MSE News: Ryanair 'sticks two fingers up at passengers' with new card fees

MarkBargain

Of course you are right that savvy frequent Ryanair fliers will get a card in advance, that is the sensible thing to do.

Going back to the original point of the thread though, for the average infrequent customer who only discovers the £6 (£48 for a family of four) card fee at the end of the booking process, it is crazy to think they have to abort their booking, apply for a Ryanair card, wait for it to arrive, then try again to book flights after which time prices may well have increased. They then have to load a lot of money onto the card and make sure it is used frequently to avoid charges. They should not have to do all that just to buy something for the price it is advertised for on the Ryanair front page / first booking screen! How it is allowed I do not know. Well done to Martin Lewis for raising this.

antenna

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing,it's the unsavvy bookers that keep the prices down for us savvy bookers.
While i agree it is not cricket to show card booking fees at the final stage just before "pay now"........but if it keeps prices down for the savvy bookers then,i, for one, am all for it.
If you are old enough to have a credit/debit card then you must be aware that in many instances transaction fees are payable,it is your responsability to check in advance,life sucks,then you die,get over it!

budgetflyer

MarkBargain wrote: »

Of course you are right that savvy frequent Ryanair fliers will get a card in advance, that is the sensible thing to do.

Going back to the original point of the thread though, for the average infrequent customer who only discovers the £6 (£48 for a family of four) card fee at the end of the booking process, it is crazy to think they have to abort their booking, apply for a Ryanair card, wait for it to arrive, then try again to book flights after which time prices may well have increased. They then have to load a lot of money onto the card and make sure it is used frequently to avoid charges. They should not have to do all that just to buy something for the price it is advertised for on the Ryanair front page / first booking screen! How it is allowed I do not know. Well done to Martin Lewis for raising this.

easily got round with "no card fees" for headline rates , just as they do with taxes, eu levy, on line check in fees at present.

MarkBargain

budgetflyer wrote: »

easily got round with "no card fees" for headline rates , just as they do with taxes, eu levy, on line check in fees at present.

Two points about that:

1) they are not offering "no card fees" on their headline rates!

2) the taxes, EU levy etc. are at least shown on the page where flight prices are compared. The card fee is added on right at the end of the booking process.

Toe-Jam

NFH wrote: »

More easily said than done. After ordering the card, how long will it take to arrive? After researching fares with different airlines and then choosing to book with Ryanair, will the customer receive the card and £6 voucher in time to pay for the flight before the fare goes up?

The cards are available from 4th October.

The compulsary usage of the cards comes into effect on 1st November. Plenty of time to order one and receive it.

Don't know what is so difficult about that.

If your down to your last £6 and worried you won't recieve the vocher in time, then you might want to re evaluate your holiday

NFH

Toe-Jam wrote: »

The cards are available from 4th October.

The compulsary usage of the cards comes into effect on 1st November. Plenty of time to order one and receive it.

If a potential passenger decides on 2nd November to fly somewhere, chooses Ryanair out of the many airlines available, and then reads that a Ryanair prepaid card is necessary to pay for the flight to avoid a hefty surcharge, how will the customer have "plenty of time" to order and receive the card? Between ordering the card on 2nd November and receiving it, the fare may well have gone up.

The passenger is consequently faced with paying a card surcharge or risking a higher fare. Therefore it is misleading of Ryanair to exclude the card surcharge from its advertised fares.

Bob_the_Saver

NFH wrote: »

If a potential passenger decides on 2nd November to fly somewhere, chooses Ryanair out of the many airlines available, and then reads that a Ryanair prepaid card is necessary to pay for the flight to avoid a hefty surcharge, how will the customer have "plenty of time" to order and receive the card? Between ordering the card on 2nd November and receiving it, the fare may well have gone up.

The passenger is consequently faced with paying a card surcharge or risking a higher fare. Therefore it is misleading of Ryanair to exclude the card surcharge from its advertised fares.

So the price for the journey below without the card would be £17.98 + £12 card fees around £30
or around £131 with BA, will they pay the extra £100 to avoid the £12?


Nov 8th - 16th

Free Online Check in
Depart: London-Stansted - 10:35 Arrive: Oslo (Torp) - 13:30
1 x Adult 8.99 GBP

Free Online Check in
Depart:
Oslo (Torp) - 13:55
Arrive:
London-Stansted - 14:50
1 x Adult 8.99 GBP

Fare 8.99 GBP
Taxes and Fees 0.00 GBP
Online Check-In 0.00 GBP
EU 261 Levy 0.00 GBP
Sub Total 8.99 GBP
Total Price 8.99 GBP

Fare 8.99 GBP
Taxes and Fees 0.00 GBP
Online Check-In 0.00 GBP
EU 261 Levy 0.00 GBP
Sub Total 8.99 GBP
Total Price 8.99 GBP

John_Pierpoint

So this card is really only a sort of loyalty card for regular travellers. Someone who may or may not travel with Ryan Air once a year won't want to carry this fee charging card around in their wallet.
Too much hassle and Ryan Air, just like the bank which keeps on sneaking down interest rates, is relying on inertia and complexity selling to bamboozle most customers.

There is a cynical science to this confusion marketing.

antenna

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

So this card is really only a sort of loyalty card for regular travellers. Someone who may or may not travel with Ryan Air once a year won't want to carry this fee charging card around in their wallet.
Too much hassle and Ryan Air, just like the bank which keeps on sneaking down interest rates, is relying on inertia and complexity selling to bamboozle most customers.

There is a cynical science to this confusion marketing.

Very True............but this new card is really not much different from the pre-paid mastercard that only a few had for the last 2/3 years and the once/twice a year traveller did not have anyway.So nothing has changed for them,they paid the fees before and they will pay the fees now.
It is not my job to educate the great unwashed,so i will jump through O'Leary's latest hoop and continue to fly for less.

NFH

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

So the price for the journey below without the card would be £17.98 + £12 card fees around £30
or around £131 with BA, will they pay the extra £100 to avoid the £12?

You've totally missed the point. It's not about how Ryanair's all-in fares compare to its competitors, but about Ryanair misleadingly advertising fares that are cheaper than its true all-in fares by excluding additional fees that cannot be avoided.

Given that Ryanair's new card will not be available on an instantaneous basis, the resultant all-in fare is higher than the advertised fare. Either the customer pays the card surchage or waits for the Ryanair card during which time the fare goes up. In either case, the customer pays more than the stated fare. This puts Ryanair in danger of breaching Section 5 subsections 2 and 4(g) of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.