Ryanair, New Charges

[Ron Avery]

"Got to admire their commercial acumen though. This priority boarding wheeze is a great idea. The last RA flight I was on (the first in ages) more than two thirds of the passengers - over one hundred people - were brandishing those little yellow tickets at £2 a throw."

 Priority boarding is actually free and has been for a few weeks now, you now have to pay £5 to book in luggage.  After the holiday season Ryanair made it clear that they were going down this route to discourage people taking cases that have to go in the hold as the less lugage they carry the less fuel they burn and the quicker the turnrounds.  That website is a moaning minnies charter, most paid £20 for a flight and expected business class facilities or a plane laid on when it was not possible to fly.  As I always say if you don't like Ryanair don't use them.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

"Got to admire their commercial acumen though. This priority boarding wheeze is a great idea. The last RA flight I was on (the first in ages) more than two thirds of the passengers - over one hundred people - were brandishing those little yellow tickets at £2 a throw."

 Priority boarding is actually free and has been for a few weeks now, you now have to pay £5 to book in luggage.  After the holiday season Ryanair made it clear that they were going down this route to discourage people taking cases that have to go in the hold as the less lugage they carry the less fuel they burn and the quicker the turnrounds.  That website is a moaning minnies charter, most paid £20 for a flight and expected business class facilities or a plane laid on when it as not possible to fly.  As I always say if you don't like Ryanair don't use them.

[/quote]

Not actually last Wednesday at Stansted it wasn't. Like I say, they were wandering up and down selling them at £2 a throw. That was airside. Perhaps if one checks in on line it may be different. I don't think I imagined it or the conversations I had. And moving the luggage load to the cabin may reduce turnaround time but if the same weight is carried the fuel consumption will surely be unaffected?

Mind you I agree with you about that website for the most part - what people should expect when they pay peanuts is monkeys.

[Ron Avery]

EDIT  The post I am replying to from Bixie has just dissapeared

With many airlines and ferry companies not just the low costs, there are cheap fares that state that they are not refundable or can be changed, why single out Ryanair?  I believe that journalists don't like the low costs because they have to use them now rather than go 1st class on BA or the train as they used to!

Riff raff, its a bit naughty if Ryanair are selling priority bording airside, the criteria for that is that you only take hand luggage and you are right its free if you book on line, but surely that is how 99.99% of people book isn't it?

[Maricopa]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

 but surely that is how 99.99% of people book isn't it?

[/quote]

I wish!  You try telling my wife that she is allowed hand luggage only.........[Www]

[nimportequoi]

The automatic priority boarding that you previously got when taking no hold luggage and booking on line has now gone. You only get it free now if you check in on line too now, unless you pay the £2 at the airport.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Riff raff, its a bit naughty if Ryanair are selling priority bording airside, the criteria for that is that you only take hand luggage and you are right its free if you book on line, but surely that is how 99.99% of people book isn't it?

[/quote]

It seems that one also needs to check-in online. Which, although, as you say, 99%+ are happy to book online, remarkably few seem to want to check-in online. The flight I was on had an enormous queue, clearly the vast majority of the passengers, even though many people had hand baggage only and therefore could have avoided both the charge for using the desk and the subsequent priority boarding charge.

So why didn't they? There's some interesting sociology going on here, and RA are profiting from it. They can genuinely say that all these things are free knowing that, on balance, they can garner additional revenue because a significant number of people will opt to pay anyway.

They are in the business of making money, after all, not providing a charity. I don't believe for a moment that they have some evangelical drive to eliminate hold-baggage, but they do want to make sure that they can charge for any service that can in any way be described as optional. Hell, if everyone went along the cheapest route to booking and passing through the airport they'd probably go bankrupt.

And frankly I admire their brass-necked opportunism.

But I still wouldn't use them out of choice.

[Wilko]

"Hell, if everyone went along the cheapest route to booking and passing through the airport they'd probably go bankrupt."

I'm sure O'Leary has done his numbers, they add up whichever way we book !

[Eos]

Flights booked after Sept 20, according to the very nice customer service girl Husband Mine spoke to, are subject to the new changes ie online, baggageless check in with free priority boarding, expensive luggage checkin without piority boarding etc. We flew Friday and as our booking predated the changes, we joined the dwindling numbers with baggage or who didn't buy PB. Remember once we have all caught up with the changes, we'll need access to printers to print boarding passes wherever we are if our holidays are more than a few days long or Ryanair get to charge more money!

[Andyphilpott]

Eos  you make a very good point about on line check in for the return journey. As you say no problem in doing this for the outward journey but not everyone will have a PC and printer to do likewise for the trip home - which you can only do less than 2 days before you fly. Otherwise a fee of €3 is not going to break the bank.

I am in that position but get round it as friends in the village will always let me use their PC.

I have just booked for a return trip Stansted to Toulon in mid November for £12.39 - all in including the debit card fee, taxes, priority boarding and all other charges. Amazing.

Andy

[andyh4]

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"][the vast majority of the passengers, even though many people had hand baggage only and therefore could have avoided both the charge for using the desk and the subsequent priority boarding charge.

So why didn't they? There's some interesting sociology going on here, and RA are profiting from it. ay.

[/quote]

 

I doubt it's so much sociology as access to the necessary kit.

 

Typical example -

I am away on business.  Before I set off I print out my boarding pass = no charge.  On the way back, even though I have my laptop with me I cannot get internet access, or if I do, there is no printer, or if there is, my machine does not have the necessary drivers to print out on it.    So retrun trip = booking in fee.

 

Same could well go for families holidaying

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I doubt it's so much sociology as access to the necessary kit.

Oddly enough, exciting life that I lead, I was thinking about this only this very morning.

It occured to me that one could almost certainly find an internet café and print off the boarding pass in pretty much any small town in Europe these days if one were suffciently motivated. But, lets's face it, who could really bothered just to save €3? I know I couldn't be.

That's what I meant about sociology. Most people will just think "what the hell" and cough up, and RA get paid money for really doing pretty much nothing.

Detest him or merely dislike him intensely, no-one could ever deny that O'Leary is anything other than a commercial genius.

[Gardengirl]

We generally send a couple of emails to our sons when on holiday, so visit internet cafés. The two young men in the one in our little town we are buying in were very helpful on our first couple of visits; we always have credit waiting for us, too, It's just round the corner from all our favourite restaurants & cafes, so no hardship! We are off to make the inspection visit to our apartment at the end of November, so expect we'll print off boarding passes before we leave there as usual.  It costs very little to use them, & printing off for check-in is so quick - & we don't donate even more profits to Ryanair.

Jo

[Scooby]

My sister and I booked flights a couple of weeks back for the grand sum of 4p for the two of us - return.  We travel with hand luggage only, use on-line check-in and use an electron card to book the tickets.  For those sorts of deals I can live with the scrum [:)]