Ryanair Delay / Cancel Levy !!

DavidHayton

signol wrote: »

All prices are quoted and charged in the currency of the departure airport, for one way flights. For returns, the departure of the outward flight.

There may be a way to trick the system, by making a dummy booking from an EUR departure airport, proceed to payment but don't pay, then in a separate tab/window search and find the actual flight you want. I've not done this though, as the exchange rate on £6 isn't worth the hassle...

signol

Hmmm. This was a one way flight from Dublin to Birmingham. I got to the payment screen where it quoted me 49.97 euro (two people). I typed my card number in. Pressed confirm. Waited. Then the screen told me that I had bought my flights, and that £47.70 had been charged to my card (applied exchange rate of 0.955 GBP/EUR). I am a bit narked that my card was not charged in euro, and that I could see no way of telling Ryanair that I did not want them to convert it to GBP. In fact they did not hint that they were going to convert it until it was too late.

However, that said ....
I needed to get two people from Dublin to Birmingham and Ryanair have charged me less than 50 quid with all of the additions included. I can cope with that: it is still cheaper than the sea plus rail offer from irish ferries (£62 for two http://www.irishferries.com/gb/fares-offers-ireland-from-britain.asp )

David

signol

DavidHayton wrote: »

Hmmm. This was a one way flight from Dublin to Birmingham. I got to the payment screen where it quoted me 49.97 euro (two people). I typed my card number in. Pressed confirm. Waited. Then the screen told me that I had bought my flights, and that £47.70 had been charged to my card (applied exchange rate of 0.955 GBP/EUR). I am a bit narked that my card was not charged in euro, and that I could see no way of telling Ryanair that I did not want them to convert it to GBP. In fact they did not hint that they were going to convert it until it was too late.

That's interesting... I've not booked since they changed their website, maybe now they are able to detect the currency of the payment card, and automatically charge in that, with the appropriate currency loading of cource After all, MSE advises to always pay in the local currency when abroad.

At least you won't have lost more than a pound or two with such a small fare to start with.

signol

MarkBargain

malkie76 wrote: »

No. All airlines charge, only RyanAir are honest about it being an associated cost of flying.

They are not being honest about it though, as they sell flights for £12 and then add £6 online check-in and £6 card fee for example. Are you saying the online check-in costs and Visa card costs to Ryanair are 50% of the costs they incur? Staff costs, fuel costs, plane depreciation, airport costs etc. make up the other 50% do they?!

MarkBargain

DavidHayton wrote: »

Now a personal grumble.

I bought a flight with Ryanair this evening. One way Dublin to Birmingham. All priced in euro as expected. But when I came to pay (with a UK card), I was charged in GBP at a not-very-nice exchange rate. I have been back through the process and I can't see any boxes that I left un-ticked, or boxes that needed to be unticked so that I could tell them that I wanted my card to be charged in euro.

No point arguing with them: it is only a couple of euro. But can anyone tell me where I went wrong so I know for next time?

David

David there was a tiny little "more information" link you could have clicked on the payment screen which would have allowed you to choose Euros. It is small, hidden and I expect 99.9% of people don't even notice it. Hidden poor exchange rates are another way Ryanair charge customers and it is anything but transparent.

malkie76

MarkBargain wrote: »

They are not being honest about it though, as they sell flights for £12 and then add £6 online check-in and £6 card fee for example. Are you saying the online check-in costs and Visa card costs to Ryanair are 50% of the costs they incur? Staff costs, fuel costs, plane depreciation, airport costs etc. make up the other 50% do they?!

You'd have a point if every seat was £12, but they aren't, so you don't.

MarkBargain

malkie76 wrote: »

You'd have a point if every seat was £12, but they aren't, so you don't.

That makes my point more valid, as the card fee is fixed at £6 yet Visa/Mastercard charge a percentage of the transaction cost so, again, it is not transparent.

DavidHayton

MarkBargain wrote: »

David there was a tiny little "more information" link you could have clicked on the payment screen which would have allowed you to choose Euros. It is small, hidden and I expect 99.9% of people don't even notice it. Hidden poor exchange rates are another way Ryanair charge customers and it is anything but transparent.

Just been back through the Ryanair booking process. I now see what you mean. What a sneaky trick! All legal and above board, they even show the GBP equivalent, but I never noticed it: I was more concerned with getting my card details in correctly.

I don't know whether I should be stomping mad, or impressed with their ability to add extra charge after extra charge. Suffice to say, they won't get me again on this one, but who knows what they will come up with next.

David

lijaloo

DavidHayton wrote: »

Just been back through the Ryanair booking process. I now see what you mean. What a sneaky trick! All legal and above board, they even show the GBP equivalent, but I never noticed it: I was more concerned with getting my card details in correctly.

I don't know whether I should be stomping mad, or impressed with their ability to add extra charge after extra charge. Suffice to say, they won't get me again on this one, but who knows what they will come up with next.

David

They won't catch me out anymore with that one either. I have two prepaid mastercards, one for paying in £s and the other for paying in Euros. I know exactly what exchange rate the card company is going to charge me when I load it.

malkie76

MarkBargain wrote: »

That makes my point more valid, as the card fee is fixed at £6 yet Visa/Mastercard charge a percentage of the transaction cost so, again, it is not transparent.

No, the point I was making is that not every seat on the plane is £6, hence your arguement that 50% of RyanAirs costs are the card fee processing doesn't hold any water.

While the credit card company charge a percentage that has no influence on the associated costs of the airline processing and maintaining their ability to accept credit card bookings.

I'm failing to see the issue here.

Airline X says "flights to Paris starting at £100 including taxes, bags and onboard refreshments".

Airline Y says "flights to Paris starting at £5*"
* does not include fees and surcharges.

You investigate Airline Y and find that seperately they charge check-in, optional baggage, optional onboard drinks, and option to avoid creditcard fees.

It's then up to the comsumer to decide if they prefer the all in £100 fare, or the £5 plus elements suited to their journey or circumstances.

It's still a valid choice, and Airline Y allows a degree of customisation not offered by Airline X.

MarkBargain

malkie76 wrote: »

No, the point I was making is that not every seat on the plane is £6, hence your arguement that 50% of RyanAirs costs are the card fee processing doesn't hold any water.

While the credit card company charge a percentage that has no influence on the associated costs of the airline processing and maintaining their ability to accept credit card bookings.

I'm failing to see the issue here.

Airline X says "flights to Paris starting at £100 including taxes, bags and onboard refreshments".

Airline Y says "flights to Paris starting at £5*"
* does not include fees and surcharges.

You investigate Airline Y and find that seperately they charge check-in, optional baggage, optional onboard drinks, and option to avoid creditcard fees.

It's then up to the comsumer to decide if they prefer the all in £100 fare, or the £5 plus elements suited to their journey or circumstances.

It's still a valid choice, and Airline Y allows a degree of customisation not offered by Airline X.

I have no problem with customisation and choice, but the £6 online check-in fees and £2 cancellation levy are unavoidable, so these should be advertised as part of the headline cost. The card fee is also difficult to avoid.

My point was to argue that Ryanair are not being "transparent" with these charges as they are not included in the headline cost, they are not avoidable, and they do not reflect the costs of providing the service.