Google teams with Ryanair to boost Euro flight-comparisons

[peterb]

Time for the Ryanair song!

Heh, you beat me to it!

[AlexKitch]

Wait a moment, it was more like £165 return.

I mean just look right now on kayak for flight to Geneva:
http://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/LON-G...-20/2014-02-20

Swiss is about the same price as easyjet (or less!).

They aren't that cheap, if you want checked luggage they are considerably more expensive.

Also any airline, regardless of price should dispense free water, even more so when there has been a delay that has more than tippled the journey time.

This isn't some entitled rant, it's more a justification of why I generally avoid using them.

In those situations where the price genuinely isn't all that competitive, yes, I don't know why anyone would fly Ryanair over a higher quality airline either. I guess my comment was directed more toward people who expect everything for next to nothing, and then complain when the whole experience is s***.

[wasabi]

Had to fly with them last year as there were no flights with any other airline suitable. The endless hidden costs and compulsory addons made booking a nightmare, the queues at Standsted public tip were horrible at check-in. the stampede to board and overfilled lockers is a nightmare. At least we paid the extra to get reserved seats so slightly less horrific. Shameless profiteering on delays by trying to sell more reserved seats to bored people in the queue. The fact that nearly everyone involved with them, including customers, seems to look like and extra from TOWIE... yuk - yuk - yuk.

[peterb]

I was on an Easyjet flight just coming into land, and there was a RyanAir aircraft on the pan. A voice from the seat behind, loaded with contempt said "RyanAir - I'd rather walk than fly with them again"

[burble]

I only use RyanAir when there's no sensible alternative.

For example RyanAir fly from Stansted to Eindhoven with a flight that lands at Eindhoven at 9am and one that leaves at 7pm. I often work from our Eindhoven office which is about a 2 minute walk from Eindhoven airport and I live near to Stansted Airport. Using RyanAir I can get a full day in the office and still get home at a reasonable hour and all for £50 or so.

The alternative is a flight to Amsterdam and 2 or so hours on the train to Eindhoven meaning I can't get a full day in so I need to stay over in Eindhoven overnight.

I do wish they'd get rid of that cringy fanfare when the plane lands on time or early.

[AlexKitch]

Had to fly with them last year as there were no flights with any other airline suitable. The endless hidden costs and compulsory addons made booking a nightmare, the queues at Standsted public tip were horrible at check-in. the stampede to board and overfilled lockers is a nightmare. At least we paid the extra to get reserved seats so slightly less horrific. Shameless profiteering on delays by trying to sell more reserved seats to bored people in the queue. The fact that nearly everyone involved with them, including customers, seems to look like and extra from TOWIE... yuk - yuk - yuk.

This is a common complaint which genuinely puzzles me. Which "endless hidden costs and compulsory addons" are you actually referring to? Every time I've booked a Ryanair flight (four times now), I've been able to tick "No Thanks" to everything I was offered above and beyond the base ticket cost. There's no obligation to pay for anything else on a Ryanair flight unless you turn up with oversized bags and/or missing boarding cards.

[TeePee]

This is a common complaint which genuinely puzzles me. Which "endless hidden costs and compulsory addons" are you actually referring to? Every time I've booked a Ryanair flight (four times now), I've been able to tick "No Thanks" to everything I was offered above and beyond the base ticket cost. There's no obligation to pay for anything else on a Ryanair flight unless you turn up with oversized bags and/or missing boarding cards.

They have recently announced changes, but the 70GBP fee for that missing boarding card may have stung some people. Fees for using debit or credit cards.. Foreigners have to check in at the airport, so that's another fee that some people can't avoid.

There's also the carry on issue. Ryanair only permits you to take one item. Not a bag and a personal item such as a laptop or handbag, but one item period. The maximum permitted size is also smaller than most other airlines, and dramatically weight restricted. Most airlines allow 40 or more pounds. British Airways allows 51. Ryanair's maximum is just 22.

[Dooms]

They have recently announced changes, but the 70GBP fee for that missing boarding card may have stung some people. Fees for using debit or credit cards.. Foreigners have to check in at the airport, so that's another fee that some people can't avoid.

There's also the carry on issue. Ryanair only permits you to take one item. Not a bag and a personal item such as a laptop or handbag, but one item period. The maximum permitted size is also smaller than most other airlines, and dramatically weight restricted. Most airlines allow 40 or more pounds. British Airways allows 51. Ryanair's maximum is just 22.

But people would check these things before buying correct? After checking if it doesn't work out cheaper for them they can just try someone else? For me when I run off for a weekend none of those things effect me.

I agree that Ryanair isn't amazing but as said above if you actually read the website, follow the rules (they aren't small print) then you can still get a good deal. Not all the time but that's what competition is for.

[AlexKitch]

They have recently announced changes, but the 70GBP fee for that missing boarding card may have stung some people. Fees for using debit or credit cards.. Foreigners have to check in at the airport, so that's another fee that some people can't avoid.

There's also the carry on issue. Ryanair only permits you to take one item. Not a bag and a personal item such as a laptop or handbag, but one item period. The maximum permitted size is also smaller than most other airlines, and dramatically weight restricted. Most airlines allow 40 or more pounds. British Airways allows 51. Ryanair's maximum is just 22.

Missing document fees aren't really a 'hidden' charge though. They do tell you multiple times to print out the boarding card before you get to the airport.

As for the other stuff, they're not 'hidden' charges either - they're printed in black and white on the checkout page Extra baggage charges are there to encourage you to travel lighter, many online retailers charge fees for using credit cards, and Ryanair's free weight allowance is actually higher than some of the more expensive leisure airlines.

Not arguing with your opinions, but misuse of the term "hidden charges" is something that (unfairly) gets thrown around a lot with Ryanair discussions, in my opinion.

[wasabi]

Not arguing with your opinions, but misuse of the term "hidden charges" is something that (unfairly) gets thrown around a lot with Ryanair discussions, in my opinion.

The problem is most people want to do a quick shop round on headline price for the ticket. They think BA is £180, Lufthansa is £178 and Ryanair is £75. Brill - I'll go Ryanair! Then after page after page of addons the Ryanair price is actually £150. So you've just wasted 30 mins clicking through (default to on) no I don't want that either messy menus. The price they quote on the first page is so close to being a complete lie it makes little difference.

[Saracen]

But people would check these things before buying correct? After checking if it doesn't work out cheaper for them they can just try someone else? For me when I run off for a weekend none of those things effect me.

I agree that Ryanair isn't amazing but as said above if you actually read the website, follow the rules (they aren't small print) then you can still get a good deal. Not all the time but that's what competition is for.

But .... would people necessarily check?

I've lost track of how many flights I've taken, but it's been countless flights over about 40 years, everything from BA "shuttle" from Heathrow to Manchester, to round the world, from 'budget' flights to Aberdeen to transatlantic First class, and I've never yet had some of the "tricks" Ryanair use. So .... it probably wouldn't even occur to me to look for some things, or that the lack of a boarding card could cost 70UKP.

Should we look? Yup. But, do you read the details of terms and conditions of your car insurance policy, every year? You should, because sometimes there are unexpected gotchas, things that ALWAYS used to be standard suddenly disappear .... and could leave the unwary doing something they think they're insured for that, in fact, they aren't. And therefore, of course, may unintentionally be committing an offence.

"Hidden" may be the wrong word to describe these charges, but many of them are for things that certainly used to be 'standard', and they aren't reflected in headline prices, meaning that before all the adverse publicity, with many people being caught out just assumed that some things were so because they always had been.

Yes, sure, people OUGHT to check, double check and recheck, but the fact is, most people don't.

I do completely agree about competition. It's not only fair enough for Ryanair (or anyone else) to offer an alternative model, that pares costs to the bone and offers a very basic, and at least theoretically low-cost, but it's positively good, because there is a segment of the market, probably a fair sized segment, that even if clearly informed about exactly what you do and don't get, would chose "budget".

And, fair enough.

My primary objection to Ryanair is that I regard the way they operate as outright deceitful. It's all about the headline attention-grabbing price, and only later do you find out about some of the gotchas.

Ryanair have been so good at catching people with extra costs that, even if on the web page somewhere, weren't front and centre in the marketing, resulting in people being clobbered for charges they weren't expecting.

Personally, I'd much rather pay £100 for a ticket and know that what it's going to cost, than £20 for a ticket, only to find all sorts of exteas end up bumping it up, and not knowing if I'm going to end up at £50 or £150.

And I simply don't trust Ryanair not to have come up with some additional new stunt that I didn't catch when I read the booking details, and I do object to finding out about some gotchas on the checkout page. Or at the airport.

So yes, competition is fine. My problem is that I find the way Ryanair does business, and especially marketing, to be, at best, misleading and obfuscated, and at worst, deceptive. Which is why I will not even consider flying with them, regardless of the "price" of the tickets. I just don't trust them enough to be prepared to consider them.

But if you do, well, fair enough.

[TheAnimus]

Ryainair, Easyjet, Wizz et al have a strategy for people assuming they are cheapest and not checking. Or just as you mention not been able to add up the costs.

I had a girl friend whom I was a bit pissed off with, she complained that I was spending money she didn't have by flying cityjet, when she flew easyjet.

However, it cost me nothing to get to LCY. It cost her £30 return to get to LGW. Add in the card fees and CityJet was cheaper.

The mind honestly boggles, people think economy brands mean less price. As my search above shows often it really isn't the case. I think Ryanair revel in this marking of how cheap they are. I'll be honest, I'm incredibly shocked they'd work with anyone on a price comparison service.