Has anybody else flown on Ryanair, attracted by their low prices and extravagant promises? This is my latest contact with them. Tom Driscoll and I wanted to fly from Shannon to East Midlands Airport to attend Mark Davies weekend concertina festival August 8-10.
(http://www.thesession.org/events/display/834)
We were advised to fly Ryanair, which is supposed to be the cheapest airline.

The first screen shows:

Depart: Regular Fare Adult 0.99 EUR Fri, 8 Aug 08

Return: Regular Fare Adult 12.99 EUR Mon, 11 Aug 08

I thought- great. That's certainly cheap. At that price I can fly over for lunch. No baggage to check, which would entail a larger charge.
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Then you go to the second screen:

I find that Ryanair automatically includes an insurance charge and charges a lot for baggage hold check-in. You have to opt out of the insurance and tell them you won't be checking baggage. Still, I was surprised by the jump in price when I got to the second price screen, which showed (I thought) the final price. After all, it does say "Total Cost of Flight."

Going Out (Web Fare)
2 Adult @ 0.99 EUR 1.98 EUR
Taxes/Fees details 24.48 EUR
Coming Back (Web Fare)
2 Adult @ 12.99 EUR 25.98 EUR
Taxes/Fees details 71.82 EUR
Total Cost of Flight 124.26 EUR

That's a pretty big jump. The total for Taxes/Fees is €95.
So I clicked on the drop down to find out about "Taxes/Fees details"

We get:
59.84 Euros Tax and Fees
11.98 Insurance/Wheelchair/Aviation

I still don't know how much the taxes are. I still don't know what the "fees" means. I didn't want insurance. I don't have a wheelchair. And what is the extra charge for "Aviation"? What could "Aviation" possibly mean?
I thought the fee I was paying for the flight covered that. Maybe it's to make sure there's somebody aviating the airplane. So that we don't have to do it ourselves.
There's no way the charge for the flight going is .99 or returning is 12.99. It's really €62 each (or about $100 each), for an hour flight. Still not so bad. More than Southwest Airlines ($50 from DC to Manchester, NH) but less than Aer Lingus. Maybe. I'm not so sure at this point.

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Then we go to the third screen, where they get your credit card and tell you how much they're billing the card for. Apparently I was mistaken in thinking that "Total Cost of Flight" meant the total cost, and was 124.26 EUR. Turns out I'm being billed an additional €16 for a handling fee.

Shannon (SNN) to East Midlands (EMA) 26.46 EUR
East Midlands (EMA) to Shannon (SNN) 97.80 EUR
Fees, Services and Travel Insurance
Handling Fee 8.00 EUR
Handling Fee 8.00 EUR
Total Payment Amount
Including handling fee
140.26 EUR

Just what are they "handling?" And why these fees, after charging above for fees? Now I understand how Ryanair can make a profit charging those ridiculously low fares: they don't really charge them! Next time there won't be a next time. I'll pay a bit more (maybe, maybe not) and fly Aer Lingus.

No wonder there are two large signs at the Ryanair desk telling the public that loud and abusive behavior will result in a call to the cops and possible legal consequences. I'm surprised there hasn't been anything in the papers about a madman with a gun having been driven to desperate measures by Ryanair's deceptive policies!

(Edited - unsuccessfully - to correct misspeling of Mark Davies' name)

You'll be lucky, Aer Lingus no longer fly from Shannon to Britain, they moved the "slots" to Belfast!

As distasteful as it sounds, I would be pretty sure it's our governments at work. At one time, the advertised price included all the fees. After the industry was deregulated, all sorts of advertising schemes came into being, on of which separated the actual costs of the trip from the taxes and such that governments (both local an national) levied on an unsuspecting public. And then there is the fuel surcharge. http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?se...axesfeescharges

Not to defend Ryanair, but I would place the blame more to our bureaucrats at work.

Thanks
Leo

Thanks Leo -
That goes a ways towards explaining it all. But they're still pretty sneaky. Truth in advertising? Give me a break....

... and meanwhile, I need to pay at least 600 euros to get anywhere near Europe.

If it's any consolation, it costs me at least that to go and visit my girlfriend, in Idaho!

Getting to Ireland is easy; build a raft and catch the gulf stream. Only takes a couple of weeks.

It's the swim back that'll get'cha every time. Though if you can persuade some Swedes or Norsemen to build you a longboat, you can stop over in Iceland and Greenland and make it to Nova Scotia handily enough.

Airlines everywhere are upping total fees by charging for just about everything: apparently even the tiny bag of peanuts will cost you extra, I wonder how much using the bathroom will cost in the future? Fresh air anybody?

Not to be doom and gloom, but its the end of an era. Which is a good thing, because you need an ending for a new begining.

When SUVs first started rolling out I said "They're building dinosaurs", and like so many things so easly explained by evolution, my little Honda civic is like a small furry critter at the dawn of the ice age.

Well, if you think about it, maybe the airlines should do something like that. The flight profit is the initial "price" but then once they break it down into what the real costs are for fuel, pilot, insurance, maintenance, ground crew, water, toilet, etc... you get to what the true cost is to the consumer.

Not that I'm defending them, just consider if you were to take a mate carpooling to some concertina event 100 miles away. You're driving in your car, but you agree to split the gas 50/50. But technically you have to pay insurance, registration, oil changes, maintenance, tax.. and if you were a jerk you could itemize it all and ask for the extra for his share...

Any more that's where the airlines are going. They don't want to raise the prices $2 per person to fly to pay for that $0.50 can of soda, so why not just charge only those who want to drink said can of soda? It's ridiculous I know, but it's bottom line as they try to avoid going out of business.. and that's really a good thing, because think of how horrible it might be if there were only one airline left.

Patrick

Funny that you say this.
Oil is more plentiful, than 50 years ago. US, Canada, Mexico have enormous suplies.
It's definitely not the end of any era, only an excellent example of what happens, when your presidents belong to Oil Cartels. Dubai port anybody?
And who dismantled the railroads in the US? And why? Is there anybody who is in doubt?
Anybody who believes the State is effective and our elected officials are our representatives? And we are idiots for voting for them, and completely and totally deserve every penny to be stolen from us. Get involved! I'm completely boicoting this election circus, it's not amusing, nor funny, the tricks are stale, and average IQ of our electorate seems to be below average, now that's a scientific problem.
If I only had time, I'd start a campaign for boicotting the elections and going for four years with empty chair for president.

So what is the most economical way to travel from England to Ireland or visa versa? Are there ferries?

Ryanair...


Yes, but by the time you get from the west of Ireland to Dublin, and then from Holyhead to wherever you're going in England, they actually cost more and take an awful lot longer.

I flew Ryanair last summer one-way from England to Ireland, after booking the flight on the web. I found:

1. I had to take every opportunity to decline the travel insurance that the site repeatedly importuned me to buy.

2. That I had to pay a hefty processing fee for paying by credit card--but that I could have avoided the fee if I had the right kind of debit card (it wouldn't accept my U.S. debit card).

The buying experience was somewhat annoying but I still saved a lot over the alternatives, so on the whole I was satisfied.

I find your views intriguing, and would like to sign up for your newsletter.

You'll have to wait a while. I need to make money to feed the family.

Easyjet are better ...

... just not very much.

Chris

You might have to wait a while for a flight to Ireland though...

With all these "no frills" airlines, you get what you pay for - the bare minimum. Customer service is presumably considered a "frill". It's the price you pay, so to speak, for the low fare price - and it is low, even after all the extra charges. If you want limousines, lounges, in-flight meals etc there are plenty of airlines which will provide them, but you pay for the privilege.

My biggest problem with the budget airlines is their reliability - they do seem more prone to cancellations and delays. But it's usually something I'm prepared to risk in order to save cash. So far, I've been lucky.

The "wheelchair" charge, by the way, was introduced because Ryanair weren't allowed to charge a disabled passenger for providing them with a wheelchair to the gate - discrimination. So they apply a blanket charge to all tickets to pay for the cost of providing the service.

Likewise courtesy, and any command of the English language...

I managed to purchase a return flight from Stansted to Shannon for the Ennis Trad Festival for the total sum of £2.42 including debit card fee. Even taking into account the poor customer services this must be considered a "bargain".

I had to book a Flight and Hotel for a job we were doing in Munich. After about twenty tries I finally managed to book the flight and then concentrated on the Hotel. The Holiday Inn Central Munich. I was diverted to a central booking point in the UK and I explained exactly what the requirement which was one night in The Holiday Inn- Central Munich. After a long wait the young lady came back to me and said she was sorry, but no Holiday Inn existed in the UK under Munich.
Al

So what happened to the "Taxes/Fees" there???

There was a special price of 1p each way including taxes/fees.

On you-tube there's a video showing the Ryanair high-mucky-muck discussing a new business class 'package.'

It does look interesting.

Well when I looked it was quoting nothing (£0.00) for the journey, but £9.99 Taxes/Fees each way, so £19.98 + handling £2.40 = £22.38.

So you got it "for less than nothing"!

The wheelchair charge is 50¢ per person.
I'm perfectly willing to pay that to subsidize somebody's wheelchair.
I'm sure most of us feel that way.
And I certainly don't mind forgoing airplane food for a cheaper price.

I think what really irritates people about the budget airlines is all the hassle. You can never find a flight at the advertised price, when you do find a reasonable price they then load lots of extras on to it, and going through their website or phone booking procedure is invariably a nightmare. When you come to fly, they're often unreliable and their customer service is sometimes non-existent. But they are a bargain. The attitude of the boss of Ryanair to complaints is that "you've got the flight for bugger-all so stop whining". You can see his point.

If you want service, go to one of the mainstream airlines. You'll pay a lot more, and chances are it will still be rubbish. You've got to pay a hell of a lot more for an upper-class ticket before you see a difference, and even then there's no guarantee - ask Naomi Campbell

I'll continue to go for the cheapest flight I can get, within reason, but I'll keep my expectations accordingly low.

...and expect to land at some little provincial airport, many miles from where I'm nominally supposed to be going.

Actually, I had to book a flight to Manchester this week, for a reunion dinner with a bunch of fellow old-students on Saturday night, but Ryanair only fly there from Shannon on the other six days of the week , so I'm going to have to drive up to Dublin to fly with Aer Lingus (who are none-too popular with people in Clare these days - since moving "our" profit-making slots to Belfast). But at least I get to choose to fly at a reasonable time of day that way.

Mind you, I got a great hotel deal off the Ryanair website, even if I'm not travelling with them.

Bradfield Traditional Music Weekend 2008
Could I correct the impression that is being given that I am organising a"Concertina Festical".The BTMW features some of the finest traditional singers and instrumentalists from the UK,Ireland and the USA.Some are concertina players but the majority of instrumentalists are not.We will have English music sessions throughout the weekend in The Royal Hotel,Dungworth an Irish music sessions in The Plough,Low Bradfield and singing in the Club Room of The Old Horns,High Bradfield.As I have previously indicated there will be some great concertina players attending and we will have some fascinating talks on the history and manufacturing and repair of concertinas.

The thing that I find most surprising about the Ryanair system is the 'credit card' handling charge. I think it's currently about Euro 8, not per payment transaction but per passenger booked. My family of six were charged an additional Euro 48 recently for the pleasure of paying them by VISA!
The thing is, I have a credit card merchant facility for business purposes. When I signed up, about ten years ago, I signed a declaration that I would sell goods by credit card for the same as the cash price. Now over the intervening years, this seems to have been eroded and perhaps reasonably as retailers pay %'s on each and every card transaction to the credit card companies and there are some fixed costs.
So, we often see a 'credit card booking or handling fee' now to cover the extra costs of accepting payment by credit card. But that should only apply per transaction and when I pay Ryanair, they process the payment in one go, not as six separate payments. Dishonesty, thievery .. that's what I'd call it.
The only positive thing to be said for dreary O'Leary who runs Ryanair is that he lives in Ireland and presumably pays his taxes here, unlike most of his highflying business schmucks who pretend to be Irish but live as tax exiles and fly in and out in private planes and helicopters each day... that was a good rant!!!!!!!

Already done. This photo is from Dublin, yesterday:

Click to view attachment

(Source: the "www-dot-havhingsten-dot-dk" web site (in English and Danish)).

"Havhingsten af Glendalough" ("The Sea Stallion of Glendalough") is a scientific project that started last year when the Sea Stallion sailed to Dublin, where it has spent the winter in the National Museum - it left Dublin yesterday to head back to Denmark and Roskilde, its home town.

Who knows - it might be for hire later on?

/Henrik

Where Ryanair lead the way, others follow. Before we should protest too loudly about Ryanair's add-ons, a survey conducted a couple of years ago by a consumer organisation concluded that British Airways had the largest add-ons. I don't know if that is still true, but the charge for a second piece of hold baggage on BA is obscene. And Ryanair aren't the only supplier to use inertia selling of travel insurance, Easyjet do that too.

I rather like Em, its F#m I have fun with.

i have a question--how long does it take to drive from one side of the country to the other? in america, 6 hours of driving is the least amount of time you would forgo to consider flying. the only reason i would fly instead for 6 hours (or 9), which i have, is because i dont have a car and no one could drive me. i go to ohio/kentucky every year for noel hill's camp, which is about 6 hours away. i flew to milwaukee (i live near chicago), to meet my family at irish fest one year. personally, unless you can get the plane ticket for less than the cost of gas (and you have a car), and the ride is less than 7 or 8 hours, i dont know why you would fly.

in america, many people think 24 hours is not too far to drive. i had a boss once that would drive from chicago to mexico non stop, no sleep, rather than fly.

although, if i could get a trip for 2 pounds, maybe i'd fly to work every day! who cares if its 100 pounds in fees...

David,

Unless they were travelling somewhere for only a day, on business, most people here would travel by car, bus or train within their own countries, but the journeys under discussion are international ones that involve flying over at least one sea, maybe two.

With, by the look of things, an awful lot of passengers trying to avoid travelling with Ryanair.

We saw it being built in Roskilde. Nice to see it floated OK.

Chris

ok, thanks! i knew some of them were talking about travelling over seas, i didnt realize they all were. i guess i didnt know all the cities.

it would make sense to fly even in ireland, if it saved time and money--i have no idea if it does or does not!