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

2sides2everystory

I_like_saving_money wrote: »

On BBC yesterday, O Leary was talking about a war with BA over flight destinations now that BA have taken over BMI.

Well he's a bit behind the curve I think and he will be playing catch-up. I shall be using BA for my summer European holiday flights in 2012. I used KLM last year (including the London European leg). There's still some messing with the competition like too many lost bags, but no messing with ummin and erring with inadequate 15kg bags / 20 kg alternative surcharges / peak period hikes on longer holidays, and there's still a bit of human customer service left in the product, and hey the price is just as cheap and on this particular occasion Ryanair don't go to the right airport anyway.

Ryanair is over the hump now - if they are really to find business for 200 more aircraft (or maybe they are just planning to continue to attract business when they replace their hard-worked existing fleet?) then now their costs model has matured / good bits have been copied they are going to have to come up with more than same old same old to even maintain their share.

BusPass_2

I am with you 2 sides when you talk about pricing.

Generally, there are no real cheapies any more and while you can get cheaper flights you can no longer get cheap flights.

If you search about you can get deals with other airlines which , when you take the whole package including travel, overnight stays, add ons, are every bit as good as Ryanair.

However, they are competitive and do offer attractive deals but the days of the 1p flight have long gone.

If the economic downturn continues they have a stark choice. Do they reintroduce real cheapie deals? But, I suspect they are hanging their hat on the saga type market, who have disposable income and fill their planes to sunshine destinations as long as the price is not over the top.

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

MeanExpat

- The new payment card to avoid er... payment fees,
- The "security code" (next we will have to pay to look at the fares, I expect) and
- The day by day (rather than week by week) navigating through fares
are making RyanAir less and less palatable to people with limited time.

It's not that I don't want to pay £15 rather than £9 to travel 1000 miles in 2 hours in an expensive plane, I am becoming allergic to the HASSLE and will travel less especially in winter.

RyanAir spies, take note and think again!

Doc_N

Lovely people, Ryanair - so keen to help their customers :rotfl::

Airport staff offered scheme to help catch Ryanair passengers with excess baggage


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/8890300/Airport-staff-offered-scheme-to-help-catch-Ryanair-passengers-with-excess-baggage.html

John_Pierpoint

Are you suggesting that it is Ryanair that is giving the staff the bung? Or could it be the baggage handling company that is missing out or the airport owners who want a bigger revenue from the baggage handling fee ?

Are our airports run by the M A F I A ?

I think we need more transparency about airport charges and finances - now that NATO and the USSR is not building new airports all over the place any more.

antenna

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Are you suggesting that it is Ryanair that is giving the staff the bung? Or could it be the baggage handling company that is missing out or the airport owners who want a bigger revenue from the baggage handling fee ?

Are our airports run by the M A F I A ?

I think we need more transparency about airport charges and finances - now that NATO and the USSR is not building new airports all over the place any more.

It is, for sure,for sure, that ryanair reap the benefits from baggage charges and the boarding gate staff get a bung for how many they catch......but as we all want something for nothing we will continue to "run the risk".....it's up to us, not them to avoid these extra charges.

SaveTheEuro

I've just purchased a couple of Ryanair tickets, both priced in Euros. I paid for one with a Fair FX card and the other with the new Ryanair Cash Passport card.

While I was prepared for a 5.75% exchange rate mark up on the Ryanair Cash Passport I was surprised to find a less advantageous exchange rate was applied.

On the Fair FX transaction the exchange rate was 1.169. Ryanair Cash Passport applied a rate of 1.152.

Although the transactions were a few minutes apart the value of the pound has edged forward in that time and is at this very moment 1.17.

In effect, I paid an exchange rate mark-up of 7.21%.

Interestingly, the Ryanair Cash Passport website doesn't promise a fair exchange rate, only "an exchange rate determined by MasterCard®."

I'll return to using Pre-Pay Mastercards for future bookings in euros.

antenna

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

I've just purchased a couple of Ryanair tickets, both priced in Euros. I paid for one with a Fair FX card and the other with the new Ryanair Cash Passport card.

While I was prepared for a 5.75% exchange rate mark up on the Ryanair Cash Passport I was surprised to find a less advantageous exchange rate was applied.

On the Fair FX transaction the exchange rate was 1.169. Ryanair Cash Passport applied a rate of 1.152.

Although the transactions were a few minutes apart the value of the pound has edged forward in that time and is at this very moment 1.17.

In effect, I paid an exchange rate mark-up of 7.21%.

Interestingly, the Ryanair Cash Passport website doesn't promise a fair exchange rate, only "an exchange rate determined by MasterCard®."

I'll return to using Pre-Pay Mastercards for future bookings in euros.

If you are going to book flights in euros then the fairfx euro card is the way to go....you choose your exchange rate when you load the card in euros.

TakeThis

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

I've just purchased a couple of Ryanair tickets, both priced in Euros. I paid for one with a Fair FX card and the other with the new Ryanair Cash Passport card.

While I was prepared for a 5.75% exchange rate mark up on the Ryanair Cash Passport I was surprised to find a less advantageous exchange rate was applied.

On the Fair FX transaction the exchange rate was 1.169. Ryanair Cash Passport applied a rate of 1.152.

Although the transactions were a few minutes apart the value of the pound has edged forward in that time and is at this very moment 1.17.

In effect, I paid an exchange rate mark-up of 7.21%.

Interestingly, the Ryanair Cash Passport website doesn't promise a fair exchange rate, only "an exchange rate determined by MasterCard®."

I'll return to using Pre-Pay Mastercards for future bookings in euros.

The Mastercard rate for today is 1.17280. Yesterday; 1.16599

The Mastercard rate is fine. The problem is the deduction made by third parties.

lutzi1

See my post here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/48868825#Comment_48868825 post 65 for how I booked flights with a prepaid mastercard and avoided the fees.

I have always been willing to undergo a certain aount of inconvenience to avoid the fees, as I don't wish them to be added to the cost of the flight for everyone, but having looked at the ts and cs of the new RA card, I won't be getting one. It's simply a racket, with all sorts of prospective costs lined up to take effect over time so you won't notice them. They'll even charge you an extra £30 if their £2.50 a month charges if you don't use it for 6 months take you overdrawn. Just not worth the hassle, Mr O'Leary, so I'll be flying a lot less with RA if it ever really does become the only method of payment