Latest Ryanair Rip-off - Pay Your Own Airport Security Fees

Steve_xx

zaksmum wrote: »

Well I've totally given up on Ryanair. Sick to death of them. All that hassle having to put the distorted codes in before you can even get a price for the flight is ridiculous.

And they're far from cheap now. My daughter looked at 2 flights to Lanzarote outside of school holiday times, and the price was £619! And if you happen to be reckless enough to want to take a case with you, you won't get any change out of £700!! Flight only, end February...you can do well better than that!

Yes it's true, they are not necessarily cheap. I don't actually mind Ryanair, but I have to say that as time goes by I have found the whole experience of flying with them less enchanting. For me, this episode today is a pretty poor show and it serves to highlight their disregard for their customers.

The leaflet that they hand you at the airport says that there is to be a 7 Euro charge. Bear in mind that Latvia uses the Latvian Lat, and not the Euro. So obviously one wouldn't necessarily have Euros when travelling from the UK to Latvia. Only in very small writing does it say that it can be paid in Lats.

Many might arrive at the airport without cash after a holiday there. What then? How will they be able to get through security without paying this charge?

malkie76

The_Groat_Counter wrote: »

Hmm, not so sure about that - from the Riga airport website:


http://www.riga-airport.com/en/main/passengers/useful-information/aviation-security-requirements/security-charge

I am correct; it's an airport fee, not an airline fee. It used to be paid by the government who no longer do.
Other airlines hide the fee in their ticket prices whereas RyanAir transparently let you pay it.

You can take another carrier or mode of transport and avoid RyanAir if you choose.

Steve_xx

malkie76 wrote: »

I am correct; it's an airport fee, not an airline fee. It used to be paid by the government who no longer do.
Other airlines hide the fee in their ticket prices whereas RyanAir transparently let you pay it.

You can take another carrier or mode of transport and avoid RyanAir if you choose.

Yes it seems to be an airport fee that other carriers include within their ticket price. As the charge is not avoidable then it makes sense to add it to the ticket price. That is unless you want to add it to the growing list of charges that cannot be avoided.

We have well established in this thread that one can take another carrier should one wish to and thereby avoid this separate charge. But, one cannot do that if one has booked the ticket, arrived at Riga airport, and at that point discovered that this charge exists.

To be clear about this and so as to avoid any further misunderstanding about it. What I want to know is what are all the possible charges for a flight before I book it. Not much to ask for I think.

Takecareofthepennies

I was under the impression the carrier HAD TO include all mandatory taxes / fees / charges in the ticket price??

SaveTheEuro

Takecareofthepennies wrote: »

I was under the impression the carrier HAD TO include all mandatory taxes / fees / charges in the ticket price??

One airport in Ireland, Knock, has been making passengers pay a tenner to depart for years.

Knock say airlines "have been requested to make passengers aware of it before booking travel out of our airport." I'm not aware of Ryanair or any other airline doing so.

http://www.irelandwestairport.com/airportguide/airportdevelopmentfee.aspx

benjus

This seems fairly common in some parts of the world. I recently had to pay about 30 USD per person to depart from Punta del Este airport in Uruguay. The airline, Argentina's flag carrier, hadn't bothered to warn us.

OTOH, this seems like a special case as all airlines except Ryanair have accepted the charge, and only Ryanair customers have to pay it. This does reflect quite badly on Ryanair.

Roger1

malkie76 wrote: »

I am correct; it's an airport fee, not an airline fee. It used to be paid by the government who no longer do.
Other airlines hide the fee in their ticket prices whereas RyanAir transparently let you pay it.

Er, no.

Other airlines include €6.50 in the ticket. Ryanair don't. Ryanair passengers have to pay €7, so an increase of 7.7% because of Ryanair's intransigence.

It's the first time I've heard 'Ryanair' and 'transparently' used in the same sentence. (Of course, an increase of 7.7% because of Ryanair policy is NOT transparency.)

antenna

Roger1 wrote: »

Er, no.

Other airlines include €6.50 in the ticket. Ryanair don't. Ryanair passengers have to pay €7, so an increase of 7.7% because of Ryanair's intransigence.

It's the first time I've heard 'Ryanair' and 'transparently' used in the same sentence. (Of course, an increase of 7.7% because of Ryanair policy is NOT transparency.)

Not quite 7.7% as you have the use of the 6.50/7 euro from the time you pay for your ticket till the time you pay at riga airport........and as that famouse Cohen says "every penny helps"

agrinnall

When I flew out of Newquay a few years ago the airport charged a mandatory £5 for airport development (I think) that had to be paid direct to the airport in cash. So it happens even in the UK.

Steve_xx

So then it appears that the charge is not that uncommon as others on here have experienced it in Argentina, Eire and Newquay in the UK.

In the case of Riga it appears that only Ryanair flights have the charge imposed as a separate issue. Whereas at the airports mentioned above, the charge might be imposed for everyone. That does not make it right. Why should there be charge of this nature imposed separately on a passenger?

Where will it all end? The next thing on the agenda will be a charge for using the airport lounges. Then if you need to take a bus to the aircraft will a further charge be levied for that facility. what about a charge for using the toilets at the airport, that could become the norm.

It really isn't satisfactory to try and legitimise these additional charges by styling them as 'transparency'. Personally I don't want to know about all of these elemental charges. I want to buy a ticket to go from a to be and I simply want to know what the cost of that is without knowing about incidental charges that are mandatory anyway.