Whats with this constant Ryanair bashing ?

Ponster · 24-11-2008 02:10PM

When I moved to France in 1998 my only option was with Aer Lingus who charged my £170 (215€) one-way (at the time Aer Lingus charged the same price for a return as a one-way).

For the next 6 years I flew Ryanair was able to see my family more often than I thought I would due to my crap wages. For the past 3 years I get paid enough to afford that extra 50€ and fly with Aer Lingus from CDG. You get with you pay for with Ryanair air and lot of people don't seem to remember that 15 years ago flying wasn't a luxury available to everyone.

af_thefragile · 24-11-2008 02:14PM

For €15 return flight, i don't really expect much luxuries. I just wanna get to my destination on time (which Ryanair does most of the times).

jhegarty · 24-11-2008 02:16PM

Do people miss having to pay a weeks wages for a flight to london or something ?

(but I got free coffee for £400 flight)

Snickers Man · 24-11-2008 02:21PM

dionsiseire wrote: »

I booked a flight to manchester for the Newcastle versus Man U game start of the season at old trafford. Sky Sports decided to change the date to a sunday

So the 140 euro was gone (me and my mates fare) i rang and told them i would not be flying and would like a refund of my taxes, they told me to ring after the flight had taken place and i would be on the DID NOT FLY list.

so i rang after the flight and was told that refunding taxes was no problem, but that an administration charge applied and that the administration charge was more than the taxes thus i was owed nothing.

They never said how much the administration charge was, but im told its supposedly 20 euro yet my taxes were near 50 euro

its at this point when i have a problem with ryanair

To be fair, I think other airlines have that policy too of charging an admin fee to get your taxes back. Some time ago my partner pulled out of a flight to London with Aer Lingus at the last minute due to illness. They wouldn't refund the ticket but returned the taxes and charges minus a handling fee of about €20. Mind you the ticket only cost about €5 so it wasn't a huge loss.

dionsiseire wrote: »

i also dispise their 10 euro to book by credit card, with no alternative, im sorry but if dunness stores or superquinn started charging you 10 euro to use a credit card you'd whip out the cash fairly handy for your 5 euro worth of purchases.

Ryanair charge you to pay, and nobody seems to bat an eyelid, how can they get away with not offering a free method of paying for a flight with them. its a disgrace

Sure is.

Snickers Man · 24-11-2008 02:26PM

jhegarty wrote: »

Do people miss having to pay a weeks wages for a flight to london or something ?

(but I got free coffee for £400 flight)

When did you ever pay £400 for a flight to London? Maybe if you went sooper dooper first class with an assisted bath at the end of it.

I have a figure imprinted on my brain. In 1988 (yes 20 years ago) I paid £57 sterling (all in, they weren't broken down into fare/booking fee/baggage allowance etc etc in those days) for a flight from Gatwick to Dublin. I think it was with the late lamented Dan Air. Granted it was a super apex fare, bought way in advance and I thought it was a good deal but come on, £400.

Somebody has been spinning you a line there. I'm not saying it wasn't possible to spend 400 quid on a ticket. Just that it was well easy to travel for a lot less.

dfx- · 24-11-2008 02:27PM

I'm planning on going to London just after Christmas..

So I've arbitrarily checked the same day and roughly the same times on EI and FR to LHR and Stansted.

At the time I want to go at, Ryanair - €187 return, Aer Lingus - €167 return. Not the cheapest fares for either, but I'm not going when Ryanair or Aer Lingus decide. Ryanair have themost expensive individual seat before taxes at €119. Aer Lingus are 79.99 and 9.99 respectively.

I'll ultimately end up flying bmi though, I'd say.

Fratton Fred · 24-11-2008 02:54PM

dfx- wrote: »

I'm planning on going to London just after Christmas..

So I've arbitrarily checked the same day and roughly the same times on EI and FR to LHR and Stansted.

At the time I want to go at, Ryanair - €187 return, Aer Lingus - €167 return. Not the cheapest fares for either, but I'm not going when Ryanair or Aer Lingus decide. Ryanair have themost expensive individual seat before taxes at €119. Aer Lingus are 79.99 and 9.99 respectively.

I'll ultimately end up flying bmi though, I'd say.

I'm on a short term contract that means I fly to London every Monday morning and home again every friday. Personally I fly BMI as their booking site is much clearer than the others and other than a credit card fee (of which there isn't one if you book with meastro) there are no hidden charges. The food and drink on board is much cheaper (Or if you have a Blue Plus card you get a free drink and snack) and you fly from Pier B at Dublin.

As I fly a lot and I am going straight to work, having all the hassle of queueing up, walking to pier z or wherever it is and then cramming a bag under the seat because everyone seems to ignore hand luggage restrictions just isn't worth it. I find that I get to work a lot more knackered with Ryanair than BMI and BMI costs me about £20 more for the return flights.

Having said that, there are times when I've fancied a curry and a beer with mates in London and I've flown 7am friday to Luton and home again at 2pm on a Saturday and got the return flights for less than a cab fare into Dublin.

Berty · 24-11-2008 03:10PM

Michael O'leary himself called the business the "bus of the future."

I always hope my Ryanair flight leaves on time and they do not lose my bag or they dont do anything which means I have to deal with the head office.

Thankfully nothing so far.

Think of them as a business model with no services or service and you will be fine. i.e lower your expectations.

hatful · 24-11-2008 03:19PM

Er wasn't there something in the media recently that raised safety concerns about ryanair. I fly aerlingus it makes me feel safer that perhaps it maybe held together by more than gaffer tape.

As for service, the only thing that annoys me is other customers who deem it okay to steal my aisle seat that I specifically requested because they are too fat to sit in between me and the other aisle occupant.

CiaranC · 24-11-2008 03:19PM

dionsiseire wrote: »

Ryanair charge you to pay, and nobody seems to bat an eyelid, how can they get away with not offering a free method of paying for a flight with them. its a disgrace

I have three return trips to Nice booked in December. Total €120 for six flights. What do I care which page the charges appear on when booking the flights? Its the total that counts.

I think its hilarious they way people book flights for €30 return to a European city and then moan about an extra tenner for using a credit card. Its €40 ffs! To fly to a European city!

Berty · 24-11-2008 03:22PM

hatful wrote: »

As for service, the only thing that annoys me is other customers who deem it okay to steal my aisle seat that I specifically requested because they are too fat to sit in between me and the other aisle occupant.

I once got onto a flight and somebody was sitting in my seat. I showed them our boarding cards and they kindly moved whilst apologising. It was not until around 10 minutes later that I noticed that they were not in the wrong seat I was reading the wrong seat number over the seat. Oops. I turned to them and and mouthed "im sorry". They said they had just noticed but as I gave up the seat over the wing with the extra leg room they didnt mind too much.

Fvck:mad:

rossie1977 · 24-11-2008 03:25PM

dionsiseire wrote: »

i also dispise their 10 euro to book by credit card, with no alternative, im sorry but if dunness stores or superquinn started charging you 10 euro to use a credit card you'd whip out the cash fairly handy for your 5 euro worth of purchases.

Ryanair charge you to pay, and nobody seems to bat an eyelid, how can they get away with not offering a free method of paying for a flight with them. its a disgrace

apparently this works, haven't tried it myself though http://bargainsireland.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/avoid-the-credit-card-charge-when-booking-with-ryanair/

btw easyjet charges €7.50 each way for the use of credit card

dfx- · 24-11-2008 03:27PM

CiaranC wrote: »

I think its hilarious they way people book flights for €30 return to a European city and then moan about an extra tenner for using a credit card. Its €40 ffs! To fly to a European city!

If you got €30 of petrol, would you like a charge of €10 just to pay it by laser card at the counter?

And you would keep going to that petrol station?

Charging you for paying is ridiculous. It's better than amp's stupidity filter.

thebman · 24-11-2008 03:31PM

robinph wrote: »

You can do the online checkin upto 14 days before your flight now which should be more than enough for any hand luggage only trip.

Cool, must have changed since I did it last.

And people said Ryanair didn't listen to their customers :P

Berty · 24-11-2008 03:32PM

dfx- wrote: »

If you got €30 of petrol, would you like a charge of €10 just to pay it by laser card at the counter?

And you would keep going to that petrol station?

Charging you for paying is ridiculous. It's better than amp's stupidity filter.

I never thought of it that way. Robbing ****s

riverbarrow · 24-11-2008 03:39PM

stop whinging you ungrateful shower of s..ts only for ryanair .thank you ryanairfor getting my wife and i on 8 holidays a year for the last 3 years since we retired and all for cents. the whinging irish you all make me ashamed to be irish

CiaranC · 24-11-2008 03:40PM

dfx- wrote: »

If you got €30 of petrol, would you like a charge of €10 just to pay it by laser card at the counter?

And you would keep going to that petrol station?

Charging you for paying is ridiculous. It's better than amp's stupidity filter.

But im not getting €30 worth of flight. So your analogy doesnt hold. The next cheapest airline was three times the price. They can charge a fiver for the flight and €35 for magical fairy tax for all i care, as long as the total price is cheaper than the competition, ill fly with them.

Berty · 24-11-2008 03:42PM

riverbarrow wrote: »

stop whinging you ungrateful shower of s..ts only for ryanair .thank you ryanairfor getting my wife and i on 8 holidays a year for the last 3 years since we retired and all for cents. the whinging irish you all make me ashamed to be irish

What side of the bed did you get out of this morning?

dionsiseire · 24-11-2008 03:43PM

dfx- wrote: »

If you got €30 of petrol, would you like a charge of €10 just to pay it by laser card at the counter?

And you would keep going to that petrol station?

Charging you for paying is ridiculous. It's better than amp's stupidity filter.

Dont forget they could easily avoid the stupid of a charge to pay by just putting into their charges and nobody would know the difference

its just because its so blatant that it gets under the skin, they have a whole page dedicated to showing you that by paying them for their services which they have priced according to their business model they will take 10 euro from you.

No other company in any other type of business would get away with it, just aviation

CiaranC · 24-11-2008 03:49PM

dionsiseire wrote: »

Dont forget they could easily avoid the stupid of a charge to pay by just putting into their charges and nobody would know the difference

its just because its so blatant that it gets under the skin, they have a whole page dedicated to showing you that by paying them for their services which they have priced according to their business model they will take 10 euro from you.

No other company in any other type of business would get away with it, just aviation

BS. If Game started selling xbox 360s online at a fraction of the prices elsewhere, Id be happy to pay an extra tenner cc charge to save most of the price. Some people would moan about anything.

ednwireland · 24-11-2008 03:53PM

flying to see parents at christmas checked ryaniar dery to liverpool £286 for 2 fares
easyjet belfast int to liverpool £95 for two booked in september thtas total price includoing all charges. what annoy's me is ryanair jacking up the prices around bank holidays whilst with other airlines they may jack up the prices as the seats sell out. it could be that the 2 days i picked to travel and days either side ryanair had sold out their cheaper seats but i doubt it. dont like ryanair and will only fly with them if it significantly cheaper to do so

jhegarty · 24-11-2008 03:54PM

dfx- wrote: »

If you got €30 of petrol, would you like a charge of €10 just to pay it by laser card at the counter?

And you would keep going to that petrol station?

Charging you for paying is ridiculous. It's better than amp's stupidity filter.

But what if they petrol station had petrol at 50cent a liter ?

Would you pay the €10 then , and put up with the grumpy counter staff...

Snickers Man · 24-11-2008 04:00PM

riverbarrow wrote: »

stop whinging you ungrateful shower of s..ts only for ryanair .thank you ryanairfor getting my wife and i on 8 holidays a year for the last 3 years since we retired and all for cents. the whinging irish you all make me ashamed to be irish

Is that any way to talk to the people who are paying your pension and your bus and train travel? Where's YOUR gratitude, huh?

Most people aren't whinging in a why oh why? sense. They (we) are just pointing out what the realities of dealing with Ryanair are. And that is that to get the best value out of them you have to watch the swine like hawks because they'll do it to you before you do it to them.

Ryanair don't have any problem with this. They love it when the horror stories appear in the press because it does their public information service for them.

Their defence is always, incontrovertibly, "We never said we do that. It's marked clearly on our website and in the confirmation emails we send out"

Their attitude should no longer be a surprise to people but just in case there are still a few who think that Michael O'Leary is a big cuddly teddy bear they need to be told.

stovelid · 24-11-2008 04:05PM

What makes me laugh most about Ryanair fans is that they are perfectly willing to accept the business practices (that they don't see) in exchange for cheaper flights, but then start whining about their consumer rights when something goes wrong, and Ryanair don't give a shit.

dfx- · 24-11-2008 04:09PM

CiaranC wrote: »

But im not getting €30 worth of flight. So your analogy doesnt hold. The next cheapest airline was three times the price. They can charge a fiver for the flight and €35 for magical fairy tax for all i care, as long as the total price is cheaper than the competition, ill fly with them.

So as dionsiseire said, it's just aviation allowed to do it because it's flight, not petrol or groceries or a coat.

Heinrich · 24-11-2008 04:15PM

dfx- wrote: »

In the last 6 months I've flown Aer Lingus, British Airways, South African Airways, Swissair, British Midland, Finnair, blue1 and Ryanair on expenses.

Swissair don't exist any more! And Easyjet do a much better deal.:P

Mark200 · 24-11-2008 04:16PM

hatful wrote: »

Er wasn't there something in the media recently that raised safety concerns about ryanair. I fly aerlingus it makes me feel safer that perhaps it maybe held together by more than gaffer tape.

Ryanair have been in the news a few times over the last year for safety related issues. But nothing serious I don't think, for example the most recent I can think of is having to perform an emergency landing because birds flew into the engine or something like that..?

Ryanair flew so many flights they're more likely to have a few problems.

stovelid wrote: »

What makes me laugh most about Ryanair fans is that they are perfectly willing to accept the business practices (that they don't see) in exchange for cheaper flights, but then start whining about their consumer rights when something goes wrong, and Ryanair don't give a shit.

That they don't see? I know full well about Ryanair's business practices thank you very much.

Have a look at this:

http://www.shannonairport.com/flight-info/arrivingflights.asp

Ryanair is making shannon airport important.

Ryanair did the same, to a greater extent, for Stansted airport too

CiaranC · 24-11-2008 04:18PM

dfx- wrote: »

So as dionsiseire said, it's just aviation allowed to do it because it's flight, not petrol or groceries or a coat.

And I pointed out id be happy to pay such a levy in any industry if it meant savings comparable to what I get with Ryanair.

And whats "allowed" to do it mean? Last time I checked we live in a market economy, businesses are "allowed" price their offerings and punters can buy or not as they choose.

If you dont like it, fly with someone else. And leave the rest of us to our cheap flights.

dfx- · 24-11-2008 04:21PM

Heinrich wrote: »

Swissair don't exist any more! And Easyjet do a much better deal.:P

Swiss then.

Heinrich · 24-11-2008 04:24PM

dfx- wrote: »

Swiss then.

If Ryanair flew to GVA or ZH I would prefer that to the ALT offering. Air travel is no big deal, those days are gone when it was prestigeous.

Whats with this constant Ryanair bashing ?

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