O'Really? A self handler? Surely some mistake?:} :E

Dub-kef
 

That's interesting. Would there be a market for a DUB-KEF flight? I know that there is a number of charter flights operated between the two airports but I wouldn't have thought a scheduled flight could have been sustained year-round, especially with 189 seaters. I hope i'm wrong though because it would be great to see a flight like this operating.:ok:

Thanks ;)

I have them myself, sometimes... I almost invariably end up regretting having had them, though! :sad:

My missus dug me out the self-same link (just after I'd posted last), and I've been reading it myself to see what's what, in the light of hindsight. As I expected, the devil is, as always, in the detail. The key bits being:

"As a result of these changes, those 25% of Ryanair’s passengers who presently travel with just hand luggage will avail of lower fares..." (my bold) Isn't that another way of saying "anyone who isn't travelling with just hand luggage, is going to get stiffed"?

In your case, it's unfortunate that you've described your ticket price as being "between €80 and €90" in the old days, because, of course, that €10 gap easily covers any potential €3.50 'saving' or fee twice over, and my guess is (given the way these cut-price lines change their prices even within the same day, depending on loadings, etc) it's impossible to detect whether the 9% reduction has actually been applied. A like for like comparison is presumably the only way (and no doubt, that will have been rendered impossible by changes to schedule timings since Jan, etc)

Just out of curiousity... this up-to-15kg of baggage you're checking in... is it ONE bag, or two? Cos it's pretty clear (well, relatively clear once one has deciphered the double-speak in the press-release), that if you're checking in two bags, you can expect a price hike. In theory, if you're checking in just one bag, you could've expected 'no change'... but...

More to the point, it would seem evident that only those folks doing their check-in via the web will remain at the old price, and then, only if they're web-checking-in just one bag.

Everyone who brings a bag to the desk, and checks it in there, is going to get stiffed for an extra €7.00 per bag, each way - and presumably, that's a 'pre-tax' figure (though I am just guessing, uber-cynically, here!) Is that where the €20 hike you're referring to, actually comes in? If you're not rounding up for effect (which is fine by me, btw!), then maybe it's the ol' "ex-VAT" cobblers that these rotters love to stitch us up with, rearing its ugly head again?

Certainly, it does seem that the increases are greater than espoused at the time of the press-release, but that's probably not a difficult 'promise' to wriggle out of. Increased costs, security-alerts, etc, will all be tools in Molly's defensive armoury, no doubt. Besides, it was a 'warning', really, not a 'promise', and as such, everyone (apart from those going naked with just hand-luggage and a web-booked ticket) were actually just being warned that prices were RISING, not falling, in real terms.

As for the lack of increase in baggage allowance weights, yeah, that's pretty obviously not happened. Is it a broken promise? Well, yeah, but of course it'll be another soapy whitewash that Molly will slip out of with "plausible deniability" and blame-shifting onto some third party, no doubt. I fully expect some explanation to surface later, which somehow manages to convince us all (momentarily) that actually Molly was being a jolly good egg, cos what the CAA really wanted to do was reduce our baggage allowance down to the weight of two pencils and a pair of pants, but jolly old Molly managed to at least keep things the way they were... albeit for a price!

Rotten stinky old world, innit? :}

Iceland skies
 

Does EU/Ireland have an open skies agreement with Iceland? Or will Ryanair have to apply for permission to open any route to Iceland?

Please educate me on this matter :O

If no open skies is in place, then maybe the Icelandic government just won't allow Ryanair to compete with Iceland Express.

Got stiffed by MOL last week travelling down to Toulon....

Back in April or May, I don't remember, booked a ticket for myself, Frau H and a couple of friends.....Four names, Mr H, Frau H, Mr J and Mrs J all on one booking reference.

We knew we would have only one case per couple, so prepaid two cases, but although a single booking ref we had to ' tick ' the cases against two of the four passengers on the booking form....arbitarily I ' ticked ' Mr H and Mr J as the FR booking system does not allow cases to be pre-booked without assigning these to a particular passenger.

On Monday, Mr J informed us that due to an urgent work requirement he would have to travel Friday instead of Thursday, so Thursday morning I checked in along with Frau H and Mrs J and the two cases but without Mr J....

Guess what ?

That's right - at check-in, Mrs J informed that she had no pre-booked case and was required to pay £15 for the outbound and inbound flights....

OK, not a fortune, but had I arbitarily ' ticked ' Mrs J as the case-carrying passenger, then no ' on the day ' charge would have been required....

Can't help wondering if the FR booking site isn't cunningly designed to strip a few more pounds form the passengers on these sort of occasions....particularly as there is no option to assign the pre-booked baggage to the booking reference instead of to the individuals on the booking reference.

Every time I say ' Enough is enough with these tos*ers ' but then give them another chance to stiff me another way a few months later....But this time was absolutely, positively, definitely the last time !! Now it's personal.....

Just been reading the BRS thread and there is a FR base rumour on there, obviously this is a rumour website, but would BRS not be in with a shout? we all know how MOL loves to pee on EZY's parade, what better way than to set up a base in EZY's busiest airport outside of London? They also fell out with CWL and no longer operate from there(last year it was listed on their website as a growth area) also it doesn't seem they're to keen on EXT as usually their STN-NQY service diverts to BRS as apposed to the much closer EXT?Any thoughts on that one?

Bases
 

I can list at least a dozen airports that I have heard are set to become Ryanair bases. Maybe they will indeed all become Ryanair bases one day. But we can really only expect one or two more bases to be announced before the end the this year.

Facts:

• Ryanair said at one moment that they would announce 2 or 3 bases before the end of 2006.
• Since then they have announced Bremen, leaving 1 or 2 still to be announced.
• Ryanair have began receiving a delivery of 30 aircraft for "Winter 2006/2007".
• Ryanair have announced to the public where they intend to place 21 of these aircraft.
• Ryanair have told investors last week that EMA is to receive 3 more aircraft during the winter.
• Thus the plans for 6 aircraft due to arrive before April 2007 have not yet been announced.

So the question is: how will these 6 aircraft be used?
Existing bases? New base(s)? Replacement of old aircraft? Reserve aircraft?

Eitherway, LOADS of more route announcements ahead in the next few months :ok:

Iceland is in the European Economic Area so there should be open skies

Well, one thing is clear.

When the changes were brought in, part of the loudly-announced package was that the "free" baggage allowance was being increased to 20 kg per person from 15 kg, although there was going to be this new per piece fee. Part of the swings and roundabouts, it was said. OK, fair enough.

Very quietly, the weight allowance is being reduced back to 15 kg.

Would I be being too cynical if I were to assume that this wasn't all planned in advance?

Ryanair will annunce soon a major expansion of EMA base.

Italian press report about new Ryanair route EMA-AHO will be annunced soon.

Also Alghero is negotiating with Ryanair to become a new italian base.

SNN will get another next yr

KEF would be an intersting one...

The reason they do not divert to Exeter is because Exeter refuse to let them, something to do with not wanting low fares at there airport as I have heard EZY and FR have both tried getting routes there as at the moment there is no big airport in the sotuhwest apart from Bristol as NQY is unreliable due to the weather and Plymouth is just to small and also suffers alot from the weather..

Errr - what business model do Flybe operate these days then?

Ryanair buying Aer Lingus?
 

A very rare return to the boards for me, just to say that Ryanair have just announced a bid for Aer Lingus. RYA share down 4% on the announcement, Aer Lingus up 7.6%. MOL says he sees opportunities to reduce operating costs and increase efficiencies.

Nice to see you Stockie. Can't imagine Lingus staff are too thrilled at this idea.:\ :hmm:

Also on:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5408780.stm

Ryanair buying Aer Lingus. Confirmed
 

They bought 16% of AL shares yeaterday.


Making a EUR 2.80 per share for the company today!!!

What % of Aer Lingus is owned by the employees again?

3.4% directly, 9.9% in the employee trust.