Ryanair-Questions, comments, bouquets & brickbats (Merged)

[manintheback]

I hear Ryanair will soon be offering a novel concept when purchasing a ticket.

For a higher one-off fee at time of booking (but cheaper than all the existing charges added up) you get not only the flight, but free boarding, free check-in, free luggage allowance, free food, free drink and free preallocated seat. Cant see it working personally.

[Tudor]

I've just printed off my boarding cards for a forthcoming Ryanair flight and the barcode is 'scrambled' as opposed to straight black and white lines - is this normal or should I print it off on a different computer?

I realise this may seem a silly question but, after reading some of the threads on here, I have visions of turning up at Manchester airport and being told I have to pay an extortionate fee to print one off with a proper barcode on it...

[davidjohnson6]

Tudor - don't worry, this is quite normal.
You need to make sure of a few things though:

1) You printed it on A4 paper (size 29.7 cm by 21 cm, or 12 inches by 8.4 inches) rather than something tiny

2) Don't tear the dotted line yourself (or at least, don't tear it completely) - leave it to the agent at the gate to do so

3) Keep the half you are given back at the gate - you'll need to show it when you climb the steps and enter the cabin

4) Don't lose it until you're off the plane, have collected your luggage and have exited the destination airport. If some official at an airport wants to be awkward, showing paperwork can help make them go away !

[Tudor]

David - thank you for your helpful reply.

[Der absolute Hammer]

This article was in the today Times of London.

Do budget airlines still offer the cheapest fares?

[Michael SWS]

And this appeared in today's Guardian:

Ryanair strands passengers in Morocco

Briefly, Ryanair changed the departure time of a return flight from Marrakech to Glasgow, and informed passengers by email just 22 hours before departure. Many of them, who were on holiday and therefore unable to access their email, missed the plane. Ryanair refused to compensate any of them until the Guardian got involved.

Moral of the story (apart from don't fly Ryanair)... know your rights and take the bast**ds to court for the compensation you're legally entitled to. If every inconvenienced passenger did this every time they'd soon have to change their grubby ways.

[circumflex]

The £5 fee doesn't apply if you check in online with hand baggage only. For obvious reasons, it has technically to be possible to get a flight for the advertised price.

For instance (looking at Ryanair's home page today) they're advertising Stansted to Billund (Denmark) for £3 (offer ends midnight tomorrow).

To get that fare you need to choose a day when there are £3 seats available (at the moment. for example, you could fly on any day in June bar the first sunday), take hand luggage only, check in online, and pay with an electron card.

So, if you felt so inclined, you could take a morning flight (07.55 arr 10.25); visit Legoland for the day (it's right beside the airport); and return (18.45 arr 19.15) for a grand total of £6 per head.

[slip and turn]

Talk about confusing the masses

circumflex you haven't caught up with what's occurring have you? And consequently anyone new to the topic since you posted last night has had a bum steer from you

The latest discussion is not about what occur-ed(s) yesterday, today or tomorrow, but what will occur from Wednesday according to the notice on their website.


So, even though you have reminded us of the obvious:

For obvious reasons, it has technically to be possible to get a flight for the advertised price.

that's not what Ryanair will be doing from Wednesday.

I can't believe what they are doing complies with European Law on Trading Standards. I was given to understand that the reason Ryanair don't charge for Electron is because they have to offer at least one method of payment which is not surcharged. They chose the obscure Electron not for the convenience of the majority of customers that's for sure.

How can they surcharge every customer now for checkin without the surcharge being declared as part of the advertised price?

I say Ryanair are again sailing close to the wind of legality (I have my view of which side). And if they are thumbing their noses to this aspect of Fair Trading, then what else are they thumbing their noses to in their operations?

I find it extremely annoying that they dare to trade in this manner. Trapping customers into coughing up hidden charges, or hiding anything at all, is not the way you would expect an excellent airline to operate.

Ryanair are unreliable in this regard, so again I ask (and it is totally their fault I am provoked to asking it again today) what else about them is unreliable?

[Munnyspinner]

Vote with your feet.

MO'L is a money grabbing loathsome little fellow with a very active imagination and equally questionable morals. It would seem that for every two ryanfliers there is one with burnt fingers. In this latter category, it would seem that more than half go back for more - and end up counting the cost. Sadly, it would salso eem that far too many folk don't really understand how FR make thier money. They are very cute about what they charge and how they charge and what rights you think you may have as opposed to those you actually do have.

The FR promise was that of absoute lowest seat price per sector as opposed to lowest average seat price. But all seats come with the usual FR strings attached - so beware.

If you want a refund, need any extra services ( including hold baggage and now check-in!!) or want to ensure you actually get to yor destination - carefully weigh up your options.

I have started another thread that is asking FR customers to stop whingeing when things go wrong - the price you pay reflects the risk you take. My advice, if you have a bad experience, is to vote with your feet and try another airline. But, please stop whingeing!

[ShamRoc]

This new on-line check-in; can it be done more than 24 hours in advance? This is currently the case with "normal" airlines. So, can it be done as a round trip exercise? I ask because it may be that in some of the more "remote" Ryanair destinations passengers may not have access to a PC and printer. In that case will they be forced to pay the high "check-in fee"? In any event it seems there will have to be at leat one check in desk available to collect all that extra non on line check in cash for MOL!! Perhaps a PC and printer will replace check-in desks at airports allowing for on-line check-in for all.

[SeenItAll]

I'd like to thank everyone for their helpful replies to my question about Ryanair's additional fees. I guess the shame of it is that while Ryanair may provide service that is reasonably priced in total, its enthusiasm for "hiding the pea" makes travellers feel suspicious and fleeced. It would be so much nicer if the total cost was made clear, up front.

I guess in the mean time it is caveat emptor.

[Roxburgh]

@ShamRoc
FR's website says that online check-in is available "from 15 days up to 4 hours before the scheduled flight departure time." So it should be possible to do it as a round-trip if your flight dates are suitable.

[JKKne]

This article was in the today Times of London.

Do budget airlines still offer the cheapest fares?

That article is only really relevant within London where there's a huge amount of choice

British Airways have all but abandoned my local airport (Newcastle) aside from LHR route but easyjet, flybe, jet2 and ryanair et al all have invested in routes. BA sometimes works out cheaper in peak times, even KLM does but do I really want to fly NCL-LHR-BCN when I could go direct for a little bit extra, cabin service aside.

Out of Newcastle to 'key leisure destinations' there's only the charters/easy/ryanair to Spain and the like or Emirates/KLM/Sabena/AF/LH scheduled

Though I imagine the vast amount of Newcastle passengers use flights are to Alicante, Palma etc

Yes sometimes they are a little bit more expensive but ahead of BA and the scheduled airlines. They operate!

[circumflex]

I'm sorry if I've confused the story, but I've taken dozens of Ryanair flights in the last couple of years (paid for with my own money, I hasten to add) and my point was you can (could?) get flights at the advertised price, without any surcharges.

They chose the obscure Electron not for the convenience of the majority of customers that's for sure.

Granted it's almost completely useless for anything else, but if you fly with them regularly it's worth getting an Electron card solely for booking with Ryanair. But their fees page says the fee-free Electron card is an 'offer', so I assume when an even more useless card turns up, they'll switch to that.

How can they surcharge every customer now for checkin without the surcharge being declared as part of the advertised price?

Presumably by only advertising the 'special offer' prices; the press release says they will "introduce a £5/€5 online check-in fee per person, per flight, on new bookings, other than promotional fares (fares of “Free”, “€1” and “€5” will include web check-in on a free of charge basis)."

Hmmm... this can be read one of two ways - web check-in will be free even if you have hold baggage; or promotional fares won't be available if you have hold baggage. Given MoL's take on hold baggage, I wouldn't put it past them.

The website hasn't been updated yet, so only time will tell.

[Globaliser]

If you make a dummy booking now, there's a drop-down list of amount of baggage and ways to check in. 0 checked bags + online check-in still gives you no extra charges on this line. Every other combination results in a charge which seems to accord with what's on the table of charges elsewhere on the website. So it looks like you can still book the advertised fare and travel without surcharges - if you try hard enough.

But I haven't yet tried looking for a free, €1 or €5 fare to test that.

[PAXboy]

it's worth getting an Electron card solely for booking with Ryanair.

I notice that EZY have also adopted the Electron card for this purpose. I report having returned from REU today on RYR and just booked to FCO with EZY! Personally, I am still happy just to wait for the bottom line price to come up and THEN make my purchase decision.

[slip and turn]

Globaliser, they have stripped out that intermediate booking page with the bag drop/checkin choice dropdown. I see no reminder at all on that page of the fact that there is a mandatory checkin surcharge for all non-promotional flights. In fact NOWHERE is there a disclosure of it in the buying process unless you stop and query why you can't avoid it by researching their small print and forums like this where the change is discussed.

The old intermediate bags/checkin/insurance page did of course include the method of Checkin chosen within one combo dropdown (it was coupled with the number of bags). The choice of an unsurcharged checkin is no longer offered here or anywhere else so now the combo dropdown just adds up the bag total at eight bleedin' quid per bag each way Then without an Electron card there's another five quid each way for all other means of paying on the next page . All that is on top of the new £5 each way mandatory checkin charge . So for all flights not advertised separately as all-in promotional fare prices (that means for most flights), if you have a bag in the hold and no Electron card then you will be charged £18 each way PLUS the base fare PLUS taxes/other fees.

Now I am clever enough as a frequent flyer with no choice of airline to be wary of Ryanair's tricks every step of the process, but the way they are again selling flights effectively by what looks to me like bait and switch is surely NOT a fair way for Ryanair to be doing business according to EU law? It is at least as poor a way to do business as the competitor ways they complain about e.g. their logo "Say No to Air France Fuel Surcharge" etc.

Seems to me Ryanair are attempting to tip EU law on it's head - the only way to be sure you are not getting hit with a mandatory checkin surcharge when you click on something saying "from £4.99" or similar (THE BAIT) is if once you have chosen your dates and route you don't move from the flight selection page until you see the words "Free Online Checkin" next to the selection option button lower down. Click on most flights and those words WILL NOT appear unless you happen to be booking within a major promotion period. Without it you are soon on the hook for that extra fiver (THE SWITCH). And BTW, if you like the look of a flight labelled "from £0.00GBP", and next to the option button it says "SPECIAL OFFER" ... those words won't hack it. That's not a promotion for the purposes of Ryanair's latest wheeze. No Siree! You will still cop a mandatory £5 checkin charge and some further tax/fee as far as I can see ... In fact let me spell it out based on one example I am looking at right now using the flexible dates option that shows a view of a week's possible flights to the chosen destination:

Tues 2/6 "from £4.99" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £43.26
Wed 3/6 "from £4.99" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £43.26
Thu 4/6 "from £4.99" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £43.26
Fri 5/6 "from £0.00" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £13.00
Sat 6/6 "from £34.99" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £73.26
Sun 7/6 "from £4.99" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £43.26
Mon 8/6 "from £4.00" Actual minimum price no bag no Electron £9.00

Even as a regular Ryanair booker it has taken me 10 minutes to get those actual bottom lines for my purchasing decision whereas the "from £X.YZ" figures were in my face from the first moments. You can see that the "from £0.00" bait is actually more expensive than the one labelled "from £4.00"

It also looks to me like Ryanair feel emboldened enough to perhaps start charging for Electron sometime soon:
Ryanair - FAQS : Table of Fees (English)

(Check the second item - "Visa Electron - As a special offer to Visa Electron card holders, Ryanair, for a limited period only, will not apply a Debit Card charge" - limited period only: what's that about?)

It's about time the OFT bit O'Leary's ar$e good and proper. If they can stop credit card co.s charging £20 when they feel like it for late payment etc, then they can stop O'Leary charging spurious amounts not based on any particularly incurred business or administration cost too . He even now has the cheek to invite customers to throw away £1 for an SMS booking confirmation that has no validity at the airport!

Come on Ryanair - you don't have to stoop this low. We know you can do the business. A bit of respect would not cost you a thing

PS What's that £20 Infant Fee?? Is that a new one too? Infants not requiring seats are now charged a flat fee perhaps?? And boy, look at that Name Change fee now .

PPS If what he's doing IS bait and switch, your bottom line buying decision is beside the point, PaxBoy

[JKKne]

My experiment

Checked dummy flights from NCL to DUB (on the pretence of a day meeting in DUB) with hand luggage only


Flight FR 17307:55
09:00Depart
ArriveNewcastle (NCL)
Dublin (DUB)OUTBOUND - FR173 07.55 - £4.00

INBOUND - FR172 06.25 - £4.00

With Electron - £8.00

With VISA Debit - £18.00

Hell of a deal!

[Avman]

JKKne, doesn´t mean a thing if you don´t include such info as day of the week, and how far in advance you booked. Most businessmen book within a day or two of travel. Try that and see what you come up with.

In the meantime, I noticed that your day meeting stretched into a day and a night, so not a same day return! Furthermore, looking at the May schedule it´s only possible to make a day return on a Friday! I tried a dummy booking for next Friday and had no availability on the return! Tried again for a day return (hand baggage only and no other frills) on June 5th (two weeks time) and it came to 150 quid!

[slip and turn]

I don't think your 'experiment' was very rigorous, JKKne

Yeah, granted there are some good deals on that route but frequently not as good as the 'bait' numbers and even some cheaper than the one you found, but just to show how unpredictable it is, let's take your route again and look at those "from £4.00GBP" fares you quoted:

FR173 OUTBOUND
Free Online Check in
Depart:
Newcastle 07:55
Arrive:
Dublin 09:00
1 x Adult 4.00 GBP

Fare: 4.00 GBP
Online Check-In: 0.00 GBP
Taxes / Fees: 0.00 GBP
Total Price: 4.00 GBP


FR172 INBOUND (next day)
Free Online Check in
Depart:
Dublin 12:10
Arrive:
Newcastle 13:15
1 x Adult 4.00 GBP

Fare: 4.00 GBP
Online Check-In: 0.00 GBP
Taxes / Fees: 15.54 GBP
Total Price: 19.54 GBP

Plus Payment handling fee of £5 each way if no Electron.

Did you check the taxes coming back in your example?? (Tip you can't travel back on the same day if you haven't arrived yet, and yes the tax does vary between NIL and £15.54 on different flights even some with same bait prices!) Confused yet? Do you feel lucky? Confused enough just to switch and forget the bait?