Panorama last night - The Ryanair Effect

People can say they're not cheap but being a regular visitor with the family to Ireland to stay with the in-laws this half term (if something hadn't come up in the meantime) we could have flown Liverpool to Dublin return afternoon of Sat 24th, back afternoon of Sat 31st (so good flight times not early morning or late evening) for £50 for ALL 5 of us, everything included - how? Well was £5 per sector each, no taxes (not sure how Ryanair actually do this, do they cover this cost themselves?), hand luggage only, free online check in and paid with by Halifax's Easycash Visa Electron card (as we go to Ireland so often was worth 5 minutes doing an online application for this even if the card only gets used for flights with Ryanair!) So how anyone can say that £50 for 5 return flights isn't cheap is beyond me!

Dorset Boy wrote:No doubt O'Leary is a very shrewd businessman and has built up a very successful airline.

However, I believe he is very much in danger of shooting his golden egg laying goose by adding compulsory extras rather than increasing the base price. He is peeing off a large number of travellers with some of these:

eg Making the only free way to pay a card which almost no one holds and is frankly useless for anything else
Charging for home printed boarding passes - you can't board without one, so sorry Mr O'L, it's not an extra and you're probably in breach of trading standard type rules. Charge more for an airport issued one, maybe, but not the alternative
His luggage policy is a rip off - not allowing people to pool their allowance is purely a revenue raising measure and only likely to up the number of bags people carry.
His floating of the idea to charge to use the toilet is another example.

Having been ripped off a Girona airport on the luggage front, and subsequent refusal to provide refreshment when stuck onboard for 2 hours on the ground, I would try to avoid flying with his airline ever again.

I used to respect him, I don't now.

Sounds to me more like you didnt adhere to the luggage policy, same as Wickers. They dont just randomly charge extra for nothing, they charge of you exceed your 15 kilo allowance. Simple rule is dont exceed it. Its not a rip off, its a condition of flying with them. Many other airlines do not allow you to pool luggage allowances so dont blame it on O'Leary.

I think a lot of people have also missed the issue regarding the Visa Electron Card. I dont have one, but did you know that if you wanted to get one, you can get a RYANAIR Visa Electron? See where hes going with that one....?

Show me an airline that automatically provides you with refreshments on board for being delayed 2 hours? I sat on the runway in Santorini for that period of time in the summer, not with Ryanair I hasten to add, and the pilot very kindly explained to us that they were unable to provide anything because of some EU law. They did however provide everyone with a free drink once they had taken off. However, this was BMI who charge a lot more for their flights and who have a higher standard of service. Ryanair cabin crew are monitored for sales performance as this makes up part of their salary. No one forces them to work for Ryanair, before anyone carries on about how bad their pay is. Actually, their pilots are paid above industry rate.
If part of their pay is made up from selling refreshmsnts, they arent going to give it away, are they? Especially when most of the delays these days are NOT the fault of the airline, and usually hinge around ATC problems, weather, or stupid passengers who forget to board on time.

He may well be peeing off a number of passengers, but they still fly more passengers than any airline in the world, and have increased by 15% this past year.

I am not for one minute saying Ryanair is the best thing since sliced bread, but as Tino rightly points out, the man has got a business model and it works very very well. People need to open their eyes a little more and stop expecting everyone to do them a favour.

caron-a wrote:Am I the only person that's p*ssed off that Mr O'Neill has changed air travel forever? (And not in a good way in my opinion.)

What, by lowering prices, charging on through a recession with massive growth, taking us to places we could never go to before, and making flying more accessible to many more people as a reuslt?

O'Leary or not, other airlines have been looking at ways to reduce costs and that often means poorer standards of service, reduced slots, and extra costs to the customer.

Its survival of the fittest. 10 UK airlines are on the Governments "watched" list for financial problems, so they have to make sure they survive the recession and carry on trading. We forget that our government has increased fuel costs, including aviation fuel, when the price of oil has come down drastically.

Tony, I may have fallen foul of their T&Cs regarding the luggage, but as MO'L has claimed he wants to reduce the number of bags processed,as they effectively pay the handlers by the bag, this T&C is in there purely to raise revenue.

I don't expect a favour, but I don't expect unfair T&Cs either!

Ryanair is in all fairness pretty good if you don't have young family, don't need a bag in the hold, have a Electron card and have a mobile printer. At certain times there are also some very good deals to be done.

Not so good if you don't meet all the above criteria, and often once bitten, twice shy.

Well done Mick! Ryanair has enabled me to ski three time a year plus many other trips, booking well in advance and only with carry on bags keeps cost down about é60-85. The beeb provided priceless advertising for Ryanair! Last week
Mick was checking passangers onto the Dublin Gatwick flight and making announcements on the PA, there are very few CEOs who actually work with in the trenches.

I think it comes down to balance.
I can understand that if you book in advance you can get a cheaper flight and that if you dont want to take lots of luggage then you can save money and i have done this myself on a short break. The company save money on baggage handling and get the plane turned round quicker so everbody wins.

However I feel that where the company started out well they have become victims of there own success and are pushing the concept to extrems whilst loosing sight of the fact that its still people they are dealing with.

I find the whole process of booking a flight very stressfull and feel like im treated like an idiot.
Whilst on my last flight we were forced to que like cattle in a meter wide barrier coridor that snaked round the departure lounge whilst on either side there was lots of space with seats only open to priority booking.
There were numerous staff hovering around (probably left over from the unused check in desks) trying to sell you priority boarding. It was as if they were deliberatrly trying to make you uncomfortable soyou would give in and buy the priority booking just to get some space and a seat. Unacceptable behaviour. Once on the plane there were far too many bags for the overhead lockers and we had to store them under the seats which im sure in an accident would not have been safe. Rather treat me like an Adult tell me the full price and then let me decline services if i want to save money.

You pays your money and you makes your choice.
I have said before I would have paid the extra, if it wasnt much, and fly BA tbh.

LOTA wrote:I don't think the Ryanair experience is all that great but I would not cut my nose off to spite my face by saying I'll NEVER (an awfully long time!) fly with them.

They're not always cheaper but they do fly to destinations that others don't. I can think of Biarritz, Santander, Treviso and Perpignan as places I've been with Ryanair that were not served by other airlines.

I've been with EasyJet, BMI Baby, Go (gone!) and Buzz (buzzed off!) as well as FlyBe; if they're going to the place I want to got to at the right price, I'll fly with them.

Now Aeroflot....don't get me started on Aeroflot )

I am a person of principals and I WILL cut my nose off to spite my face I will pay more with another airline than use that lot, I will not be flying with them again ..... ever ..... :evil: