Ryanair on Panarama Monday evening

[Théière]

Our old friend back on tv, they are not happy though......

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=09&month=oct&story=gen-en-091009

[Scooby]

Totally with M O'L on this one.  Any honest discussion should include the right of response and an edited interview is not a 'right of response'.  Having worked with the BBC before (on several occassions) including being interviewed on TV and Radio I would never, ever agree to a prerecorded and edited piece unless we have final editorial sign off on what is published.  Our preference is live to camera where no editing can take place.

[Théière]

Totally agree, I was amazed how my appearance on "working lunch" was edited and completely missed the point. Even "which" magazine do not print the truth but steer everything towards sales of their very expensive magazine.

I hope MOL uses his wonderful eloquence to put over his point after the program. 

[Alan Zoff]

He does have an amazing talent for turning what to others would seem to be adverse publicity to his advantage. A sort of Gerald Ratner in reverse.

[Renaud]

It takes a bit for me to have sympathy for RyanAir but I agree with the posters above. They should be given a right of reply - it would probably be more entertaining than the programme.

Still I liked RyanAir's claim to loose less luggage than any other european airliner. It is a bit like Gary Linacre admitting that through his career, he never got booked because he never tried to tackle anybody.

[Gyro]

Are you all gone soft???

Have you ever tried to make a complaint to Ryanair I think its £2 a minute and your on hold for 15min and then no satisfaction.

The reason those claims can't proven is because,

 you can't complain without it costing about £20 or of course you can fax but who has access to faxes on a daily basis hmm I suppose all those people who have electron Visas (minority of travelers).

Why is it so popular? They have a monoply especially in Ireland, who else you going to use?

My biggest issue is when we fly from Dublin to Pau via Stansted - If they cancel or change your arrival time - they offer a refund option but only for one leg only.

Then theres visa card charges I booked a flight for some of my family to visit, I booked 3 people at once and got charged 3 times 10euro for using a visa card once.

Then theres the staff talk about grumpy.

So in conclusion

Ryanair is Cattle Class Travel!!  They don't give a F*@k about you.

But MOL should be given his live interview to have his say, but @ £500 a minute we'll see him sweat then.LOL

[Chancer]

I always find the television interviews with MOL very entertaining, rather like those on Watchdog with Vance Miller, I think thats his name, the kitchen guy.

I reckon all the TV interviewers are too lightweight to take on MOL with the exception perhaps of Paxman, it needs to be someone of equal intellect, quick thinking and most of all well informed which I am afraid most of the photogenic talking heads aint, more the pity.

[Scooby]

[quote user="Gyro"]Are you all gone soft???

Have you ever tried to make a complaint to Ryanair I think its £2 a minute and your on hold for 15min and then no satisfaction.

The reason those claims can't proven is because,

 you can't complain without it costing about £20 or of course you can fax but who has access to faxes on a daily basis hmm I suppose all those people who have electron Visas (minority of travelers).

Why is it so popular? They have a monoply especially in Ireland, who else you going to use?

My biggest issue is when we fly from Dublin to Pau via Stansted - If they cancel or change your arrival time - they offer a refund option but only for one leg only.

Then theres visa card charges I booked a flight for some of my family to visit, I booked 3 people at once and got charged 3 times 10euro for using a visa card once.

Then theres the staff talk about grumpy.

So in conclusion

Ryanair is Cattle Class Travel!!  They don't give a F*@k about you.

But MOL should be given his live interview to have his say, but @ £500 a minute we'll see him sweat then.LOL

[/quote]

Simple answer Gyro - if you don't like then don't buy.  It means more seats for the rest of us.  Personally I love RA - we travelled to France last week for a tenner return, we are going back to France for half term - entire family of five for less than £150 return, then to Dublin late Nov for a long weekend at 2 euro return, and doing a trip to SE France in December for a tenner return.  I'm more than happy with their service thank you. 

The ones that don't like RA are those that:

• Don't read the small print when they book (if you read the small print you probably wouldn't have the occasion to complain)

• Want to take the entire house plus kitchen sink with them when they travel
• Can't be bothered to invest in an electron card
• Want 5* start waitress service and free meals etc on board

If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices

[Stefan]

"If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices"

Which at the moment can be cheaper than FR.....but you won't get 5* service and meals with them either......

[PaulT]

In reply to Scoobys ascertions about me:

The ones that don't like RA are those that:

• Don't read the small print when they book (if you read the small print you probably wouldn't have the occasion to complain)
  

• Want to take the entire house plus kitchen sink with them when they travel

• Can't be bothered to invest in an electron card

• Want 5* start waitress service and free meals etc on board

If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices
**************************************

Well, I am one who detests RA.

No, I do not want to take the kitchen sink

Why should I have an Electron card - no other organisation 'rips' people off the way RA does - the World does not have to follow the diktats of MOL and, if everyone had an Electron card do you not think he would add the charge elsewhere.

I do not expect a 5* service - however, my findings of cabin crew staff are that RAs are extremely snooty (WHY!), BAs professional and Easyjets laid back but giving a service which is my preference. I also detest RAs method of playing tha adverts for food and scratch cards at ear deafening volume.

As for prices, we now drive, but when we were flying we always compared prices - often, by the time all the additional bits had been added to RAs flights, having flogged through the whole thing to eventually discover the headline fare was now far higher, BA and Easyjet have been cheaper.

The business tactics and methods of RA are, in my opinion, dangerous if other companies start using them.

Paul

[Baz]

[quote user="Stefan"]"If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices" Which at the moment can be cheaper than FR.....but you won't get 5* service and meals with them either......[/quote]

I think this sums up why I would everytime use BA if they flew to the destination I wanted:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/value-calculator/public/en_gb

Baz

[PaulT]

[quote user="Baz"]

[quote user="Stefan"]"If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices" Which at the moment can be cheaper than FR.....but you won't get 5* service and meals with them either......[/quote]

I think this sums up why I would everytime use BA if they flew to the destination I wanted:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/value-calculator/public/en_gb

Baz

[/quote]

Baz - I think you will have missed the point that RA lovers would make - you might be paying £495 [6] in extras but the fare was only 1p [:D]

[Chancer]

Regarding the Electron card, or rather the penalty charges for not using one.

Having read all the correspondence in the link I reckon that RA have negotiated hard with the card companies just as they do with airports or plane manufacturers.

In my opinion instead of paying Visa/Mastercard etc a fee, at the least they are getting free processing from Electron if they are not in fact getting a commision fee paid to them. It has been a great move for Electron with loads of new customers that in time they can start to milk.

Ryanair are laughing, you either use their preferred (cheapest) supplier Electron who may even be paying them commission or you pay a fee for the priveledge of using a card of your choice.

Once the majority of customers start paying by Electron they will do a deal with one of the other card merchants.

[Scooby]

[quote user="Baz"]

[quote user="Stefan"]"If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices" Which at the moment can be cheaper than FR.....but you won't get 5* service and meals with them either......[/quote]

I think this sums up why I would everytime use BA if they flew to the destination I wanted:

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/value-calculator/public/en_gb

Baz

[/quote]

But Baz - all those charges are avoidable:

• pay with electron card - no charge,
• check in on-line - no queuing twice at the airport and no charge,
• don't bother with priority boarding - you can stay seated until the last minute and no charge  (BA can only allocate seats in the order that people book anyway so you have no guarantee of getting the seat of your choice)
• don't take checked baggage - no waiting at the luggage carousel and no charge. (I managed three weeks in Canada this summer with hand luggage only - and, no, I didn't fly RA I flew Air Canada.  Most people taking way too much stuff and bring most of it back unworn / unused).  I would imagine most people on here are travelling between homes or to stay with family and so have access to a washing machine which makes the need for checked baggage even more ridiculous.)

• don't eat and drink on the plane - no charge.  The flights are only 1-2 hours for goodness sake...unless you are all Bessy Bunters!

As aside I have never had a late flight with RA - but I have with both BA and Easyjet.  With Easyjet (EM to Prague) we were delayed by over 4 hours with no apology, no drink / food - nothing.

[Renaud]

My daughter had an EasyJet flight that was delayed from Toulouse and hotels were found for the passengers at no charge.

Our friends had a BMIbaby flight from Bordeaux which was delayed and they had to sleep on the airport floors.

Last year we could not return via the tunnel as it had a fire a few days previously. Their internet site gave us a number to call but it was never answered, but when we got to the tunnel we were given ferry tickets an we were on a ferry less than an hour later.

RyanAir provides a basic service at a fairly low price.

Once a friend of mine, a printer, drew a triangle. He wrote 'fast', 'cheap' and 'good' at each point. Then he said "Which two do you want?"

[tibbs]

I have used RA twice to Brittany previously but it was inconvenient (flight from NCL to Stanstead then to France) due to the flight timings on the return, needing an overnight hotel near the airport, so not that cheap for me. The thing that would now stop me from using them, is the online check-in.

I have no interent access at home due to the fact we are on a 'low user scheme' and "shock horror", I do not have a laptop, so no wifi for me at the moment. In my part of Brittany, there was an internt cafe an hour away but has since closed so I do not know how I would check in.

But, saying that, the service was on time and I had no complaints. Been delayed many times from Prague on EasyJet too.

 

[PaulT]

Scooby stated that they had never had a late flight with RA.

Well, I have had a couple. Amazingly if they arrive ahead of schedule then they announce that they have arrived x number of minutes early. If they are late no announcement as to how late they are no even a 'sorry'

 

[Stefan]

To be fair (yawn)....... For reasons various, it's not just FR, many airlines have a policy of not mentioning or apologising for delays in after landing Cabin Announcements....

Wether the Captain feels he/she ought to make such an apology is another matter.

[Sprogster]

Scooby, you cannot compare taking hand luggage on Air Canada to Ryanair, as Air Canada's hand luggage weight and size allowance like most scheduled airlines is far more generous and you can take a second item such as a laptop or handbag.

In fact Ryanair's hand luggage restrictions are far worse than Easyjet, who have no weight restriction and allow a larger bag.

Ryanair do have a good time keeping record, but that in the main is because they tend to service remote little used airports and most airline delays are due to congestion at the larger airports.

I note that Ryanair have introduced a £5 internet check in charge, which no doubt will increase.

[Scooby]

The point I was making isn't that I had to take only hand luggage on Air Canada but that I could manage to travel to Canada for three weeks quite comfortably with the same size hand luggage I would use if I flew RA.  Viz that people take way more luggage than they need.

Actually the transatlantic carry on baggage limit is usually 5kg not the 10kg you get on RA (but you then get 20kg hold luggage rather than RA's 15kg)

[ali-cat]

Having not been on a plane for a couple of years I don't know what the restrictions on liquids (e.g. shampoo, shaving products etc.) in hand luggage are now?  If you can't carry these sort of products on-board & have to purchase them on arrival & dump them before flying back, surely that could cost more than booking a bag into the hold?! [8-)]

[Cendrillon]

Hands up all those who watched Panorama last night ! [8-|]

[Scooby]

I did - and I thought it was fair.  It certainly demonstrated that it is the choices you make as a customer that push up the price from the headline one - viz that it is perfectly possible to travel for the prices quoted.

[Scooby]

[quote user="ali-cat"]Having not been on a plane for a couple of years I don't know what the restrictions on liquids (e.g. shampoo, shaving products etc.) in hand luggage are now?  If you can't carry these sort of products on-board & have to purchase them on arrival & dump them before flying back, surely that could cost more than booking a bag into the hold?! [8-)][/quote]

You just decant sufficient shampoo etc for your needs into small bottles.  Alternatively, you can buy solid shampoo, conditioner etc from companies like Lush.

[Sprogster]

Watched the programme which turned out to be uncritical and broadly supportive of Ryanair and its business model. Subsequently found out that MOL's adverse reaction before the programme was broadcast, was theatre on his part to maximise the free publicity and in fact he is pleased with the programme and a fan of Panorama!

Although I prefer Easyjet over Ryanair, it is clear that Ryanair have opened up travel opportunities to many that otherwise could not afford to fly. Unfortunately, in the longer term very cheap fares could be the undoing of the low cost carriers, as governments under pressure from enviromentalists will look to deter people from flying too often by continuing to drive up passenger taxes by way of a deterent, as is already happening.