MSE News: Ryanair forces ALL customers to pay booking charge

zagfles

solna1891 wrote: »

Ok, i have read all the posts on this matter and this is where i stand.I fly to Stockholm approx 6-7 times per year,from my local airport Stansted. Ryan-air,as far as i know are the only air-line who provide this service.I have a Ryan air cash passport to avoid the £12 return fee,so saving myself at least £72 per year.This concession has now been lost,so obviously i am a financial loser.Why cant Ryan-air display their fees differently as suggested by a previous blogger zagfles and still give discount to their cash passport holders? I personally will be cancelling my Ryan cash passport by withdrawing all monies from an atm,they charge otherwise,and paying future flights with a credit card with a yearly cash back.Will still use Ryan-air though as other options will be more time consuming and costly.

I think after the price labelling, the OFT should look at airport labelling :rotfl:

Ryanair don't fly to Stockholm last time I looked, they fly to Nyköping or Västerås, which both pretend to be in Stockholm but are nowhere near! Calling Luton or Stanstead "London" airports I think is a bit dodgy but calling Nyköping or Västerås airports "Stockholm" is plain misleading! They are both about 100km away!

callum9999

zagfles wrote: »

Really? URL please. I can't believe there's any truth in this, if there were loads of major retailers would be in trouble. Retailers can offer discounts for almost whatever reason they want, and they do. The OFT are fine with that.

They just can't (in general) charge more than the price label without good excuse.

I have no idea what the URL is, I don't keep research notes...

I really couldn't care whether you believe it or not as this discussion ultimately doesn't mean anything and doesn't change anything, but they said it.

There aren't "loads of major retailers" doing it regardless. Loyalty points are completely separate to discounts (and despite you saying they do, Tesco don't offer a discount for paying by their credit card), and it's a completely different environment. This was in response to the airlines possibly using it as a loophole to still charge admin fees but under a different name. Though admittedly, off the top of my head, I don't see how they could do anything about it.

SaveTheEuro

solna1891 wrote: »

I personally will be cancelling my Ryan cash passport by withdrawing all monies from an atm,they charge otherwise,and paying future flights with a credit card with a yearly cash back.

Ryanair will still be able to charge more for the use of a credit card. The authorities were concerned that a debit card was the basic form of payment for airlines tickets (since it's virtually impossible to pay with cash) so decided to outlaw debit card surcharges, but credit card surcharges may continue as long as they are not "excessive."

zagfles

callum9999 wrote: »

I have no idea what the URL is, I don't keep research notes...

I really couldn't care whether you believe it or not as this discussion ultimately doesn't mean anything and doesn't change anything, but they said it.

Well, I don't. They just "said" it but it's not recorded anywhere, no news source, no press release? The issue that concerned the OFT was the headline price wasn't the debit card price. It was a display issue, they wouldn't give a t0ss if RA gave a £6 discount for using their card, as long as the headline price was the debit card price.

I'm getting lots of £5 discounts when using my Amex card at certain retailers right now. Try whinging at the OFT about it and see how far you get. They don't care about discounts. They care about misleading pricing.

There aren't "loads of major retailers" doing it regardless. Loyalty points are completely separate to discounts

Oh really? So loyalty points aren't discounts? They give you money off your shopping but aren't discounts. Riiight...maybe Ryanair can offer "loyalty points" then for using their pre-paid card then, just like Tesco do.

(and despite you saying they do, Tesco don't offer a discount for paying by their credit card),

Yes they do
http://www.tescobank.com/personal/finance/creditcards/clubcc/index.html#tab-0-1

Get one extra point for every £4 spent on your Clubcard Credit Card. Plus, your credit card doubles as your Clubcard so you'll get1:

• 5 points for every £4 spent in Tesco stores.
• 5 points for every £4 spent on Tesco fuel (excludes Esso Fuel). That's more than twice the amount you get with a standard Clubcard!
• 1 point for every £4 spent elsewhere.

That's money off at Tesco, over and above the usual loyalty points, for using their credit card.

and it's a completely different environment. This was in response to the airlines possibly using it as a loophole to still charge admin fees but under a different name. Though admittedly, off the top of my head, I don't see how they could do anything about it.

They couldn't. So Ryanair are perfectly free to offer discounts for using their card, just like Tesco, just like Amex.

callum9999

zagfles wrote: »

Well, I don't. They just "said" it but it's not recorded anywhere, no news source, no press release? The issue that concerned the OFT was the headline price wasn't the debit card price. It was a display issue, they wouldn't give a t0ss if RA gave a £6 discount for using their card, as long as the headline price was the debit card price.

I'm getting lots of £5 discounts when using my Amex card at certain retailers right now. Try whinging at the OFT about it and see how far you get. They don't care about discounts. They care about misleading pricing.
Oh really? So loyalty points aren't discounts? They give you money off your shopping but aren't discounts. Riiight...maybe Ryanair can offer "loyalty points" then for using their pre-paid card then, just like Tesco do. Yes they do
http://www.tescobank.com/personal/finance/creditcards/clubcc/index.html#tab-0-1

That's money off at Tesco, over and above the usual loyalty points, for using their credit card. They couldn't. So Ryanair are perfectly free to offer discounts for using their card, just like Tesco, just like Amex.

I didn't say it's not recorded anywhere... Clearly it was otherwise I wouldn't know about it... As I said, you not believing me doesn't remotely concern me (and to be honest, nor would I believe you if this was the other way around!).

That's completely different... Amex are giving you £5, it's not a "discount" provided by a retailer.

No, loyalty points aren't discounts - and Tesco don't give you any extra loyalty points for using their card in Tesco. You would get exactly the same as you would if you used it in ASDA (minus the normal 1 point per pound which you'd get regardless of how you pay of course) - perhaps you should have actually read the link you posted... That's no different to your previously mentioned AMEX promotion or the myriad of other cashback cards. It isn't the retailer giving a discount for using a certain card.

zagfles

callum9999 wrote: »

That's completely different... Amex are giving you £5, it's not a "discount" provided by a retailer.

They could provide a discount though the Ryanair card just like Amex do through their card. Like I've said before. This is like wading through treacle...

No, loyalty points aren't discounts

Ooh really? So Ryanair could give "loyalty points" which gets you £6 off every flight when you use the Ryanair card. It's not a "discount" according to you so that's OK then then isn't it.

and Tesco don't give you any extra loyalty points for using their card in Tesco.

Their website says they do. I know who I believe.

Ta ta.

jfdi66

solna1891 wrote: »

Will still use Ryan-air though as other options will be more time consuming and costly.

Well there you have it - despite all the add-ons and fees, Ryanair still deliver the cheapest flights and value for money, so just stop bleating and say "thank you" to Mr O'Leary who has made this possible for you, you ungrateful people.


Viva O'Leary !!!

NFH

jfdi66 wrote: »

Well there you have it - despite all the add-ons and fees, Ryanair still deliver the cheapest flights and value for money, so just stop bleating and say "thank you" to Mr O'Leary who has made this possible for you, you ungrateful people.

You've missed the point. We're not discussing whether Ryanair's fares are cheap or not. We are discussing whether Ryanair's advertised prices reflect the final price paid by the majority of customers or prospective customers.

krisskross

It is costing more for our clothes to fly than us next month.

I love Ryanair!

Personally I never bother with the headline figure I go right through the booking process to the absolute final cost and then decide whether I want it.

No different to some companies, Viking for instance, show the headline figure of their goods then add on the 20% VAT when you get to the payment page.

NFH

krisskross wrote: »

Personally I never bother with the headline figure I go right through the booking process to the absolute final cost and then decide whether I want it.

Consumers should not have to do this. If a lower price is displayed than the price ultimately charged, then it is a misleading indication of price. The purpose of such a differential is to distort competition by falsely comparing more favourably to the competition.

krisskross wrote: »

No different to some companies, Viking for instance, show the headline figure of their goods then add on the 20% VAT when you get to the payment page.

Not true. Viking Direct's business site shows prices excluding VAT, but if you switch to the consumer site, prices include VAT. This is normal practice, because most businesses (being VAT-registered) ultimately pay the price excluding VAT, whereas consumers always pay the price including VAT. If a site aimed at consumers excludes VAT from prices, then it would be in breach of Article 1 of the Price Marking Order 2004 and Regulation 7(1)(a)(iii) of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.