Isn't Ryanair being discriminatory?

jojeba

I bought a flight with Ryanair. Fortunately, I only have one small carry-on bag with me, therefore avoiding having to pay the checked-bag fee.
And because I only have hand-baggage, I can check in online.
One snag, despite living and working in the UK for four years, I don't have an EU passport - which means I am forced to check in at the airport, and pay the airport check-in fee of £8. Disappointing. Can they really do that?
I have a NZ passport but a UK visa. I don't understand their reasoning to charge me for this.

On top of that, I am forced to pay £8 to pay with any card that is not a Visa Electron. I don't have a Visa Electron - I have a Mastercard and a Switch card, but neither option is encouraged. Their small print says "Ryanair accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards and the following debit cards Switch, Visa Connect, Visa Debit Electron & Visa Delta for payment of your flights" yet they charge for all but the Visa Electron (hardly a widely used card). And hardly accepting.

I can't help but feel Ryanair are being discriminatory - you will be penalised a minimum of £16 per person UNLESS you are an EU national with a Visa Electron, and nothing else.

Can this be allowed??

benjus

Ryanair's T&C states that they will refund any airport check-in fees incurred because you do not hold an EU passport:

Where a passenger is unable to avail of Online Check-in by reason only of not being the holder of either a valid passport or a National Identity Card, issued by the government of an EU/EEA country, any airport check-in fee paid will be refunded upon application.

(http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/conditions.php?pos=MYFLIGHT)

headpin

benjus wrote: »

Ryanair's T&C states that they will refund any airport check-in fees incurred because you do not hold an EU passport:


(http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/conditions.php?pos=MYFLIGHT)

It says:

"Where a passenger is unable to avail of Online Check-in by reason only of not being the holder of either a valid passport or a National Identity Card, issued by the government of an EU/EEA country, any airport check-in fee paid will be refunded upon application."

"Upon application". What exactly does that mean I wonder? Has anyone actually applied for and received a refund?

Additionally I assume that if you want to check in with hold baggage on an internal flight and have an alternative means of ID (eg photocard driving licence) apart from a passport, you could say that you did not have a passport and apply for a refund? How would they know whether you hold a passport or not?

I suspect that the words "Upon application" mean try if you can, but by golly we'll make you jump thrugh hoops to get even a bean from us!!

mad_rich

headpin wrote: »

Additionally I assume that if you want to check in with hold baggage on an internal flight and have an alternative means of ID (eg photocard driving licence) apart from a passport, you could say that you did not have a passport and apply for a refund? How would they know whether you hold a passport or not?

You mean using it as a loophole to check baggage without paying the offline check-in fee? Not possible:

Where a passenger is unable to avail of Online Check-in by reason only of not being the holder of either a valid passport...

richardw

jojeba wrote: »

I don't understand their reasoning to charge me for this.

If an airline has a passenger without a visa for the country that they are flying to and the passenger isn't allowed through immigration because they don't have a visa then the airline is fined a lot of money, so it is an airline money saving thing, and so they do a check at check-in to avoid this.

jonesMUFCforever

You don't have to fly Ryanair if the terms and conditions are not to your liking.

jd87

How soon do you need to buy the tickets? Open a Halifax Easycash account to get an Electron card, it'll take a couple of weeks to arrive but will mean you can dodge the obscene card charges.

As for the check-in fee, there will be an address you can write to asking to have it back. Keep your boarding cards and send them copies of those and a copy of your NZ passport. Don't expect them to deal with it quickly though.

jojeba

richardw wrote: »

If an airline has a passenger without a visa for the country that they are flying to and the passenger isn't allowed through immigration because they don't have a visa then the airline is fined a lot of money, so it is an airline money saving thing, and so they do a check at check-in to avoid this.

Yes but on a NZ passport I am allowed to fly into Europe, (and my UK visa will only strengthen this). I've been flying for years without being charged for not being a local of the destination. I don't understand how Ryanair charging me £8 would prevent any problems with visas at Immigration. I think it's an unfair way of squeezing more money out of customers for miniscule admin. I mean, they charge you to call their customer services line. I find Ryanair appalling, simply because they want to be a budget airline, but also try to recover their costs by every single means they can think of.

_Andy_

jojeba wrote: »

. I find Ryanair appalling, simply because they want to be a budget airline, but also try to recover their costs by every single means they can think of.

Why use them then?

Why shouldn't they 'try to recover their costs'? They're not a charity.

I take it then, you'd be happy with all their charges being abolished and everyone paying significantly higher fares?

dzug1

jojeba wrote: »

I
I can't help but feel Ryanair are being discriminatory
Can this be allowed??

Yeah so what? Life is full of discriminations. We send most of our time doing it. I discriminate against Aldi by shopping at Tesco instead. Or vice versa. I discriminate against Kelloggs by eating Weetabix instead. A school discriminates against pupils that don't meet its admissions policy. The government discriminates against foreigners by requiring some of them to have a visa and all of them to have a passport.

Discrimination is perfectly legal except for a number of very closely defined circumstances

mystic_trev

I think the OP's been spending too much time with sheep!