Why can't we cancel Ryanair flights?

MarkBargain

Does anyone know why it is not possible to cancel Ryanair flights? (or is there a way I can't find on the website?) Not for a refund, but just if we book a flight and then cannot use it? There must be loads of people booking promotional flights who then do not take them. Allowing cancellation would help Ryanair (they could re-sell the seat), customers (keeping prices down) and the environment (preventing so many empty seats on the planes).

DX2

All Ryanair flights are fully changeable but cannot be cancelled. Passengers are not required to notify us if they are unable to travel on their booked flights. Passengers who do not use their outbound flight can use their return flight. Ryanair flight dates/times/routes can be changed up to 4 hours before the flight departure time via the Manage My Booking section of the website. Name changes can only be made up to 4 hours before to the outbound flight. In all cases please note that no changes can be made once a passenger has checked in online.

For your information, if you do not use your booked flight the air fare, taxes*, fees and charges are non-refundable.

*Government taxes are the only element of taxes, fees and charges which are refundable. Government tax refunds are subject to a reasonable administration fee. If the refund amount is less than the applicable refund administration charge then no refund will be made. Government tax refund requests must be made within one month from the booked travel date.
http://www.ryanair.com/en/questions/can-i-cancel-my-reservation-before-travel-and-do-i-need-to-notify-ryanair-if-i-am-not-travelling?xtmc=how%20do%20I%20cancel%20a%20flight&xtcr=10

_Andy_

Allowing cancellation would mean significantly higher ticket prices - not very moneysaving.

inflationbusting

It's a very good idea but unlikely to happen.

In most cases, flights don't sell out anyway. So this type of measure would only boost income on perhaps less than 0.5% of flights.

Ryanair's customer metrics - ie total passengers flown and load factors are based on bookings, and not the real number of passengers on the plane. So if you buy a ticket, you are part of the load factor, whether you buy a ticket or not.

So what's worth more: increasing revenues on a small number of flights, or publicity from shouting about passenger numbers/load factors? Ryanair probably value the second one more.

I suspect the truth is offering a £1 sale is a very easy way to inflate your passenger numbers. From a investor point of view, it's more palatable to see an airline with a smooth growth in numbers/load factors.

budgetflyer

Id love to see a "no show charge" of say £25 built in to the low fares t&cs. This would discourage "frivolant" booking of flights (I am guilty myself)

Donnie

budgetflyer wrote: »

Id love to see a "no show charge" of say £25 built in to the low fares t&cs. This would discourage "frivolant" booking of flights (I am guilty myself)

Apart from the errant spelling, it's a silly idea....and you know it.

will-in-estoril

Yet another way Ryanair shaft passengers, on top of the unavoidable check-in charges, disproportionate luggage charges, blatant profiteering on card charges to name but a few.

As for reasonable administration fees. Hardly in the sense of Wednesbury reasonableness, is it?

Vote with your feet: choose a more scrupulous airline!

benjus

will-in-estoril wrote: »

Yet another way Ryanair shaft passengers, on top of the unavoidable check-in charges, disproportionate luggage charges, blatant profiteering on card charges to name but a few.

How exactly is this shafting passengers? The OP was simply suggesting that it might be in Ryanair's own interests to allow customers to cancel flights so they could re-sell them. They were not suggesting that the fares should be refundable; non-refundable fares are standard practice in the budget travel industry, whether you're talking about planes or trains.

will-in-estoril wrote: »

Vote with your feet: choose a more scrupulous airline!

Do you mean like BA, whose staff tried to leave their customers stranded for Christmas?

PolishBigSpender

Actually, I believe Ryanair is one of the few airlines that doesn't overbook flights - once a flight is fully sold, it's sold. I suspect the hassle involving reselling flights would be more hassle (and expense) than it's worth.

MarkBargain

Thanks for the interesting responses to my posting. Maybe Ryanair think that not enough people would bother to cancel flights they knew they could not take, so they don't provide that functionality on the website.

Some more questions I have:

- "Check in" used to mean announcing that a passenger is at the airport and intending to fly. "Online check-in" up to 2 weeks before doesn't seem to mean much, as the passenger may still choose not to travel to the airport and fly on the day. I guess there is no sanction against a passenger who checks in but then does not turn up?

- When flights are below the amount of tax, I assume Ryanair still has to pay the amount of tax, but I guess only for passengers who actually fly rather than just book or check-in?

PolishBigSpender

No sanction whatsoever. Usually boarding passes are scanned, so they have an idea who is actually 'airside'.

And yes, the second point is true - if they don't fly, they don't pay.