MSE News: Ryanair booking fees soar today

*Chattie*

That will be why it was posted yesterday, at the same time this news was on the tv.:rolleyes:

Many of you may well book 1p flight, I've done so myself, but very many more don't and I thank MSE for bringing this to the attention of even more people. If you don't want to read it, don't click on the thread/news item.

malkie76

dmg24 wrote: »

Will MSE ever be able to write an 'editorial' on Ryanair without being sensationalist and completely biased?

I totally agree.

It's yet again total nonsense journalism on the part of MSE. Infact, it's actually inaccurate as none of the increases are in 'booking fees', rather increases in optional extras.

edit

Anyone else see O'Leary on Watchdog last night ? I thought he handled himself very well, and countered the haters arguements rather well. His basic point was that all of the charges were transparent before you paid for your flight, and that if a customer was unhappy with his pricing policy then they were free to fly with other carriers.

mystic_trev

*Chattie* wrote: »

That will be why it was posted yesterday, at the same time this news was on the tv.:rolleyes:

By yesterdays news, I mean old news these announcements were made on the 4th September

Ryanair, the World’s favourite airline, today (4th Sept) announced a series of changes to its baggage policies and charges which will come into effect for all new bookings from 1st October 2009 onwards. These changes reflect the fact that Ryanair’s average fares have fallen by 20% this year, from €40 to €32 – resulting in Ryanair’s 67 million passengers saving over €530million p.a.

I really can't understand the need to regurgitate old news? It would have been far better to have reminded people (who were flying) to take advantage before the new charges came in - not very MSE !

meher

we looked, we were attentive, it means it is a success in its aim to make us aware, it hasn't moved from realism by any distortion, so I can't find sensationilism actually

also my guess is these are written for some among us who needs it spelt clearly, I know I do, not being very savvy when it comes to looking out for these sort of intricate changes or anything money related I sheepishly admit

this is still a young project, considering that it's a great effort - for people like me, it's definitely satisfactory

Nordictat2

malkie76 wrote: »

Anyone else see O'Leary on Watchdog last night ? I thought he handled himself very well, and countered the haters arguements rather well. His basic point was that all of the charges were transparent before you paid for your flight, and that if a customer was unhappy with his pricing policy then they were free to fly with other carriers.

I did and I thought he was an arrogant S-O-B and just made me dislike him even more but I did find that song about Ryan Air that they played at the end of the show..funny lol.

There will always be fans of Ryan Air but I think as the months pass...they will lose alot of "fans".

Tojo_Ralph

meher wrote: »

we looked, we were attentive, it means it is a success in its aim to make us aware, it hasn't moved from realism by any distortion, so I can't find sensationilism actually.

I am going to have to lock horns with you on this one meher.

We looked, we were attentive, we were misled, yet again.

If a headline on the BBC had read, "X-Factor judge in near fatal RTA".... and then the body text reported that Simon Cowell had a wing mirror damaged on his car whilst parking his car in central London.... Would you not see the headline as a complete distortion of the reality?

meher wrote: »

Also my guess is these are written for some among us who needs it spelt clearly.

And there in lies the problem..... Martins target audience are likely to read the innaccurate headlines, assume that prices, charges, fees etc are actually going to shoot up and react accordingly.

Martins target audience won't look at the facts, they'll simply place their faith in the headlines Martins staff dream up and thus IMHO MSE is doing a disservice to those who need the sites assistance the most.

graemedl

malkie76 wrote: »

I totally agree.

It's yet again total nonsense journalism on the part of MSE. Infact, it's actually inaccurate as none of the increases are in 'booking fees', rather increases in optional extras.

Given that the fees are all those associated with actually arranging and paying for the flight in the first place, I'd say that the catchall title of boking fees isn't so far off the mark.

Checking in for flight can't really be an optional extra, as its something you have to do, so why do they charge you extra for it rather than including it in your ticket price?

watsonworld

This really divides people but I have to come down firmly in the PRO camp. I read and re-read all the terms & conditions each time I book. I actually go through the entire booking process to the final "checkout" stage to confirm the £10 flight which I will be booking, (inserting a false name etc)

In the last 2 years my wife and I have been to Prague / Bratislava / Porto / Girona-Barcelona / Zadar / Dublin / Teeside and never paid more than a tenner for any of our tickets. We travel light, pre-book, pre-check in and are super flexible with our dates. I'm a bit miffed about the new charge for the Electron Card but there is a charge free card option on the list and I'll use that before my next flights to Italy / France / Riga / Poland / Marrakesh etc.

If you don't like the guy, I understand, but if you're never going to fly with him, why waste your breathe ? I see very few differences between his website and Easyjet's except the PRICE ! I guess I'm just a glass if half full sort of person, because when I use Ryanair, I always feel WE got one over on THEM ! I've e-mailed their customer services a few times with areas I think they could make more revenue or savings, but none of these things will ever affect me - with no ski's - no kids - no dietary needs - no need for a leak on a 3 hour flight etc. Yes ! they land at provincial airports, and some of the destinations are a mystery tour, but I've had some of my best eye-opening bargain breaks thanks to the Lairy Leprechaun !

mrparnold

Traveled last Jan and was away in deepest darkest Spain for 3 weeks, so no internet nor printer, and thus returned to airport with no pre printed boarding pass. Thought that as the instruction to print off passes came before the out ward flight info only on the booking confirmation email that was the only flight I had to do it for, doh!
Imagine our horror when having given the girl our booking ref she asked for the pass, to which we said that will be impossible, she presses a button and 2 seconds later she was holding our passes. She then spent 2 minutes or more writing out an invoice that we had to take to a Ryanair desk to pay the £80 penalty or don't fly! At said desk was a queue of very irate customers in a similar position to us or wrangling over excess baggage fees (extortionate - only 15kgs per bag, joke lol! try 3 weeks away with that little). Luckily we had the money available, and paid in protest. Have written 3 times since explaining that we had no access to internet for 3 weeks so how could we print off passes and all we get is replies quoting the T&C's, certainly no "Tea & Sympathy" there to be had. I am not a dope, am a seasoned traveler and these swines still caught me out, so god help the poor simpler innocent traveler who can't read such crackpot money grabbing terms and realise the full implications. They are out to rob you whenever and as ruthlessly as possible, flying the Easy way is so much less hassle, have you seen the people at check-in opening suitcases and putting on loads of clothes, stuffing pockets and hand luggage to the max? Its de-grading yet they have no shame in the face of profit at any cost. Fly Ryanir at your peril. :mad:

brightonman123

doubt they will make much today, with the iceland olacno ash drifting over UK, closing several airports..