Ryanair - So called Low cost airline

[smerch1468]

Now they want you to check in on-line fair enough. But you can only carry one item of hand luggage that weighs less than 10kg. If you have a laptop bag or another hand bag you will be asked to put it into your already cramped suitcase or you have to go back landside to check it in as normal luggage and pay up to £30!

I wont be flying with ryanair again. Its a bit cheeky to charge £4.75 for each ticket, using a debit card to book a flight. Michael O'leary says we should all use visa electron cards which carry no charge. How many banks issue these cards, not many!

[Becles]

I'm just looking at the Ryanair business model at uni, so I was interested in the Michael O'Leary interview on BBC this morning. He also mentioned possibly charging people to use the toilet on aeroplanes.

It's called "lean" when they try and cut costs back to the bare minimum, which is what I'm studying. We're busy looking at if it is worthwhile cutting costs back so agressively but at the expense of customers and staff who are important parts of the business.

We looked at customer annoyances, like all the charges, removal of reclining seats to cram more seats in, and removal of the seat pocket to make cleaning the plane quicker.

What shocked me most was the way the treat the staff. We looked at this website:
http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/messageboard.cfm
with messages from the staff. They have the bare minimum of crew onboard, so they are over worked and they have to pay for things like their uniform and interviews, and flight deck staff have to pay for their own simulator training sessions.

[smerch1468]

Yes I saw the interview. Hes quite arrogant o'leary.

Its very cheeky to consider charging people to use the loo. There are people out there that suffer from diseases such as chrohns and ulcerative colitis that wouldnt touch ryanair with a bargepol if he brings this in.

[99redballs]

we have travelled with them and found the whole experience very very disapointing, we won't travel with them again.it seems like they've introduced the one bag in the plane, as when we travelled back from spain pretty much everyone was over on their allowance and carried the rest onto the plane.
there seems to be so many extra hidden costs that it not worth adding them all up, only to find you've missed one out and it's going to cost you more than the not as much hassle ba flight.

[Grace & Favour]

I think that O'Leary - - for all that he is an arrogant and unpleasant individual - - is offering an excellent service - - and has done much to reduce the cost of flying, and has certainly made other airlines more competitive.

He doesn't set out to be a Marks & Spencer of flying . . think of him more as an 'Aldi or Netto'.

I would choose when and where to use Ryan Air, and choose when and where to use others, like BA or Virgin - - but please - - don't knock them too hard, for what they do is excellent - - but it can never, ever, suit all the folkses all of the time - - - just like any other business, or any other product, (we don't all drive the same cars, or watch the same TV's do we?)

[Raffles]

If you are taking luggage then Ryanair is likely to be no cheaper than BA.

However, if you take only hand baggage (and I have done a 2-week holiday with 1 hand-bag, hotel have laundery you know!), check in at home, print your own boarding pass and pay with a Visa Electron, you CAN fly for 1p each way, all-in, if you book in their 'no taxes' sales.

Ryanair should also get credit for opening up a lot of places like Biarritz which no airline actually flew from the UK before.

I fly a lot in First Class (will do Emirates, Lufthansa, Swiss and Singapore Airlines in F this year) but I also fly Ryanair to visit my parents-in-law who live very close to an airport only Ryanair serves. If you know how to 'play the game' with Ryanair they are fine. The planes are brand new and there are two rows of emergency exit seats with extra leg-room unlike one row on most short-haul planes.

[littlemissnaughty]

Just seen this on the news. Ryanair are going to charge £1.00 to use the loo!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090227/tod-oukoe-uk-ryanair-toilet-d987f7f.html

[smerch1468]

If you are taking luggage then Ryanair is likely to be no cheaper than BA.

However, if you take only hand baggage (and I have done a 2-week holiday with 1 hand-bag, hotel have laundery you know!), check in at home, print your own boarding pass and pay with a Visa Electron, you CAN fly for 1p each way, all-in, if you book in their 'no taxes' sales.

Ryanair should also get credit for opening up a lot of places like Biarritz which no airline actually flew from the UK before.

I fly a lot in First Class (will do Emirates, Lufthansa, Swiss and Singapore Airlines in F this year) but I also fly Ryanair to visit my parents-in-law who live very close to an airport only Ryanair serves. If you know how to 'play the game' with Ryanair they are fine. The planes are brand new and there are two rows of emergency exit seats with extra leg-room unlike one row on most short-haul planes.

And if you dont have a visa electron card they will charge you £4.75 a ticket when it costs them pennies for the transaction by other debit cards.

O'leary had the cheek to suggest that as you pay 20p to use public loos in Liverpool Street that its ok to charge £1 a visit on his planes. He has lost the plot. I think easyjet offer a much better product/service.

[Grace & Favour]

If you are taking luggage then Ryanair is likely to be no cheaper than BA.

However, if you take only hand baggage (and I have done a 2-week holiday with 1 hand-bag, hotel have laundery you know!), check in at home, print your own boarding pass and pay with a Visa Electron, you CAN fly for 1p each way, all-in, if you book in their 'no taxes' sales.

Ryanair should also get credit for opening up a lot of places like Biarritz which no airline actually flew from the UK before.

I fly a lot in First Class (will do Emirates, Lufthansa, Swiss and Singapore Airlines in F this year) but I also fly Ryanair to visit my parents-in-law who live very close to an airport only Ryanair serves. If you know how to 'play the game' with Ryanair they are fine. The planes are brand new and there are two rows of emergency exit seats with extra leg-room unlike one row on most short-haul planes.

Well said Raffles

[vickn]

we flew ryanair last year when we went away for a short break and it was fine as i looked into luggage and made sure i had it all right so we didnt face any charges and teh plane and journy were fine
there was lots of people who got charged for beeing over weight and having trouble with it but it was fine for us
we also had to input details on line before we went as well yes its more trouble than normal but yes its more cheaper than normal and anything that cuts down cost is great

[colman]

i read they are getting rid of their check in desks and making people check in on line...(we are flying with them in august god help us) we had to go for the check in desks as we wanted to put suitcases in the hold and this was the only option with then, you couldn't do on line and suitcases....if this is the case do you think we are likely to get a refund as we paid for check in desk service...

[Raffles]

There will still be desks but they will be BA-style 'bag drop' desks. You'll still pay for using these.

[smerch1468]

Raffles with all this info that you come out with you remind me of "statto" from fantasy football league!

[microjan]

A pound for a wee :eek::eek:, it would cost them more to clean it up if i did it in the aisle, pmsl :behindsofa:

[rach109]

we flew ryanair last year when we went away for a short break and it was fine as i looked into luggage and made sure i had it all right so we didnt face any charges and teh plane and journy were fine
there was lots of people who got charged for being over weight and having trouble with it but it was fine for us
we also had to input details on line before we went as well yes its more trouble than normal but yes its more cheaper than normal and anything that cuts down cost is great

:laugh:

and i also agree with Raffles

there are tonnes of whinging posts on MSE about ryanair <yawn>

if you dont like them dont use them!

if you do book then READ everything carefully BEFOREHAND ;)

we have used them for the penny flights,just took handluggage so no probs :D

[smerch1468]

Transparency is key here.

Why should we have to spend our time checking the ryanair t&c. If their pricing wasnt so obscure then people wouldnt get caught out. You must remember that most people want to book a flight and dont have the technical understanding of raffles to spot all these pitfalls. Therefore pointing it out on forums such as this helps people out, no?

Next time I travel with ryanair (which is highly unlikely) I will just turn up in my underpants. After all thats what o'leary wants and we are only the paying customer at the end of the day.

PS the 1p flights will soon be a thing of the past, look at their policy re debit/credit cards. How long will it be before they charge for visa electron as well as other debit cards.

[joaniemerc]

And if you dont have a visa electron card they will charge you £4.75 a ticket when it costs them pennies for the transaction by other debit cards.

When I booked flights a couple of weeks ago we were charged £9.50 each (4 of us flying) and that was for using a debit card! 1p flights totalled £245! Still it's a cheap holiday as I'd got a Sun holiday at Eurocamp nr. Barcelona for a week in July for £120.

You've got to play them at their own game - I did 2 bookings with me being the only one checking in a case and the other 3 checking in on line. We will all take 10kg of hand luggage each. Luckily we are able to hire linen and beach towels at Eurocamp so that will keep the weight of the checked in case down.

[smerch1468]

:):D

[Polo]

:):D

:rofl:

Don't give O'leary any more ideas - I can imagine it now!

[smerch1468]

O'Leary has commited suicide here, I dont know anyone who has said they would fly with ryanair after this comments. Its almost like the gerald ratner comments that brought down his business in the 90s.

[Polo]

I have to say I tend to agree smerch, I know Ryanair are a low fare and no frills airline and I have travelled with them a lot in the past - but last few times by the time I'd priced it all up to include checkin, lugguage, priority boarding, card payment, it was just too expensive, could fly with (non low cost) airlines for a similar or cheaper price.
I find it incredible they can get away with charging to use the loo, I think they may end up in trouble with that one. (I'd be ok with that unless Ryanair start going long haul!).

[janedoe]

We have just used Ryanair last week for our skiing holiday, and online the price was the cheapest we could find but on entering all the bags and paying for using a credit card to pay the flights cost an extra £170 pound and we only use them for our 1 week skiing trip once a year so using the toilet won't be a problem on a 2 hour flight, but when we were at the airport checking in we were told 1 item of hand luggage only and while waiting in departures a poor woman trying to get on another flight had the trolley suitcase and a rather large handbag and they refused to let her on the flight as she couldn't get the large handbag into her overstuffed suitcase and was taken back to check in, not sure what happened after that but she was told at check-in one bag only to take on the plane and she had clearly not been listening.

[rach109]

That's half the problem the majority of the time!
people not listening / reading properly ! lol

[janedoe]

But when we checked in we were told 1 item of hand luggage only and she even made us weigh everything as well and did keep pushing the point of only 1 item allow and even look over the desk to make sure we did only have 1 item each, perhaps the girls on the other ladies desk weren't so insistant, shame really as she missed her flight.