Ryanair prices: £1=EUR1?

Bluebirdnick

I'm looking at flights to Germany this weekend, and despite my conscience, I've had a look on the Ryanair website. They are not even competitive which was a relief, but one thing did stand out: their pricing assumes parity between the Euro and Sterling. For example, a flight from Frankfurt Hahn to Stansted costs EUR 17.24. The online check in is EUR 6, taxes are EUR 10.30, and the PRM levy is EUR 6.49.

The prices in GBP are exactly the same, with the exception of the taxes (GBP 8.74 - presumably the translation of the EUR amount at spot rate).

A few questions:

1) If Ryanair are just passing on the cost of the PRM levy, why are they profiting from it via the exchange rate of 1:1?

2) Not a question, but it is clearly cheaper to book separate outbound and return flights (ignoring any legal advantage that a return trip might give in the event of cancellations)

3) Is it the case that all flights out of the UK are priced in GBP? If I was sat at a computer in Ireland, would I be offered a price in EUR on the London>Frankfurt flight? If so, would a £139 outbound flight be priced at EUR 139?

4) If so, how can I book at the Euro price from the UK?

Thanks folks.
td p { margin-bottom: 0cm; }p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }a:link { }

Voyager2002

People using UK-based cards for payment are likely to be charged the sterling price: see other threads on DCC to explain how this works.

I don't think there are any legal advantages of booking a return, since all Ryanair tickets are one-way: if you book a return journey, you simply buy two one-way tickets in opposite directions.

flatmate

If you really want to pay in Euros just change the site from UK to Ireland (or other) at the top right of the screen, simples. Other than that I really wouldn't worry yourself about how Ryanair work out pricing.

Bluebirdnick

flatmate wrote: »

If you really want to pay in Euros just change the site from UK to Ireland (or other) at the top right of the screen, simples. Other than that I really wouldn't worry yourself about how Ryanair work out pricing.

Really? Even though you can buy a £50 flight for EUR50? I would certainly worry about what currency I was paying in. For example, I'm going with Ryanair to Germany later this month - goes out on 28 dec, back 3 jan. The current price of this trip, if booking a return trip, is:

Outbound: £21.99
Return: £171.55

Total: £193.54

However if I book two separate one-way flights, the price is now:

Outbound: £21.99
Return: EUR 174.78 (equivalent to £148).

Total: £170

That's a £23 saving - a saving that would increase if the pound strengthens against the Euro. Now I didn't pay quite as much as £171 for the return flight, but it was over £100. Had a noticed that I could pay in EUR, I would have saved quite a bit between me and my girlfriend. Enough to pay for the luggage at least.

I also disagree that booking a return flight is the same as booking two separate one-way flights. For example I went to Hamburg earlier this month. I booked a return trip with Easyjet. The outbound flight was cancelled due to snow. Obviously, they have agreed to refund the outbound flight. However, I also had the option of refund on the return flight as I'd booked a return trip. Had I booked the UK>Hamburg flight in one transaction, and the Hamburg>UK flight in a separate one, the situation would have been different. I would have had a refund on the cancelled flight still, but why would they have offered me a refund on the Hamburg>UK leg? There is no reason for them to do so if I book separately.

Also, this is not the same point that people are making on DCC, which is how best to avoid the rip-off exchange rate that Ryanair default to when processing a bill calculated in EUR but paid by a GBP credit card.

The point I am making is simple: It is clearly cheaper to book your trip in two parts. In my example, I get to pay EUR175 instead of £171 for the Germany > UK flight.

My question ia simple too. If I was sat in Ireland (or anywhere else other than the UK), would my outbound flight be priced at £21.99, or EUR21.99? If it is EUR21.99, can I somehow take advantage of this from the UK?