Ryanair Cancels Third Party Flight Bookings

AJ wrote:But its only right Joe public want`s it`s share of the cake when they have consistantly fed the fat cat`s and shareholder`s. Company`s are so hung up on making billion`s in profit that they dont care about you the consumer once you have handed over your money.

AJ Adele

That's a dangerous path for you to go down unless you've read Ryanairs results and details of directors pay I think. A quick look at their filings shows it's not unreasonable. It's bad year for all airlines and Ryanair are struggling, like the whole company O'Leary took a pay freeze and lost part of his bonus this year, oddly not as widely reported ) Their profits aren't exactly fantastic either, the share price has never been too good and "analysts" have always claimed Ryanair could make more money with higher prices which they've resisted.

Ryanair are a business, as a customer if you think it's excessive then don't use them. They're not selling water or electricity or food or anything that's actually essential, they're selling cheap flights so people with disposable income can have some cheaper and extra holidays.

Dave Mac wrote:Did Ryanair do this in the right manner? It may be argued that they have done. If people have, by using third parties, been paying over the odds, (and they cannot have been paying the same price as with Ryanair direct), then by taking a quick short term action, Ryanair may be doing it's real customers a favour.

In the end they probably are, the back story is the O'Leary wants to carry on with low prices even in this climate and even wants to lower them. He's hedged fuel (a new move) at the equivalent of $120 a barrel for oil which is a gamble and they need to squeeze every penny, their margins are non-existent. Whether anyone chooses to fly with Ryanair or not, their mere presence in the market forces prices down. People seem to have forgotten how much air travel cost 10 or 15 years ago, in fact my guess is that they never really knew and the that prior to Easyjet et al had never flown scheduled around Europe. When I worked in France flights were 700 or 800 quid a week to get there and back, even BA don't charge that now.

Sorry ise but i didnt make myself clear as i meant airlines as a whole,Not just Ryanair.As for bad times for all airlines, Well its Swings and rounderbouts as they say.
I suppose only time will tell if they have made the right decision.I cant see the problem with third party bookings so long as its maybe contractual to certain outlets.



AJ Adele

AJ wrote:.I cant see the problem with third party bookings so long as its maybe contractual to certain outlets.

the problem's fairly simple, Ryanair are making nothing on the flights so they're tying to make money elsewhere, the 10 quid sandwich on board or charging for luggage for example. The other way to make some money is to sell add-ons, like car hire, insurance, airport parking. One of the reasons the third parties want to sell Ryanair tickets is so that they can sell their own add on products which has left Ryanair subsidising those third parties with the flights as a loss leader in effect.

Ryanair may yet regret this decision to shaft the public instead of agreeing a way forward with the agencies. If say 30 OAP's want to fly to Salou for their week away from their Old Folk's home, they will not each fire up their laptops, connect to their Broadband and book individually. They are more likely to ask a Travel Agent to sort it out for them as a group (one of those evil bloodsucking ABTA members no doubt).

These are the very people who will fill the Ryanair coffers when they check in at the airport (charge), load on a suitcase (charge), pay excess baggage (charge), need a wheelchair (charge) buy inflight food and drink (charge).

Right now those agencies are re-booking them onto other carriers, without charge.

bandit wrote:Ryanair may yet regret this decision to shaft the public instead of agreeing a way forward with the agencies. If say 30 OAP's want to fly to Salou for their week away from their Old Folk's home, they will not each fire up their laptops, connect to their Broadband and book individually. They are more likely to ask a Travel Agent to sort it out for them as a group (one of those evil bloodsucking ABTA members no doubt).

These are the very people who will fill the Ryanair coffers when they check in at the airport (charge), load on a suitcase (charge), pay excess baggage (charge), need a wheelchair (charge) buy inflight food and drink (charge).

Right now those agencies are re-booking them onto other carriers, without charge.

I can't see there was any way forward though, Ryanair wanted them to stop and had told them to do so over the last year, in strong terms by taking legal action against a few of them.

It's just that wafer thin margins and customer service don't mix :)

an afterthought, as I read it O'Learys intention is to use the current fuel prices as a chance to run a last man standing price war, it's his intention to put other operators out of business.

If that's so, what's the best advice for people booking cheap flights?

book direct, where Ryanair lead others may follow, that looks easy. What else? How protected is your money with other airlines? You can't leave it until the last minute to book, the prices skyrocket.

ise wrote:an afterthought, as I read it O'Learys intention is to use the current fuel prices as a chance to run a last man standing price war, it's his intention to put other operators out of business.

If that's so, what's the best advice for people booking cheap flights?

book direct, where Ryanair lead others may follow, that looks easy. What else? How protected is your money with other airlines? You can't leave it until the last minute to book, the prices skyrocket.

Booking early usually sees prices from the legacy carriers level or very close to the no frills airlines. Once the price of checking in, checking a hold bag onto the plane, yada yada are factored in, then quite often the mainstream carrier is cheaper.

I know that I now pay for my flights with a c/c as at least this gives some financial protection if the airline decides not to bother delivering the goods for whatever reason.

bandit wrote:

Booking early usually sees prices from the legacy carriers level or very close to the no frills airlines. Once the price of checking in, checking a hold bag onto the plane, yada yada are factored in, then quite often the mainstream carrier is cheaper.

Thats exactly what I said on another thread, although Dave Mac rightly pointed out that this is only correct under certain circumstances, ie you and I would gladly fly (I assume you would, as I would...) from Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Bham, Manchester, East Mids, whereas Easyjet is by far the best option from Edinburgh to Munich for example.

IN my experience of many airports and flight routes, mainly Gatwick/Stansted/Luton/Manchester, it is as cost effective to fly with the charter airlines with nice prebooked seats, 20kg of luggage included and £15 return for skis, that to start fannying around with Ryanair or Easyjet and all their extras.

Having said that, I am flying Wizzair to Krakow in November, but that doesnt involve skiing ( :().