Ryanair changes and charges airborne from Thursday
September 28th, 2009 • 13 Comments
A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon of its material would have a mass over 5 trillion kg. Yet even this unimaginable scientific fact pales into irrelevance when compared to the size and density of Ryanair’s balls. This Thursday sees the budget airline complete its latest lap of circular logic to improve to improve service and offer better value for money, by decreasing available services and charging more.
All passengers will be required to check in online before departure and print their own boarding pass, at a cost of £5 per person per flight – anyone without a boarding pass will be charged £40 for one before flying. All check-in desks will be binned and anyone checking in luggage will have to use bag-drop desks. And the the new charges for checked-in luggage will come into play, too; the cost of checking in a single bag – with a maximum weight of 15kg (about 5kg heavier than the average full carry-on suitcase) – will rise from £20 to £30 per flight. A second bag will cost £70. Aiee.
And it’s for you, damnit, it’s all for you! A spokesman for Ryanair told the Telegraph the changes “will improve passengers’ experience of the airport and allow the airline to continue offering the lowest fares”, and that all additional charges “are optional and avoidable”. Apart from the fiver for checking in online. Obviously he didn’t mean that one.
Meanwhile, the UK’s newest non-budget budget airline is getting stick from all quarters; British Airways has been savaged by trade union Unite for continuing to introduce cost-cutting measures. The union accused BA management of ”rapidly losing its way”, saying the long list of cuts and introduction of ancillary charges were “tarnishing” the brand’s reputation and would eventually drive customers away:
”Unite is becoming increasingly frustrated with BA and its attempts to address change in the industry by adopting the practices of low-cost carriers.
”BA’s market is not low-cost and it will never successfully compete in this market, nor should it aspire to be a low-cost operator. Customers upgrading to BA do not expect to see add-on charges for seat allocation, baggage check-in, meals and drinks.”
OMG … they are shit company and the sky captain needs to get proper hammering from someone.
Paul, I think you’ve missed the one where Ryanair are selling special cigarettes on the planes (no jokes)
I didn’t think that was a story when it ran as a headline first a couple of weeks ago – I had to fly Ryanair in mid-August and they had them on board then, so it certainly wasn’t big news as the headlines made out.
Are you sure about the £5 online check in fee? I’m pretty sure they scrapped those fees….
Are you not going to write about the plane crash today? A Ryanair flight crashed into a lorry full of iphones. Apparently the captain of the plane was trying to cancel his T-Mobile contract and he lost the will to live.
I just got back from a week in Alicante courtesy of ryanair. Cost me £10 each way so £40 for me and my girlfriend. I found all the silly people at the check in desk so amusing. Half the bags were small enough to carry onto the plane but for some reason people were paying £20 to check them in.
I bought a decent sized suitcase from sports world for £8 which comfortably fitted my 11k of hand luggage (i know its supposed to be 10 but no-one ever checks)
I paid no additional fees whatsoever unless you could the overpriced in-flight cup of soup for £2.50 or so. Which while expensive I was happy to pay given the incredibly cheap fly.
You all keep moaning, I’ll just keep flying round the world for next to nothing.
James Dewitt, couldn’t have put it better myself, your right.
BA has to stop its cutting cost politic or find a better way to cut cost, they’re going to loose they passenger as they can fly cheaper with Ryanair anyways… And if BA wants to make it Ryanair’s way, I’ll prefer fly with another standard airline to get a better in flight experience value.
Ryanair are great so long as you follow their Kafkaesque rules. They turn a profit on the mouth breathers who don’t check before they arrive a the airport what the rules are.Great ,for once all the tossers subsidise me
I completely disagree with this £5 online check-in fee though. It’s the first non-avoidable charge, so it should be added onto every fare.
Doesn’t surprise me, that O’leary bloke would sell his own backside if he could…wait a minute, ewwww…
Flew Iberia the other day to Spain, was a codeshare BA ticket – was 9,50 euros for a Bocadillos and a Diet Coke, just the £9.50 for that then….Robbing bastards – Flying with anything other than a seat in a tube with wings and engines seem to be extotionate – Ironically EVERYONE on the plane apart from the brits took their luggage as handluggage, the result, the last 50 people on the plane had to put bags under the cramped ass seats.
Rubbish!
Here here to both Andy of yarm and James Dewitt!! But I do agree with CompactDstrxion too, thats the first gripe I have with one of ryanairs charges because I cant avoid it. Mind you, I always only ever book the promotional fares 1p, £1 etc and these do always include the check in charge….
Just flown Ryanair to Oslo Torp and the experience is dreadful. Yes, i had to pay the £5 ‘free’ boarding pass, and £10 for the bag but i havent seen any improvement in service.
The bag drop is actually ‘bag drop + visa check’ so you have join the same queues as other travellers you need their visa checked… This is not quick, and its actually not clear (at Stansted) which queue you actually need to join.
So, Ryanair charge me more and have not improved their service. If you have a bag to drop off expect to wait the same length of time to see a human being at a desk.