Ryanair Scam

Arfhurdaly

Hi,

I live in Poland, but still use my nationwide debit card (no charge for withdrawals abroad). I recently booked a return trip to the UK from Poland on Ryanair. After paying for so many extras such as a bag, debit card fee etc, the bill came to 1270zloty. Now, every cash withdrawal payment & merchant payment here i get between 4.25-4.30zl to the £. However, when i got my bill, i got 4.008. So Ryanair pocketed an extra £20 on a poor exchange rate.

My advice in the future is by 2 single tickets, so they can only diddle you on the exchange rate and debit card fee.

Arhurdaley

Incapuppy

I might be missing something here, but won't the charges/exchange rate on two single tickets be the same as one return ticket?

benjus

Yes, the forced currency conversion on Ryanair is a pain. I'm not sure exactly how it works, so I'm not sure if it's allowed or not. If they are using Dynamic Currency Conversion they should allow you to choose currency, but I'm not sure if it is DCC.

I guess in your case it would make sense to use a Polish card in Zloty, although that's obviously not an option for many people. Your advice to buy single tickets would probably be best for most people.

benjus

Incapuppy wrote: »

I might be missing something here, but won't the charges/exchange rate on two single tickets be the same as one return ticket?

That's an interesting point... I guess the OP is thinking that if they are flying from Poland to the UK, the return flight will be priced in £ if bought separately so won't get converted. However, if the exchange rate used to price the flights is the same as the exchange rate used for credit card transactions, it won't make much difference (although AFAIK the baggage charges etc are fixed and not dynamically converted, so there may be some difference here).

Next time I'm feeling bored I might try pricing up the same flight in different currencies to see how they compare.

Arfhurdaly

Right i will just prove this mathematically, if you are living abroad, and need a rtn flight 2 singles is better.At the 4.008 zl/£ poor exchange rate

Bydgoszcz (PL) to Stansted rtn 5th Aug-10th Aug = 677.08zl or £169.08

Bydgoszcz (PL) to Stansted 5th Aug one way = 352.59zl or £87.87

Stansted to Bydgozcz 10th August one way = £65.90

So 2 singles = £153.87 vs £169.08 a saving of £15.21 or near 10%

Obviously, a bigger saving as i didnt complete the transaction where the extra bag, and debit card fees in a foreign currency would add to the cost.

This will apply to ANY country where the card you are using isnt in the foreign currency.

benjus

This is not just about currency conversion... when you price the same flight in different currencies you get completely different prices. Look at the following flights, priced both in PLN and GBP:

Bydgoszcz - London Stansted 5 AUG
352.59 PLN = £82.34 (at mid-market rate)
London Stansted - Bydgoszcz 10 AUG
325.09 PLN = £75.95 (at mid-market rate)

Bydgoszcz - London Stansted 5 AUG
£64.19
London Stansted - Bydgoszcz 10 AUG
£65.90

As you can see, when priced in PLN the BZG-STN flight is more expensive than the STN-BZG flight, but when priced in GBP it's the other way round. They are also quite a bit cheaper in GBP than in PLN - it looks like they are pricing differently to adjust for different levels of demand on this route from the British and the Poles.

So as I see it buying single flights may work out cheaper (maybe it always works out cheaper on this route) but it will not necessarily work in all cases.

Arfhurdaly

I think it would be cheaper, always on 2 singles. As if paying in £s on the single price, your effective exchange rate is 4.93zl to £ (325zl/65.90) as opposed to 325/4.008.

Try it on any destination, in any currency, and you find its a saving to buy 2 singles, if your outgoing flight is abroad.

dmg24

I'm still lost as to how this is a scam ...

Or is it just another useless Ryanair rant?

Next thing the OP will be saying that he will never use them again!

:whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

Arfhurdaly

Scam is why do they give you an 8% worse exchange rate when paying with a uk debit card abroad? With any other company you could think it was an oversight, but with Ryanair you know they do it deliberately.

dmg24

Arfhurdaly wrote: »

Scam is why do they give you an 8% worse exchange rate when paying with a uk debit card abroad? With any other company you could think it was an oversight, but with Ryanair you know they do it deliberately.

:whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

LesD

Come in alanrowell!