Ryanair: to thieve or not to thieve

P.C.

MMMmmmmm.
Lots of opinions here - Good.

As a consumer, you must vote with your 'feet' - ie, if you think a restuarant is no good, do NOT go back.
So - if you think that Ryanair is no good, do not use them.
I think that they are dreadful, and will not use them again. I think that they treat people very badly. A friend and I flew back from France with Ryanair in June. The flight was over an hour late, and while the plane was taxing in, they made us go through 'check in' and stand in a walk way while the plane parked, and the passengers got off. It was a warm day - over 20 degrees - there was no airconditioning, no open windows, and nowhere to sit. We had to stand in this walk way for about 25 minutes - very uncomfortable. I am not prepared to go through that again. The flight there was not any better, again the flight was over an hour late, and the service was dreadfull.

And before you say anything, the flights were not cheap - € 240 each return.

In the future, I will use another airline, even if it costs me a bit more.

You can not use Ryanair, and moan. Either you fly with them, or you moan.

I choose to moan from now on.

fatboypee

Actually I use Ryanair, and yes, actually I moan and shall continue to do so.

My reasons are thus:

1. Contemptual Customer Service.
2. Stealth Taxes

I personally use Ryanair as they have one fantastic route that I have come to use alot: Shannon - ChavWick.

I think I moan because I have in my mind an idealistic view of how very 'good' Ryanair could and in my opinion 'should' be.

This is borne I think out of the auld days of air travel when it was less frantic, less stressed, more comfortable and mostly on time, plus my bewilderment as to why things have to be nasty if they're cheap!?

WTF does it really cost to staff and maintain a reasonably efficient call centre with willing staff who are friendly and a pleasure to deal with?
This is my main issue as the web-site can, at times fail dramatically, leaving me no place to go (all phonelines redirect to the website). I would not mind paying a bit extra on a ticket to be assured of at least one efficient method of recourse !

My other point is stealth taxes. Alot of opinion on here saying WTF ? it's still cheap, why moan etc. To this I would point out that, say the corner shop where you buy a chocolate bar kept changing the price of the chocolate bar every time you approached the counter, and when you complained muttered something like "we're still the cheapest place in town, go- check it out", you would soon tire of their antics and shop elsewhere, even if it meant the price of the bar was more expensive. I would anyway, for the reason that I would not feel abused by the other shop's trading tactics.

The issue with Ryanair is there is little alternative in some cases, they know this, and they abuse this priviledge by hiking and fecking with pricing at will.

In my opinion this amounts to sharp practise (even if they remain cheaper) and I simply feel that this underpins their sales, marketing and customer service ethics. This disappoints me immensely and I do not understand why it has to be like this

I will still use them though, and still I reserve my right to whinge about them for the service that I cannot get elsewhere (since Aer-Fungus pulled out of Shannon :mad:).....


Taadaaaa....!!!!! Another mega rant by FBP...

axer

fatboypee wrote: »

This is borne I think out of the auld days of air travel when it was less frantic, less stressed, more comfortable and mostly on time, plus my bewilderment as to why things have to be nasty if they're cheap!?

In "the good auld days" it was much more expensive (out of the financial reach of many if not most people) and more of a big deal. Now it is like getting onto a bus - and why shouldn't it be. Why do people want to fly in a 5 star hotel but yet have no problems getting on to a citylink or bus eireann coach or on the train and travel for longer?

fatboypee wrote: »

WTF does it really cost to staff and maintain a reasonably efficient call centre with willing staff who are friendly and a pleasure to deal with?

That is not as cheap as you think. It could cost up to 1 million a year.

fatboypee wrote: »

My other point is stealth taxes. Alot of opinion on here saying WTF ? it's still cheap, why moan etc. To this I would point out that, say the corner shop where you buy a chocolate bar kept changing the price of the chocolate bar every time you approached the counter, and when you complained muttered something like "we're still the cheapest place in town, go- check it out", you would soon tire of their antics and shop elsewhere, even if it meant the price of the bar was more expensive. I would anyway, for the reason that I would not feel abused by the other shop's trading tactics.

If they were still the cheapest then why would you go anywhere else. It is like petrol - the prices change nearly every day but if some petrol station could always be the cheapest (even though their prices change everyday) then I would always buy my petrol there.

NinjaTruncs

love them or hate them they are cheap once you know how to travel with them.
I can get return tickets to Birmingham in December for 45euro. flying out on a Sat and coming back on a Sun. you can't even get to Cork on the train for that. You just have to watch out for begin over weigh and late, neither of which are Ryanairs fault.

dudara

In my opinion

Ryanair negatives
-Fairly rude and dismal cabin staff (it's not hard to smile people)
-Sometimes distant airports (but in fairness, there's always a transport link)
-Not mentioning all added charges from the outset

Ryanir positives
-Cheap
-Punctual (They really are a very punctual airline, I'm flying Aer Lingus regularly at the moment for work and they're shockingly bad)

There are other pluses and minuses, but I agree with a previous poster that once you learn to fly the "Ryanair" way*, then you'll generally have no issues with them.

*compact carry-on luggage, online boarding etc

craichoe

jprender wrote: »

Just did a search on Ryanair Baggage on google and came across this.

www.cheaperthanryanair.com


Anyone ever use this service for their extra bags ?

That is a f*cking ripoff...

And they can't do their maths properly

LUGGAGE WEIGHT RYANAIR CHARGES OUR CHARGES SAVINGS TO YOU

10 KGS 150 80 80


Last time i checked 150 - 80 was 70

Theres a crowd in Cork Airport that do Airport to Airport for as little at 1.80 per KG to the US and the Far east. 3.80 /kg to Schiphol (Amsterdam)

galah

see, I wouldn't even mind the luggage charges if I could avoid them by just bringing hand luggage - however, due to those stupid liquid laws, you almost always have to check in a bag (if you're travelling for longer than just a few days) for all your toiletries (and I'm not even 'high maintenance' when it comes to cosmetics - I do like my perfume though, and they don't make travel bottles...). And I'm not going to buy stuff and then throw it away after a couple of days - that would be a waste and defeat the purpose.

But that's hardly Ryanair's fault.


With a bit of preparation however, you're grand on Ryanair. That is - no overweight bags, book well in advance, no travel insurance, etc etc...And they're the only airline that brings me home in winter - which is qite annoying, being so dependent on them.

Although I would still prefer if they showed me the *actual* price of a flight without all the charges that creep up on you as you proceed through the booking process - even if it shows me that a flight costs 80 Euros instead of 0 Euros plus 50 Euros tax plus visa card fee plus baggage fee and bullsh*t charge...

axer

galah wrote: »

see, I wouldn't even mind the luggage charges if I could avoid them by just bringing hand luggage - however, due to those stupid liquid laws, you almost always have to check in a bag (if you're travelling for longer than just a few days) for all your toiletries (and I'm not even 'high maintenance' when it comes to cosmetics - I do like my perfume though, and they don't make travel bottles...). And I'm not going to buy stuff and then throw it away after a couple of days - that would be a waste and defeat the purpose.

But that's hardly Ryanair's fault.

Yeah, the security restrictions really suck. It is way worse for women than men I think. They make traveling by airplane so much more hassle than it needs to be (and more expensive since you cannot bring your own drinks etc). I would love to know are they really effective thus are they even worth it.

galah wrote: »

With a bit of preparation however, you're grand on Ryanair. That is - no overweight bags, book well in advance, no travel insurance, etc etc...And they're the only airline that brings me home in winter - which is qite annoying, being so dependent on them.

Exactly, being prepared saves the money with ryanair.

evil-monkey

kmick wrote: »

Aer Lingus tends to be a few quid more expensive but at least you dont feel angry at every stage. Plus they are friendly. Its worth the extra few bob. Dont fly Ryanair anymore - you have a choice. I switched and never looked back.

To me its akin to eating in McDonalds. Its cheap and nasty.

Of course this is presuming that some branch of Aer Lingus aren't on strike...

frman

craichoe wrote: »

Theres a crowd in Cork Airport that do Airport to Airport for ...... 3.80 /kg to Schiphol (Amsterdam)

So 10kgs to Schiphol is only 38 euro ?

How long does that take ? Can they deliver too ?


I think delivery of 10kgs to anywhere in Europe for 80 euro is excellent.
DHL Charge 178 euro for 10kgs to Holland.

Kensington Chap

Most of you are missing the point.

I didn´t originally post with the intention of saying Ryanair´s prices should stay the same over the years, irrespective of oil price rises.
I didn´t say that Ryanair shouldn´t increase the cost of a seat the closer to the flight date you buy one.


I said that although there have been little increases over the years, why all of a sudden the single check-in bag price has doubled in 3 months.
Those who defended Ryanair with "cheap seats, you pay for extras such as baggage" mantra should be shot; Ryanair is the airline of choice for most people going on holidays - this means baggage is standard. However, baggage wouldn't be standard for general flights to UK, these flights are mainly business day-trip types.

I said that any fee charged for paying with credit card is crap, never mind having jumped from 10 to 20 € in the last 3 months. What else are you going to pay with?

axer

Kensington Chap wrote: »

Those who defended Ryanair with "cheap seats, you pay for extras such as baggage" mantra should be shot;

Why? I don't bring baggage with me so why should I pay for other people to?

Kensington Chap wrote: »

Ryanair is the airline of choice for most people going on holidays - this means baggage is standard. However, baggage wouldn't be standard for general flights to UK, these flights are mainly business day-trip types.

You don't need a large bag to go on holidays. 10kg should be enough imo. I know plenty of people who just brought cabin baggage with them. They said it was less stress bringing a small bag and they could bring enough stuff.

Kensington Chap wrote: »

I said that any fee charged for paying with credit card is crap, never mind having jumped from 10 to 20 € in the last 3 months. What else are you going to pay with?

Unfortunately its not just Ryanair charging this credit card fee either way the flights still are alot cheaper than other airlines who also charge the fee.

Garth

I find Ryanair has its uses... I often fly over to London Ryanair (hand luggage only, with one of those handy folding out bags in my pack) and fly back BMI.

Aer Lingus, oh never again. They're either delayed, or suddenly have decreased their luggage allowance without telling you, or some freak in 5 inches deep foundation is scowling at you as you board the plane. They are the worst airline I have ever travelled with. I don't think I've ever had an AL flight depart on time. And the company I work for books flights through them, so I've flown with them a lot... mostly short hop, day meetings in London, that sort of thing, where a 2 hour delay really screws things up.

As for a good airline, BMI. They've been brilliant everytime I've flown with them. Many of my friends travel Aer Arann and find it excellent.

dudara

Garth wrote: »

Aer Lingus, oh never again. They're either delayed, or suddenly have decreased their luggage allowance without telling you, or some freak in 5 inches deep foundation is scowling at you as you board the plane. They are the worst airline I have ever travelled with. I don't think I've ever had an AL flight depart on time. And the company I work for books flights through them, so I've flown with them a lot... mostly short hop, day meetings in London, that sort of thing, where a 2 hour delay really screws things up.

I'm travelling a lot with Aer Lingus at the moment, and finding their punctuality to be fairly terrible. In fact, they have a 100% record of being 30 mins or more late so far.

nhughes100

Firstly the good news is Easyjet will be flying out of Dublin by the end of the year. I found this out whilst stuck in Alicante for 7 hours on Wednesday. They had 3 checkin desks for any flight open all the time I was there, friendly and allow unlimited weight on hand luggage so long as it fits into their physical size limit. I asked ryanair why don't they have a checkin to any flight from any desk facility and they said"why didnt u fly with easyjet" knowing full well they don't fly to Dublin. They told me nothing of the Air traffic problems in Dublin from the moment I checked in till I boarded the aircraft. An air hostess told me they"hope" we would be able to land.

I think you are entitled to customer service no matter how much you pay for something. If you bought 6 eggs and got food poisoning would you expect some comeback or would you give up cos your eggs only cost you less then 2 euro? A good attitude costs nothing, the minute they invent robots ryanair will announce a lot of redundancies.

How come the low cost model starts and ends with your seat? My friend paid €1.80 for a 150ml can of coke on our flight home, thats less then half the size of a standerd can(330ml) not to mention a fiver a sandwich. Now not only this, they ran out of sugar so if u wanted tea of coffee i hope u don't like it sweet. Even if you coughed up the 1.80 for a coke they had no ice since it melted(o'Leary will no doubt blame the evil unions for having a monopoly on freezers next).

The ryanair model is not consistent, charge less and people are more likely to buy. So why don't they charge less for checking in, paying by credit card and coke???? FFS I wouldn't buy anything of them on the way home on principle alone.

Anyway we managed to get a smile from a hardnose air hostess when during her demo the oxygen mask drops from the ceiling - "yeah, I suppose it's a fiver extra for that too"

Kensington Chap

nhughes100 wrote: »

the oxygen mask drops from the ceiling - "yeah, I suppose it's a fiver extra for that too"

Lolz. It´s funny ´cause it´s true.:pac:

Kensington Chap

axer wrote: »

Why? I don't bring baggage with me so why should I pay for other people to?

I never said that. Sorry if you misinterpreted, I meant baggage is a normal, standard thing. You shouldn´t pay for others? That´s why there´s a option to choose "No check-in baggage" or "1 Bag to check in". I didn´t say anything about people with no check-in baggage should pay the same as a dude with check in baggage. *sigh*
Butt then again, I only bring the little valuables on carry-on, as I can´t stand people bringing loads of bags and stuff on board, clogging up space etc.
A 10 to 15kg bag is pretty standard and should be inclusive of the up front seat charge.
Anyhoooo, my original point was the fact the charge for the same thing has doubled in 3 months; it only rose 33% over 2 years before that. Of course nobody seems to understand that is what I´m talking about.

axer wrote: »

Unfortunately its not just Ryanair charging this credit card fee either way the flights still are alot cheaper than other airlines who also charge the fee.

We need names and figures, chief. What does AL charge? Why has Ryanair´s charge doubled in 3 months? Does anybody here understand that it´s the rise in rates over time I´m concerned about? And whisht up with the oil price cop out, why would that affect a fee for paying by credit card.

pebbles21

with all the suppressed charges that most airlines now charge does anybody think we will see the day when they start to weigh the passengers and charge accordingly if they are over a certain weight???????????

Boggles

Whatever about cheap seats and 1.80 for a mouth full of Cola, and other pros and cons.

€10 for using your credit card is blatant and utter robbery, exclusive to ryanair or not.

eth0_

nhughes100 wrote: »

Firstly the good news is Easyjet will be flying out of Dublin by the end of the year.

Proof please. I would think this would be huge news if it were really happening this soon.

axer

Kensington Chap wrote: »

I never said that. Sorry if you misinterpreted, I meant baggage is a normal, standard thing. You shouldn´t pay for others? That´s why there´s a option to choose "No check-in baggage" or "1 Bag to check in". I didn´t say anything about people with no check-in baggage should pay the same as a dude with check in baggage. *sigh*
Butt then again, I only bring the little valuables on carry-on, as I can´t stand people bringing loads of bags and stuff on board, clogging up space etc.

Maybe try and bring one bag then to save money.

Kensington Chap wrote: »

A 10 to 15kg bag is pretty standard and should be inclusive of the up front seat charge.

It is. A 10kg bag is included in a ryanair price. You bring it onboard.

Kensington Chap wrote: »

Anyhoooo, my original point was the fact the charge for the same thing has doubled in 3 months; it only rose 33% over 2 years before that. Of course nobody seems to understand that is what I´m talking about.

I thought the credit card charge with ryanair was €5 per direction?

Kensington Chap wrote: »

We need names and figures, chief. What does AL charge? Why has Ryanair´s charge doubled in 3 months? Does anybody here understand that it´s the rise in rates over time I´m concerned about? And whisht up with the oil price cop out, why would that affect a fee for paying by credit card.

Aerlingus charge between €24 and €36 PER BAG for a return flight for baggage. Ryanair charge €20 for one bag @ 15kg return (2nd and 3rd bags @ €20 each). Aerlingus allow 6kg cabin baggage; Ryanair allow 10kg.

It is possible that Ryanair and Aerlingus look at the overall picture when it comes to profits and decide their fares accordingly. The good thing is that because the fares are modular then it is possible to avoid them. I for one am glad if the price of the flights does not rise but the extras do since I can just avoid paying the extras instead (obvously not the cc charge but at least that is the lower charge of the extras).

So basically I think overall it is the same price. They could just lump it into the fares but at least there is some way of avoiding some of the charges this way (and they get to market cheaper fares).

nhughes100

eth0_ wrote: »

Proof please. I would think this would be huge news if it were really happening this soon.

Afraid I only have the word of an Easyjet employee who I happened to be talking to on Wednesday but he seemed fairly optimistic, I'll fire a mail of to Stellios himself in the meantime.

RuggieBear

tbh i try to fly BA/Aer lingus now if possible. way too many bad experiences with Ryanair. Heading to London next October bank holiday weekend.... return flight with BA including one checked in bag is 75 euro. seems a good deal to me.

chump

Boggles wrote: »

Whatever about cheap seats and 1.80 for a mouth full of Cola, and other pros and cons.

€10 for using your credit card is blatant and utter robbery, exclusive to ryanair or not.

If you look at it in isolation it is.
But don't look at it in isolation -that is the point.

Take the entire cost and see if it represents good value - if it does, brilliant. If it doesn't, do buy it.

Boggles

chump wrote: »

If you look at it in isolation it is.
But don't look at it in isolation -that is the point.

Take the entire cost and see if it represents good value - if it does, brilliant. If it doesn't, do buy it.

Of course I will look at it in isolation, I'm not just having a pop at ryanair as it is not exlusive to them. Whatever the business model of a company it goes without saying that people have to pay you some way for your goods or service, charging people handsomely for the priveledge of taking their money is ridiculous.

Granted if their payment method was labour intensive as in handling cheques or cash, but the world over companies accept CC payments and although it maybe factored into the price of the goods or service, It doesn't nicely round out as a big fat 10 euro.

What you pay for the goods or service is irrelevant, not everyone gets 40 euro flights.

MOH

axer wrote: »

I thought the credit card charge with ryanair was €5 per direction?

Just checked it. It seems to have gone to €10. But it's certainly not the €20 quoted in the OP.

Aerlingus charge between €24 and €36 PER BAG for a return flight for baggage. Ryanair charge €20 for one bag @ 15kg return (2nd and 3rd bags @ €20 each). Aerlingus allow 6kg cabin baggage; Ryanair allow 10kg.

Again, that's changed. €30 for the first bag, €40 for the second and third.

So basically I think overall it is the same price. They could just lump it into the fares but at least there is some way of avoiding some of the charges this way (and they get to market cheaper fares).

Still true though.

penexpers

MOH wrote: »

Just checked it. It seems to have gone to €10. But it's certainly not the €20 quoted in the OP.



Again, that's changed. €30 for the first bag, €40 for the second and third.

It's 20 euro per bag return for the first bag on Ryanair.

axer

MOH wrote: »

Just checked it. It seems to have gone to €10. But it's certainly not the €20 quoted in the OP.

I just checked on the website and it is still showing a charge of €5 per passenger per flight credit card fee.

MOH wrote: »

Again, that's changed. €30 for the first bag, €40 for the second and third.

That also is showing the baggage being still €20 per return flight (€10 per direction) plus the airport check-in fee of €10. Granted you cannot avoid the airport check-in fee if you have a bag I guess.

lynchie

axer wrote: »

I just checked on the website and it is still showing a charge of €5 per passenger per flight credit card fee.

That also is showing the baggage being still €20 per return flight (€10 per direction) plus the airport check-in fee of €10. Granted you cannot avoid the airport check-in fee if you have a bag I guess.

Think he meant its a €10 return, i.e. €5 each way.

Still cant figure out how its so expensive when I can set up my own merchant account and process cc transactions for a lot less. And the more buying power you have the cheaper it is. So fail to see how Ryanair's charges keep going up!

evil-monkey

we'd wana watch what we say about aer lingus...we might upset em and send em on strike...