Changing a Ryanair flight

abff

My son booked a flight home to Ireland with Ryanair. It was booked under the ‘no change fee’ rules. Yesterday, he decided to change to a different flight.

When he went online, it showed that the price on the revised date had just gone up by €22 (having previously been the same as the price he paid for the original flight), so he was charged an extra €22 for the change.

Out of interest, I decided to look at the cost of the flight this morning and found that the flight he is changing to is now showing at the same price as his original flight (which is also unchanged).

It looks as if they deliberately ripped him off when he went in to change his flight. I know it’s only €22, but it just shows how untrustworthy they are.

IngazZagni

While you might be correct and I wouldn't be surprised at all there could be certain factors at play. For example a €22 difference sounds like a difference of the price of a value fare to a regular fare. Did he book a regular fare or even add extras?
The value fare is the initial headline fare when searching for flights before deciding if you want extras.

Tenger

I would concur the "no change fee" refers to the charge for changing your flight.
The customer still has to pay the difference in fares between the 2. Otherwise people would buy the 19.99 departure for 11pm and the next day change to the commuter friendly but more expensive 7am departure.

Padraig Mor

I think people are missing the OP's point - i.e. the fare price for the new flight was the same as the old one but mysteriously went up when they rebooked. OP - did they have to rebook using a specific link? I would imagine it's similar to the issues with vouchers a while back - using the 'special' link (which you are required to do) results in search results with higher fares than if you just went straight to the site. So, there is 'no change fee', but they will charge a higher fare for the new flight than they charge someone who isn't rebooking. Pretty sharp practice and seems to have the look of 'change fee by stealth' to me.

abff

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I think people are missing the OP's point - i.e. the fare price for the new flight was the same as the old one but mysteriously went up when they rebooked. OP - did they have to rebook using a specific link? I would imagine it's similar to the issues with vouchers a while back - using the 'special' link (which you are required to do) results in search results with higher fares than if you just went straight to the site. So, there is 'no change fee', but they will charge a higher fare for the new flight than they charge someone who isn't rebooking. Pretty sharp practice and seems to have the look of 'change fee by stealth' to me.

Thanks Padraig Mor

That’s exactly the point I was trying to make. And yes, he did have to rebook using a specific link.

Tenger

Hadnt spotted the reference yo checking the fare.
Definitely seems like a Stealth change fee.


Small claims court?
Media outlet?