If anyone is planning to buy flights with Ryanair from 1st Jan, and is used to avoiding the £5 payment processing fee by paying by Electron watch out for a change of rules from the 1st Jan - from then only Prepaid Mastercard Credit Cards will not be charged the fee.

As a lot of my customers are affected I have looked around and think the CaxtonFX prepaid mastercard called Global Traveller is the way forward - there is a £1.50 fee for any UK payments, but thats got to be better than a £40 fee for the family!

Thanks!!! Great info

Hi,

Never have ,and never will use Ryanair, i fully accept that it’s main function is to produce a profit and stay in business and therefore profitability…...but with Ryanair it seems that they are taking the P*** out of their customers. On saying that though they were recently voted the worlds most profitable airline.

It does seem that many businesses do not realise ( not just airlines ,all it seems) that they can still look after their bottom line and still give value for money to their customers by keeping their prices lower, lower prices means more customers, more customers means continued profits ....it’s easy.

The most profitable companies are those that offer their services as cheaply as possible to as many people as possible.

Jon.

Wouldn’t touch Ryanair with a barge pole - despite the fact that a friend of mine flies for them.

Unfortunately Flybe, who used to be a cut above, have recently descended into the same pit. Their booking system is a disgrace - easily the worst for hidden charges and blatantly designed to hookwink customers. The new ‘debit card’ charge - £4.50 per person per sector - was the last straw for me. I don’t mind paying a fare if it’s reasonable, but I do object to having the true cost hidden from me until the very end of the booking process. BA are exemplary in this respect - the first figure you see is the one you pay.

I have been a regular with Flybe for years, but no longer. Despite the fact that their biggest hub is 10 minutes from my front door, I will be boycotting them, encouraging my friends and family to do the same, and generally making as much of a nuisance of myself as I can.

I think it’s time we stood up to the so-called ‘low cost’ airlines and voted with our feet. There are alternatives, after all.

Beware! The scam goes on…I got a prepaid Mastercard debit thingy ...for €6.
Sounds good.
But not.
They charge a percentage fee to put money on the card and a further percentage fee for “internet bookings” (ie, flights)
Total cost with cc for a return Ryanair for the family (6) is €60.
The saving with a Mastercard works out at about €3.
Forget it!

Train looks better and better. wonder how long though before they catch on to the airlines scams. Anybody out there up to speed on advertising law? Surely all these “hidden” charges should be up front? Like previous post I like BA, not the cheapest, had their difficulties, but at least you don,t get lead a merry dance round the web site and end re mortgaging the house for a £1 flight!
John

It is actually very easy to complain to the advertising standards authority. I complained about a Ryan air advert that said that skis were carried free of charge. In tiny print at the bottom they said that the offer expired the day before and hence was no longer valid. The advertising standards authority upheld my complaint, but did nothing. Perhaps if there were sufficient complaints these practices would get banned.

And yes, I have just struggled through the Flybe booking process working out how to cancel travel insurance etc. and wondering why at the very end I was charged for the privilage of paying them. Unfortunately British Airways now only fly from London so they are of limited use, but my wife discovered that when BA transfered its European business to Flybe some routes were still bookable through BA and they were often cheaper than going through the Flybe web site.

John

We got a prepaid ‘Kalixa’ Card. Fee to get it of £3 but then no charge to load it etc. Recently we booked 11 seats on a ryanair flight, saved us £40! ‘admin fee’ which for some reason increases dependent on the number of passengers!
Personally we have never had a problem with Ryanair, we fly to Bergamo alot which is perfect for the resorts we go to in Italy.
They are what they are; out to make as much money as possible, they are a business afterall, not a chairty and if you treat them for what they area, i.e a budget bus in the sky and play it right… i.e travel off peak times, don’t ‘check in a bag’ or if you do need to check in a bag and there is a group of you, check in just a couple (should be enough for short break) and split the cost!

Must admit though, it is annoying with the amount of costs that have gone onto ryanair over the past few years. The first short break (4 days) i took my husband skiing 3 seasons ago we got return flight into Bergamo on Ryanair for a total of £40 return for BOTH OF US!..... not a ‘credit card’ or ‘online check in fee’ in sight…..............

Stopped flying with Ryan air, rubbish Airline, rather pay more and get a better service with no rip off hidden extras!!

Ryanair has basically broken the airfare down into its component parts, which is why everything is extra. It is not just the passengers - if you want a flight deck job with them, it will cost you 700 euros just to apply, and of course, the cabin crew has to buy their own uniforms. I can see the point if your main selling point is cheapness, but surely there has to be a line.
What really pi**es me off is their baggage policy. If you are so much as a gramme over weight, they charge you the earth - and how accurate are the scales at airports? (Investigation perhaps Mr Editor?). I actually saw them make a family take the 1kg out of a 1kg overweight hold bag, and put it into their other hold bag which was 1kg underweight, or pay 20 odd Euros excess baggage! Never travelled with them on a ski trip, but would imagine ski & boot bags must be a source of easy income for them.
No wonder the Brits look like the poor relations on the slopes - thanks Ryan , Easy, FlyBe!
Go by car or train - much more civilised!!!

But from the beginning of next year, Ryanair will also levy these fees on people paying by Visa Electron, ... Visa Electron now accounts for fewer than 10% of all Visa debit cards in the UK. ... How do I get a prepaid MasterCard? ... Another reason out of many why to never ever fly Ryanair. ...

Just driving out to the Alps these days. I have the time and my recent return crossing to France was just £33 for car & passengers.
No more airport hassle + cheaper fuel in Europe and less congested roads than in the Uk help make the journey more satsfying. Would use rail if the CrossRail link was up and running but humping luggage & skis on and off trains, tubes when not on strike and the current overcrowding make that a no at this time.