Ryanair improvements/services coming this year 2015

grimm2005

Just saw that Ryanair have detailed the coming improvements this year in their "always getting better" 3 year programme:

http://corporate.ryanair.com/news/news/150303-ryanair-launches-new-customer-charter-unveils-2015-year-2-always-getting-better-plan/?market=en

Ryanair also announced a series of initiatives which will be rolled out over 2015 under the second year of its 3-year “Always Getting Better”programme, with a range of improved services, fee reductions and exciting digital developments to be introduced over the coming year. These include:

• New aircraft interiors & new cabin crew uniforms
• Lower airport check-in fees*, missed departure fees** and a new flight cancellation option (€15 per segment fee, within 24 hours of booking).
• Real time airline fare comparisons on Ryanair.com.
• A new destination content service, featuring customer reviews.
• A new travel insurance product, replacing the current drop down insurance.
• A personalised Ryanair.com website with up to 100 versions of the homepage and personalised promotional emails with customer-specific tailored offers.
• A new 'hold the fare' feature (€5 to hold a fare for 24 hours).
• An improved inflight menu, with more healthy meal choices and a hot breakfast pre-order service on key routes.
• New seats with more leg room & new Boeing Sky Interiors.
• Faster native mobile apps, an improved Ryanair.com desktop and an enhanced “My Ryanair”customer registration system.

Most notable to me on there is the new interior and new seats with extra legroom. I thought this was just going to be in their new Boeing MAX 200 planes but it sounds like they might be retrofitting their current fleet.

€15 cancellation within 24 hours is handy although I can't think of many situations where my plans would change that quickly. The hold the fare for 24 hours for €5 is more interesting to me as I tend to hover over a flight for a while when I see a great deal, debating whether I should grab it or not, and we know how fast Ryanair fares can change.

househero

grimm2005 wrote: »

Just saw that Ryanair have detailed the coming improvements this year in their "always getting better" 3 year programme:

http://corporate.ryanair.com/news/news/150303-ryanair-launches-new-customer-charter-unveils-2015-year-2-always-getting-better-plan/?market=en



Most notable to me on there is the new interior and new seats with extra legroom. I thought this was just going to be in their new Boeing MAX 200 planes but it sounds like they might be retrofitting their current fleet.

€15 cancellation within 24 hours is handy although I can't think of many situations where my plans would change that quickly. The hold the fare for 24 hours for €5 is more interesting to me as I tend to hover over a flight for a while when I see a great deal, debating whether I should grab it or not, and we know how fast Ryanair fares can change.

Ryanair 1 way fares rarely change by more than €5 in 24 hours anyway. Are they not just precharging you for tomorrows increase. Sunday ~ Monday is the worst day


Why I'm here I will say I absolutely hate the new feminine Ryanair.

I actually liked punching somebody in the back of the head to get a good seat. Now I get a crap seat allocated to me and I HAVE to sit in it.

It takes ages for everybody to sit down and put bags way to big into the OH bins. Delaying me and the flight.

I liked the fact that idiots subsidised my travel because they couldn't follow simple rules. Now my fare is far far higher than before. Because its 'more fair' that I now subsidize idiots and their mistakes that cost admin time & € to fix.

They have changed their pricing structure to a more standard airline with fares being (much) higher in advance than they used to be.


I have started to fly full service again as the Ryanair model increases prices (its own costs) and reduces its competitive advantage. If I held shares in ryanair I would dump them as I don't believe in their new business model.

grimm2005

househero wrote: »

Ryanair 1 way fares rarely change by more than €5 in 24 hours anyway. Are they not just precharging you for tomorrows increase. Sunday ~ Monday is the worst day

Na, I've seen it go up by at least €20 when there's only a couple of seats left at a certain price.

I actually liked punching somebody in the back of the head to get a good seat. Now I get a crap seat allocated to me and I HAVE to sit in it.

That is one disadvantage but most of the seats are pretty much the same imo apart from the ones at the back of the plane which tend to be more cramped. Exit rows have always been paid extras (although I've been offered them for free a couple of times cos I'm 6ft6' :P). I prefer it overall because I can sit and relax rather then stand in a queue for 30 minutes before a flight starts boarding (even though folks still do this).

They have changed their pricing structure to a more standard airline with fares being (much) higher in advance than they used to be.

This I have to totally disagree with. I've flown a lot in the last 12 months, most of which have been with Ryanair and I've found their fares consistently cheaper then everyone else. Some of the places I flew and their return fares: London - €30, Edinburgh - €30, Brussels - €40, Barcelona - €60, Prague - €65, Lisbon - €70, Budapest - €70, Krakow/Warsaw - €80 and I have flights to Copenhagen in May for €20 (all main city airports too with the exception of Warsaw which was a 60 minute €3 coach trip away).

The couple of times I didn't fly with Ryanair, I flew to Paris with Cityjet for €140 and to London with Aer Lingus for €80. This winter they had loads of flights to Barcelona for €40, Nice for €20 and even Marrakesh for €60 last November (I'm always on Google flights looking for getaways). Unless I'm completely missing something, I've very rarely been able to find flights to anywhere further then the UK for under €100 with any other airline, and that's with very flexible dates.

househero

You misread my post. Ryanair fares have increased compared to the old 'harsh' ryanair with tiny base fares.

3 years ago I paid €9 Milan. €7 Paris. €5 Manchester

3 years ago airplane fuel was 60% more expensive

The main operating cost of flights has fallen but FR fares have gone up 50 to 100% because they have chosen to add extra costs in to their operation. They can fek it. I'd rather pay double and go full service. When you add baggage or buy on board food, there is very little difference.

You can fly to a lot of places in Europe with full service airlines for less than 100 euro, you can fly to Turkey with Turkish airlines, the opposite side of Europe for less than 140 return.

When Ryanair try shafting you 100 euro for a flight to Barcelona without giving you check in baggage, meals, drinks, blankets, pillows, films, entertainment, air miles, airport lounge access or a real ticket it becomes apparent that they have shifted their business model to somewhere in the middle.

grimm2005

househero wrote: »

You misread my post. Ryanair fares have increased compared to the old 'harsh' ryanair with tiny base fares.

3 years ago I paid €9 Milan. €7 Paris. €5 Manchester

3 years ago airplane fuel was 60% more expensive

The main operating cost of flights has fallen but FR fares have gone up 50 to 100% because they have chosen to add extra costs in to their operation. They can fek it. I'd rather pay double and go full service. When you add baggage or buy on board food, there is very little difference.

Fair enough, I'll take your word for it but I've never been able to get fairs like that in the 5 years or so I've been travelling. I know my brother once got a single to London for free but that was a good 10 years ago. I've found prices to be basically the exact same since the start of their changes about a year ago. The €6 each way admin fair that didn't show up in the fair was also infuriating I found, meaning you had to mentally add an extra €12 to the fare you were looking at (this was removed (i.e. added in to their base price) by an EU ruling as opposed to their own choice, sometime in 2012 iirc).

Personally I never bring check in luggage for trips to Europe as I'm rarely away for more then a week (I reckon more often then not it's families going on sun holidays that bring check in luggage) and I never buy food on the plane as it's generally always rubbish and expensive regardless of airline (I'll eat in the airport or bring a packaged sandwich from boots).

The only difference between Aer Lingus and Ryanair is a slightly reclining seat (a downside imo but that's for another thread). With Cityjet I got a below average croissant with a piece of cheese in it. If that warrants double the price and then some work away but I couldn't justify it. To me it's like paying €40 for a coach to Galway that comes with a newspaper and a bottle of water versus €20 for the same coach but no water/paper. I know which one I'm going for. If I can spend my money on doing things on the trip or even another trip away, and it's given me the opportunity to see way more places then I would have been able to otherwise.

You can fly to a lot of places in Europe with full service airlines for less than 100 euro, you can fly to Turkey with Turkish airlines, the opposite side of Europe for less than 140 return.

Obviously they aren't always the cheapest 100% of the time, but generally speaking in my experience, it's been cheaper 90% of the time, and by a fairly wide margin

When Ryanair try shafting you 100 euro for a flight to Barcelona without giving you check in baggage, meals, drinks, blankets, pillows, films, entertainment, air miles, airport lounge access or a real ticket it becomes apparent that they have shifted their business model to somewhere in the middle.

Not really comparing like for like. You generally get all that stuff on transatlantic flights or longer then 3 hours outside of Europe but I can't think of a single instance on any airline where I've got all those extras within Europe, not these days anyway. I don't need pillows, blankets, films and entertainment for a 2 - 3 hour flight, I'll throw in my ear phones or read a book or magazine. The trips I listed above were far cheaper then any of the competition when I was booking and I got the same service I would have otherwise, with the exception of not being able to check in at the airport which is hardly worth the extra €100 in my eyes.

househero

grimm2005 wrote: »

Not really comparing like for like.

That Is exactly the point, it is not like for like. Ryanair can and do charge nearly full service prices for a hugely inferior hard and soft product. They do charge low prices, but all too frequently now, they charge huge fares that were non existent a few years ago.

Practically every flag carrier offers these services over Ryanair and if things go wrong, they treat you so much better.

If you do not travel frequently with other airlines, you are hardly in a good position to compare.


They have increased their costs, increased their ticket prices and made their service worse.

For me, ryanairs main advantage was their punctual service, they are now consistently late and it is because of these 'improvements' which have also increased my travel expenses and cost me business.

househero

Ryanair has become the Tesco of the sky.

People think they are the cheapest and they are getting a bargain, when they are not.

And Tesco is a failed business model... If you are not aware of this Google is your friend.

Hell, even Ryanair are running crap adverts identical to tesco with effeminate music from the 80s and a lame strap line. The new marketing manager worked at tesco. He is clearly incompetent and busy destroying a well carved out very very very successful business model.


They offer a crap service and they have turned their backs on their old customers and the very reason why they became the biggest LCC in the world. They wont grow as fast as they did for the last decades. They have abandoned the very thing that set them apart. And if they continue they will fail just like Tesco.

Don't get me wrong, for 20 years I must have flown FR thousands of times, a few flights a week. And I would tell people how punctual they were and liked that they took no crap from incompetent people who would have delayed the flight.

Now I tell people not to fly them as they are neither cheap enough, or good enough. They still fly in to crap airports and they cant bloody get me there on time.


Oh and by the way, the EU forcing Ryanair to add the €12 into the fare because they can't bloody add a tenner on top actually increases the feking fare as the €12 (plus the credit card fees) are now a taxable income.

So all that did was increase my fekin fare, made me pay more tax... because ppl can't count.


I have finished my (admitted) rant and shall concede that you are the new customer of Ryanair and I and 81 million others are from the old Ryanair customer base. And it is unlikely that we shall agree that ryanairs 'improvements' are actually hurting its loyal customers and its business model.

To part our ways I shall leave with Ryanairs profits before and after the 'improvements'. Bear in mind, air travel in the whole of Europe grew significantly during the same period, Ryanair carried more people... But made less money.

2012 : 79 million pax : profit 569 million
2014 : 86 million pax : profit 523 million

grimm2005

You continue to say it's not the cheapest, but frankly it just is 9/10, in my experience. I may not fly on the other carriers as often as Ryanair because simply I vote with my wallet. I always use Google flights and Skyscanner when looking for prices and will mix and match airlines or pick a different flight if the times are better and the price is of minimal difference. I've no airline loyalty, as I said, I'll vote with my wallet and more often then not, it's Ryanair who comes out the cheapest, often by a country mile. When we're talking about short haul, European travel, the services offered are usually pretty identical for a base Economy ticket, in my experience anyway.

When I'm being offered a return flight to Barcelona for €60 on Ryanair vs. €140 on Aer Lingus (which were the next cheapest), with both flying to the same airport, it's really a no brainer and it's hard to argue with that.

As for profits and that, I don't really care as the only thing that matters to me is how much I'm paying, although a quick google of "ryanair 2014 profits" brings up many articles from November saying their profits and shares are up: http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/1103/656476-ryanair-results/

I'm not really interested in getting into the nitty gritty of it but I certainly can't find any evidence of things not working or shareholders needing to be worried.

In the end of the day I rarely see other airlines offering me flights at the sort of prices I'm getting with Ryanair, and not for lack of trying.

househero

You posted a news link to profit forecasts. I posted actual audited profits.

For me. Ryanair are now crap and compromised why they were good. For you, you still like lower fares. Although you could have gone with Ryaniar to Barcelona for 20 quid return 3 years ago (when fuel cost much much more). Now 60 quid is considered cheap.

zagmund

€60 *is* cheap. €20 is really cheap.

z

grimm2005

househero wrote: »

You posted a news link to profit forecasts. I posted actual audited profits.

For me. Ryanair are now crap and compromised why they were good. For you, you still like lower fares. Although you could have gone with Ryaniar to Barcelona for 20 quid return 3 years ago (when fuel cost much much more). Now 60 quid is considered cheap.

That's great and all but if I can't get there for €20 now, it's not even worth mentioning (and I'm pretty sure that was before they were flying into Barcelona main airport). I've flown Ryanair both before and since they started the customer improvement program and I've not seen a noticeable difference in the fares (not saying that's a fact, just what I've personally experienced on the flights and fares I've purchased). But even so, I'm still not gonna pay more then double the price with a competitor for what basically amounts to a slightly reclining chair and a printed ticket. Plus I prefer the changes myself, namely not queuing for ages before a flight starts boarding and having the mobile boarding passes, but hey, horses for courses and all that.

The prices are well within affordable territory for me and more often then not I can't say that about the competition and that's what matters the most to me, it's the difference between going away or not being able to afford it.