Ryanair-Questions, comments, bouquets & brickbats (Merged)
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Ryanair 19 Oct Stn - HHN - STN
Day trip to Germany, £10 out, £20 back with a checked in case. STN heaving with p/x for the early flights. All security channels manned and working with minimal hassle or delay.Flight out on time and full, nice day shopping in Gemany, flight back on time and full, passport control very quick and baggage on the belt within minutes of clearing passports.A good £30 worth and a pleasant experience. Tip for all - print off two copies of your on-line check in paper, on 2 different printers if possible - I have had mine rejected by the scanner, once,and it is a real faff going to a desk and getting a new agent issued boarding pass!
Hand luggage rules not strongly enforced; I saw man with a full size rucksack which he had diffculty in lifting with 2 hands get thru. It was way over-size and overweight and several people with more than one piece of luggage too.
Hand luggage rules not strongly enforced; I saw man with a full size rucksack which he had diffculty in lifting with 2 hands get thru. It was way over-size and overweight and several people with more than one piece of luggage too.
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Liverpool based Geordie, so calm down, calm down kidda!!
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Do you want top quality or do you want cheap? I have flown RyanAir many many times and am 100% happy. I have had a flight cancelled a few years ago and had to get home by ferry, but even that was an adventure, so I was still happy overall. Have just done an overnight in Belfast (hand luggage enough) for £2 each way plus £10 booking fee. Fourteen Quid!! Bargain.
Going to Malaga in 2 weeks time for £20 return all in fees included. I have just opened a visa-electron bank account so it could have been a tenner return all in. If it all goes wrong and I have to sort another way home myself, I will claim on my annual travel insurance if needed.
With Spain, Ireland, Germany, France and Italy on my travel history with LoCos, I have had a ball......
Going to Malaga in 2 weeks time for £20 return all in fees included. I have just opened a visa-electron bank account so it could have been a tenner return all in. If it all goes wrong and I have to sort another way home myself, I will claim on my annual travel insurance if needed.
With Spain, Ireland, Germany, France and Italy on my travel history with LoCos, I have had a ball......
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Two questions, both related:
On aircraft fitted with the mobile 'phone service, I've not noticed a great deal of passenger interest. (I readily admit, though, that it can be difficult to gauge from one's seat.) Is this others' perception?
On my two most recent sectors with this service, there seemed to be some difficulty getting it working and on both occasions passengers were only able to use their 'phones for around one-quarter of each flight. Is this happening a lot?
I must say that, so far, the ability to make calls in flight has not turned out to be the nightmare I'd feared. I suppose that the cost-conscious passengers who fly Ryanair are going to be wary of using what is, after all, an expensive service. This makes me wonder how long it will last.
On aircraft fitted with the mobile 'phone service, I've not noticed a great deal of passenger interest. (I readily admit, though, that it can be difficult to gauge from one's seat.) Is this others' perception?
On my two most recent sectors with this service, there seemed to be some difficulty getting it working and on both occasions passengers were only able to use their 'phones for around one-quarter of each flight. Is this happening a lot?
I must say that, so far, the ability to make calls in flight has not turned out to be the nightmare I'd feared. I suppose that the cost-conscious passengers who fly Ryanair are going to be wary of using what is, after all, an expensive service. This makes me wonder how long it will last.
Keeping Danny in Sandwiches
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Ryanair no longer sending booking confirmation by email?
I have booked a few Ryanair flights and all have been confirmed by email.
I booked again last night and although when I "Manage my booking" I can see the flight details I haven't had a confirmation email. Have they changed their system or is there a problem?
I booked again last night and although when I "Manage my booking" I can see the flight details I haven't had a confirmation email. Have they changed their system or is there a problem?
Keeping Danny in Sandwiches
Join Date: May 1999
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I hadn't checked my spam, but it isn't there. I have been back to Manage my Bookings and my email is correct.
I am reluctant to add to the profits of MOL by phoning customer services so I am at a loss, other than to download and print the booking confirmation.
I am reluctant to add to the profits of MOL by phoning customer services so I am at a loss, other than to download and print the booking confirmation.
At times I know they have had problems sending emails at busy times or at other times no email was added but doesn't appear to be the case here.
As have to checkn in online anyway then not sure why bothered about printing confirmation..
As have to checkn in online anyway then not sure why bothered about printing confirmation..
Keeping Danny in Sandwiches
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The email confirmation has just arrived about 20 hours after the flight was booked.
I wanted confirmation so I had my own record, you are of course absolutely correct that I don't actually need one to get onto the site.
I'm sure MOL would have a word for it.
I wanted confirmation so I had my own record, you are of course absolutely correct that I don't actually need one to get onto the site.
I'm sure MOL would have a word for it.
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Remember that email isn't an instantaneous form of communication. Problems with the software at FR's end, your end, your ISP/email providers end and network issues in between all these points can delay or stop email coming through
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Ryanair pricing strategy
Just booked Ryanair Luton-Murcia return next March for £20 per person all in. Not complainng but why on earth are they doing it? Airport taxes must be about £17 (can't remember what Spain charge, but UK is £11), so Ryanair are not really covering any of their costs to speak of.
Surely it would be better to park the plane and give everyone a day off?
Surely it would be better to park the plane and give everyone a day off?
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On the flipside, I can almost guarantee that there will be three or four people who book the same flight as you the night before and pay upwards of £150 plus for the privilege. It is these last minute customers who make Ryanair profitable.
Why do Ryanair do this? To have as high a load factor as possible (load factor is the percentage of seats filled on any given flight). It costs a huge amount of money to put a plane in the air but once its in the sky, the direct cost of carrying extra passengers is negligible. Ryanair make almost 20% of their profits from auxiliary income- baggage, credit card fees, food and drink onboard, the list goes on. The more people on a flight, the more opportunity they have to exploit these revenue streams.
Airline pricing is a hugely complex thing but from what I can gather, most promotional fares are for seats that the airline predicts will go unsold, hence most special offers are for midweek flights or in your case, out of season an a holiday route. As you state in your post, the main expense is APD/airport taxes (Spain was €8 a few years ago). If they break even on your £20 fare, anything that you or anyone in your party buys from Ryanair is pure profit generated from a seat that would have been unoccupied.
It's also worth noting that Ryanair have agreements with the local authorities in some regions where they are actually paid for bringing passengers in as they boost tourist revenues. Not sure if that is the case for Murcia but I'm sure someone else out there might know...
Why do Ryanair do this? To have as high a load factor as possible (load factor is the percentage of seats filled on any given flight). It costs a huge amount of money to put a plane in the air but once its in the sky, the direct cost of carrying extra passengers is negligible. Ryanair make almost 20% of their profits from auxiliary income- baggage, credit card fees, food and drink onboard, the list goes on. The more people on a flight, the more opportunity they have to exploit these revenue streams.
Airline pricing is a hugely complex thing but from what I can gather, most promotional fares are for seats that the airline predicts will go unsold, hence most special offers are for midweek flights or in your case, out of season an a holiday route. As you state in your post, the main expense is APD/airport taxes (Spain was €8 a few years ago). If they break even on your £20 fare, anything that you or anyone in your party buys from Ryanair is pure profit generated from a seat that would have been unoccupied.
It's also worth noting that Ryanair have agreements with the local authorities in some regions where they are actually paid for bringing passengers in as they boost tourist revenues. Not sure if that is the case for Murcia but I'm sure someone else out there might know...
Last edited by Anansis; 11th Nov 2009 at 19:38. Reason: typo
There is also the consideration, that if you want to be able to advertise "Fly for £1", then it must be possible for people to actually pay £1 on one or more dates on the route specified.
As to whether this market strategy has a net profit (i.e. revenue gained because people associate Ryanair with flying for peanuts, both direct and ancillary, is worth more than the cost of subsidising some seats) is worth deliberating as well.
As to whether this market strategy has a net profit (i.e. revenue gained because people associate Ryanair with flying for peanuts, both direct and ancillary, is worth more than the cost of subsidising some seats) is worth deliberating as well.
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I think the £1 seat sales certainly help to cultivate the image of ryanair as a cheap carrier. Ryanairs last minute and walkup fares are rarely the cheapest option for travel yet many people accept them at face value because they always assume that a ryanair ticket will be the cheapest.
I often wonder how many people actually travel on the discounted fares? I own a visa electron card and go absolutely crazy when they have a seat sale on. I recon only about 1 in 10 seats that I book for myself and my friends actually end up getting used. Ryanair calculate load factors on tickets sold, not passengers flown so I assume that the load factors are artificially inflated by quite a few no shows.
I assume that this also allows ryanair to boast that its average fares are lower than they actually are, since it is dividing revenue between more passengers than it actually carries. High load factors also make it look more healthy to investors (though their profit margins do a good enough job of that already!).
I often wonder how many people actually travel on the discounted fares? I own a visa electron card and go absolutely crazy when they have a seat sale on. I recon only about 1 in 10 seats that I book for myself and my friends actually end up getting used. Ryanair calculate load factors on tickets sold, not passengers flown so I assume that the load factors are artificially inflated by quite a few no shows.
I assume that this also allows ryanair to boast that its average fares are lower than they actually are, since it is dividing revenue between more passengers than it actually carries. High load factors also make it look more healthy to investors (though their profit margins do a good enough job of that already!).
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Ryanair seems to have dropped its "we can only carry 5 passengers requiring assistance" rule. This rule always struck me as odd because there was no way of telling whether a flight already had its quota of such passengers before one purchased a ticket. Well done, Ryanair! Why no publicity about this change? I thought any publicity was good publicity.
I have just printed off a couple of boarding passes and have noticed yet more changes to their design! (For example, the "tear to this point" instruction has reappeared.) Does anyone know why Ryanair can't leave its boarding passes alone?
(I see BA has beaten Ryanair to placing adverts on OCLI boarding passes. I had thought that perhaps it wasn't a good idea to mention this - putting ideas in Ryanair's minds - but thought that they must have considered this already.)
Whatever happened to seat back advertising? This doesn't seem to have taken off. I remember buzz's aircraft had such adverts all those years ago.....
I have just printed off a couple of boarding passes and have noticed yet more changes to their design! (For example, the "tear to this point" instruction has reappeared.) Does anyone know why Ryanair can't leave its boarding passes alone?
(I see BA has beaten Ryanair to placing adverts on OCLI boarding passes. I had thought that perhaps it wasn't a good idea to mention this - putting ideas in Ryanair's minds - but thought that they must have considered this already.)
Whatever happened to seat back advertising? This doesn't seem to have taken off. I remember buzz's aircraft had such adverts all those years ago.....
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Ryanair doesn't seem to have fully embraced advertising opportunities on sick bags. With no seat pockets on their aircraft, sick bags are only generally available if you ask for them, and even then they are just plain white ones with no logo. A few years ago, they did have adverts for a photo processing company - so if you didn't throw up, you could send your films off in the sick bag to be processed. They might get some ideas from here: Sick Bag Examples
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11th November 2009 22:25 davidjohnson6
There is also the consideration, that if you want to be able to advertise "Fly for £1", then it must be possible for people to actually pay £1 on one or more dates on the route specified.
There is also the consideration, that if you want to be able to advertise "Fly for £1", then it must be possible for people to actually pay £1 on one or more dates on the route specified.
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A Bouquet
Thanks to the guys flying FR9228 from GRO to LGW on Saturday 14 Nov 09 who landed in very gusty conditions (15:00 forecast was winds 65kph gusting 80kph from the SW at LGW, but it was probably nothing like that) and who did an excellent job of getting us on the ground with no drama. Nice flying !
R
R
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More flowers
Another positive Ryan experience:
From STN to Gothenburg last night. First the quee for priority working well, seats with legroom aqquired :-)
Smiling Italian (?) crew with excellent service (on Ryan anything better then nothing is good) with smiles and jokes. They actually looked like they liked their jobad passsangers too.
A very soft landing in gusty winds (last minute of flight predicted something very different).
So as ever, you get what you pay for and sometimes more :-)
Martin
From STN to Gothenburg last night. First the quee for priority working well, seats with legroom aqquired :-)
Smiling Italian (?) crew with excellent service (on Ryan anything better then nothing is good) with smiles and jokes. They actually looked like they liked their jobad passsangers too.
A very soft landing in gusty winds (last minute of flight predicted something very different).
So as ever, you get what you pay for and sometimes more :-)
Martin
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Hello martinj59 - it's good you had a pleasant flight STN to Gothenburg.
However, did you register on pprune just to tell us that Ryanair provided a level of service that whilst satisfactory, appears to be nothing "out of the ordinary"?
I understand that these posts sometimes appear as a rebuff to those who don't care very much for Ryanair (personally I am neither particularly pro or anti-Ryanair btw), but a few of these posts seem to describe fairly run of the mill experiences, that aren't particularly earth-shattering or newsworthy.
However, did you register on pprune just to tell us that Ryanair provided a level of service that whilst satisfactory, appears to be nothing "out of the ordinary"?
I understand that these posts sometimes appear as a rebuff to those who don't care very much for Ryanair (personally I am neither particularly pro or anti-Ryanair btw), but a few of these posts seem to describe fairly run of the mill experiences, that aren't particularly earth-shattering or newsworthy.