Ryanair are having a sale until midnight tomorrow night. According to the big ad on their website you can get flights for £10 one-way with no other fees or taxes. If you got to Gdansk – like we are- it’s even cheaper. Just £5 per person each way.
It’s not until you go to pay that you realise that things aren’t going to be as cheap as the ad promises. If you want to check in a bag that’ll cost you an extra £16 per bag. If you want to check in at the airport – which you have to if you’re checking in a bag – that’ll cost another £8 per person. That’s an extra £56 already. But to be fair, if I wanted to take 10 kilos of luggage in a ridiculously small bag and check-in online I could avoid those costs.
I can’t avoid the £8 per person transaction fee for using a credit card though. (Even though the three airfares went through as one transaction). Nor there is a fee-free alternative for paying. (Even the Ryanair branded Visa credit card attracts the same fee.)
Now, I’m not a lawyer but that seems to be an unavoidable fee to me.
The kind of fee that Ryanair’s ad suggests you won’t be asked to pay.
OK – less than £40 for a return ticket to Gdansk is still good value. But the transaction fee is a total rip-off and profiteering in its most despicable form. It is outrageously extortionate and way beyond what it actually costs Ryanair to process a credit transaction.
Ryanair, you should be ashamed of yourself.
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Couldn’t agree more. Also their baggage allowance is a paltry 15kg and they charge you £12/€15 per kilo over that in excess baggage, so make sure the bags you’re taking are fairly light. 15Kg is practically nothing – even easyJet’s allowance is 20kg!
If you add it up, you can usually find much cheaper flights than on Ryanair. (Skyscanner.net is a superb site, which I think you’ve mentioned before)
I agree Peter, total rip off, it’s obvious ryanair are feeling the pinch and are just disguising thir taxes and charges so they can still advertise flights as £ 5 each way, bloody easy to say no fuel surcharges ever when they chage £16 for a bag and £8 per person for a debit card when the true cost to them is no more than a quid regardless of the number of people travelling!
Anyway just wanted to pass on a little tip to you and everyone reading this to at least cut out one charge. Open up a VISA ELECTRON account from any bank prepared to give you one, transfer the cost of your flight to it and use that. Ryanair has no charge to use an electron account. I opened one online with the Halifax and it was easy.
Just going back to the unfair charges, I have even complained to Watchdog about it, so watch this space!
should they be ashamed? of course
will they be ashamed? of course not.
When it comes to charges and costs, they have more front than Blackpool, and are utterly unashamed at what they charge. If they aren’t doing anything illegal they will never apologise, since they know that short-haul, the only thing that matters to the majority of customers after safety is price. if its lower people will fly with them.
sorry, there should be a funny bit here but im knackered.
matt
How does a company get out of paying taxes, they are government controlled?
I am not sure where you are now, but from central London it cost me 15 pounds to go to Stansted to get on a Ryanair.com flight.
Andy of HoboTraveler.com in Taiwan.
lucky you are in London.
In small places, say for example Barcelona, you have to fly to Girona and then get a bus to the main city… that is one hour more and a return fare of 21 euros…
Same for Milan (they fly Bergamo), Bologna (they fly Forlì), always a 1 hour and 1/2, by train…
I don`t know other part of Europe, but this is usual.
Hidden cost and the low cost go high…
I stopped fly Ryanair long ago, they also save on the emergency fuel…
Fly someone else, just not Alitalia…