Ryanair to start charging a fee for payments using cash passport

callum9999

NFH wrote: »

Of course it's a victory for the consumer. The overall fare paid will remain the same, but the advertised fare will soon reflect the true fare charged. The issue is purely about advertised fares, not about the overall fare paid.

The only losers are of course the minority who have benefited from Ryanair's single free method of payment. This anomaly existed, not because that free method reflected Ryanair's cost savings, but in order to satisfy a legal loophole. This minority should be grateful that the anomaly existed for as long as it did; there was never any economic or moral justification for it.

NO IT DOESN'T. A fare that would cost me £20 before the 1st will cost me £26 after the first. END OF. Why on earth do the people using a Cash Passport not count as consumers in your mind?

And I think you'll find what you mean is "I don't think there is a moral or economic justification for it" - or are you amongst the increasing number of people who view their opinions as fact? Economic justification - the lower headline price attracts more people. Moral justification - a mechanism is provided so that all customers are potentially able to save £6pp per flight should they wish. Or are you seriously suggesting that private companies should be more focussed on helping customers than helping themselves? Why not go the whole-hog and revert to absolute communism? (Something, before you moan, I actually like in principle)

NFH wrote: »

You appear to have missed the subject of this thread, which is "Ryanair to start charging a fee for payments using cash passport", which will take effect from 1st December. The thread is clearly about what will happen in future, not about the status quo.

Perhaps you should read the actual thread instead of just the title... People are moaning about how it is NOW. Yes the future does come into it, but you cannot moan about how awful Ryanair is for not including a non-optional fee in it's headline price when as of this moment, it is optional, and you have zero way of knowing whether it will be included after the 1st December.

In fact, I'd say the fact that their homepage is already including the £6 fee in the headline price, it's rather likely that the admin fee will be included after the 1st December...

NFH

callum9999 wrote: »

In fact, I'd say the fact that their homepage is already including the £6 fee in the headline price, it's rather likely that the admin fee will be included after the 1st December...

Fine. Problem solved.

lucy03

I never quite got around to getting a cash passport, but I can sympathise with the disappointment of those that do have them. It allowed those that wanted to have a way round the administrative charge, so I personally think the current situation is now a little worse than before.

However, this is an opportunity for Ryanair to launch a different scheme in its place. They're perfectly entitled to offer discounts if they so wish to certain customers, maybe with some form of loyalty card which they charge for. I can imagine some system where you pay 75 pounds a year for a card, or whatever, and then get a discount on each booking.

I_like_saving_money

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

Airlines charge admin fees, fuel surcharges, online check in fees -- any old rubbish they can come up with. But they have to quote an inclusive figure for all the compulsory items.

Ryanair's agreement with the Office of Fair Trading is about falling into line with an upcoming directive from the EU that there should be no penalty for paying with a debit card.

If the £6 fee is unavoidable, then it should be included in the advertised price from the outset. The only reason that Ryanair excludes the £6 fee from advertised fares is to mislead consumers into believing that the fare is £6 less than it really is. Giving a misleading indication of price is an unfair commercial practice.

Except they have now decided that everyone should pay the fee regardless of their payment method and £6 is more than the cost of processing the card / maintaing the database / everything else which it's meant to cover the admin cost despite the fact that we have to pay to print off our own boarding passes.

The only reason it isn't advertised as a £18.99 ticket including admin fees rather than £12.99 plus hidden £6 fee is that they try to market the cost as low as possible to make the customer think they are the cheapest option.

If you look at the easyJet page, it does say that the price on the right hand side includes a £9 admin charge. If you compare with the Ryanair one, it only lists the cost of the flight, and all other costs e.g. web checkin, taxes etc except the admin one and this is why the website doesn't comply with the OFT.

If they change the website to include the £6 fee, then they comply with the rules and don't mislead the customer.

Some of us don't have a choice of who we fly with ie for me I have family who live in France and the local airports are either Ryanair destinations or FlyBe to Southampton. BA is to Bordeaux or easyJet from Toulouse which is over 200kms away and other alteratives by search engines which avoid Ryanair send you via Air France to Belgium, then to London and cost over £100.

jayok

NFH wrote: »

Of course it's a victory for the consumer. The overall fare paid will remain the same

You have got a warped idea of what is best for the consumer as the overall will not remain the same for all consumers!

In this scenario, consumer A, who does not want to get a fee avoiding card will pay the same. Consumer B, who researches the most cost effective way will lose out and pay the same as consumer A. And you claim this is a victory for the consumer????

callum9999

I_like_saving_money wrote: »

Except they have now decided that everyone should pay the fee regardless of their payment method and £6 is more than the cost of processing the card / maintaing the database / everything else which it's meant to cover the admin cost despite the fact that we have to pay to print off our own boarding passes.

The only reason it isn't advertised as a £18.99 ticket including admin fees rather than £12.99 plus hidden £6 fee is that they try to market the cost as low as possible to make the customer think they are the cheapest option.

If you look at the easyJet page, it does say that the price on the right hand side includes a £9 admin charge. If you compare with the Ryanair one, it only lists the cost of the flight, and all other costs e.g. web checkin, taxes etc except the admin one and this is why the website doesn't comply with the OFT.

If they change the website to include the £6 fee, then they comply with the rules and don't mislead the customer.

Some of us don't have a choice of who we fly with ie for me I have family who live in France and the local airports are either Ryanair destinations or FlyBe to Southampton. BA is to Bordeaux or easyJet from Toulouse which is over 200kms away and other alteratives by search engines which avoid Ryanair send you via Air France to Belgium, then to London and cost over £100.

They say it's subject to an admin fee and provide a link to find out what that fee is though. I don't see what OFT regulation it doesn't comply with?

And people keep on saying "I have no choice" - but you yourself just listed 3 alternative airlines you could use. Then there is the train, bus or rental car. They may be more expensive or inconvenient, but you aren't being forced at gunpoint to either use Ryanair or stay at home!

Mark_Xa

I have a Ryanair Cash passport but I would rather have not had to bother. Perhaps it isn't unfair, but it's bloody irritating.

UsetheFORCE

MarkBargain wrote: »

Are you sure that's right? If so, everyone could simply book their outward and return journeys separately and avoid the fee on their return leg.

Ryanair only allowed discounts with previous cards for a short period of time as when enough people got the Visa Electron and subsequently the Mastercard Prepay cards they stopped letting those cards escape the charge. So, one could argue the ruling is quite convenient for Ryanair, especially as they will make money on all the charges to use / get money back on the Cash Passports.

I already do book both legs seperately!, my flights to Bremen a few days ago were £12 Manchester to Bremen and 12 EURO for the return leg! So my return flight was cheaper than the outward leg. A POUND IS A EURO AS FAR AS RYANAIR ARE CONCERNED.Also if you do this, you need to UNTICK the automatic conversion rate and take the normal Mastercard rate as Ryanair's is considerably worse than mastercard/visa rates!

UsetheFORCE

BigBelly wrote: »

The objection here seems to be that savvy consumers are being subsidised by others. The way I see it, it is no different to loyalty schemes where everyone pays the full price to start with but only those in the scheme get a rebate. Thus, people who don't join the scheme are subsidising the others. But that is tolerated.

I wonder if the same people complaining about the fees also complain about 'FREE' banking???