German supreme court: Ryanair Creditcard charge unlawful

budgetflyer

LemonTree wrote: »

In fact, I'm planning to book several flights for my family from Germany to the UK. But you are probably right, if you live in the UK then why should you bother with Ryanair's payment policy? It is a different story though if you cannot easily get that Prepaid Mastercard.


Unfortunately that is not the case. If you pay from a bank account then Ryanair also charges the same as using a Credit Card. Also in Germany the only "free" option is a Prepaid Mastercard.

Yes, I just checked the German version of Ryanair for a dummy booking from Berlin to Edinburgh rtn + the only FREE payment method available was PP Mastercard.

So its obvious Ryanair DID WIN the case or they would now be in breach of the court ruling

MarkBargain

budgetflyer wrote: »

No , A family of 4 booking rtn flights with a Phones4U PP Mastercard would pay a tenner for the card. Then there are no booking fees thereafter. If they use it only once + then throw it away then its cost them £1.25 pp per flight booking fee.
If they are smart enough to keep it + use it again for their next break, then that cost is effectively halfed + so on.
What you don't seem to get is that Ryanair are going to get their money one way or another. Thats why they are in business-to make money. They could add it on to EVERY fare and charge NO FEEs what so ever, or they can allow stupid people to pay a £5 booking fee, and the rest of us that follow the basic instructions to get a cheap "Fees Free" flight.
I prefer the second option.

Oh, I do "get it". I have a Mastercard Prepaid Card and use it to avoid Ryanair's charges, paying just a few pence instead of their £10 return. Yes, I get away with paying it while people less "in the know" have to shell out quite a lot. I know I benefit from this, but that does not mean I agree it is fair. I also do not like the time and effort I had to spend researching cards, opening a bank account last year to get a Visa Electron card, only to then have to apply for a Mastercard Prepaid card this year. I did it to save money, but I can see it is a silly game and I do not think it should be allowed under German law, British law or EU law.

budgetflyer

You could have saved yourself all that hassle + "silly games" + just not booked any flights with them. Its supposedly a free country + there is plenty of airlines to choose from.
There are also plenty of nice places that can be visited by bus, train or car.
I think the only thing that shouldn't be allowed is for other people to dictate what should + shouldn't be allowed.
If everyone only paid 1p per flight, no luggage, no booking fee, no taxes, no priority boarding then Ryanair would be flying no where- they would be bust ! Its the people who pay the extras that allow us to fly cheap + Ryanair, easyjet etc to still make a profit.

Lehman

LemonTree wrote: »

@budetflyer and @Bob the Saver: I agree it might be fairly easy to get a Prepaid Mastercard if you live in the UK.
My situation is that I'm working overseas. I cannot simply walk into a Phones4U shop and get a prepaid Mastercard. The banking sector in other (European) countries does not have as much competition as in the UK.
For example, in Canada, where I'm currently working, it is impossible to get a Prepaid Mastercard from Neteller as their service is not offered here.

LemonTree, why do you need to book Ryanair tickets if you are living in Canada? If your permanent address is not Canada but in some country where Neteller can be signed up for, get it through that address and then whenever you come to Europe book Ryanair with no worries.

MarkBargain

budgetflyer wrote: »

You could have saved yourself all that hassle + "silly games" + just not booked any flights with them. Its supposedly a free country + there is plenty of airlines to choose from.
There are also plenty of nice places that can be visited by bus, train or car.
I think the only thing that shouldn't be allowed is for other people to dictate what should + shouldn't be allowed.
If everyone only paid 1p per flight, no luggage, no booking fee, no taxes, no priority boarding then Ryanair would be flying no where- they would be bust ! Its the people who pay the extras that allow us to fly cheap + Ryanair, easyjet etc to still make a profit.

I mainly book flights for someone else and Ryanair is the only airline that operates the route she needs.

Back to the main point, your argument seems to be that as it is a "free country" there should be no laws and rules to protect consumers. As this MSE website is all about our rights as consumers, I'm not sure many here would agree with you. What we should demand is clear up-front prices, not lots of hidden extras.