Airline Charges Rip Off Discussion

jayok

Just back from my £2 return flight to Dublin and both legs were stress free and on time. Well done to Ryanair (again!) and now looking forward to taking the family to Dublin for the October mid term break for £3 return each (thats £12 return for a family of 4!!)

cobblersmark

richardw wrote: »

It is £5 per sector, so £10 for a return trip.
You look for 'Promotional fares', sometimes these can be a bit hidden so a thorough search is required. 'Promotional fares' include free online check in.

Thanks Richard, I'll have a look out for these in future.


I still feel that if you cannot get one of these "free" boarding pass deals then being charged £5 one way to board is a rip off. Doesn't matter if its Ryanair, Easyjet etc, this is an unavoidable charge because they are charging you to get on the plane in addition to the cost of the flight.

Don't get me wrong, these airlines are great value and usually cheaper than the non budget options but I feel that they push the limits most of the time.

horsmonden

As previously mentioned, it is cheaper to check in on-line prior to arrival at the airport but beware. My daughter and I were staying at a friend's house and were flying back from Leeds Bradford to Gatwick. I borrowed my friend's laptop to check in online then discovered that her printer was broken so couldn't print out the boarding cards. On arrival at the airport, tried to print them out but it wouldn't let me, explained my predicament at the check in desk and was promptly charged £10 each for a reprint. Was all ready for a customer complaint when I arrived home but on checking the FAQs it does say that there is a £10 surcharge for a reprint so I don't have a leg to stand on!

FannyHill

They seem to be constantly trying to trap the unwary so they can make money.
If the customer makes a mistake then the company should be trying to help them not penalise them.
As has been said a number of times many people including the elderly aren't up to scratch on all the inns and outs of how to book and obviously these companies know that and rub their hands with glee when a mistakes is made.

" You put A J Smith in the booking application instead of A K Smith....right that's £150 to change the name on the ticket".

Hurrah more profits for us.

I believe that is why there is some animosity towards Ryanair.

cobblersmark

Too right.

The last couple of times I've flown with Ryanair, I've also spent over 1h30m in the queue whilst the check in staff try and do everyone for excess baggage.

I had the worst experience at Barcelona airport when we had one case between two. It was 17kg, so I took out 2kg at the desk and then was sent ot re-queue again. There was about 30 people who had the same experience. Not one person who boarded the plane paid extra, they simply rejigged their baggage of threw stuff away. It was a complete farce that left a lot of people pee'd off.

I have seen this farce repeated since at Paris and Fuertevetura airports leaving a lot of people disgruntled. I know you get what you pay for sometimes but there is a difference between cheap and what is seen as disceet.

Charging over the odds to re-print boarding passes or correct basic administration errors will sour a lot of people and they won't return to the said airline.

Ryanairt are basically the double glazing sales type airline, throw enough sh*t at the wall and some will stick.

Spider86

I agree that some of the charges can seem quite extortionate e.g. charging to reprint a boarding pass or to check in, but things like overweight luggage charges I think are quite justified.

At the end of the day you are going on a plane, and the pilot needs to work out exactly how much fuel they need, and how much weight they are carrying with passengers and suitcases, so if they suddenly find everyone has over packed and they haven't calculated the fuel properly and are short on fuel after take off?? what happens then?? It's the pilots neck on the line as well as the airline, so they need to put a restriction on how much people pack, and if people go over they get penalised. It's no different to you speeding in your car, go over the limit and get caught and you'll pay.

Also they do tell you how much you baggage allowance is for this reason, so they can calculate the planes payload before take off, so if you turn up with an overweight suitcase there is no one else to blame but yourself, the airline cant pack your bags for you.

lufcgirl

I went to pick up OH at Leeds Bradford on Tuesday and saw a Ryanair camera crew hovering about while I was waiting. OH comes out and tells me they've just seen Michael O'Leary sitting on their plane having more promotional pictures took...*sigh* I was only a hundred metres from the legend!

Had a very much overweight bag tonight on the return, nobody checked or batted an eyelid, no extra charges...so a £2 return Dublin-Leeds Bradford. And my train ticket from Durham to Leeds (with a railcard) was £32! They've revolutionised air travel...where else would you get a price like that in comparison to a 90 min train journey?!

Oh and anyone who dislikes O'Leary should read 'The Little Book of Mick' by Paul Kilduff, kept me giggling on the train home. Who knew they charge a pilot £50 to apply for a job with them? All because they had 6,500 applications for 60 pilot jobs and 800 were from schoolkids!

cobblersmark

I agree in principal with weight restrictions on baggage, some people take far too much on holiday with them anyway.

My point with the incidents I have encountered in the past are Ryanair arguing over a kilo or two here of there. I spoke to most the disgruntled people at Barca airport and not one of them was over 2kg over the odds, every single person re-jigged their luggage and most put stiff into hand luggage or wore clothes as extra layers. This proves that Ryanair were trying to make as few quid as the weight went on the plane anyway. Also, it was the whole manner in which they approached it as well, there was no too ways about it, it was a money spinner.

Ryanair are cheap, offer cheap service, great if it works but sod you if it doesn't, we'll fleece you on extra charges. That is their ethic.

I will continue to use them but with great caution.

Chester85

cobblersmark wrote: »

Thanks Richard, I'll have a look out for these in future.


I still feel that if you cannot get one of these "free" boarding pass deals then being charged £5 one way to board is a rip off. Doesn't matter if its Ryanair, Easyjet etc, this is an unavoidable charge because they are charging you to get on the plane in addition to the cost of the flight.

Don't get me wrong, these airlines are great value and usually cheaper than the non budget options but I feel that they push the limits most of the time.

Easyjet, in particular, may argue that this is covering the staffing costs at check in and at the gate whilst arguing that a scheduled airline would charge more for this within a more expensive fare, arguably an equally hidden cost.

a £50 fare plus a £5 check in fee or a £95 fare with a 'hidden' check in fee

Surely airlines have been charging us to check in for decades within the cost of a ticket?

john46jac46

I always do a final price comparison before booking, and as we usually need luggage, Ryan isn't always the cheapest.
An Easyjet £30 advertised flight is usually a lower final price than a Ryan £10 one, and you don't get so much of the "tough sh*t" customer service attitude.
Ryan obviously depend on the adders for their profits, so what happens when they get their planes full of MSE £1 customers without adders ? It won't be long before the electron card gets charged and I wonder if they'll start to charge by body weight ??? (They had a survey asking if passengers would stand on short flights for cheaper fares)
Although I'm not a big fan, I must admit that O'Leary has done wonders for airline prices in Europe since he started Ryanair.