryanair charges the fee is excessive. And the issue of advising fellow ppruner's to use Electron, well in ROI for eg none of the banks provide Electron, and most banks dont provide this.
Ryanair rely on credit card charges and make no mistake the proportion of payments by Electron is very low, if it were higher Ryanair would jack the cost of this up too.
Ryanair do provide excellent prices and yes you can avoid many of the add ons, eg bag, electron etc, but in my view Ryanair and any other airline for that matter should only be allowed to charge the actual cost to them of the credit card fee. They can go and show the real cost of the flight in the fare price. In turn this will reflect a realistic seat cost per passenger?
EI-BUD
The credit card charge is not reflective of the actual charge by the bank or the credit card company. Big companies have deals as low as 1% of the price or 1.2% in some cases that I have seen.
So in any fare that Ryanair charges the fee is excessive. And the issue of advising fellow ppruner's to use Electron, well in ROI for eg none of the banks provide Electron, and most banks dont provide this.
Ryanair rely on credit card charges and make no mistake the proportion of payments by Electron is very low, if it were higher Ryanair would jack the cost of this up too.
Ryanair do provide excellent prices and yes you can avoid many of the add ons, eg bag, electron etc, but in my view Ryanair and any other airline for that matter should only be allowed to charge the actual cost to them of the credit card fee. They can go and show the real cost of the flight in the fare price. In turn this will reflect a realistic seat cost per passenger?
EI-BUD
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Price Comprison:
LGW-ALC 26JAN09 OUT / RTN 02FEB09 02PAX
Easyjet:
OUTWARD 0625 / 0950
INWARD 1025 / 1200
TOTAL INC 02 Bags paying with electron card £137.86
TOTAL without bags and paying with electron £107.86
Ryanair:
OUTWARD 1130 / 1505
INWARD 0920 / 1055
TOTAL INC 02 Bags paying with electron card £120.00
TOTAL without bags and online check in paying with electron £60
As you can see, if you play it right, travel light etc then yes ryanair comes in much cheaper at present although doesn't allways as the fares are only cheap as its a flat £30 return per person, but add the bags and check and hardly any difference between them.
Interesting
LGW-ALC 26JAN09 OUT / RTN 02FEB09 02PAX
Easyjet:
OUTWARD 0625 / 0950
INWARD 1025 / 1200
TOTAL INC 02 Bags paying with electron card £137.86
TOTAL without bags and paying with electron £107.86
Ryanair:
OUTWARD 1130 / 1505
INWARD 0920 / 1055
TOTAL INC 02 Bags paying with electron card £120.00
TOTAL without bags and online check in paying with electron £60
As you can see, if you play it right, travel light etc then yes ryanair comes in much cheaper at present although doesn't allways as the fares are only cheap as its a flat £30 return per person, but add the bags and check and hardly any difference between them.
Interesting
Join Date: Apr 2000
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Although it is obviously all a big marketing ploy to suck you in with a small fare and then lay the 'unavoidable' charges on you - such as checking in etc etc the one I think must be illegal - or if not, exceptionally close to the wind, is the charge of a credit/debit card booking fee per passenger not per transaction. How can this be in anyway justified? I understand that to process a single card transaction many banks/financial charge a fee or percentage but how in any way can this be dependent on how many passengers are flying?
Can anyone explain?
Can anyone explain?
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Although it is obviously all a big marketing ploy to suck you in with a small fare and then lay the 'unavoidable' charges on you - such as checking in etc etc
I booked flights with FR recently 1p out and 1p back. Total charged to my Electron card = 2p.
I won't be checking in bags, I won't buy on board, but (hopefully) I will get to the continent and back for a total of 2p and to where I want to get to.
Easy answer = hand baggage only/web check-in & get yourself an Electron card like many of us have and just transfer in the cash as and when you need.
Even if you paid the credit card charge, which I should say is £8 roundtrip not £10 like many of you keep mentioning, then I would have paid £8.02 for a return flight to any number of destinations that were available. Add to that if you like a bag to check-in, airport check-in and even pre-board and you still only have a total cost charged to your card of £42.06!
Now I've looked at BA for the same route and get £117.30!
Now in my calculation I could still buy an over priced G'n't and a sandwich and the whole thing would still be cheaper than the BA option.
However work the system and you fly for a penny each way and that's exactly what I'll be doing.
Get over it, you all agree to the charges with Ryanair before you press confirm when you've entered the credit card number and pressed 'OK'. If you're stupid enough not to have noticed the extras then in all fairness you shouldn't really own a credit card should you!
So lets get over the "Ryanair charges whinge" and let this one rest. And please before someone else starts yet another Ryanair bashing thread, get a life it's died it's death now, get an electron card and "Fly Cheaper" or fly with whoever you like, no one cares! Enough people have had their say on this tideous over done topic.
Join Date: Oct 2007
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My view in relation to these "add ons" depends on what the fares are vis-a-vis competitors'.
For example, when Ryanair first released its flights from Stansted to Alicante for next summer I was quite shocked to find fares before airport check in, credit card etc. fees were added which would have meant that flying Club Europe on BA from Gatwick would have been cheaper on the dates I was investigating. To have to pay Ryanair's credit card fee on top of what was a ridiculously high fare would have been an insult. On the other hand, when I fly this route and pay only £20-£30 before the credit card fee, it looks different.
(If I'm paying a lot for tickets, whatever the price comparisons show, I feel airlines should not levy a credit card charge. I remember a BA Club World booking I made for myself and another passenger - even though it was shown on the payment page on ba.com as one total I was charged two credit card fees. For what I was paying I felt charging a credit card fee at all was unacceptable.)
For example, when Ryanair first released its flights from Stansted to Alicante for next summer I was quite shocked to find fares before airport check in, credit card etc. fees were added which would have meant that flying Club Europe on BA from Gatwick would have been cheaper on the dates I was investigating. To have to pay Ryanair's credit card fee on top of what was a ridiculously high fare would have been an insult. On the other hand, when I fly this route and pay only £20-£30 before the credit card fee, it looks different.
(If I'm paying a lot for tickets, whatever the price comparisons show, I feel airlines should not levy a credit card charge. I remember a BA Club World booking I made for myself and another passenger - even though it was shown on the payment page on ba.com as one total I was charged two credit card fees. For what I was paying I felt charging a credit card fee at all was unacceptable.)
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Looking throughmy credit card statements, for a variety of airlines, you always get one entry per passenger, not one per booking. Is this something the credit card companies insist on?
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I always get a statement (entry) per booking, not per passenger. Concerns 3 banks-cards. Banks are interested per transaction, not per persons within one transaction. Banks never know how many persons there are.
