Ryanair's 'free flights'
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So to our Ryanair story. Listen, if you can get a flight for even £4.01 that's great news for the consumer. We'll leave polar bears out of it for now but why say it's free? Ryanair is cheap and cheerful [sometimes] but maybe it could sometimes be a wee bit more... how can I put this? Honest?
Since January this year Ryanair has been running adverts offering over seven million free flights. However, Watchdog has received complaints from viewers who have had to pay charges for flights that were advertised as 'free'.
Last week Ryanair ran an advert "1 million free flights. No taxes, no charges" and Nicky decided to try and get one.
First of all Nicky tried to book a flight from Stansted to Dublin online. But rather than being free he was charged 1p. Not much you might think but when he went to pay by debit card he was then charged an additional £4.
Although many airlines have similar fees Watchdog has found that Ryanair charges the most. What's more it's not £4 per transaction, it's £4 per passenger per flight.
Every year, Harlow Town Under 15s football club flies abroad to play a match. In May 2009, the players and their families, 40 people in total, are going to Bologna, Forli. Ryanair is the only carrier with flights to Forli but 40 people at £4 per person per flight means an extra £320 in handling fees for the team to pay for the return trip.
"Ryanair should be more honest and put all the hidden costs in the price so you know where you stand," says Martin Slade, Manager Harlow Town Under 15s.
So how much does it actually cost to process a debit card? We asked Sandra Quinn, Director of Communications, APACS - the UK Payments Association who told us: "It's a matter of pence. It's in the low part of the pound, 10 pence thereabouts."
These Ryanair flights are free (or perhaps 1p) but only if you pay using a Visa Electron card. Watchdog has found that only 8 per cent of debit cards in the UK are Visa Electron, which means that 92 per cent aren't.
Nicky would have had to pay £4.01 because he doesn't have a Visa Electron card. Over the phone the same flight would have cost £56. So Nicky went to Stansted airport to see how much it would cost from the Ryanair ticket counter. It cost £48.81. Finally, Nicky decided to try and get his free flight by going directly to Ryanair's head office in Dublin.
Nicky managed to speak to the Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary, who told him that in the past two weeks about 250,000 people have booked free flights with Ryanair. He said that to get a free flight you have to pay with Visa Electron which now about 20 per cent of their passengers do and opt out of all their other charges.
Michael O'Leary also told Nicky that anyone can get a Visa Electron card and therefore free flights are available to everyone and added that the fares are openly explained and fully agreed to by passengers.
© MMX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~46~RS~)
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As a supporter of the concept of Watchdog, I was amazed at what I saw as rather a silly stunt this evening. No one in their right mind would expect airlines to fly people around the globe at no cost and to expect to be able to do so, just seemed plain pointless.
Michael O'Leary came out of the interview with himself as a sensible and creditable person, he was easy to get at and answered honestly all the questions. I found myself nodding in support of his stance.
Surely there must be IMPORTANT issues out there to tackle, or has Watchdog become tired old dog?
Jim Radmall
York
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Further to the article re FREE Ryanair flights, My wife and I had two FREE return flights from the midlands to Inverness in August.
In total the FREE flights cost us £93.Not an unreasonable amount considering the flights, but we also took up the Ryanair offer of special rates to hire a car from Hertz. On getting the final statement from Hertz we found that there was an extra cost of £6 which we were told was Ryanairs administration charge.
Ryanair policies remind me of the old song "The Runcorn Ferry" where every person, no matter who, was charged "2pence per person per trip" or "per part of per trip" It seems nothing changes much in life!!
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Come on £4.01 for a flight is not exactly robbery, advertised free or not. Nicky Cambell probably spent more on a Coffee and Muffin in the departure lounge (which would make more of a case to investigate).
Leave Ryan Air alone, they are one of the good guys and Michal O'Leary is dead right don't pay the handling fee if you don't want to. You can alwyas pay twice at much with Easy jet to BMI OR 10 times as much with BA.
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The article about Ryanair seemed a complete waste of time. If watchdog are going to cover subjects such as this they should get a spot on childrens television. There are really serious issues that need to be addressed in this country and watchdog waste valuable TV coverage time like this. They should be ashamed.
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What a waste of time your story on Ryan Air was. Talk about creating something out of nothing.
And....Nick even had the audacity to talk about the "moral highground". How tight can people get? £4.01 for an air ticket? How does this begin to reflect the environmental cost, or to take a different line: the pressure on the business of an obscenly low price. Don't get me wrong. I don't have much cash, but I do expect to pay a realistic price for services. Why are we so intent of getting something for nothing. There is no such thing. The true cost is vast.
And another thing! I don't mind paying hospitals for providing and maintaining car parks. They have enough on their plate dealing with the health of the nation and are not in business to provide people who can afford cars with free parking.
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I really do wish that people would stop Ryanair bashing! I've kind of grown up with this Company, flying with them right from when they were an ordinary, scheduled airline in competition with Aer Lingus. I could honestly never raise a complaint against them.
I use Ryanair regularly to fly to France and can fault neither their fares or their service. My latest return flight has cost me under £30, and as always, I look forward to my trip.
Cheap air travel is not going to be around forever, so stop knocking the business model that's providing it for you, even if it is a bit obtuse, and get enjoying it.
Who cares if it's costing you £1, £10, or £100? It's ludicrously cheap for convenient, safe, comfortable travel.
Well done Michael O'Leary, even if his rejection of the "moral high ground" sits a little uneasily with someone who has a background in Business Ethics!
Stop moaning folks and get seeing that wonderful world for less money than ever...
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My son, who lives in the US, flew to the UK to attend a friend's wedding and then wanted to fly on to France (Montpellier) for a holiday before returning home. Ryanair seemed to be a good deal, so he booked London-Marseille with them. He had a lot of baggage, naturally, so he paid in advance through the Ryanair website for an additional bag to be checked in. When he got to checkin, he was told that he had paid for an additional bag, not additional weight! They charged him £180. He could have flown any scheduled airline for less. He is a frequent flyer with 4 different airlines,and it will be a cold day in hell before he (or any of the 200 people who work for him, and all of whom have heard the story) flies Ryanair again.
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I appreciate Michael O'Leary's candour and for that alone, I will continue to be happy with the handling fee for his "free" flights.
We need more Chief Execs like him. People who will actually say it straight.
You want a totally free flight (I know, it does not make sense), get one of those Maestro things.
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Dear oh! dear, overdramatised whinging - how much did the BBC spend (of my licence fee) shipping Nicki Campbell to Gatwick & Dublin to prove that a "free flight" cost four pounds and a penny?
Ok it led to Ryanair changing their add to "free airfare"
If it only cost me 360 pounds (or whatever)to fly 44 footballers and their parents to Italy I would rejoice - and probably write a letter to RyanAir to say thank you.
Greed or what - get some of that common sense so lacking in the governance of this nation.
[Note from Watchdog team: It wasn't the football team's flights that cost 360 pounds - in fact that figure is just the cost for them to pay using a credit or debit card. See my note below.
Rob Unsworth - Watchdog Editor]
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The situation is worse than explained on the programme. For my wife and I going on a return flight to Ireland Ryanair charge £4 per person per sector flown. That is a massive £16 for ONE booking.
Quite easy to get over. Just go down to your local Halifax branch and open a Halifax Easycash account, which gives you a Visa Electron card. Put a few quid in and buy your Ryanair ticketson the card. Walloa - no charges. When we want to book more flights put a few pounds into to cover the flight chages and book on line. I can get a 1p flight for 1p and so can anyone else.
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Hi,
I love watching your programme, though the issue about paying 4 pounds for a one-way flight in this day and age could be considered as free. And for those whose still find that too much they can indeed get a Visa Electron card.
I believe that Ryanair does offer many flight for almost free, as where other companies say that there are cheap seats though it is very hard to get one.
best regards and good luck with the programme
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what a waste of time and the bbc's money to fly you to Dublin.you should have bought mr o'leary a pint of guinness for all the fantastic oportunites his airline and easyjet has provided for all of us to fly all over europe at very reasonable prices in difficult circumstances.I respect your program but that is just about scraping the bottom of the oil barrel and the researcher that came up with it should have a guinness poured over his head. returning davey
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What an absurd story. £4.01 is amazing. It costs me more than that to get a return trip to work - it's an eight mile round trip. So if you want to criticise public transport, focus on First Great Western Buses please. Leave Ryan Air alone - they have made flights affordable to millions. This was an absurd story. Anyone begruding the £4.00 handling fee needs their heads examined. Get a life Watchdog, broadcast some decent stories, and stop wasting license fee payers' money on this sort of puerile tripe.
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Dear Watchdog/lapdog,
How is this a scam. 40 people going to Italy for £320. That is a steal. The flight is free. You are paying the card charge which is at the companies discretion. The card charge may seem a bit high but are you really thinking that you will fly without having to spend a penny. Its a business you jackass. The football manager who said he was shocked to think he'll have to pay for 40 people to fly should maybe do a bit of research and learn how the world works. Although, he doesn't strike me as the most cultured person you have had on the show. Maybe he should watch an episode of Border Patrol and see if he can pick up some tips on hiding the team and their family in the back of a truck and hop across the channel tunnel and have a nice drive down to Italy. The petrol alone will cost more than Ryanair are charging. Ryanair can charge whatever they want for the handling charge as its their charge. The flight itself is free. The charge to book the flight is not.
How much did Nicky pay to get to Dublin in the first place to quiz Mr O'Leary. I'd say it was more than £4. Incidentally, how many CEO's have come down to actually chat with you without a meeting being pre arranged. Get real. The price of the bus to the airport is costing more. And in response to your,'' the luck of the Irish'' comment, maybe its the ''luck of the Irish'', that we don't have a smug, smart ass on the tv knit picking about a £4 flight. It must have been a slow week for investigative journalism last week in Watchdog.
For you to even have the Ryanair feature in the same episode as the sofas is ridiculous.
Get your act together lads, or else jump on a £4 one way flight somewhere and don't come back.
Shocking report.
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Come on Nicky...I'm more concerned about the fact you're wasting license payers money to 'investigate' this. As you admit a flight for £4.01 is excellent value for money especially in these turbulent financial times. Do you really think this story justifies the time and resources you / the BBC has given it? What next...will you be investigating 'buy one get one free offers' at the local supermarket? Surely these are misleading as you're probably not really getting one free, you're getting two at half price?
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Have just watched your report on how ryanair have the nerve to charge £4.01 for a flight to ireland, i would like to know how much money your team wasted on goint to see the boss to ask him about this apparent ripp off ??
Please include all travel costs,meals for the film crew,taxi's,hire cars,hotel
rooms ect...
If it comes to more than £4.01 please appologise to ryanair and to the rest of the nation for not using a tiny bit of common sense, unless of course you know of a way of getting from england to ireland for less than this price in which case i will appologise to you.
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Michael O'Leary 1 - Nicky Campbell 0
The world's financial systems are on the verge of collapse and Nicky Campbell complains that he has to pay £4 admin charge on his credit card to get a 'free' flight on Ryanair.
If you don't want to pay the charge, stay at home.
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The comment on the show about the £4 booking fee per person, I'm afraid to say it but I paid £5 per person for 9 flights with Thomas Cook. I thought it was extortionate, but I was over a barrel as my flights with XL had gone. Another point, it may be free with visa electron, but I would have lost over £2000 when XL went under if I hadn't booked with a credit card, although the booking fee with XL was only £6 per booking (maybe that's why they went under!).
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Hi - you mentioned that £4.00 was high for a credit card charge. BMIbaby recently charged me £14 to use a Mastercard to pay for 2 passengers to travel from Belfast to Leeds Bradford return - a fee I thought was extortionate on top of the £103.76 charge
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My son just got a 2p return flight to Dublin. He is over the moon and rightly so. I had to pay £70 to return to the uk to attend my ex wifes funeral. That was as a serviceman, flying 'Indulgence' with the RAF, so dont waste time whingeing about paying £4.01 please! Just get a life!
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I booked £10 flights for myself and 3 family members in one booking. Ryanair then promptly charged me £8 per PERSON per Visa Debit card payment instead of the usual £8 per booking, this is wrong, but as we have to be in Ireland for a family gathering I had no option but to pay as couldn't get flights from anywhere else. I don't know if this is legal or not ???
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I honestly cant believe your investigating £4 flights, in an economy that has seen fuel prices rocket in the last 12 months. I am truly amazed that RyanAIR can do flights for this low cost. I just wish they would operate from the Channel Islands where local air and ferry companies have a monopoly on travel off the islands to any location, not everyone here works in the finance industry. Yet these local companies constantly deny ripping the public in Guernsey and Jersey off, when a rival ferry company started operating 2 years ago the long standing existing operator reduced their fee (as if by magic) for a car plus 4 passengers by £120.00
So if you could possibly have a word with the Ryanair people and get them to operate from Guernsey and make travel off the rock more avoidable it would be most appreciated.
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Nick
We are flying to Dublin and back next week our price 4p return for us both bet I could not use a local bus in the midlands for that Smiles may be it is the luck of the Irish or just knowing a bargain when we see one.
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Problem was you expected "Free" to mean Free" - I suspect most of us booking with Ryanair just try to get it as "Free as possible" - knowing that there's lots of little boxes to untick to make sure you don't pay for what you don't want!
I did get 4 returns from Manchester to Barcelona for .08p plus of course the £32 booking fee - which I didn't mind too much considering next day the same flights were over £260 for the set.
One blessing you might want to bestow on (St) Michael is that he doesn't put a weight charge on wheel chairs and mobility scooters (normally round 50kg). Carried free, regardless of weight, while Jet2 and bmibaby, for example will not carry anything over 32kg. EasyJet come in favourable second with a weight limit of 60kgs - excluding batteries.
On second thoughts maybe we shouldn't have publised this ... !
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No flight is free. It COSTS THE EARTH! I could not believe you wasted air time on this story...just because a 'free flight' cost £4.01!!!!!!!!! Are you on another planet? Some people are struggling to pay basic bills; some are losing their jobs; some face losing their homes because they can't pay the mortgage. I have never commented on a BBC programme before but was so enraged to find that you felt that story was worthy of comment. PLEASE KEEP IT REAL.
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You cannot have a valid legal contract if no money changes hands: you could not sue them if anything went wrong.
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I wanted to make a comment, but the first post by dunningtonlad, said it all! Watchdog should keep on asking why fuel prices have not come down in line with the price of a barrel of oil or why bread prices have not been reduced following the drop in grain prices.
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How much Licence Fee payers' money did Mr Campbell eventually spend to travel to Dublin to talk to Mr O'Leary?
Nonetheless, I'm not a big fan of Ryanair myself, and at teh end of teh day, they've attained their goal, which, as always, would be of the 'any news is good news' type, and they will look at this as free Publicity. Again.
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Hi,
I think the Italian Altroconsumo has allready hilited twice this problem with Ryanair!
I belive that Ryanair has lost, and they had to remove the advert!
I do have also a issue with Rynair.
I would like to know please where I can ask for help!
I have tryed to change the date my return tiket on weeb site but is not been possible to arrive to the end of the operation due a weeb site problem.
I have tryed with an different server and the problem was the same one!
I tryed to contact them by the telephone but the number that do they provide was banned from he Italian (in the beginning of September) network becouse to expencive.
I should had ask to the Thephone company to activate the number, but i prefered to use a phone box whith a prepaid card but the the number was again to recognise.
Could i please have an advice how to claim my refound?
As you can see my written English is not good.
Best regard
Paolo
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I took advantage of the so called 'Free Flights' advertised by Ryanair and booked 4 flights from London Stanstead to Berlin. Yes, I understood that taxes came into it. And then of course came the charges for baggage, and because two members of our party had check-in baggage, I had to pay Airport check in fees for all four members of our party. But then, after clicking to confirm, I then found I had been charged with another £8 per person handling fee for using a debit card.
My so called free flights cost me £216.00
I phoned RyanAir contact centre to question the charges, where I was getting charged 10p per minute to queue. When I finally got through, as soon as I tried to explain my dismay, I was cut off. I phoned back twice more and got the same each time. I then sent a fax but got no reply. On 19/09/08 I received an email to say my flights had been changed by more than two hours so I could request a full refund which I did. I got another email on 26/09/08 to confirm my refund and that it would be in my bank within 5-7 working days. I still have not received my refund and when I phoned RyanAir twice this morning, they cut me off as soon as I mentioned refund.
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I booked a return ticket to Spain using my Debit card.Ryanair charged me for using a credit card.When I asked for a refund they asked me to prove in writing how I had paid.A customer has to write to them via the post as they will not give an e-mail address but will use e-mail themselves.
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Hi all - thanks for all your comments, it's great so many of you are finding the site. Just wanted to clarify something...The £320 figure we mentioned in connection with the football team wasn't for the price of flights. It was the extra charge that Ryanair levies simply for paying with a debit card. And that's a lot of money for one transaction, especially when - as was made clear in the film - the actual cost of that transaction is likely to have been pennies.
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Jim Radmall of York.
I would like to note that Ryanair incorrectly advertised flights as "FREE".
Surely they should not be allowed to do this.
No one can even get a ticket "FREE" minimum charge is a penny (if you are lucky to find a Visa Electron card - which isn't meant to be used online anyway).
Which might not be a lot but Ryanair lied about the facts.
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After seeing the ryanair article this evening I went online to try and see about a weekend break, after looking for about 2 hours I did get the price I wanted which was £0. As I went to the payment section ryanair then added the priority seating arrangement price which I had declined and was then going to charge me £80 for the flight. Yeah ok it is a good price to fly away for a weekend but false advertising is a no no for me. It showed nicky campbell getting a flight for £4.01 well not now. Tut tut to ryanair.
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How can Ryanair get away with what they are doing.I have booked flights for the past 3 years with them and it seems the cheap flights are not cheap anymore.I was horrified and moaned about the charge on my debit card,£4 each person each way, i thought it was only credit cards,they are making millions every year out these so called handling fees.The boss of the airline just laughs in our faces saying i will charge what i want on these cards.the extra charge for first on the plane is a joke supposed to be priorty boarding,every one just scrambles on in no order at all.I flew with them 2 weeks ago my cheap flight cost me £80 extra plus the planes are dirty when you get on.£2.50 for a instant coffee.Not fly again with them,lots of people i heard saying it was the first and last time they would fly with them.You have to watch your luggage weight 15Klos alot of people to read the small print they pressume 20,a party of 4 in front of me had to pay £220 excess.I think there should be a limit on our cards.It seems comanpanys can do what they want and rip us off again and again.Tonghts program was interesting to watch and i am glad Ryanair is having complaints.
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I can see why watchdog has covered this story, surely the main point is being missed here, free should mean exactly that "free", the few pounds is not the issue but false advertising by Ryanair seems to be acceptable by consumers and by advertising standards agencies.
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Am not the sort of person to complain about such things but blow me,
I had to complain about this one - what a load of rubbish - I watched it and then thought so where is the issue here??
Surely even in cash strapped times the kids on the football team could affor £4 to fly to spain? I remember being charged £4 to go on school trips to the local zoo some 20 years ago! its amazing, There are other airlines - if you dont want to pay the charge just dont fly simple as! Ryanair are good at what they do as are easyjet - I flew recently adn got charged for overweight baggage - did I complain adn spit the dummy - no cause I was clever enough to read the terms of flight and knew I would be charged - some people shoudl get a life
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How sad that Watchdog had no bigger issues than Ryanair's cheap flights. My last flights with that airline cost £4.04p for two return flights to Ireland.
I would like to thank Ryanair and Easyjet for giving me the opportunity to see so many places that would otherwise be out of my price reach.
Get real Watchdog.
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I have gotten several flights with Ryan for 1p. Ok, so I didn't take a bag, I checked in online and used a visa electron but I got exactly what was advertised. A free flight.
Any extra charges are accounted for and it's personal choice to take a bag or insurance or airport check in. As for the credit card/ booking charge that is standard on most websites and with other airlines also.
Oh and Ryan Air had not changed the wording on their offer. As advertised it was a three day sale, and a new sale is now with different offers.
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You all disappoint me very much after last night's disgraceful epistle about Ryanair. A stunt as I have seen it referred to. It didn't have the quality to be called a report.
I have flown Ryanair many times, and whilst many of us can choose, say Aer Lingus to Ireland, SAS to Denmark and Air France etc, many cannot. Mr O'Leary has simply done what Freddie Laker tried to do - bring flying to everybody - and because he has not attacked the business market has succeeded long term and then people like you still slag him off.
Why dont you leave the man alone because it was inherently obvious who looked the better man in the interview and it certainly wasnt you, Mr Cambell. I suggest that if you want British Airways service, PAY BRITISH AIRWAYS prices.
From being an adent Nicky Cambell fan from the days of Capital Radio, I can't even be bothered to view Watchdog until the only alternative is Songs of Praise. I am appalled.
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Are you short of topics to research. Ryanair offer a great service with great offers. £4.01 to travel is ridiculously cheap and you are complaining. We travel every other week with Ryanair and so we can use their offers to great advantage. I agree with the comment that you should apologise to Ryanair.
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Sorry Watchdog this was a pointless and pious article. On one of the BBCs "free" to air channels.
Now how much was that licnece fee again ??
Dont see that mentioned too much on any BBC promotions!!
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I felt a little "hard done by" by flybe.
I applied for their credit card. As soon as you spend on it once you get a "free flight".
In the small print a "free flight" doesn't include "taxes or other charges related to booking".
At least Ryanair aren't as bad as that.
Why are airlines allowed to act as if the tax is seperate to the cost of the flight? You can't do that in a pub or car showroom, etc.
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Is everyone who has commented on this story missing the point or was I watching a different story? The way I saw it was that the program was pointing out that Ryanair was advertising FREE TICKETS and this was not exactly correct. There were admininstration charges to pay, and even here there is one charge per passenger rather than one charge per transaction which is what all other airlines charge. So come on you people, Nicky Campbell was raising the issue of being honest and upfront and not about having to pay £4.01. Did everyone also miss the final comment when Nicky Campbell said that Ryanair had made a change to their advert and now it says NO FARES instead of FREE TICKETS.
Whilst on the subject of being honest and upfront, why is it that if I was to book a flight from A to B with EasyJet the taxes I would pay are about 80% less than I would have to pay for a similar flight with Ryanair. How would Micheal O'Leary explain that?
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Ryanair have turned into my favourite airline!
It is a good offer and if you do not want to pay to small handling fee then no one is making you. We must remember Ryanair is not a charity. They do not have to fly football teams all over the world for free.
I have the upmost respect for the Ryanair CEO who appeared on last nights show - he defended Ryanair wonderfully.
OK, rant over, I still thoroughly enjoy Watchdog!
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I think everyone has already said the same, but the CEo of Ryan Air came across really well.
The interview with the Ryan air CEO was laughable. You were rude and argumentative and belittled his point of view by lowering yourself to name calling after the clip.
His point that flights were free as long as they met the T&Cs, obviously escaped you. You understood that you could not have check in baggage, but failed to realise that using an approved card would also make a difference. This was obvious to most that it may have been a promotion offer by both, Ryan Air and the Card company. The offer allowed both companies customer’s the benefit of free flights.
The fact that a football team and friends, totalling 40 if my memory serves me right, had to pay £300+ for their flight is remarkable considering fuel prices. Personally I’m not sure why they would complain, they obviously had an option to apply for the Electron Visa Card and pay that way it would be free.
Less attitude and more understanding, else you become what you are battling to stop, a lack of understanding ...
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Ryanair :what a total waste of time and money. And what a fatuous and meaningless report.There must be more meaningful topics ---if not please stop wasting license payers money.
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When booking with Ryanair, before finally confirming payment, the total charges (including taxes, baggage, debit card charges)appear, giving a client the opportunity of not finalising the booking if unhappy with the costs.
My charges are always in Euros as I book from Spain. My UK bank guarantees their customers the commercial exchange rate and have kept to that promise. However, when I booked flights to the UK recently, I found that the amount taken from my account was considerably less from the exchange rate at the time of retrieval from my bank account. On questioning my bank, it transpired that Ryanair had taken the costs from my account in sterling at a far lower exchange rate (1.17 instead of 1.26), costing us more than £12 (15€) more. No, it's not a great amount, but I found this incredibly devious as no option was given as to whether we pay in sterling or 'local currency' and, of course, I was unaware of this 'additional charge' until I checked my bank account. Were they so desperate to make money?
Ironically, Ryanair is based in Dublin, within the Eurozone, so there was no need to withdraw the amount in sterling - apart from making additional profit!
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dear nicky,
even the genius of mr o'leary could not have come up with a better publicity scheme for his airline.I am really intersted in next weeks program and how you will deal with the bombardment of comments on here.But keep up the good work we all have a bad day now and again returningdavey
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OK, so the flight wasn't exactly free- it cost £4.01! Ryanair listened to your criticism and changed their advertisment.
Ryanair DARE to charge a handling fee to make the booking! How outrageous! After all, this is such a novel idea! Do we pay a handling charge if we book tickets to the cinema, theatre or a concert? Of course we do- and we don't have the chance to have the charge waived by using a visa electon card! So the 'free' ticket cost 4 quid! Big deal- the carpark at Heathrow costs more than that! Ryanair are competing in a tough market and if they can still manage to take 40 footballers to Bologna (a good two hour flight) for the total price of £320 then I suggest that the manager of that team checks the prices on other airlines. I guess it would be about 40 times that cost!
I am afraid that Nicky Campbell (and all interviewers for that matter) will never outsmart Michael O'Leary. Love him or hate him, he is a very astute businessman who not only knows everything there is to know about the company that he successfully runs, but also about the industry in general.
I would wager that Mr. Campbell's expense tab for the trip to Dublin was considerably more than the £4.01 it would otherwise have cost him had he not travelled to Dublin on BA first class! All credit to MOL for speaking without an appointment- it shows the kind of guy he is!
[Note from Watchdog team: It wasn't the football team's flights that cost £320 - in fact that figure is just the cost for them to pay using a credit or debit card.
Zoe Behagg - Watchdog Watchdog web producer]
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I don't use Ryanair. I do use Flybe and Manx2 living where I do.
I think the charges are unfair. We should pay an all in price. Not have this
present set up.
So what is it a tax dodge?
In which case you are paying twice!
Applying these add ons also make the loyalty schemes worthless. You always end up paying out.
Free flights they don't exist.
Thank you Watchdog for highlighting this for us.
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Why waste time flying a presenter and crew to Ireland?
It would have been better(and cheeper)to explain to viewers how to get hold of a Visa Electron Card.
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How long does it take the moderater to pass a post? Is not over 24 hours a bit excessive? Are watchdog using this so that people will have forgotten the item and all the mainly negative comments on the Ryanair feature will not be read?
Shame on you.
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Recently booked two return flights from E. Midlands to Amsterdam with bmibaby. Cost of Flights - 82.00. taxes etc - 75.80, 1 bag - 15.98. COST FOR CREDIT CARD 14.00! Ryan Air is cheap by comparison.
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I have been on about 30 of these 'free' flights this year, all have been one penny each, each way. I have been all around Europe. This is far better value than the TV licence! Watchdog should concentrate on real consumer issues instead of this 'waste of time' episode.
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I don't think it is so much about the actual amount you have to pay. It is more to do with the fact that what you do pay is not clear from the outset. as you go through the ordering process more and more costs are added. Why not say at the outset 'this will cost you X amount' so that people know exactly what they are signing up to and can make an informed comparison and choice.
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Dear oh! dear, overdramatic winging - how much did the BBC spend transporting Nicky Campbell to Gatwick & Dublin to prove that a "free flight" cost four pounds and a penny?
OK it led to Ryanair changing their ad from “free flights” to "free airfare"
If it only cost me 320 pounds (or whatever) to fly 40 footballers and their families to Italy I would rejoice - and probably write a letter to RyanAir to say thank you.
Get some common sense, Watchdog
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Your item on Ryanair was interesting in several respects, but one that caught my attention was the charges made for using cards. I recently booked with Norfolkline who have charged £4 for using credit cards for some time. However, they have now started charging for debit cards (£1) except Visa Electron. What we are seeing is a spread of unjustifiable charges to keep advertised charges lower than what has to be paid
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What a terrible waste of time investigating this. With oil prices recently having hit an all time high and airlines going bankrupt left right and centre this is all that you can come up with? Oh what a shame to have to pay £4.01 if you don't have Visa Electron! O'Leary only spoke to you to get free air time on BBC. I agree with the majority of comments on this blog; people know when they have been "had" and know a great deal when they see it. Your patronising attitude towards Ryanair strikes me of old fashioned BBC snobbery! Bet you won't post these comments though!
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Rob - the Watchdog Editor misses the point in his contribution #38 - We simple folk measure the cost/value of anything in what the bottom line is. Not how you attribute the expenditure under different headings. In simple terms it cost the 40 footballers 320GBP to fly to Italy - as opposed to 40 times "say" 60GBP = 2,400GBP which otherwise they may have had to spend had it not been for the Ryanair offer. I know that is not what their manager said - but he was not really a good example in anybody's case! Good deal or not?
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We are extremly unhappy with Ryan Air.
We purchased a ticket on the web site for Frankfurt Hanm, great price, and we where very happy, as we where going to see our daughter on the 27th december 2009 because she was going to be away over the Xmas period.
A few days later after talking to a friend i was told that the Aiport was no where near Frankfurt, not beleiving them i went on to Google earth and looked it up and yes they where right the Airport is about a two hour journey away from Frankfurt its self, we thought ok lets see if we can get a train, guess what? NO TRAINS and the only transport was to either Hire a car or go by Bus either way it would take up to two hours. There is nothing on the Ryan air web site to tell you this is the case when you book it is advertised as FRANKFURT Hahn, its closer to Luxembourg. My wife called Ryan Air to be told Bad Luck you should have found out where the Airport was before you booked it. Surely this is some kind of Mis representation and there must be a law against them not informing potential customers where this place is and the transportation limitations. I will never ever book a Ryan Air Flight again in my entire life and would recomend to any one i speak to to do the same, Keep well away, and the may be they would learn some customer care and Manners. I might have been better to flush my money down the loo. Keep up the good work. Mr and Mrs Cripps of Crawley
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I believe that Ryan Air are just doing what every ticketing agency I've ever used does in charging you a credit card fee for every ticket not every transaction.
Just try buying some theatre or football tickets and you will be changed per ticket.
Maybe if Ticket Master, and the rest, stopped doing this dodgy practice then so might Ryan air.
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I would have preferred to see an investigation into why Ryanair frequently flouts EU compensation laws. O'Leary campaigned against them and having lost that battle, chooses to disregard them. People are being routinely left high and dry abroad by Ryanair with cancelled and delayed flights and they do absolutely nothing to help. This is why they are now being taken to court in Dublin by exasperated passengers. You get what you pay for in life, but you are still protected under the law, regardless how little O'Leary thinks of it.
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I thought this story was ludicrous. Michael O'Leary was completely right - they were offering flights for free and even with the booking fee it was such a cheap amount it was hardly worth covering it. Nicky was the one who came across a fool in his interview with O'Leary. I remember the days that Watchdog actually covered stories that meant something. If this is the best your researchers can come up with, I'd say consumers must be doing ok at the moment. Perhaps Watchdog should be laid to rest?
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What a waste of time this item was on the show. There are always bargains to be had if you can be flexible with travel dates. Travel from Bournemouth to Malaga early November is costing me a total of £68 for 2 adults, equivalent with Thomsonfly is over £170 for flights alone not including their extras! It's also cheaper than travelling to London by train, a much shorter distance. Perhaps you should fight for cheaper transport costs in UK.
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Like almost everyone else I am chuffed to bits with my ryanair bargain flights- regardless of the 34 charge. I was lucky enough to get 2 return flights to dusseldorf for next month as well as another 2 return flights to dublin for xmas shopping in december for my son and myself for £1 each way. all are sensible times and I am really pleased.
In my area served by Birmingham we have never had it so good since ryaniar flew in.BMI baby were our only budget flights and they are a LOT more expensive.
as for the £4 - I cant buy a packet of fags with that now. Am sure nicky Campbel and his crew paid a lot more out of our licence fees to cover this groundbreaking "story". Michael ryan I would like to personally shake your hand and welcome you to the westmidlands !!
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Unlike many website comments, I think this piece was really about Ryanair's misleading advertising, not the card processing fee (which, as you said, can be avoided with VISA Electron).
Although Ryanair belatedly removed the "Free" banner, it seems O'Leary and all other responsible personnel still contravened the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (S.I.2008/1277) which took effect on 26 May. Reg.3 specifies unfair commercial practices, including item 20 of Schedule 1:
"Describing a product as 'gratis', 'free', 'without charge' or similar if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and collecting or paying for delivery of the item."
Reg.13 says the penalty on conviction of engaging in an unfair commercial practice is an unlimited fine and/or 2 years jail.
The CPUTR are enforced by the OFT and local authorities' Weights & Measures departments (Trading Standards), via Consumer Direct on 08454-040506.
That said, despite all the horror stories we - like millions of others - have taken several Ryanair flights without any problems for a very good price every time, even including unavoidable extra charges.
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Ryanair constantly use cheap marketing tricks to keep people buying their product. I recently took my wife, two children and my In Laws to Spain and trying to be good we packed as many things as we could into one bag rather than two. What a mistake! We ended up being charged £135 extra as we had exceeded the weight allowance for one bag but of course we were still very much under the combined weight limit for two people. This is not mentioned on the Ryanair website and for very good reason - they make a lot of money out of this con and the girl who checked us in was obviously embarrassed about it. No wonder people in the queue ahead of us were undoing their bags and transferring clothes etc to their hand luggage to avoid this extra charge. Ryanair should be more open and honest about the extra charges as I for one would be far happier paying the higher amount rather than feel conned every time I use them.
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I have just scanned through all the comments, 95% of which seem to be supporting Ryanair's position. I totally agree with all of those positive comments. I have flown several times with Ryanair, they are reliable and they are the cheapest airline by a country mile! to whinge about paying a couple of quid for a flight which with anyone else wouldve cost loads more is pathetic Nicky. Maybe you know that and are just giving them the FREE publicity they deserve. Good on you!
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I have booked a day trip return flight to dublin in november with ryanair and managed to get it for total of 2p which seems fantastic. I have opted for no extras including not checking in a bag and online check in so i dont forsee any problems. Got exactly what i paid for it seems. Some of the other comments on here from various whingers seem to be very harsh and petty on ryanair in particular the person who claimed ryanair should tell them about onward transport links from the arrival airport!!I suppose at the end of the day you will never please these people as they seem to want everything for nothing with a bunch of flowers thrown in!!
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HI Nicky, I booked flight tickets with Ryanair, after compareing with another company it seemed to be cheaper. In fact it worked out dearer, as it doesn't tell you that it costs £4.00 each way for useing a credit card & by this time it is too late to cancel. Also it say's in their paper work about £4.00 to check in at desk rather than on line check in, i didn't understand that bit. A Walsh
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I work for swissport at stansted airport for the ryanair franchise. All I have to say is if people want to avoid costs they must read what's on the screen whilst booking their flights. Nicky did all the right things as he read all instructions. Many people don't and therefore are charged extra when coming to the airport on the day of travel. Bags are double plus airport check-in fee if they don't print their boarding cards before coming to the airport. Ryanair give 14 days for this to be done before travel up to 4 hours before departure. Yes I do disagree with the £4 charge for EACH PASSENGER but that's up to ryanair to state that clearly when booking for the passenger. The terms and conditions are very clear if they are read, which is often the problem, no-one reads them. Checked in bag allowance is only 15kg PER PERSON if over weight then the charge is £12 per kilo so beware, keep to the allowance. At the moment at stansted airport there are some destinations where one has to check in at the self service kiosks, but at the moment the chip and pin machines at the kiosks are not working so if you have to pay something like check-in fee or bags then you will have to join a huge queue at the ticket sales desks in zone J and F. Again beware this could cost you missing your flight so prepare and either pay online, print your boarding cards (if check-in online requested with only hand luggage) and leave yourself plenty of time before the departure time because security can be busy at stansted. Don't think I've left anything out. If you have any questions please let me know and I'll try to answer them. Please don't miss the details and read the website when booking. You can get cheap flights.
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Booked flights for six members of family (young children) and charged for not being able to book in online, this is a real cheek as alot of the smaller airports don't even have this facility andyet you are still charged. Santander and Dinard both fall into this category. Tried to just have one member take baggage and check in at the desk and the rest book in online but you cannot split the booking in this way so everyone pays the fee both ways. Came back from Santander overweight and was going to be charged 15 euros per kilo, this would have meant another 60 euros, so put another bag in the hold and was then only charged 20 euros. On booking these flights to Santander the process at the last stage online failed a couple of times and read Ryanair has experienced an error. So I presumed the flights had not been confirmed, however the monies had been deducted from my account and an e mail sent to confirm the flghts which could have caused us to have overbooked as we were then looking at flights with another airline. I also would like to answer some of those who obviously don't take luggage and are lucky enough to be able to book online that call people like us whingers, you try travelling with a large family and baggage some time we are always penalised.
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while I have never flown with Ryanair due to their pricing being a bit of a puzzle, I do think that the majority of their flights seem to keep reasonably to the scheduled timetable unlike Globespan who I have flown with on numerous occasions, and must have one of the worst timekeeping schedules of any airline and unlike Ryanair their charges are not cheap. Perhaps another programme on Watchdog about Globespan would not go amiss.
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British Airways are still the best in my books. Good planes, great staff and every time I fly, they are courteous and complimentary, even in economy class.
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Do what I do. I have a Halifax Visa Electron card. I never use my Debit/credit card when booking with Ryanair. I managed to fly to Dublin last month for £1. I guess they have to make some money somewhere, however if I can avoid those excessive charges, I shall. Saying that, where can anyone fly these days for nothing?
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British airways is my favourite airline, good service, pleasant staffand reasonable prices. I will definitely never ever fly with easy jet again. Stewardess was extremely rude to me and they didn't seem to care about their passengers and ran out of food. You also had to push and shove to get a seat on the plane!
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However, my favourite airline must be United. Great service and very good at offering upgrades!!
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We had problems with Ryan Air last year. They charged us for excess baggage on our way home from Spain. We were charged 120 Euros as all our 4 cases were supposedly over weight. This couldnt of been as we all took extra hand luggage on with us to avoid this problem. They withheld our boarding passes until we paid. There were 8 people in our party. We will never fly with them again....
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We've started booking flights independently and have just booked for next year again with flyThomasCook. We can't fault them.
Who wouldn't we touch with a bargepole - easy answer Monarch Airlines.
Booking independently is ideal - the flyThomasCook website is excellent giving numerous options for flying times out and back. Those on the aircraft have always been very nice and check in etc. no problems.
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My wife and I have just returned from Bergamo from Bristol with Ryanair. We paid £12 for the tickets. The flights were on time, the crew friendly and helpful and even the weather was great ! If the flight had been cancelled we would have made our own arrangements to get back and this is the risk you run with Ryanair as Michael O'Leary is always saying. If you don't want the risk, fly BA !! We were delighted with the service we received and are writing direct to Mr O'Leary to tell him so. Stop going on about Ryanair....it's all about choice of suppliers.
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I and my wife have used Ryanair several times a year over the past 5 years or so. We have never been late, and always found we got exactly what it says on the tin. The planes are clean and the staff efficient and we could not afford to travel so much if it wasn't for Ryanair. If we wanted grand treatment and "free" meals we would travel with BA, but we couldn't afford it and, travelling only within Europe, we don't need feeding on the way.
Three cheers for Ryanair!!!!
[Personal details removed by Moderator]
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the best airline i have found is Emerates, the service is by far the best and the food is up to gordon ramseys' standards. The worst by far is easy jet or as I prefer sleazy jet, they left me stranded in Glasgow for 10 hours with no apology or explanation and didn't even have the common decency to say sorry! I will never fly easy jet again!
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I agree with 90% of the above. If it weren't for Ryanair we would still be paying £365 return for flights from London to Edinburgh "courtesy" of BA. Leave Ryanair alone - they are responsible for us being able to fly cheaply and efficiently around Europe.
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Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus are charging 5 € per person per flight as "credit card transaction fee". This means that, for a family of four, you have to add 40 € to the amount just for paying the bill.
When booking with RyanAir, this fee is not listed under the terms and conditions, and isn't even included in the Total price just before you enter your credit card details. It is added onto the total amount once you select the type of credit card you want to pay with, but you might not even see this if you have scrolled down the page.
I wrote to Aer Lingus to question this, but never got an answer (not even an acknowledgment of receipt).
I also wrote to the European Commission, and they told me that there is a regulation coming out that will, amongst others, forbid airline companies to hide costs. They also advised me to contact consumer groups from any concerned countries.
Over to you watchdog!
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Nicky
Your got off lightly, I was charged 16 pounds to pay by debit card for flights to Malaga. These flights were cancelled by Ryanair on 9th September with the promise of a full refund. Ater dozens of e-mails and 2 telephone calls I am still waiting on this refund.
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Worst airline Ryanair without a doubt. In their staff are rude and unhelpful try getting through to their help line.They are not interested in people just money.And if you are disabled God help you because Ryanair won't.
Best Virgin or BA staff helpful.
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Virgin Atlantic - THE GOOD AND THE BAD - We flew from LAX to LHR with Virgin Atlantic in April this year. We had opted for a later flight and were given **free** round-trip tickets for the whole family. That was great and we will use them next year. The flight though was a nightmare! 4 out of the 5 of us taken ill and some 25+ people on the flight required medical treatment during the flight. My wife and daughter both passed out and needed wheelchair assistance off the flight when we landed at LHR.
I wrote to Virgin Atlantic to complain about the flight, sating that there was clearly something wrong with the cabin pressure. After 30 days of chasing up, I received a polite email saying sorry, but there was nothing wrong with the flight!
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Hi, I booked a ticket with Rynair for Rome for 1p and end up paying 25 pound of tax, which I fully understand, 4 pounds for using credit card also I had no bag but I had still to pay 5 pounds, I cannot understand why. I also don't understand how can they charge you 25 pound for carrying a luggage. I try now to avoid to fly with them because they are not clear but they only use the cheap flight to attract you
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When will Watchdog stop its persecution of the airlines?
Air-travel is a highly regulated industry and conditions are very tough -as seen by the collapse of ZOOM and XL. Viewers should remember that air travel is NOT an exact science and many conditions influence their flying experience.
I don't think that the makers of this programme will be happy until all airlines go bust.
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Two weeks in a row now you expect cheap-as-chips airlines to give a service which only goes with expensive scheduled airlines. "What happened to the age of glamourous air travel and first class service ?" muttered your banal reporter. You dont get that for £5! Stop wasting my money in this way and get the swindlers instead.
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I agree with comments made about these 'buget' airlines however although the cost of flights have increased so a cheaper alternative is needed, i cannot help but feel this is what happens when a cheap ailrine is chosen so maybe we should not be so quick to blame. Either we choose cheap and run the risk of dissapointment or go for a more reliable airline e.g. emirates, SIA, Air New Zealand even palmair or Aurigny.
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As a business owner myself I have to defend Watchdog in the face of this mass of Ryanair support from people who clearly have missed the point. You can't just go about advertising something for FREE when it is NOT FREE - it doesn't matter how good value it is, how much cheaper than anyone else, what matters is that an advertiser must follow a code of practice to be honest! I would love to pull millions of customers to my website under some false pretence about FREE goods but it is not on and should be completely illegal. Of course there are worse things .. there always are, but don't stop Watchdog chasing everyone who tries to be sly and deceive the consumer. Allow some things to be overlooked and soon enough everyone will be doing whatever they like ..because 'you' let them get away with it. I'd like to see more scandalous advertising brought to account by Watchdog. Ryanair will get away with it with the consumers, but they should face heavy fines. [Personal details removed by Moderator]
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The 'hidden costs' of purchasing air travel online have long been a favourite gripe of mine!
In the early days we had the airlines advertising dirt cheap flights which actually cost significantly more than advertised once the related taxes were added on. Legislation put a stop to that .... well, it tried to didn't it?!
Flights now have to be advertised at the price you can expect to pay - but of course the ONLY way to get the flights at the advertised price is with an Electron card and of course the airlines know that hardly anyone has one of these.
Pay by debit card and it's cheaper than a credit card, but of course you don't get the consumer credit protection you would with a credit card.
The charges imposed by the airlines, not only Ryanair, bear no relationship to the actual cost borne by them - the fee they pay for a debit card transaction is almost certainly a few pence (my small company only pays 25p per debit card transaction and the turnover these airlines generate is vast by comparison and would thus attract much more attractive rates).
It's like a minefield trying to book a flight online now - you see the cost of a flight and think "Ah, that's affordable" - and then you discover all the potential extras that you may or may not want - check-in fee, baggage fee(s), insurance, priority boarding.
Why can they not be HONEST about things?! BA is one of the few (shorthaul) airlines I've found where you can book a flight and not expect to pay any 'extras'.
The key thing to remember is that you generally get what you pay for and I dont' think people should gripe about a so called free flight that's cost £4.00!
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The annoying thing about Ryanair is the misleading nature of their adverts, especially when the additional charges are unavoidable: I mean how else are you going to pay online if not by debit or credit card? And what about the check in fees? Tough luck if you are a travller without a pc and have to check in at the airport. (I sometimes buy tickets for my partner abroad who doesn't have a pc.) That's another fee to be added to the bill. To top it all, you only learn the full scale of the fees at the end of the booking process. Ryanair should just be more upfront and honest. After all, carriers like BA and Lufthansa quote their costs with all fees included. It's about time Ryanair stopped trying to trick people in this way.
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Ryanair give free flights but you have to pay taxes and insurance which costs about £60 per person. To be honest, the flights aren't all that either. The landing is appauling, if I didn't have a seatbelt, I would've gone straight through the ceiling!
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I agree that Ryanair are a 'low cost airline' and cannot provide 'free' flights completely BUT after my experience with them this weekend, I will NEVER fly with them again. Firtsly, I booked the outward flight about a month before I booked the return flight and all worked well online. Then I booked the return flight and I thought all went well there too. However, when arriving at Stansted to fly to France, they had changed the check in system and basically there are many computers to check in yourself and you have no choice but to do this. I was told by this computer I owed 12 pounds airport check in fee even though I had no baggage to check in and I had to print my own boarding card by this compuer so how do I owe a check in fee if I'm checking myself in and paying no one else to do it? I then had to queue at ticket sales for 20 minutes to pay the airport check in and then return to the self-service computers to print my pwn boarding card. When I questioned the Ryanair staff, they told me they also were disgusted that the self sevice computers were up and running before they were fully functional, i.e. at least if I had to pay the extra check in fee I could have paid by card using the card reader at the computer to save the 20 min queue which apparently will up and running soon! Because of the self service check in, I left the country with NO ONE checking my PASSPORT and it wasnt't until I got to France that customs did just that. Also, I tried to book a flight to come back to England at xmas with Ryanair where the price was 301 euros but by the time I added baggage, check in fees and then the unbelievable cost of 40 EUROS to PAY BY DEBIT CARD per pasenger per flight incl 2 children the cost went up to 420 EUROS! I have now abandoned this idea and booked with Easyjet who do not take the mick with their charges and and do not charge for using my Carte Bleu at all and I am saving over 60 euros compared to Ryanair.
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With regards to your ryanair story, I have recently booked flights to Ireland, I'm only taking hand baggage and am booking in on line.I expected to pay a fee for using my debit card, but I had to pay a fee (£8) for both my children as well when it was only a single transaction. My sister and her family booked for the same flight and are staying a bit longer therefore are taking suitcases,so she couldn't book in on line. She had to pay £8 each for the debit card transaction (there are 4 of them) and £24 each for baggage. They are only taking 2 suitcases but still had to pay for her children to book in as they can't book in alone due to their young ages.Thats £128 before they even take off!!! The flights we did book weren't free, we've paid about £60 each and that isn't even flying to the destination we wanted. We are flying Stanstead to Shannon instead of Knock due to the cost!
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I share my sentiment with many others as it's next to impossible to get anything FOR FREE. I recently booked return flights with Ryanair for 7 of us and it took me by surprise. I had to pay for everthing seperately for each passenger i.e. check in at the airport, online booking and luggage (15 kilos is the allowance, should I go over that I'll be charged £12 PER KILO). Charge would also apply to using a credit card. A trip that I though would be reasonably low is costing my over £600 for 7 people which is totally outragious. But hey it's not all bad, online check in is FREE! How do they get away with this? Why can't they be honest and advertise all the hidden charges? We fly this weekend and fingers crossed I'm not further disappointed!
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My friend and I went to Las Vegas for 4 days, in Feb 2007, and flew with Virgin Atlantic. BIG mistake! We had problems at check-in, as the check-in girl refused to accept our e-tickets. She said they weren't the correct documentation and would have to go to the Virgin Atlantic desk, get paper tickets issued and then queue up again to check-in. I've work in the travel business for 30 years, and know all about e-tickets. After 10 mins arguing with her, she asked the check-in person sitting next to her if we had the right documents. Lo and behold, she was told yes. We got on the flight, and was told by the Captain as everyone and luggage was on board, we'd be taking off 45 mins early. Approx 90mins later, we were still sitting on the aircraft and hadn't moved an inch! When we did eventually move, a very stressed cabin crew announced, 'we're one staff member down and you'll have to be patient'. Nice start! We were given no reason for the delay or an apology. The food was well below average by anybodys standards. Tea & coffee were not given or the empty trays collected for well over an hour. When the stewardess collected our tray, she dropped dirty napkins, and cutlery onto my leg. She gave me a filthy look and tutted at me. It was a full flight, and they were one person down, but manners don't cost anything. We'd watched a group of 5 guys stand around the galley area, and drink just about every can of beer there was on the flight. Next thing we heard was economy passengers were not being served any more alcohol for the rest of the flight. I'd had one glass of wine at this point. I'm not a big drinker, but another glass of wine would've been quite nice. I asked a stewardess why we couldn't have any more alcohol, and she said it was because they needed what was left for the return leg. I asked why they couldn't re-stock in Las Vegas, and was told that wasn't company policy. The lady sitting behind me called for a crew member as she wanted a drink. When she asked for a cola, the stewardess told her she could've got up and got that herself and was told not to call again for a drink. By now, we just wanted to get to Vegas and be off that flight. We got to Vegas, and after waiting for over an hour, was told there was a fault on the aircraft, and they couldn't take our luggage off. It was being taken back to London and would be brought back the next day. We were told to give all our baggage tag stubs to the airport staff before going to our hotels. Luckily, I took our baggage tag numbers before giving over the stubs. The lady who dealt with us wouldn't take my friends name, said she couldn't give us any money to help buy essentials, but did give us a Virgin number to contact from our hotel. All we had was what we were standing up in. We had no toiletries or change of clothing, as at that time there was a restriction on those items being in hand luggage. When we got to our room, we immediately called the Virgin customer service number, only to be told to buy what we needed, and claim from our travel insurance when you got home. Giving money to passengers with lost luggage was not company policy. We said our luggage wasn't lost, it was sitting on the aircraft at Vegas airport! We were not impressed. As I said, we were only in Vegas for 4 days, and this was NOT a good start. After wearing the same clothes for best part of 15hrs, the idea of going out was not a pleasant one. Our first night in Vegas was ruined before it had even begun! My luggage was delivered the next day, but it took another 8 calls and 5hrs to locate my friends luggage (although it had a tag on with the hotel address and travel dates on it). We eventually found out, Virgin's customer service team are in India, which isn't a lot of help when you're the other side of the World. My friend received her luggage 24hrs after I received mine. Ity would've been quicker to go pick it up at the airport, but was told it had to be delivered. At check-in for our return flight, we asked if we could have an upgrade due to the problems we'd had. We were told the flight was full, so no upgrades. We pointed out that we could buy an upgrade for the US$585 each that was being advertised. We were told again, the flight was full. We asked if we could have emergency exit seats, and was told we'd have to pay US$110 each. We asked if anyone had been allocated those seats, and was told no. We asked why we couldn't have them for free, and was told it was because we'd asked for them. We had to accept whatever seats we were given, and the flight back was about as jolly as the one going. I had an aisle seat, and was continually hit in the back with a trolly. Again with no apology from the stewardess. Sleep was out of the question. When we got back to London, I went on the Virgin website to find out about complaints. I e-mailed our complaint 10 times, and the e-mail was rejected each time as I hadn't written it in English. I don't write in any other language!!! Needless to say, Virgin is the worst airline I've ever travelled with and would NEVER pay to use them again. They're cheap, nasty and their staff need to have lessons in manners. I work in the travel trade and only sell Virgin if clients insist on it or if there isn't any other choice. Before Richard Branson bitches about other airlines, I think he needs to get his own in order! Airlines I would travel with again are British Airways, Ethiad, QANTAS, Lufthansa and Emirates. Great service all round from these whenever I've travelled with them. Well done!
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We have just returned from a trip to Barcelona using Ryanair from Newquay to Gerona, the outward flight landed 30 minutes early and the return flight 20 minutes early. The aeroplanes were very new 737 - 800's , spotlessly clean and with excellent legroom. The flights cost us £18.00 each return and could not be faulted, the staff were polite and there were enough of them.
Compare this to a recent flight I made with British Airways from Gatwick to Newquay on a very old and tatty 737 with torn seats and looking as though it would just about survive the flight.
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you do not advertise free flights if they are not free. It is not ethical no matter how " cheap" you buy your almost free flight. Many of Ryanair personnel have got attitude probles. I have been let down several times by Ryanair and told that if I wanted to complain to go to Ireland because they were not going to listen to any complaints. I have seen passengers in front of me being charged for over weight luggage and others not, on the same flight and by same person at the check in point. I have had particularly bad experiences in Valladolid airport with their personnel there, they are extremely rude and cannot believe that Ryanair still have them representing them. They have not got a clue of what customer services should be. It is a cheap airline yes, but no worth the hussle you experience with them.
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I would like to know if it is actually legal to charge every person on a single booking for each leg of a return flight a credit card charge, when it is made on one booking and the total paid once,especially as this is the only way to book.This happened on a booking on RYAN Air for 2 adults return and the credit card charge was therefore £12. (Even worse for families !)
Is anyone going to force Mr O'Leary to be honest ?
The Ryan Air fares are cheaper, but not that much cheaper when the total cost of travel is calculated including charges for credit cards, baggage, check-in (how ridiculous) and hotels because the flights are so early in the morning.
Unfortunately he relies on cash-strapped people not having the experience to understand this.
I vowed never to fly Ryan Air again 7 years ago but am now forced to, as they have taken over all the routes I can use ! I will drive where possible in future !
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why dont these people get a pre paid debit card from Travelex.
Its a Visa Electron so no extra charge!
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I live in France and use Ryanair on a regular basis between Nantes and the UK. After hearing O'leary say that anyone can get an electron card I paid a visit to Barclays and Lloyds banks in Cheltenham. On both occasions I was informed that the Electron card was no longer available. Living in France I cannot open a new account with banks that still operate the electon so I am forced to pay the credit card charges. Is this fair?
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"Watchdog has received complaints from viewers who have had to pay charges for flights that were advertised as 'free'."
Perhaps it would be more to the point to suggest that such people develop some common-sense; no-one can offer something for nothing for very long - when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Although I don't personally like O'Leary (and some of the practices his company conducts), for once I totally agreed with him.
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I have just booked a flight for two people to travel to Malaga, however I inadvertently omitted the last letter from one passengers surname. That simple human error has cost me £95. Yes, before I get responses back saying that I should have checked the details,and perhaps their site should provide spell checker for idiots like me, I would like to point out that you don't get much time to enter details and then re-check before the site times you out, I know because it happened, which is really frustrating when you've got almost to the end. I too also, think that the credit/debit card charges are excessive and whilst probably not illegal are an absolute cheek in this current financial climate, and I feel that these sort of practices should be regulated by a Governing body (Office of Fair Trade for example, they are suppose to protect consumers rights aren't they, and if so why hasn't anything been done?) What's the opposite of Robin Hood? Ahh yes Ryanair.
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"...IT'S OUR HANDLING FEE, WE CAN CHARGE WHAT YOU WANT..."
And I can book with someone else.
I think it's trade descriptions so they can tout themselves as the cheapest european airline - which they do.
Think is, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid if they'd charged me an extra £4pp per flight, but sticking it on the cc charge is a rip off!!!!
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