Ryanair up prices shocker!!

Grandpa Hassan

Crooked Jack wrote: »

The problem I have with Ryanair is that they dont just tell you how much it's going to be up front. They advertise one price and then by the time they've piled everything else on it's significantly more. If they just gave you the price up front it wouldn't bother me as much. I'd rather go with Aer Lingus and just know how much it's going to cost, the end totals are rarely all that far apart.

But that is one of those myths that is often trotted out about Ryanair. They do show the cost of the flight up front. My €22.99 advertised flight to London actually cost me €23.49 after I had gone through all the booking screen (the card fee added a few pence). That is hardly "significantly more"

It is only if you check bags that you pay extra....and that is an extra service that shouldn't be shown up front anyway. I rarely check a bag and thus don't want to pay it

markpb

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Okay, but you can choose to check in online with other airlines if you so desire. In anycase, you have posted 15 times in this thread in defense of Ryanair! It's that level of support for them that I find surprising. People who use their services frequently are willing to go to great lengths to fiercely defend any criticism.

I defend them too but not because I think they're great, only because some of the criticism they face is ridiculous and, in some cases, purely childish. If you can't follow the fairly simply rules, don't complain when you get caught. If you don't like unassigned seating, book with someone else - it's not a surprise, they've been that way for years. If you want to bring checked luggage, expect to pay for it - it's been that way for years.

I don't understand people who complain about those things. IMHO there are valid complaints like how they handle cancelled or delayed flights, their extortionate credit card handling fees and a few others but they rarely come up.

Amirani

Grayson wrote: »

The frankfurt flight lands you a two hour bus journey away. Rome too. But if you balance the time versus cost it's normally cheaper to fly ryan air.

Just worth pointing out. The "Ryanair airport", Ciampino, is actually closer to Rome than the main Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) airport.

Tar.Aldarion

In the last few years, there has only been two occasions where aer lingus has worked out cheaper more convenient for me. It doesn't matter how charges are split out on ryanair, one will be more expensive than the other and I will get the cheaper one. This difference is comfort etc is nonsense, they are practically the same, as well as their planes generally being newer.

Nonoperational

mrsoundie wrote: »

Have not flown with Ryanair for around 6 years and after that it won't be any-time soon.

Bye bye Mr O'Leary, I would rather give the money to Aer Lingus for the comfort.

I'd rather get the cheapest flight (within reason) and spend the money at my destination. At the end of the day your in the same place, but have an extra few hundred €€ to spend.

If the cost of the flight with EI is within €50 or so then I go with EI.

Frank Black

oldyouth wrote: »

If a couple is going away for a week/2 week break, a checked in bag is the only viable option.

If a couple going away for a week, don't have enough space in 2 carry on bags, then the woman needs to remove a few of the seven pairs of shoes she has packed.

Cavehill Red

Shamrock231 wrote: »

I think you'll find Ryanair staff are going to be the last ones to defend their company, the company treats them with contempt, and they treat it with contempt in return.

Au contraire. The staff Ryanair treat with contempt are all sub-contracted employees, I believe.
I suspect the true believers in HQ would be more than inclined to defend their master's voice.
Also, to the true believer who felt I was being partisan in relation to flight price compare sites, let me also share a recommendation for mobissimo.com and cheapflights.co.uk, all of which are worth checking to insure that you really are comparing like prices before you fly.

Shamrock231

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Au contraire. The staff Ryanair treat with contempt are all sub-contracted employees, I believe.

So, basically 80% of Ryanairs pilots, 100% of their Cabin Crew, all of their maintainence staff, all of their clerical desk / support staff, all of their ground handlers and gate agents. :rolleyes:

Clarehobo

I think people are on here defending Ryanair because they are tired of hearing all this bs from people who don't even fly Ryanair.

I lived in the UK for a few years and flew AL frequently because Heathrow was my local airport - they NEVER ran on time. This was 20+ occasions spaced over a few years and the delays were always 20 mins or longer. In their defence, it's Heathrow: it seems like Irish flights do not have a priority on their runways, maybe because we have a shorter distance to go or maybe AL is incapable of turning around their planes in time to get their allocated slot.

I have yet to be on a Ryanair flight that didn't get me in on time.

I fly a lot with a lot of different air lines:
People go on about having to pay for food: air craft food is muck unless you can afford first class.
People go on about unallocated seating: I like not having to sit beside the weirdos and the kids.
People go on about luggage and women can't travel light: I am a woman. I travel light. Miniature toiletries, no hairdryer(hotels always have some to lend out), if I have to bring 2 pairs of shoes I wear the boots when travelling to take up less space, etc... It can be done if you can be logical about packing. When I go away with friends and are staying in apartments, different people carry different essentials so we all share the burden.
People go on about online check in: it is brilliant not to be stuck in a massive queue with people who didn't think to check in online. On my last flight to Australia, people were in huge queues - my friend and I had checked in online and just had to brave bag drop: a queue of 3 people. You couldn't check in online for our flight to Chile - we spent 4 hours in the queue due to technical issues: they failed to inform passengers of these difficulties(how is that for customer service on an expensive flight).

I like flying Ryanair.
I hate waiting to check in when I could just walk through.
I hate queueing just because some numpty didn't realise that you had to remove your shoes and belt at security even though EVERYONE else before them did it(With the money I saved on the flights, I pay for airport genie to skip the queues and avoid these people).
I hate not having room to stow my hand luggage because someone with duty free bags and coats and massive carry on bags has filled up the overhead luggage bin.
I hate when people recline their seat into your lap.
I hate having to wait to collect luggage.

Basically, I am one of Ryanair's target market: I follow their rules, I am civil to their staff and other passengers, I am efficient. Every rule they enforce makes travel more pleasant for me.
People need to get over the idea that air travel is glamorous. It is not. It is a necessary evil. No matter how much you pay for economy class tickets, you will be treated like cattle.

PinkLemonade

Hi, does anyone know when the prices are increasing for luggage? It's not on their site yet, and I'm flying with them in September.

Shamrock231

Clarehobo wrote: »

I think people are on here defending Ryanair because they are tired of hearing all this bs from people who don't even fly Ryanair.

I lived in the UK for a few years and flew AL frequently because Heathrow was my local airport - they NEVER ran on time. This was 20+ occasions spaced over a few years and the delays were always 20 mins or longer. In their defence, it's Heathrow: it seems like Irish flights do not have a priority on their runways, maybe because we have a shorter distance to go or maybe AL is incapable of turning around their planes in time to get their allocated slot.

Off topic, but they've turned that around and last year were the most punctual airline at London Heathrow:
http://www.flightontime.info/scheduled/airports/lhr12.html

Aer Lingus are the 5th most punctual airline operating out of the UK, Ryanair the 15th for the year to date:
http://www.flightontime.info/scheduled/scheduled.html

If you're after punctuality though, CityJet are the airline to use.

AlanG

Ryanair make a huge amount of profit on checked bags – they know they will always have about 20% of people bringing bags so this is all about increasing the profit on those passengers. O’Leary knows he can’t sell it as a money grab so he claims they want to get rid of checked baggage. Far from it this is actually a very profitable part of the business.
Apparently a growing number of people are shipping with DHL instead of checking bags.

keithclancy

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Lot of Ryanair staff on this thread, I suspect.
I find it genuinely implausible that so many disinterested people would be inclined to defend Ryanair's appalling treatment of passengers, shady pricing system (which has been repeatedly condemned by the EU), and misleadingly named destinations on the (sole proffered and also dubious) basis that they are sometimes cheaper.
I have a flight in two weeks. I got it 100 euro cheaper with another airline than Ryanair. I have another in September. An alternative airline gets me to a more convenient destination airport at a more convenient time for 40 euro cheaper.
If people really are solely interested in the bottom line, then they really ought to compare prices as I suspect they'll find that Ryanair isn't the bargain option they think it is all the time.
Price comparison sites like momondo.com can be very useful in this regard.

I'm not Ryanair staff.

But I think your looking at it purely from a living in Ireland perspective.

People live near that Airport in 'the middle of nowhere' and for them its convenient to Travel to Ireland.

Living abroad I travel quite regularly and tbh having Ryanair flying from Eindhoven - Dublin is a godsend, since its usually between 50-80 euros return if we book in advance.

25 minutes from my Front door to the Airplane, hasn't been late so far and on occasion has been early.

BTW, some of the Airports even have Dubious names, e.g. Maastricht-Aachen Airport (2 hours to the Airport by Public Transport or a 35 minute drive)

For me there is no really clear difference between Ryanair, Transavia (Budget KLM) Germanwings, Easyjet, BMI Baby and so on.

The Staff are polite whenever I'm flying with them.

Crooked Jack

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

But that is one of those myths that is often trotted out about Ryanair. They do show the cost of the flight up front. My €22.99 advertised flight to London actually cost me €23.49 after I had gone through all the booking screen (the card fee added a few pence). That is hardly "significantly more"

It is only if you check bags that you pay extra....and that is an extra service that shouldn't be shown up front anyway. I rarely check a bag and thus don't want to pay it

Well that hasnt been my experience. I used to fly fairly frequently to London and would always just fly Ryanair because I assumed they were the cheapest. After I copped on a bit I found that once you'd totted up everything including the weird charges and the fact that they land you somewhere that could only be called London in the loosest sense they werent all that much cheaper (occasionally more expensive) and whatever you saved in money you paid for in hassle.
Then again, apart from that I wasn't a regular flyer so maybe I'm just missing out on some tricks of the trade that everyone else knows.

josip

Clarehobo wrote: »

I am a woman. I travel light. Miniature toiletries, no hairdryer...

:eek:
Do you compete in the 400m?

Clarehobo

Shamrock231 wrote: »

Off topic, but they've turned that around and last year were the most punctual airline at London Heathrow:
http://www.flightontime.info/scheduled/airports/lhr12.html

Aer Lingus are the 5th most punctual airline operating out of the UK, Ryanair the 15th for the year to date:
http://www.flightontime.info/scheduled/scheduled.html

If you're after punctuality though, CityJet are the airline to use.

Good to see, but having looked at how they calculate those stats I can see how Ryanair is coming out the worse. They operate 4 times as many flights from the UK and do not operate out of Heathrow, which has an assumed taxi time of 25 mins.

CityJet is impressive until you look at the fact that they only fly from London City and Edinburgh - the two most efficient airports in the UK included in these stats. They came in 5th in London and 4th in Edinburgh this year.

And then you realise they don't include airports such as Cardiff or Bristol...

Are there similar stats available for Ireland?

Clarehobo

josip wrote: »

:eek:
Do you compete in the 400m?

What do you mean?

Grandpa Hassan

Crooked Jack wrote: »

Well that hasnt been my experience. I used to fly fairly frequently to London and would always just fly Ryanair because I assumed they were the cheapest. After I copped on a bit I found that once you'd totted up everything including the weird charges and the fact that they land you somewhere that could only be called London in the loosest sense they werent all that much cheaper (occasionally more expensive) and whatever you saved in money you paid for in hassle.
Then again, apart from that I wasn't a regular flyer so maybe I'm just missing out on some tricks of the trade that everyone else knows.

Which airports do you class as 'London in the loosest sense?

I generally in and out of Gatwick (which was the above mentioned €22 fare), which is the same airport as aerlingus, and you get the same gatwick express. Stansted has an express, which gets you in to London in a similar time, and actually to a more convenient station for business people (Liverpool Street compared to Victoria).

Sure aerlingus flies to heathrow, admittedly a shorter train ride from London than gatwick and stanstead, but you take your chance at Heathrow with delays. Gatwick and Stansted are much more punctual airports

Frank Black

Clarehobo wrote: »

What do you mean?

It's an athletics track event, where competitors try to complete a distance of 400m in the quickest possible time.

grimm2005

As much as I'm not a fan of Ryanair, I always fly with them because they always are considerably cheaper, certainly to London, whenever I'm looking at prices/booking. They fly to 3 airports in London, all of which are an hour max on a bus to city centre which never costs more than £15 return. The Ryanair flights are always under €100 (provided you book in good time) whereas the next cheapest are Aer Lingus at over €100. If aer lingus are at €90, Ryanair are at €50. That just seems to be the way it goes.

I'd much rather fly with Aer Lingus every time as it's just a nicer experience but for an hour flight and over €50 more expensive it's not worth it (for me anyway). If you follow the rules and know not to fall for any of their "gotchas", Ryanair is consistently the cheapest and while flying with them isn't always pleasant, I'm glad they're around because without them I wouldn't be able to afford to fly as often.

Amirani

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

Which airports do you class as 'London in the loosest sense?

I generally in and out of Gatwick (which was the above mentioned €22 fare), which is the same airport as aerlingus, and you get the same gatwick express. Stansted has an express, which gets you in to London in a similar time, and actually to a more convenient station for business people (Liverpool Street compared to Victoria).

Sure aerlingus flies to heathrow, admittedly a shorter train ride from London than gatwick and stanstead, but you take your chance at Heathrow with delays. Gatwick and Stansted are much more punctual airports

Gatwick is by far the best I reckon if you're not dependent on a Heathrow connection.

Stansted Express is a complete rip-off, and Gatwick Express is similar. Your best bet is to get a Southern Trains service (takes 10 minutes longer than the Gatwick Express) that is far cheaper. You can get it to Victoria also, or else Waterloo if you want to get to the City. Just as handy as Liverpool Street.

Obviously both EI and FR fly to LGW, so there's good competition.

Deise Vu

grimm2005 wrote: »

...know not to fall for any of their "gotchas", Ryanair is consistently the cheapest......

On this subject has anyone ever taken the bet at the end? Where Michael asks you to bet about €6 versus gettting the flight for free. I would love to see the win / loss ratio on that one.

Grandpa Hassan

Deise Vu wrote: »

On this subject has anyone ever taken the bet at the end? Where Michael asks you to bet about €6 versus gettting the flight for free. I would love to see the win / loss ratio on that one.

The same people that buy the scratchcards on the flight I suspect. I'd love know whether there are any winning cards in existence

Clarehobo

Frank Black wrote: »

It's an athletics track event, where competitors try to complete a distance of 400m in the quickest possible time.

I didn't ask what it is - I was asking what the poster was implying. What has not carrying unnecessary luggage go to do with a track event? I was pointing out that people can pack light if they choose to.

j@utis

AlanG wrote: »

<...>Apparently a growing number of people are shipping with DHL instead of checking bags.

+1 or private courier. I've heard that to ship 15kg to lithuania (or latvia, not sure) by private courier cost 20eur and over that is 1eur/kg. so for 50eur one can ship 45kg of stuff, it takes a week to arrive to destination but with a bit of planning you can walk on the plane with a little handbag and have your stuff already waiting at your destination, presuming you have friends/family over there where your entire wardrobe is delivered to.

Frank Black

Clarehobo wrote: »

I didn't ask what it is - I was asking what the poster was implying. What has not carrying unnecessary luggage go to do with a track event? I was pointing out that people can pack light if they choose to.

Was he implying something?

I think he was just wondering if you compete in 400m track events, I'd like to know too.

Why won't you just answer the question?

Clarehobo

Frank Black wrote: »

Was he implying something?

I think he was just wondering if you compete in 400m track events, I'd like to know too.

Why won't you just answer the question?

I don't know if he/she was implying something which is why I asked them what they mean - good of you to step in and clarify your thoughts. To answer your question, I do not compete in track events.

So, how is your packing skills? Can you run the Ryanair gauntlet without extra baggage charges? Or are you one of those people who has to bring the kitchen sink when you go away for two nights?

Frank Black

Clarehobo wrote: »

I don't know if he/she was implying something which is why I asked them what they mean - good of you to step in and clarify your thoughts. To answer your question, I do not compete in track events.

Ok, what about field events?
Javelin? Long Jump?

Grandpa Hassan

Frank Black wrote: »

Ok, what about field events?
Javelin? Long Jump?

The chances of getting a javelin on a Ryanair flight I think are probably pretty slim

Cienciano

Crooked Jack wrote: »

Well that hasnt been my experience. I used to fly fairly frequently to London and would always just fly Ryanair because I assumed they were the cheapest. After I copped on a bit I found that once you'd totted up everything including the weird charges and the fact that they land you somewhere that could only be called London in the loosest sense they werent all that much cheaper (occasionally more expensive) and whatever you saved in money you paid for in hassle.
Then again, apart from that I wasn't a regular flyer so maybe I'm just missing out on some tricks of the trade that everyone else knows.

London is a big place, it has lots of airports. If you just booked the cheapest airport without knowing where it was in relation to where you were staying, how the hell is it ryanairs fault?
They fly you from one airport to another, that's it. If that airport isn't convienient for you, don't fly with them. Blaming ryanair for the money you spent getting from the airport to your hotel is actually sort of funny.