Ryanair's "cheap" flights!?

rozeboosje

Don't get me wrong. Ryanair flights are still pretty damn cheap. But why lie about it?

I'm booking a flight home, and I'm choosing the dirt cheap flights. €0.01 each way. Woohoo!

Now I know one has to add taxes to this. And the taxes ain't cheap. But what can one do. Such is life.

But hang on! What's this!? "How many bags are you checking in".

So OK. Now they're charging a fee per bag. But fair is fair, you could travel without bags, right? At least in theory you could! I mean. You travel to a different country where you are going to stay a good few days.... who needs bags, right? So let's even forget about the fact that they're charging €9.00 per bag (€4.50 each way). There's three of us; one of us can travel without a bag. We're only going for a long weekend, we don't need three full bags. Let's save €9.00 by only booking for two bags!

But, hey. What's this!? How many bags are you checking in. Well. Let's choose 0 bags, and.....

€6.00

Pardon!?

No. I'm reading it right.

€6.00

You see.... The option they give you is not actually "0 bags". It is "0 bags with priority on-line boarding". And for that privilege they charge

€6.00

But I DO NOT WANT ON LINE BOARDING. I will be quite happy to stand in line when I get to the airport. I want to choose 0 bags. Not 0 bags priority bollocks. JUST 0 FRIGGING BAGS.

Nope.

Hang on. Let's just not select anything! Leave the default "How many bags". Click submit.

"you forgot to enter the number of bags"

No way around it. YOU MUST CHOOSE. 1 bag, 2 bags, 3 bags, 4 bags or 5 bags. OR "0 bags with priority on line boarding".

Sorry but it is time to call FOUL PLAY. Those flights aren't €0.01. They are a minimum of €6.01 Each way. Which is pretty cheap. And I'm not complaining. But it is NOT €0.01, and the flights are 60,000 percent more expensive than advertised. And that is just plain wrong.

Why must Ryanair lie about this!?

markpb

When you select the 0 bags with priority boarding, a text box appears underneath with a 'remove this option' link. When you click on it, a new entry appears in the drop down box: 0 bags, no cost.

Obvious it aint.

therecklessone

What he said!

You have selected our Online Check-In/Priority Boarding service, passengers who qualify for this service can avoid check-in queues and be priority boarded onto the aircraft. Don’t forget to check-in online from 2 days up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time. Click to Remove this service and just travel with 0 bags.

robinph

The link to select no bags and regular checkin is there, they have just gone to great lengths to make sure that you don't see it.

rozeboosje

markpb (and others) wrote:

When you select the 0 bags with priority boarding, a text box appears underneath with a 'remove this option' link. When you click on it, a new entry appears in the drop down box: 0 bags, no cost.

Obvious it aint.

Right. Yes. Guess who feels like a right eejit now

Thankfully though I hadn't gone ahead that time so I booked them this time and I didn't pay for that one person.

Thanks all for showing us how it works.:D

Victor

That part of the procedure is unacceptable, as on the previous screen you have been told "Total Cost of Flight excluding handling fee (if applicable) click here for new information on handling fees" (these relate to credit / debit cards).

You have selected our Online Check-In/Priority Boarding service, passengers who qualify for this service can avoid check-in queues and be priority boarded onto the aircraft. Don’t forget to check-in online from 2 days up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time. Click to Remove this service and just travel with 0 bags.

What if I want "Online Check-In" but not "Priority Boarding" ho wmuch is charged?

rozeboosje

In any case, if you're travelling abroad and you're staying for a while you're hardly going to travel with hand luggage only. So the only way to benefit from the separate luggage charge is to either travel for business over and back in a day or so, or to travel in groups so you can share bags and do what we did, i.e. book 2 bags for 3 people. But rarely would you end up actually paying €0.01 for your 1-cent-flight....

A Dub in Glasgo

Don't forget that Ryanair do not allow people travelling together to pool their baggage allowance ie a family of 4 would need to have each bag up to the maximum allowance per individual rather than a combined total and bring less bags.

jjbrien

Victor wrote:

What if I want "Online Check-In" but not "Priority Boarding" how much is charged?

You cant get online boarding without paying the "Priority Boarding" fee. I flew with Ryanair at the weekend an they had this new system in place first the web/Priority Boarding got to board the plane first then people who nned more time and people who had small children then the rest. The system of boarding 1-90 first is gone. I a fed up with Ryanair evertime I go there is a new boarding system I have never seen an airline like it. I wish they when back to been like southwest in the states whos business model they follow Southwest give you a free drink still.

Lambsbread

The other "hidden" charges are the €5 credit card charge and the insurance they tack on where you have to unselect it. But i still got return flights to Birmingham for €55 (up from €0.02) which is still really cheap compared to other airlines.

jjbrien

I flew myself paying for 1 bag to manchester at the weekend for €36 with everything trown in the fare was 2 cents. So still it was a good deal Aer Lingus was €117 so for the saying i would put up with ryanair.

CtrlSource

Flew with them recently, paid my €9 to check one bag. I was pretty relieved that it came in under the 15kg limit - 14.3 if I remember right - close enough! They fleece you in excess baggage fees.

Slice

Lambsbread: The other "hidden" charges are the €5 credit card charge and the insurance they tack on where you have to unselect it.

So is it at all possible to fly at the advertised price? If not then how do they get away with advertising such prices?

Victor

Slice wrote:

So is it at all possible to fly at the advertised price? If not then how do they get away with advertising such prices?

If you have an Electron card there is no card fee. You can unselect the insurance and luggage.

Blush_01

jjbrien wrote:

I flew myself paying for 1 bag to manchester at the weekend for €36 with everything trown in the fare was 2 cents. So still it was a good deal Aer Lingus was €117 so for the saying i would put up with ryanair.

Just comparatively (I know in your case it was cheaper) but I recently flew to London via Aer Lingus. Flights were less than €70. Tube - £3. Into London for less than €75.

The eqivalent with Ryanair was almost €170 incl. taxes and charges, but not including baggage (which would have been another €9), and I'd have had to pay £25 for a train to the same destination.

Ryanair is most definitely not always cheaper. I also found the staff much more relaxed and unbelieveably courteous with Aer Lingus, in my experience they have always seemed harrassed on Ryanair.

Slice

Victor: If you have an Electron card there is no card fee. You can unselect the insurance and luggage.

As in Visa Electron? I thought they weren't yet available in Ireland??