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

Jonnytwotimes

NFH wrote: »

That's not a good comparison, because train companies don't use higher paying passengers to subsidise lower paying passengers, at least not to any significant extent compared to airlines. When you pay Ryanair without a card surcharge, you are being subsidised by those who do pay the card surcharge; likewise when you pay a low headline fare, you are being subsidised by those who pay a high headline fare. The price you pay for rail travel more closely reflects the average cost per passenger, whereas this is not true of air fares, nor of card surcharges. Also the card surcharges do not reflect the cost of accepting the payment method, especially as prepaid MasterCards actually cost Ryanair more to accept than debit cards. Until now, Ryanair's choice of "free" payment method has been based on the payment method's obscurity rather than its cost of accepting it.

I understand your point entirely but for me personally the bottom line is rail travel is ridiculously expensive compared to air travel regardless of the economics of it. True the comparison may not be far but just now I checked Ryanair and I or anyone with a prepaid Mastercard can fly from London Stansted to Frankfurt on the 15th Nov to the 17th for £18 return. Of course I dont expect first class service or to be treated like I would if I was flying Virgin.

FUNKY1

Just a note i tried booking ryanair flights via a travel company and hey Presto i didnt get charged the booking fees for each leg just a £1.20 card charge i think i can live with that. Thats my 2 fingers to Ryanairs charges

thefenman

apt wrote: »

Ryanair will even throw in a threat to arrest passengers free of charge. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1458568_ryanair-passenger-threatened-with-arrest-after-she-refused-to-leave-overbooked-holiday-flight-to-manchester?page_size=25#comments

Did he get his €s?

apt

Jonnytwotimes wrote: »

I understand your point entirely but for me personally the bottom line is rail travel is ridiculously expensive compared to air travel regardless of the economics of it. True the comparison may not be far but just now I checked Ryanair and I or anyone with a prepaid Mastercard can fly from London Stansted to Frankfurt on the 15th Nov to the 17th for £18 return. Of course I dont expect first class service or to be treated like I would if I was flying Virgin.

You should not expect to land anywhere near Frankfurt either. You are comparing the cheapest flights on Ryanair with the most expensive railfares. If you book in advance and travel at less popular times, which you need to do to get the cheapest Ryanair flights, you can also get low prices for rail travel and you won't be pestered by adverts trying to flog you useless products every few minutes.

LiquidPaddy

I thought readers might be interested in an old advert from Ryanair about pricing and charges that appeared on broadsheet.ie (an Irish comedic website). It's showing Ryanair was the polar opposite of its current approach to charges when it started, your silly site won't allow me to post the link (:eek:) even tho it is a valid website, so go to broadsheet dot ie and scroll down to the Ryanair 1988 article and pic....

:rotfl::rotfl:

I've only travelled a couple of times with Ryanair, as Aer Lingus has become quite expensive. Once to Rygge in Norway (flights were cheap but Norway was another matter!) and a flight to Luton. For both I used the payzone mastercard, which saved me paying for some of the charges.

Thanks for heads up on the Ryanair card; I hope it's going to be prepaid one, as I won't apply for a "real" credit card on principle.
I noticed, on Ryanair's Irish website, that it offers it's own Credit Card, run by MBNA.... is that the same MBNA that closed in Ireland recently, with 700 job losses looming??? pfft!

Keep up the good work... your Ryanair article made the Huffington Post today! :T

richardw

LiquidPaddy wrote: »

I thought readers might be interested in an old advert from Ryanair about pricing and charges that appeared on broadsheet.ie (an Irish comedic website). It's showing Ryanair was the polar opposite of its current approach to charges when it started...... go to

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/09/14/ryanair-1988/

gumpyone

Originally Posted by KTM Gordo
Everyone moans about Ryanair, but people still fly with them. People like 'cheap' - they're obsessed with low price.

We know that Ryanair add £6 to each flight, plus a fee if you want to actually fly, but if they fly where we want to go at the right time and for a price we are happy with, we'll still fly Ryanair.

Yes, the card fees are unfair but they're hardly a secret.

If you don't like it, fly with another airline, take the ferry or book a coach - all of which charge card fees

KTM has it exactly right but it does not stop us not liking them!!
The charge does not appear until after you have paid as far as I can see and the other charge I cringe at is the web check in fee where we do all the work!!

Tugboatden

Ryanair have a very clear business model that they are very forthright in articulating. Their business model isn't based in brand loyalty, it's purely transactional. They work on the principle that on balance, allowing for the disaffected dropping off, they will still turn in the passenger numbers. Which they do.

aveit

Is anyone that surprised. O'leary did say Prepaid Mastercards were a limited offer. So he's found another way to feed the cash cow. Surprise, surprise. Not many more details forthcoming at the moment, not even included in the website fees total (I checked). Cash passports have been going for a while now and don't tend to have the same minefield as Prepaid Mastercards. That said, check all terms and conditions carefully. Not that they've printed any yet but I did question this on the press release:

'Ryanair’s £6 admin fee will not apply to any bookings made with ‘Ryanair Cash Passport’ and there are NO transaction charges for using the card at UK MERCHANTS until 31st March 2012, so we recommend that UK passengers make the switch to ‘Ryanair Cash Passport’ as soon as possible to take advantage of the no fee offer.”

baldmosher

I always expect to pay fees for everything with Ryanair, and I also expect I will have to pay a few extras, but sometimes not. I can live with added fees, all I care about is whether I've got a flight cheaper than another airline. In most cases, I have, but not always. Me and my dad flew BHX-Weeze for 50p each way each, all in. That return flight would now be £13 each, all in, even if I use a credit card.

Compare with this story: last time (the only time!) I booked with Easyjet, LPL-AMS, basic return price of £65, I got all the way to the final confirmation screen, after five minutes of skipping joyfully past six screens of optional added-extras, only to be told my chosen flights had gone up in price by £25 each, and did I still want them. Now THAT is annoying.