Ryanair cutting its check-in fees

John_Blackman

£45 is still outrageous for an airport checkin! Ryanair is the most profitable airline in Europe, so either those fees are not essential to their business model, or they're counting on people's mistakes to get money!

jpsartre

They're essential to the business model in the sense that their business model is built on keeping costs at a minimum. Part of doing that is to have people check-in online and bring their own boarding passes rather than employing staff to do this at the airport. I don't believe Ryanair want people to show up at the airport without having checked in, the high fee is meant as a deterrent and they constantly remind passengers to check in online.

PeacefulWaters

John_Blackman wrote: »

£45 is still outrageous for an airport checkin! Ryanair is the most profitable airline in Europe, so either those fees are not essential to their business model, or they're counting on people's mistakes to get money!

It is essential to the business model. They don't want to employ staff to print passes.

Unless you're a business flex passenger.

callum9999

John_Blackman wrote: »

£45 is still outrageous for an airport checkin! Ryanair is the most profitable airline in Europe, so either those fees are not essential to their business model, or they're counting on people's mistakes to get money!

Exactly why I said the reduction to £45 was meaningless... They should have kept it at £70!

malkie76

Probably reflects the increase in passengers checking in online, and hence the decrease in requirements to have desks and staff at airports. I always felt the charges were reflective of the actual costs, and not a revenue stream.

John_Blackman

I'm not sure they'd have to employ more staff! Like most airlines, Ryanair has self-help machines at the airport. It shouldn't cost you £45 to type in your name and scan your passport on a screen. Or £15 to print a boarding pass!! Those are obvious sources of revenue for the airline.

They want to keep fares low, YES, but so do other low cost airlines, such a Easyjet, which offers the same flight prices, much better customer service, and no ridiculous fees.

When I say Ryanair is the most profitable airline in Europe, it means they make a HUGE margin (22.4% operating margin in 2015).
They keep their costs super low by 1) employing fewer attendants and pilots 2) having a quick turnover (years ago Ryanair planes were only allowed to stay on ground no more than 20min, I dont know about now, but thats why Ryanair planes are so filthy) 3) having the most basic website

.. and then charge outrageous amounts of money for people's honest mistakes. They charge up to £160 to change your name on your boarding pass bc you made a typo!

Ryanair is cutting costs in the wrong places and then making money off people for the extra profit.

leylandsunaddict

John_Blackman wrote: »

I'm not sure they'd have to employ more staff! Like most airlines, Ryanair has self-help machines at the airport. It shouldn't cost you £45 to type in your name and scan your passport on a screen. Or £15 to print a boarding pass!! Those are obvious sources of revenue for the airline.

They want to keep fares low, YES, but so do other low cost airlines, such a Easyjet, which offers the same flight prices, much better customer service, and no ridiculous fees.

When I say Ryanair is the most profitable airline in Europe, it means they make a HUGE margin (22.4% operating margin in 2015).
They keep their costs super low by 1) employing fewer attendants and pilots 2) having a quick turnover (years ago Ryanair planes were only allowed to stay on ground no more than 20min, I dont know about now, but thats why Ryanair planes are so filthy) 3) having the most basic website

.. and then charge outrageous amounts of money for people's honest mistakes. They charge up to £160 to change your name on your boarding pass bc you made a typo!

Ryanair is cutting costs in the wrong places and then making money off people for the extra profit.

The only time you pay is if you are checked in by a human. Other than that it's free. It's only right they charge for the extra time involved, and slowing down the bag drop queues. If people actually stuck to airlines rules they would have no revenue stream from it. For those that think the rules don't apply to them call it a 'stupid tax'.

They fly with the number of crew that is mandated. They can't just decide to use less crew on a flight. Turn round time is usually about 30 mins. and I've not been on a flight where the cabin is dirty. Mind you, the state some pigs leave the cabin in it would hardly be surprising if it wasn't spotless.

The don't charge outrageous amounts for honest mistakes. They're one of the best airlines around for correcting minor errors FOC. They've got a 24 hr grace period, and there is no excuse for not checking your confirmation thus being able to take advantage of that grace period. Even outside that they often make minor changes free of charge. They charge £110 (not £160 unless you do it at the airport) for a name change, but at least they let you change a name. Most airlines don't.

SW17

I like a good rant as much as anyone, but perhaps a little balance (and factual accuracy) here:

John_Blackman wrote: »

They want to keep fares low, YES, but so do other low cost airlines, such a Easyjet, which offers the same flight prices, much better customer service, and no ridiculous fees.

When I say Ryanair is the most profitable airline in Europe, it means they make a HUGE margin (22.4% operating margin in 2015).

Fare comparisons are not easy because it depends on what you are including in a fare, but in general Ryanair's fares are lower than easyJet's. The fees are there primarily as a deterrent to reduce costs, not a revenue stream. They may well make some money on them, but they provide people with ample opportunity to avoid them.

Not sure where you get your figures from, but Ryanair's operating margin in 2015 was 18.4%, not 22.4%. That was up from 13.1% in 2014, driven mainly by reduced fuel costs and increased load factors. For comparison, easyJet's margin was 14.6% in 2015 and 12.7% in 2014, so they are also highly profitable.

John_Blackman wrote: »

They keep their costs super low by 1) employing fewer attendants and pilots 2) having a quick turnover (years ago Ryanair planes were only allowed to stay on ground no more than 20min, I dont know about now, but thats why Ryanair planes are so filthy) 3) having the most basic website

Can't speak for their cabin crew ratio, but pilot flying hours are limited by law. True that Ryanair pilots are at the upper end of the scale in hours flown, but easyJet aren't that far behind. Ryanair minimum turnaround is 25 mins, it has been for years and they largely maintain it, going up by 5-10 mins at certain airports. I don't notice their aircraft to be any more dirty than others, but it could of course happen on occasions.

John_Blackman wrote: »

.. and then charge outrageous amounts of money for people's honest mistakes. They charge up to £160 to change your name on your boarding pass bc you made a typo!

Ryanair is cutting costs in the wrong places and then making money off people for the extra profit.

These changes are part of a 3 year programme called Always Getting Better, to improve their customer experience and their reputation. Apart from reduced fees, this has included allowing a 2nd piece of hand luggage, flexible fares, allowing travel agent distribution (mainly for corporates) and improving the website and general digital offering. They aren't doing it for charity, they know that their older (very successful) model could not sustain the next phase of growth. They will maintain their cost focus despite this.

I say this as someone who prefers easyJet to Ryanair for specific reasons, and fly easyJet far more often, but I quite willingly fly Ryanair several times a year and might fly them more if it did not involve Stansted so often, an airport I avoid for reasons unrelated to any airline.

EssexExile

Can I ask a silly question - what is "check in" for? I always assumed it was to tell the airline you were at the airport & ready to fly, as opposed to someone who hasn't turned up so there's no point in looking or waiting for them. As you can now check in several days in advance what purpose does it serve?

The_Groat_Counter

EssexExile wrote: »

Can I ask a silly question - what is "check in" for? I always assumed it was to tell the airline you were at the airport & ready to fly, as opposed to someone who hasn't turned up so there's no point in looking or waiting for them. As you can now check in several days in advance what purpose does it serve?

That's a fair enough question!

I suspect there can be several answers to it, but I'll give one example - if you do online check-in then if you are travelling without hold luggage you can then get your boarding pass there and then (to print out yourself or display on your mobile), meaning you can proceed straight through security and to your departure gate.

Why don't airlines just issue boarding passes straight away when you buy your ticket, you might ask... Well, flight schedules can and do change, and so that would mean the boarding pass is no longer valid (I don't think airport and airline systems are set up in a way that would allow a boarding pass for say a 1500 flight to be used on a rescheduled 1600 flight), and it also ensures the passenger is aware of the change of flight time.

Back to the original point, I think that British Airways is now automatically checking-in passengers on some routes now, which perhaps begs the question even more!