MSE News: Ryanair forces ALL customers to pay booking charge

MarkBargain

callum9999 wrote: »

You buy a Ryanair Cash Passport, then you use it. IT IS VERY EASY - if that process is too hard for you then you shouldn't be allowed to set foot on an aircraft - no doubt you'd also struggle to realise you shouldn't block the aisle for a chat while the engines on fire and everyone else is trying to get out...

I have a Ryanair Cash Passport and I don't consider it 'easy' compared to just paying on my debit card. The application process takes time (after which the flights the purchaser was wanting are likely to have gone up in price), numerous T&Cs and charges apply if the customer isn't careful, and topping up can be problematic (see another thread on that).

callum9999 wrote: »

And I cannot believe you even need to ask that... OBVIOUSLY I do not agree. For the ten billionth time, I do not appreciate having to spend extra because people are either too moronic (in which case, they shouldn't be flying at all) or lazy to follow the very simple booking rules.

I am talking about OFT rulings in the recent past, not the latest one. The central thread of your argument was that the admin fee is clear on the Ryanair website, yet you disagree with the OFT forcing them to make this clear. Isn't that contradictory? Without the OFT, the admin fee would not be clear at all until the very end of the booking process.

zagfles

MarkBargain wrote: »

I have a Ryanair Cash Passport and I don't consider it 'easy' compared to just paying on my debit card. The application process takes time (after which the flights the purchaser was wanting are likely to have gone up in price), numerous T&Cs and charges apply if the customer isn't careful, and topping up can be problematic (see another thread on that).

Yes, and for someone like me who only uses Ryanair once every 2 years or so, it's just not worth the hassle. There's no way I'm getting a new payment method just to pay one retailer once in a blue moon. Imagine if all retailers did this!

I am talking about OFT rulings in the recent past, not the latest one. The central thread of your argument was that the admin fee is clear on the Ryanair website, yet you disagree with the OFT forcing them to make this clear. Isn't that contradictory?

:rotfl:Yes! The thing to remember about this ruling is that despite Ryanair pretending they've been forced to change their pricing structure by the OFT, they haven't. This is rubbish.

They could retain exactly the same charging structure, just instead of adding the "admin fee" at the end for those without their pre-paid card, they include the admin fee in the base price and give a discount for using their pre-paid card. Nothing in the new rules to stop this. Exactly the same end result. In fact it sounds like they're already doing exactly that, judging by the banner on their website.

So why don't they continue with this? If everything was clear before, it'd still be clear now, and everyone would pay the same. So come on, why don't they?

NFH

zagfles wrote: »

They could retain exactly the same charging structure, just instead of adding the "admin fee" at the end for those without their pre-paid card, they include the admin fee in the base price and give a discount for using their pre-paid card. Nothing in the new rules to stop this. Exactly the same end result. In fact it sounds like they're already doing exactly that, judging by the banner on their website.

So why don't they continue with this?

Of course this would not facilitate a misleading indication of price. It further demonstrates that the sole purpose of Ryanair's admin fee is to legitimise a misleading indication of price.

callum9999

MarkBargain wrote: »

I have a Ryanair Cash Passport and I don't consider it 'easy' compared to just paying on my debit card. The application process takes time (after which the flights the purchaser was wanting are likely to have gone up in price), numerous T&Cs and charges apply if the customer isn't careful, and topping up can be problematic (see another thread on that).



I am talking about OFT rulings in the recent past, not the latest one. The central thread of your argument was that the admin fee is clear on the Ryanair website, yet you disagree with the OFT forcing them to make this clear. Isn't that contradictory? Without the OFT, the admin fee would not be clear at all until the very end of the booking process.

There is an enormous difference between how hard something is and how long it takes to do...

No it's not contradictory... I don't recall saying that it's impossible for Ryanair to have made it clearer? And as I'm sure I've already told you at least twice, I COULDN'T CARE LESS how the current way they show the admin fee came about. I am NOT talking about past OFT rulings (though if they were going to bother ruling on such a thing then I don't see why they made them show it in an allegedly unclear way in the first place...), I am talking about them NOW. Please tell me you aren't one of those people who say that if you agree with something a company does, you therefore agree with everything they have ever done...

NFH

callum9999 wrote: »

There is an enormous difference between how hard something is and how long it takes to do...

Being easy to get includes being able to get it in time to make the booking. That's implicit.

MarkBargain

callum9999 wrote: »

There is an enormous difference between how hard something is and how long it takes to do...

Well, I think most people would argue that a payment process that takes days and requires applying for a card is not easy. Besides the time it takes, there is the requirement to upload a minimum of £150 (costly and inconvenient), there is the dormancy fee if the card is not used every six months, and there are the technical problems uploading to the card which are well documented on here. Can you tell me how that equates to being "VERY EASY" as you wrote in capital letters on here?

callum9999 wrote: »

I am NOT talking about past OFT rulings (though if they were going to bother ruling on such a thing then I don't see why they made them show it in an allegedly unclear way in the first place...), I am talking about them NOW. Please tell me you aren't one of those people who say that if you agree with something a company does, you therefore agree with everything they have ever done...

It has been a long process of the OFT getting Ryanair to make things clearer over time as they try to resist, e.g. changing 'card charges' to an 'admin fee'. Re. the last paragraph, I agree with the OFT trying to make trading fair, as that is what they are there for.

jfdi66

NFH wrote: »

You've missed the point. The issue is not about the size of Ryanair's route network or the affordability of fares but about the use of so-called admin fees to legitimise a misleading indication of price.

But that is the point, stop whingeing about the detail, look at the bottom line and tell me that Ryanair is not the bargain of the century for travel.

So if they mislead? Are you appointing yourself as Misleading Advertising Inspector? If so you can find yourself plenty of other big institutions with really outrageous advertising claims and blatant promotional lies. At least Ryanair delivers its headline promise - "the low-cost airline".

jfdi66

NFH wrote: »

Being easy to get includes being able to get it in time to make the booking. That's implicit.

Sounds like someone making excuses for not planning ahead - like the supermarket checkout, when the customer suddenly realises that they may actually have to pay for their purchases and start fumbling in their purses whilst the cashier politely looks at the heavens.....

Louisdf

MarkBargain wrote: »

Well, I think most people would argue that a payment process that takes days and requires applying for a card is not easy. Besides the time it takes, there is the requirement to upload a minimum of £150 (costly and inconvenient), there is the dormancy fee if the card is not used every six months, and there are the technical problems uploading to the card which are well documented on here. Can you tell me how that equates to being "VERY EASY" as you wrote in capital letters on here?



It has been a long process of the OFT getting Ryanair to make things clearer over time as they try to resist, e.g. changing 'card charges' to an 'admin fee'. Re. the last paragraph, I agree with the OFT trying to make trading fair, as that is what they are there for.

You can top up any amount by bank transfer. Last Saturday, I transferred £5.65 to the card and the funds were available to use in 3 hours.

zagfles

jfdi66 wrote: »

Sounds like someone making excuses for not planning ahead - like the supermarket checkout, when the customer suddenly realises that they may actually have to pay for their purchases and start fumbling in their purses whilst the cashier politely looks at the heavens.....

How many supermarkets only charge you the advertised price if you pay using their own card? There'd be a lot of "fumbling" if people went in the supermarket for a 50p pint of milk and the cashier said "oh, you haven't got our card, so that'll be 60p".