Ryanair’s new price rises, which came in to force last week, are a step too far; it’s been pushing it for years, but the latest rise is incredible. Let’s just summarise what happens (all charges are per passenger, per flight):
- 1. You pay for the flight
- 2. You pay for additional taxes and charges… these are split out from the actual cost which includes airport duty and other charges. Though it does sometimes do ‘price including taxes and charges’ destinations.
- 3. You pay £3 to check in, unless you only have hand luggage and check in online.
- 4. You pay £6 for your first checked-in bag provided you pre-book it or £12 per checked-in bag that you haven’t pre-booked. Take more than one bag and you’ll pay £12 for the second, regardless of how you book.
- 5. You pay £3 to pay on a credit card, £1 on a debit card.
Why on earth does it play such silly games? It’s still cheaper overall than other airlines, so why does it have to befuddle and confuse? We’ve added a check out the charges section on the Flightchecker to deal with it.
And here I need to make an apology.
When I first drafted this blog, my fury was reserved for the fact I thought it was charging £1 for Visa Electron payments… as it’d taken the note that this was excepted off its site. This was especially annoying as it’d mean there’s no way to pay without incurring a charge. Yet hidden on another page that exemption still exists. So sorry Ryanair.
However, it’s still a very limited exemption – and the charging system still lacks a great deal of transparency.