Ryanair Credit card fees

Andy_L

mistyarthur wrote:

Why? your EHIC card still works.

Only gets you the same level of cover as Joe Bloggs ROI citizen & doesn't provide for medical repatriation though. Whether that's good enough is your call, I wouldn't like to say as I'd have to dig around for details on their national health service.

Still since the OP's gat an annual scheme no worries for them

bcl999

I am so fed up with their debit card fees that I asked my bank for an Electron card which arrived this morning. Can't think I'll use it for anything other than Ryanair. What's the betting they introduce a charge for Electron now??

dunx

Originally posted by Pin: But saying that, I think you have a choice to fly with Ryanair, no one is forcing you to fly with them. Welcome to the world of market forces.

Sure, and I do exercise my choice not to fly with them. This thing about credit card charges is one of Ryanair's methods to buck market forces, by masking the true price of an object and to make direct price comparisons more difficult. Between the same airports, airline A's price of £9.99 plus taxes and charges may be lower than airline B's £0.01 plus taxes and charges. It puts the consumer in the position of having to do more work to find out what the REAL price is, so that they can select the best deal. I expect most people on this board are happy to do that work, but many aren't, and may be justified in considering themselves mislead.

I'm not singling Ryanair out in this, it's just that they're the subject of the thread. There is an awful lot of 'confusion marketing' around, designed to prevent you making valid comparisons between products and prices, and this puts the average consumer at a disadvantage. Market forces or market abuse ?

pin

dunx wrote:

Sure, and I do exercise my choice not to fly with them. This thing about credit card charges is one of Ryanair's methods to buck market forces, by masking the true price of an object and to make direct price comparisons more difficult. Between the same airports, airline A's price of £9.99 plus taxes and charges may be lower than airline B's £0.01 plus taxes and charges. It puts the consumer in the position of having to do more work to find out what the REAL price is, so that they can select the best deal. I expect most people on this board are happy to do that work, but many aren't, and may be justified in considering themselves mislead.

I'm not singling Ryanair out in this, it's just that they're the subject of the thread. There is an awful lot of 'confusion marketing' around, designed to prevent you making valid comparisons between products and prices, and this puts the average consumer at a disadvantage. Market forces or market abuse ?

Yes, you are totally right in what you say.

alanrowell

Ryanair is the company that stays barely (most of the time) on the side of legal. They are notorious for creating new forms of charge to disguise the actual cost of a ticket and the way they automatically add on optional charges then make it hard to find the means for removing them would have Scrooge glowing with praise.

Take for example their latest wizz - if you have no checked luggage they automatically add on a priority boarding / online checkin fee. The means for removing it is not in the drop down menus like you would expect but you click on a word in the following text. I wonder how many people have included that without even knowing they have?

mixu

I've just booked with BA and they charge £3 per person for using a credit card — Ryanair aren't the only ones...

budgetflyer

The priority boarding option is hard to find first time round granted.Michael Oleary doesnt give a toss though. Facts are ,they are gaining 20% extra passengers year on year as in most cases they really are cheapest by a mile.He is giving people what they want-cheap no frills travel. Want extras-pay extra.
However, paying by debit card, theres no getting away from the fact that most of the extra compulsory charges on a penny flight are GOVERNMENT and AIRPORT charges.(Gov tax)(PSC)(airport tax)
Heres an example of the compulsory charges on a £5.99 EW to Dusseldorf (Weeze) from Prestwick

Prestwick sector

Gov tax £10
PSC £4
Ins + Wheelchair levy £3.98
Total £17.68

Weeze sector

Gov tax £2.12
Airport tax £3.99
Insurance and wheelchair levy £3.68
Total £9.79

The most noticable difference is the UK Gov tax compared to German Gov tax. £7.88 or to put a spin on it nearly 4 TIMES AS MUCH PER PASSENGER
It adds nearly £40 to the cost for a family of 5 (as don9999 is)

pin

mixu wrote:

I've just booked with BA and they charge £3 per person for using a credit card — Ryanair aren't the only ones...

Book through www.americanairlines.co.uk and avoid the £3 booking fee.

budgetflyer

mixu wrote:

I've just booked with BA and they charge £3 per person for using a credit card — Ryanair aren't the only ones...

Easyjet charge £4.99 flat CC fee for 1 passenger, although additional ones are pennies extra.
Thomsonfly flat £5 CC fee also (any number of passengers)

Each has benefits and draw backs.I still prefer to pay the CC charge though, even for that extra protection, just as I paid the 2% (£40) to the travel agent.If the shutters go down, he runs off to Brazil with my 2K, its an extra layer of protection as well as the ATOL

dunx

Budgetflyer opens up another discussion point here: of the taxes and charges imposed by Ryanair, how many are simply direct costs incurred by Ryanair and passed on to the consumer without mark-up ? The answer is that only items described as 'Government tax' fit the bill. The rest are Ryanair profit items, in part or in full.