Ryanair

[lazaroonie]

I normally would never fly ryanair. It just so happens that on this ocassion they are the most convenient in terms of direct flight to a proper airport, and leave and return at times that are useful to us.

anyway, we all know their usual scams about the price starting low and getting to the ridiculous by the end of the booking process, but the latest jape really takes the biscuit.

For two people, they have just charged 16 quid for booking by debit card. not a credit card, but a debit card. Anyone who works in retail will tell you that there is a small overhead in accepting debit cards, and prob costs between 50p - #1 per transaction. There is absolutely no justification in this. In my opinion, since there is no alternative payment method which doesnt cost 16 quid, this should be reflected in the ticket price, as it is an unavoidable cost. (sneakily they say there is no charge for visa electron cards but you will be very hard pushed to find a uk customer with one of these, since no banks issue them anymore).

I dont mind paying, what I dont like is being scammed. this is legalised scamming.

[AndrewT]

http://www.europealacarte.co.uk/blog/2008/07/17/how-to-avoid-paying-the-recently-tripled-ryanair-debit-card-fee/

[lazaroonie]

http://www.europealacarte.co.uk/blog/2008/07/17/how-to-avoid-paying-the-recently-tripled-ryanair-debit-card-fee/

so thats how they get away with it - because technically it is still possible to pay with an electron card (even although it appears that only one bank still issues it - they say that the charge is "avoidable", and therefore doesnt need to be included in the fare.

[bolt pp]

this was on watchdog the other night, absolutely NO story IMO, the flight was "free", there was a 1p charge for something or other and the booking charge without visa electron was £4, so £4.01p for a flight, yeah what a rip off!!!

[lazaroonie]

this was on watchdog the other night, absolutely NO story IMO, the flight was "free", there was a 1p charge for something or other and the booking charge without visa electron was £4, so £4.01p for a flight, yeah what a rip off!!!

indeed there is a story. you could go away and read up on the laws about unfair contracts and charges, and , deceptive advertising and pricing,  instead of just bumping yer gums about 1 penny fares.

[bolt pp]

this was on watchdog the other night, absolutely NO story IMO, the flight was "free", there was a 1p charge for something or other and the booking charge without visa electron was £4, so £4.01p for a flight, yeah what a rip off!!!

indeed there is a story. you could go away and read up on the laws about unfair contracts and charges, and , deceptive advertising and pricing,  instead of just bumping yer gums about 1 penny fares.

The whole segment on watchdog was about deceptive advertising and unfair charges sorrounding Ryanair and the point i'm making is that there is no story IMO beause wtf difference does it matter if the £4 charge comes from booking, handling or extra lipgloss for the sexy flight attendent, it's a flight for £4 ffs!!!

[tikay]

Oi - leave Ryanair alone, they are my heroes.

If every business was run as ruthlessly efficiently as Ryanair, there would not be a credit-crunch.

The last time I looked, they had over €500 million "cash at bank". Not bad for a young Airline, with the most modern fleet in the world, run by Europe's #2 businessman.

[Laxie]

Wondered how long it would take for you to get here Tikay.  Only an hour.  Pretty impressive for a busy Lad.

[tikay]

Wondered how long it would take for you to get here Tikay.  Only an hour.  Pretty impressive for a busy Lad.

Thank you. I won't hear a word said against Ryanair. O'Leary is a God.

[Jon MW]

this was on watchdog the other night, absolutely NO story IMO, the flight was "free", there was a 1p charge for something or other and the booking charge without visa electron was £4, so £4.01p for a flight, yeah what a rip off!!!

indeed there is a story. you could go away and read up on the laws about unfair contracts and charges, and , deceptive advertising and pricing,  instead of just bumping yer gums about 1 penny fares.

The whole segment on watchdog was about deceptive advertising and unfair charges sorrounding Ryanair and the point i'm making is that there is no story IMO beause wtf difference does it matter if the £4 charge comes from booking, handling or extra lipgloss for the sexy flight attendent, it's a flight for £4 ffs!!!

It's not the flight, the price of the flight or anything to do with the flight that's the problem - just the advertising.

[Graham C]

The cost for debit cards to the retailer is less than 50p.  We pay less than that so I'm sure a huge company like Ryanair pay a lot less.

Yes it's expensive, but it's still a cheap flight and according to Watchdog, the wording had been changed.

[bolt pp]

according to Watchdog, the wording had been changed.

Which i thought was quite a generous thing for them to do seeing as how the flight in itself is actually still "free"

[tikay]

The cost for debit cards to the retailer is less than 50p.  We pay less than that so I'm sure a huge company like Ryanair pay a lot less.

Yes it's expensive, but it's still a cheap flight and according to Watchdog, the wording had been changed.

It matters not a jot what the cost to Ryanair is. They are a business, not a charity & are entitled to charge whatever they wish. And their Customers have the choice - take it or leave it.

Note - Load Factors on Ryanair flights usually average around 80% - phenomonal by industry standards for short-haul airlines. So they must have a lot of customers. Happy punters, maybe not, but punters.

[Jon MW]

The cost for debit cards to the retailer is less than 50p.  We pay less than that so I'm sure a huge company like Ryanair pay a lot less.

Yes it's expensive, but it's still a cheap flight and according to Watchdog, the wording had been changed.

We pay about 10p for some of our clients - I'd expect Ryanair are paying more around that level.

[Laxie]

I'm not one of their biggest fans, but to be fair - I'm off to Dublin meeting up with the IPO brigade tomorrow and booked a flight with Ryanair from Kerry to Dublin, instead of taking up any other option.  

Train - €56 RT.  Nowhere near where I need to be in the end, so add bus or taxi charges, food/drink costs and a whole lotta extra travel time.  Around €75-80 by the time I'm done.

Car - €50+ in petrol, plus motorway tolls and parking charges I don't even want to guesstimate, but for sake of argument say €100+  

Ryanair - €45 RT.  All in.  Add 1 taxi from airport to hotel for €10.  Hotel delivers you back to airport comp.  €55.  

Soooooooo, get there in record time, with very little hassle and save a few bob to boot.  Yes, the extra tenner for booking gets up me skin, but when you compare the lot...flying was the cheapest option.