'Puerile' RyanAir slated by OFT

inflationbusting

I've done Barcelona, Amsterdam, Prague and Luxembourg for under £50 single all-in. Maybe not this year though, these were in 2008.

You can fly to Geneva on certain dates in Feb on BA for a very reasonable £39. Dubrovnik is £49 which on some dates could easily beat the Easyjet or Ryanair price, especially if you're taking checked-in baggage.

PolishBigSpender

inflationbusting wrote: »

A lot of the less-publicised airports that Ryanair uses are damn close to the city, but the difference is no-one likes talking about them. Valencia is a prime example of that.

Most Ryanair haters refuse to accept this simple fact, even though the proof stares them in the face. They get even more upset when you point out that Ryanair sometimes serves a closer airport than the main airport for the city in question.

inflationbusting wrote:

English people may know that Stansted and Gatwick are not London - but foreigners may not.

Glasgow Prestwick is another nice example. I'm sure there's plenty others - the often used example of Frankfurt Hahn is actually called "Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn" officially!

The worst one is Wizzair claiming that they fly to Katowice-Krakow Airport. Many people assume that they're flying into Krakow, but in reality, they're bussed to Krakow from Katowice - which is a fair old trek.

melb

and now easyjet are referring to doncaster/sheffield airport as east midlands

Inactive

melb wrote: »

and now easyjet are referring to doncaster/sheffield airport as east midlands

Wrong, easyjet stopped flying out of East Midlands yesterday, they start flying out of Robin Hood Airport ( Doncaster ) in the Spring.

Inactive

moonrakerz wrote: »

3. And of course don't forget the additional cost with Ryanair when you find that the airport for the place you are going is actually an ex air force base 50 miles away !

Not forgetting that your nearest airport in the UK that BA use, may well be over 100 miles away !

Ryanair actually fly from my local airports, BA doesn't, not that I would pay their prices.

I only fly to one destination, Ryanair goes there.

The only Airline that has ever left me stranded overnight was BA.

MrSmartprice

Same old nonsense, it's like Groundhog Day!

We fly Ryanair many times each year. We always paid by Electron Card to avoid the fees. They changed this to prepaid Mastercards, which were available in more countries. So we now have one of those. I see no problem.

The OFT are a complete waste of time. They were set up in the 1970s and have yet to achieve anything worthwhile for consumers. They refuse to deal with the public or look at any complaints. They made a mess of the bank charges issue. Their Part 3 assurances against serial rogue traders are so ineffective that few enforcement authorities even bother to apply for them. And their Consumer Credit Licensing function is a joke since many of the worst loan sharks are actually licensed.

The OFT should be abolished and replaced by a proper consumer body. At present they seem to do little more than run these pointless press releases. It's just another quango for the national gravy-train.

will-in-estoril

MrSmartprice wrote: »

The OFT should be abolished and replaced by a proper consumer body.

Presumably, to stop the likes of RyanAir from misleading the vulnerable, and many consumers are just that.

whatmichaelsays

lijaloo wrote: »

So why describe it as Girona (Barcelona) or Reus (Barcelona). Barcelona airport ID is BAR Girona is GIR and Reus is REU yet Ryanair use Barcelona BAR as an identifier then the option to choose either Girona (Barcelona) or Reus (Barcelona). Clearer to describe them as Girona and Reus.

Why do BA describe Gatwick as London?

They're no better or worse that Ryanair in that regard.

inflationbusting

I wonder what the supposedly non-governmental body made of British Airways abusing their own monopoly with dirty tricks.

The fact is, if someone intervened every time a small percentage of people moan, there would be more red tape than business.

Let's take Martin's quest to abolish the card fees, let's say it works.

Ryanair lose £xxm a year by not having the fees.
Isn't it easy to see that the £xxm will be recovered back by sticking a few pounds on to the base fare of a flight, and making £1 tickets = £5, £2 = £6 and so on.

Some people get a better deal, some people don't. But potentially, you're taking away free/£1 flights from the people who can afford them least.

Sure, I'm aware that normal people book the £1 flights as well. But there are a fair amount of people who £50 for the equivalent BA flight is a lot of money.

This is not like the bank charges scandal - by nature people with less money, poorer people are likely to have balances closer to £0 and suffer the wrath of the fees. The card charges, however restrictive, do not discriminate against income.

So, Will, sure - customers are vunerable - but they are vunerable by choice, and a quick 10 minute tutorial to read the rules and apply for a pre-paid Mastercard, means they are vunerable no more.

Like I said before, you can improve your chances of being savvy by 1) getting smarter or 2) the companies getting dumber.

Why wait?

will-in-estoril

inflationbusting wrote: »

So, Will, sure - customers are vunerable - but they are vunerable by choice.

An oxymoron.