Airport fees!

louloubelle1982

Hello after a recent trip with Ryan air,I hadn’t flown for years,so assumed u turned up at the airport and checked in there.Me and my travel companion turned up 2 hours before the flight to check in,to be told we had needed to check in online and was too late to do that,and would be charged £55 each to check in!After speaking to staff I was told I should have recieved a reminder text/email to say about booking in online to which I never received!im now putting a complaint in with Ryanair as I think it’s disgusting how much they charge to just print out your boarding pass,especially as we were there 2 hours before our flight.it’s just a money making scheme.does anyone have any advice of how to go about this and to whom I escalate the complaint many thanks 

saajan_12

louloubelle1982 said:

Hello after a recent trip with Ryan air,I hadn’t flown for years,so assumed u turned up at the airport and checked in there.Me and my travel companion turned up 2 hours before the flight to check in,to be told we had needed to check in online and was too late to do that,and would be charged £55 each to check in!After speaking to staff I was told I should have recieved a reminder text/email to say about booking in online to which I never received!im now putting a complaint in with Ryanair as I think it’s disgusting how much they charge to just print out your boarding pass,especially as we were there 2 hours before our flight.it’s just a money making scheme.does anyone have any advice of how to go about this and to whom I escalate the complaint many thanks 

I'd dig out the booking confirmation, T&Cs and any correspondence you've had from Ryanair. You should have been given the heads up about the check in process, and charges of the various options, so if you definitely didn't then I'd focus on that complaint. 

Whether their charges are good value for money or reflective of the costs is irrelevant, as businesses can charge anything if you were informed of it. As for many budget airlines, their business model is to sell tickets very cheaply, likely under their costs, and recover the money via extras. Yes, Ryanair (and any airline that expects to stay in business) is about making money.. 

eskbanker

Yes, it's just a money-making scheme, but a legal one they've operated for many years, and to be fair, is one that they publicise, albeit not hugely prominently:

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/fees

Nothing to stop you complaining, and escalating to Aviation ADR if you wish though:

https://www.aviationadr.org.uk/how-to-complain-about-a-ryanair-flight/

CKhalvashi

As Esk states, this is clearly stated with Ryanair, including in their table of fees. Ryanair are not the only airline to do this.

Even when flying with 'premium' airlines (which is more rare these days but does occasionally happen) I will also check in online and collect boarding card(s) at the airport to benefit from free seat selection, so this has driven consumer behaviour in other cases.

Airport checkin increases the cost burden of airlines, especially those with their own in house booking systems (such as Ryanair), so putting the value for money part aside, you did increase their costs by not checking in online. Any airline needs to keep their unit costs as low as possible to stay in business, especially airlines such as Ryanair whose average fare is less than the cost to operate the sector.

eDicky

louloubelle1982 said:

I hadn’t flown for years,so assumed u turned up at the airport and checked in there.Me and my travel companion 

A faulty assumption by you both, I'm afraid. For a long time already it's been normal with airlines to check-in online, especially budget carriers such as Ryanair. They do send reminders of this so best to check communications from Ryanair before escalating any complaint.

eskbanker

I'm not sure they still do send reminders by default - I can't find any record of an email or SMS from before my last flight with them, but they do offer a reminder feature within their app, as brutally pointed out as only Ryanair can:

https://twitter.com/Ryanair/status/1622253689732796416

Doshwaster

eskbanker said:

I'm not sure they still do send reminders by default - I can't find any record of an email or SMS from before my last flight with them, but they do offer a reminder feature within their app, as brutally pointed out as only Ryanair can:

https://twitter.com/Ryanair/status/1622253689732796416

0/10 for the Ryanair reply. Being professional in your PR doesn't cost money

However, to be fair, not being able to check in until 24 hours before a flight is perfectly normal on most airlines. On dozens of flights I've never forgotten.

Pollycat

eDicky said:

louloubelle1982 said:

I hadn’t flown for years,so assumed u turned up at the airport and checked in there.Me and my travel companion 

A faulty assumption by you both, I'm afraid. For a long time already it's been normal with airlines to check-in online, especially budget carriers such as Ryanair. They do send reminders of this so best to check communications from Ryanair before escalating any complaint.

Make sure the reminder email that Ryanair say they sent isn't in your junk/spam folder.

CKhalvashi

Doshwaster said:

eskbanker said:

I'm not sure they still do send reminders by default - I can't find any record of an email or SMS from before my last flight with them, but they do offer a reminder feature within their app, as brutally pointed out as only Ryanair can:

https://twitter.com/Ryanair/status/1622253689732796416

0/10 for the Ryanair reply. Being professional in your PR doesn't cost money

However, to be fair, not being able to check in until 24 hours before a flight is perfectly normal on most airlines. On dozens of flights I've never forgotten.

That is completely professional, short and to the point.

I'm not sure what else you expect Ryanair to say on this.

Pollycat

CKhalvashi said:

Doshwaster said:

eskbanker said:

I'm not sure they still do send reminders by default - I can't find any record of an email or SMS from before my last flight with them, but they do offer a reminder feature within their app, as brutally pointed out as only Ryanair can:

https://twitter.com/Ryanair/status/1622253689732796416

0/10 for the Ryanair reply. Being professional in your PR doesn't cost money

However, to be fair, not being able to check in until 24 hours before a flight is perfectly normal on most airlines. On dozens of flights I've never forgotten.

That is completely professional, short and to the point.

I'm not sure what else you expect Ryanair to say on this.

I tend to agree with this.

It's personal responsibility not to forget to check-in for your return flight.
I put reminders on my phone calendar.
Some people seem to really need nannying.

zagfles

There's a load of judgemental claptrap in this thread. It's easy for us regular travellers to sneer at those not familiar with Ryanair's almost unique way of doing business which we'll all be aware of. Airport checkin is perfectly normal and the vast majority of airlines don't charge, and those that do the fees tend to be fairly nominal eg £10 or so.

Yeah yeah, should have read the T&Cs, here they are, we all read every word of them before booking a flight don't we https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/terms-and-conditions