Airline Charges Rip Off Discussion

MSE_Martin

Sooler wrote: »

So the MSE email that has any info on 'cheap flight' offers really ought to include and give equal prominence to the hoops that are required to be cleared to obtain the 'cheap flight'.

European flights £1-ish - (Requires payment by Electron card,hand luggage only,online check in)

Or at least from now on should include a link to the new guide.

Else it's a bit misleading as you only find out the restrictions on obtaining the cheap flight after you click through from the email.

I quite agree...

You'll see this week the email lists...

URGENT! £1(ish) European flights. Ends midnight Thurs 6 August. Another million £1 each way Ryanair flights from various airports to over 50 European destinations, for Sept to Nov travel. To speedily find them, see the Updated Guide: £1 Flights Then beat the HUGE extra charges with the Budget airline fee-fighting guide. Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels

With a prominent link to the guide.

As does the £1 Flights article

And the Flightchecker now says it large before you do anything.

So hoepfully we've got it all covered.

richardw

But it doesn't cost £5 per person per sector for them to process a debit card payment, perhaps the charge should be 'actual cost'?

6String

My 82 year old Spanish Mother in Law came to stay with us a couple of months ago. She had to fly Ryan Air because Iberia and British Airways have given up flying from her local airport because of "cheap" Ryan Air flights. She thought she had a boarding card because she had a flight confirmation. The check in girl charged her an extra E20 and told her it would be E40 on the way back because the charge was being increased. It isn't just computer savvy young people who need to travel and it is unreasonable to expect an 82 year old to try and navigate her way through an internet cafe because there is another hidden Ryan Air charge. BTW the E20 was on top of the E10 she had already paid to book in. It is a lottery as to how much it is all going to cost until you get to the bottom of the bill and then for the not so alert there are more traps. I don't believe the add ons are transparent. And I think there should be free telephone help for those who don't have a computer. And why if you don't want travel insurance from Ryan Air do you have to find that option under Lithuania in the drop down menu not at the top?

inflationbusting

Isn't the costs of processing less for an Electron?

I would envisage fraud rates being much lower. Cloning of debit or credit cards is pretty common but it would be hardly worth cloning an electron card - there are no overdrafts, or any other buffers which guarantee a payment which may be revoked from the retailer.

I don't think you can blame the airlines for encouraging a payment method which in the long run is more profitable for themselves. Of course, the mark-up is extortionate, but then, Ryanair do this for practically every 'optional' service they provide.

malkie76

MSE_Martin wrote: »

For me saying "its beatable if you jump through all the hurdles and no what you're doing" is no justification for the way these charges are advertised and presented.

Surely your issue should be with the advertising standards agency, rather than the airlines who aren't actually breaking any rules. All agreements with any company from car insurance to bank loans have small print designed to trip up those who don't read them thoroughly.

I'm actually happy that these airlines offer a pay-per-service so that those with the most luggage pay the most money.

As a slight side point - a number of times in your articles you've suggested 'beating' priority boarding by paying for one member of your group to get it then bag the best seats on the plane. Without exception this is against their airlines rules in that priority boarders cannot reserve seats for non-priority boarders.

edit

I also don't have an issue with the concept of paying for airport check-in. It costs the airline to staff the check-in desks, so if you are capable of online check-in then you should do so. If you can't then you should be prepared to pay for the costs of staffing check-in desks.

aeparry

I have been flying Emirates for 15 years. Usually the family luggage is well under weight but this time I knew it was going to be over the 4 x 30ks allowance. I did expected 6 or 7 kgs overweight. At the weigh in it was 27 kgs over! So I asked if I could weight them individually rather than all together. This time it was 37 kgs overweight. Something is not right with the scales. So off come the bags and on the scales I go and my 120kgs has changed into 136kgs overnight. If there was weights and measures in Dubai they would have a field day. Anyway, they were insisting that I pay the excess although they would allow me to take some weight out of the suitcase and into my hand luggage. How much does 27kgs excess cost .. 3000 dirhams (around 500 pounds). Having got off the floor I explained that this was ridiculous as I only paid 2200 dirhams for my one-way ticket and for that I got 30kgs allowance and my 120 kgs get to fly as well! Rip off .. you bet. By the way I did ship the suitcase by phoning a friend and arranging to send by cargo. It will take a few weeks to arrive but it costs 250 dirhams in total door to door (around 40 pounds).

Driver8

jcreedy wrote: »

Exactly. There is no such thing as a £1 or 1p flight, because you can't get around paying airport taxes and charges each way. Baggage and non-online check-ins are obviously optional and will bump costs up, but you won't get the actual flights for much less than £30/£40. That is what !!!!es me off.

Go back to the start of the thread and read post 38 and you have PROOF you can get flights for £1 each way no taxes nothing.

twotoe

I must admit I was shocked when booking with FlyGlobeSpan as it came up with the best price and to pay by Visa Debit card was an extra 2.99% supposedly to cover the charge made by their bank. I was even more shocked that they must think flying to the Canaries that it must be a nudist holiday with extra charges for luggage. I find it unacceptable that one must pay to book seats if you want to be allocated in advance. If you book a train ticket for 4 you are automatically given 4 seats together. It cannot be beyond the airlines to do this. I had this in 1999 when I found 4 of us had to sit in different parts of the plane because we hadn't prebooked which was costly. I was then told I should have arrived earlier but as a package tour we were the last coach to arrive. Airlines must give clear pricing to enable us to find the best deal which at present is difficult if not impossible

Sneaker

Ali_UK wrote: »

My bank wouldnt give me an electron card to run alongside by visa debit on my current account so I got my visa pre-pay electron from the post office and it was ready to use 24 hours later, is worth a go (actually having to wait saved me money as the flight prices dropped!!)

Thanks, so I go to PO, as k for one and then ask them to put credit on it? Hopefully be able to use it to book tomorrow?

Sussexlass_3

I'm surprised at the level of support for the 'budget' airlines and their charges which are certainly not transparent. The initial fares are totally misleading - how can one fly without paying taxes? Not get off the plane? Booking seats with Jet2 recently, I thought I had avoided as many add-ons as possible, although some I had already rejected appeared again later in the process and had to be deleted afresh. When I got to the end with what I thought was the final total, I discovered a booking fee of £20. Since the only person involved with the booking was me, I can't see where this final, compulsory and included at the point where it's too late to do anything about it, comes from. I totally agree with Martin that the industry needs to come up with a far more transparent system.