Ryanair makes airline history
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Ryanair is today making airline history. It's the first company to abolish the airport check-in. Although it's been phasing in the policy since March, today is the day it affects every single one of their passengers. Wherever you are flying, you'll need to print out your boarding pass before you get to the airport, or face a £40 charge for every person.
James Fremantle at the Air Transport Users Council says that a £40 penalty for not printing out your boarding pass is too high, but he does agree that Ryanair's decision to go 100% online with no airport check in is the way of the future. He said to Watchdog, "We think generally airlines bringing in online check in is a good thing for consumers. It puts the ball in their court, they are now in charge of their own booking, their own check in online, their own bags drop with some airlines as well. So I think this is here to stay we probably will see more of it in the future."
If no more check-in desks means no more queuing, that has to be a good thing. And Ryanair says it is yet another way for them to keep costs down. Meaning the company can concentrate on the thing that's always been its big selling point; lower fares.
Ryanair first took off in 1985. In the beginning it struggled for survival. But it was curent CEO Michael O'Leary who turned things around, with a policy of aggressive advertising, bold publicity stunts, and one message; cheap fares.
Michael O'Leary said in 2003; "We don't want war. We want peace. We want a piece of Italy. A piece of Germany. And we want a big piece of easyJet."
Now, as Ryanair starts to rip out its check-in desks, it's changing another policy too.
Today, the cost of carrying anything except hand luggage on Ryanair has gone up. The charge for ONE bag increases to £15 from £20 if you book online, and from £20 to £30 if you do it at the airport. And if you take a second bag, that's now £35 if you book online and £70 at the airport for just one way.
Ryanair is determined to encourage passengers to just take hand luggage. It keeps costs low and means the company can turn around planes in an average of 25 minutes.
But it also makes it difficult for everyone to get their cheaper fares.
Take a family of four. They fancy a holiday after seeing Ryanair's cheap fares in an ad. But they might think twice about taking the kids when they see those baggage charges. Plus there'll be more charges if they want to take a car seat or travel cot. They'll be £15 per kilogramme. Which is why this is the way that 70% of Ryanair passengers travel. Very light.
Ryanair says its charges are 'optional'. And of course other airlines have them too. It's budget airlines that have led the way, but now even British Airways is doing it. From next week, if you want to guarantee seats together in advance, or would prefer to sit by the window, there will be a range of charges, starting from £10 (see below).
So maybe Ryanair is getting it right. It now sells more seats than any other European airline. And all those extra fees last year earned the company almost £550m.
Are they always the cheapest?
They're doing pretty well but what about their big claim? Low fares. Are they really always the cheapest?
We did a quick price test. We chose three European destinations: Madrid, Rome and Milan, and compared booking a flight for next January with Ryanair against two other airlines: BA and easyJet. We were looking for the cheapest fares available - without any bags and avoiding any extra charges. We even used a Visa Electron card to avoid extra payment fees.
But on only one of the three flights was Ryanair cheapest. BA came out the priciest each time. But on two of our flights - it was easyJet who came out the lowest. Ryanair were £12.88 cheaper than easyJet to Madrid. But £17.38 more expensive than easyJet to Rome and £6.47 more expensive than easyJet to Milan.
British Airways response
"Passengers now have the option to pre-assign their seats at the time of booking (up to 355 days in advance), beforehand they could only do so 24 hrs in advance. The free option of choosing your seat 24 hrs in advance is still available. Families can choose their seats three days in advance. Many other carriers have charged for emergency exit seats before we did. Please take a moment to check on ba.com to clarify our new seating policy since it was very badly reported on in the press.
"The luggage allowance has only been cut for travellers who used to be allowed two pieces (the US for example). Most of our network have always only been allowed one piece in the past. This now means that our luggage policy is streamlined across our network. You can still have one bag at 23kg as well as a generous hand luggage allowance for free on BA.
"There is not an extra charge for sporting equipment per se. Sporting equipment is now included as part of your 23kg one piece allowance, for many travellers this will have little or no impact on their ticket price."
Ryanair's response:
Michael O'Leary: As long as you are talking to us, I know we are doing a good job.
Anne Robinson: You've done away with check in desks. What's next? Would you do away with staff perhaps?
Michael O'Leary: I don't think so. Remember what we've done. We've done away with check in desks for everybody since the 21 May this year and as a result of saving that money from getting rid of check in staff and getting rid of bag handling staff. We've reduced our average fairs by 20% this year.
Anne Robinson: We've seen from the film that three-quaters of your customers tend to travel alone. They travel without luggage. What about someone like Beverly who is in our studio. There are seven in her family and you are penalising people like that.
Michael O'Leary: Complete rubbish. The difference between the average fares of Ryanair and Easyjet, it's about £30 a passenger. She would save more money flying Ryanair for her entire family and bringing her suitcases.
Anne Robinson: Easyjet don't charge for that check in they let you have heavier bags and they let you have reclining seats.
Michael O'Leary: If you like higher fares don't book Ryanair. If you want the guaranteed lowest fares in Europe fly Ryanair. If you don't like us don't fly with us. 67 million people will take your seat.
Anne Robinson: It's a very good commercial. We took a day in January in your return flights over a long weekend to Milan, Rome and Madrid and compared you to Easyjet and on only one were you cheaper.
Michael O'Leary: In all three cases the fares you quoted for Ryanair are not the lowest fares on the website.
Anne Robinson: They were on the day we checked because we have it on record.
Michael O'Leary: Our fares rise the closer you get to the day of travel. They would have been cheaper still a couple of weeks ago when your researchers booked it. If on the rare occasion any passenger sees a higher fare on Ryanair than some other airline we offer to refund double the difference. We have lower fares, we are more on time. People love us.
Anne Robinson: Are you going to have a fat tax soon for obese people?
Michael O'Leary: Sadly no. There is no way of levying a fat tax but we are as you know working hard on a plan to charge for the toilets so we can take out two of the three toilets on board, add six extra seats and lower the fares yet again. I promise not to stop until we make the fares on Ryanair free for everyone.
Anne Robinson: So plenty more charges must be coming our way.
Michael O'Leary: But none of them will be hidden Anne. All of the charges are detailed on the website and of the four people you have that are antis, all of them agreed to those charges before they were allowed to make the booking on Ryanair.
Anne Robinson: You make a very good case...
Michael O'Leary: ...we have no hidden charges. All of the charges are upfront and agreed by passengers before they fly with us.
Anne Robinson: Has he changed the minds of any of the anti-O'Leary's over there? Certainly not they say.
Michael O'Leary: I think my warm wit charm and engaging personality will win them all over.
What do you think about the new policy? Let us know your experiences. Do you think web check-ins are a good idea?
Panorama have investigated why so many Britons love to hate Ryanair and to see whether their claims are justified. Watch an interview with Michael O'Leary and find out more about the programme.
And if you haven't seen it already make sure you check out Mitch Benn's song about the airline on YouTube.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~52~RS~)
Comments
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Just watched O'leary on Watchdog and didnt he squirm under the fact that on 3 trips easyjet were cheaper on 2 of them. Ryanair is going way to far in the "add-on fee's" stakes and I would rather pay £5 or £10 more and avoid them. They have also said in Bristol Airport raises their handling fee's they will leave Bristol Airport - note to BRS, please increase handling fee's!
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I don't know why everyone is saying they have got rid of airport check in, cause they haven't, you still have to que in the same place at the same desks if you are traveling with baggage. The only difference is you have your boarding ticket before hand, same staff doing 1 less job. Saying that if you don't read the small print and get caught out its your own fault, ryanair have been in the news enough for me to check all there rules before i book never mind fly.
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I'm Irish,living in Bristol & fly to Dublin as often as I can to see my family.My problem with Ryanair is that they have the monopoly on flights out of Bristol.I have no other choice but to use them.I would rather they say from the start the full price instead of all the hidden costs.Another thing I don't understand is they charge you for paying with a debit card(when you have no option to pay cash)& charge you for each person booked instead of charging you for one transaction.I'm flying with them later this month & again in November,as a point of principle I am only taking hand luggage.However for people traveling with children etc the baggage allowance is not enough.I witnessed one elderly couple being charged 40 euros because the lady was trying to board with a handbag & a plastic bag with gifts she had purchased in duty free.Micheal O'Leary should be ashamed of himself & the airline should be called CONAIR!
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Is all well and good to be introducing fees for luggage but its hardly fair to penalise families that have to take safety equipment on holiday with them by charging for the carrage of car seats etc. A fairer system would be to charge based on total weight including the weight of the passenger. I am fed up with been forced to sit next to over sized people spilling into my seat knowing that i am being charged for taking 15 k of luggage when the person next to me is heavier than my combined personal and luggage weight. If we are all to be penalised for extra weight meaning higher fuel costs then surely the weight of the passenger should be taken into account.
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I consider Ryanair could be considered to discriminate against the elderly, a very large proporion of whom or even the majority do not have computers (2/3 of people I know over the age of 65 are in this category) or the disabled with their fare structure and booking accessability. Is this not against UK law?
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we fly quite often to Scotland to visit friends, I love Ryan air and have managed to fly a couple of times for only 1p each way and many times for £1. This is great for a day (or two) away. Have also flown to Dublin for £1 each way and Pisa for only £14.99. Long may it continue and not having to stand in a check in queue makes the airport waiting time even less.
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Just watched watchdog, and surprise surprise i booked with them yesterday and was shocked to find when half way filling out the booking forms that they charged for nearly everything, but un-like the report just given on watchdog they charged me 20 pound per bag instead of the 15pound which is meant for online bookings which i did, they also charged me for making a online bookin which added a furthur 20pound on to my final cost, giving the total of 150pound for 2 people to travel from edinburgh to bournmouth on oct23-25, but this story gets worse as i heard the guy who owens ryanair say he would double refund any persons which finds a cheaper deal i decided to look and have come across a site called www.bravofly.com which is advertising the same ryanair flight i just booked last night for 87POUND!!!!!!!!!! someone please help we are down 60 poubd and dont know where to turn and all the phone numbers to these companies cost 1pound per minute making your cost`s go up an up :( :( :( VERY ANGRY AND VERY SAD, just my luck we book a flight and the company appears on watchdog 24hr`s later :(
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
It is a shame that Ms Robinson didn't question Michael O'Leary about the flight cancellation performance of Ryanair. She would have elicited information that casts Ryanair in a poor light with respect to European Law 261/2004 in that it frequently cancels flights for unjustifiable reasons when other operators continue flights to the same destinations.
Example...Feb 2004 flight from Krakow to Liverpool..cancelled apparently due to Krakow airport problem. Easyjet, Lufthansa, Lot, Silverwings and others all found no problem. Ryanair refused all help to passengers even those with family telling them to get a train to Wroclaw where they may have a seat two days later, oh! and find and pay your own accomodation and fares. That was at 2100 hours at night!!! O'Leary and his airline should be put out of business.
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I HAVE RE-PHRASED THIS COMMENT............
Just watched watchdog, and surprise surprise i booked with them yesterday and was shocked to find when half way filling out the booking forms that they charged for nearly everything, but un-like the report just given on watchdog they charged me 20 pound per bag instead of the 15pound which is meant for online bookings which i did, they also charged me for making a online bookin which added a furthur 20pound on to my final cost, giving the total of 150pound for 2 people to travel from edinburgh to bournmouth on oct23-25, but this story gets worse as i heard the guy who owens ryanair say he would double refund any persons which finds a cheaper deal i decided to look and have come across a site which is advertising the same ryanair flight i just booked last night for 87POUND!!!!!!!!!! someone please help we are down 60 poubd and dont know where to turn and all the phone numbers to these companies cost 1pound per minute making your cost`s go up an up :( :( :( VERY ANGRY AND VERY SAD, just my luck we book a flight and the company appears on watchdog 24hr`s later :(
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I have to say that stories like this make me wish that XL hadn't gone bust last year. They had quite high quality on their flights for not much more than Ryanair or Easyjet. I have flown on a Ryanair flight and was instantly hit with an overwhelming feeling that the interior had been made from Playmobil peices. If I had no choice but to fly Ryanair to or from the nearest convenient airport, I would choose a different airport and pay extra to get there.
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I know some people are annoyed with the charges but seriously do you really think Ryanair can run a flight to barcelona for £200 200 x £1
Weight = fuel
baggage = baggage handling
check desks = check in staff
I'm perfectlty happy with Ryanair and thank them and their competitors for making it possible for me to fly abroad cheaply to see the world rather than pay extortionate prices when BA had a monopoly.
If you think smart, you can get the cheap prices. Myself and 6 friends jet off for a long weekend in Barcelona on Saturday at a cost of £22 each. that included card fees (which I could have avoided if i'd thought about it and saved another £8 per flight) and 1 piece of checked in luggage between us (for toiletries) the rest of what we need in our ample cabin baggage.
I generally think the people who complain about ryanair fees really actually expect something for nothing and i'm shocked that the BBC is aiding them in kicking up a fuss.
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Mr.O,leary Ryanair is incorrect with his statement that the earlier you book the cheaper your flight.
I booked flights to and from Glasgow Prestwick to Faro for 4th November returning 11th November 2009 a few months ago only to find going into their site yesterday that my flights costing £196 are now £60 a bit annoying to say the least.
Jim
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Last July, i was looking for flight from London to Dublin for next March- 10-24th March.
I looked on the ryanair website, they wanted £69.98 rtn
i looked on the Aer Lingus website, they cheapest fare was £49.99, that included one bag, and plus i had chosen my seat. So much for O'learly, saying the earlier you book, the cheaper flights you get with Ryanair.
Another thing, i didn't like about Ryanair, is there check-in desks as Stansted, all the queues, got mixed up, its a mess.
I first flew with Ryanair, when there first started in the 1980's on their Luton to Waterford. The plane was small, smelly and who ever was flying the plane, must have mis-judged the length of the runway at waterford, as he had to slam the brakes on, we juts missed the Trees at Waterford
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ryanair is not too bad cos i have booked the flight from dublin to manchester return on 29th october return 2 november for 3 adults and 1 child cost 96 euro which is not bad and no taxes on it i mean all total cost 96 euro which is much better cos i check aer lingus flight cost 186 euro and BMI baby cost bit more but worst of all is Aer Arann 750 euro which complete ripped off 750 euro for dublin-manchester return flight i was so gobsmack for that one but anyway went on ryanair flight from dublin to paris beauvais with my partner and my little boy cost 156 total with bags and stroller (stroller was charge before but now i check their website and now stroller is free of charge but why didnt they done it before but i dont mind cos i dont care about it just focus on my paris disneyland holiday but anyway paris beauvais is not far from paris city then caught metro to disneyland total journey from airport to disneyland via city about 2 half hours but still it experience worth it
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I recently booked 2 Ryanair flights to Dublin from Newcastle at a cost of £126 return, this would of been £106 but for the scandalous charge of £5 each way per person when booking with your card ( this should be looked into by the credit card companies they should not be allowed to do this ) I then realised I could not make the dates I had booked due to a family emergency and tried to change the flights to another date, this I could do but it would cost me £35 per flight per person bringing the total cost of changing my flights to £140 on top of the £126 I had already paid to book them in the first place, it worked out cheaper to go back online and re-book them again from there website than pay the changing flights charge. I think this charge is ridiculous bearing in mind you have already paid them money, I agree that a charge should be administered for changing your flights but something within reason.
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I think this as gone on far enough with people moaning about Ryanair! Yes we all know if you take half your wardrobe on a flight its going to be very expensive! But people still fly with Ryanair and moan! I ave been on 40 Ryanair flights in 2009 and i have 43 booked for the future! I have never paid more than £5 for a flight and i have had many for 1p! Also many flights have free online check in for there flights! (If you book in advance) They have a good time record and think this Airline is fantastic! Now if you only take hand luggage, check in online and pay with a Visa Electron card then you will not get any hidden charges! I have no sympothy for those who moan! If you dont like Ryanair then simply don't fly them!
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Personally I don't use Ryanair because they are a little bit unpleasant with their customer service / complaints handling. However the comments made in the article simply make no sense. Ryanair are trying to provide a rough and ready but cheap flight service. So they are finding (fairly unremarkable) ways to reduce costs, eg by requiring customers to check in on-line and charging customers extra if they have hold luggage. What exactly is the problem with that? You have 4 items of luggage? Err... then fly on a different airline. I don't want to pay for your wardrobe to go on holiday with you, and if it isn't you paying it's going to be me.
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Whilst they do offer low cost flights I was disgusted to find out that there is no legislation as to how much they can charge for overweight luggage!! I recently took a flight with Ryanair and was charged £165 for overweight luggage, I was given the oportunity to repack the suitcases but then was told that this was not possible as the underweight suitcases had convienently gone!!! I don't mind paying if I am in the wrong but whats frustrates me is that there is no limit as to how much they can charge per kg in effect we could end up paying £100's of pounds if they decided to charge this much because as I said before there's no legislation. Lets compare this to bank charges, like the banks, I think Ryanair should be taken to court to justify the additional cost and prove in a court of law that it costs the company £15 for every kg a customer is over!!!
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Can anyone tell me if the "fron today" meant yesterday, Thursday? I travelled with Ryanair on Tuesday and was forced to pay £40 to check in. It would be interesting to know if this was introduced early!
Thank you
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Watched O'Leary last night and must say that he came accross as a complete wide boy. Hope his pilots and mechanics are of higher calibre. Last year he was given the oppertunity to see Flyglobespan off the Spanish routes (and perhaps others). Did he have to cut their price---NO. Did he have to give more cabin comfort or inflight goodies---NO. All he had to do was play it straight, and deliver what punters saw advertised and paid for. But NO, he followed Globespan's dreadful tactics by offering good flight times, get bookings then muck up customers holiday by changing these times long after people had paid and made other holiday related arrangements. (car hire-transfers-accommodation etc). Only a [removed]could have this chance then throw it all away.
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F.A.O. MODERATOR
My comment of 1st Oct at 9.21pm.
I think I may have said the incident was February 2004. I apologise, it was Feb 2007. Please alter for me if you decide to publish.
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i think ryanair are great, at the end of the day you get what you pay for, if you check in online (which is so easy and takes 2 minutes, plus no queues at the airport) and limit your luggage then they are really cheap, i paid £1 for a return flight and just used hand luggage and did online check in, its fantastic, its when people dont read the terms and conditions of the booking and dont realise they will have extras charges to pay at the airport if they check in and take luggage, i have flown with ryanair lots of times, service is brilliant on board the aircraft, just remember they are all really an airline people use for short breaks & short flights so no need for loads of leg room, to be honest i have experienced a much better flight with ryanair than many other airlines like, thomas cook, mytravel & bmi, so if you dont want to have to pay for luggage or airport check in then dont fly ryanair, but all airlines will start it
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My main problem with ryanair is they say they can fly you to, for example, Rome for 5 quid. But actually they can't, not unless you do everything on a rediculous checklist . 1. Don't eat anything 2. Don't drink anything 3. Don't take any suitcases 4. Don't use the toilets (this may well be the case soon if Ryanair get their way) 5. Check in online etc., etc. My family, when going on holiday, often use websites which give you the best deal on flights and only once have we ever been on a Ryanair plane.
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having just returned from Murcia last saturday(26 sept)we were shocked to find out that although we had checked in online and printed our out going boarding pass that we should have printed out our return boarding pass, having queued up for the good part of 40 minutes we had to then pay £40 per person for them to print out a till receipt like piece of paper so as to board, that was £160 as we were travelling with our two boys!!! We had checked in online and we had the booking ref and they could see we had checked in so why cant they just waive this cost?? My husband was fuming the children upset and luckily we had the means to pay this? Easy jet you have to show your ref number so why not ryan air??? very cross family Northants who will not be travelling ryan air, its not the first time we have been caught out usually its the extra baggage cost!!!!!
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How come you mentioned all the anti O'Learys Names Ann - will they get extra charges next time they try to book, or are all the pro O'Leay's all actors and get a free flight????
I have no issue with Ryanair, being Irish myself, and having used them many a time, but knowing what to pay for!
But come on, naming the names on one side of the 'flight'!!!!!!!!!
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We booked return tickets to marseille wit Ryan air and would use them again without hesitation, with the new on-line check in if you have only hand luggage there are no long delays and with most things if you read everything carefully you wont come up against delays. I know not everyone can sit in wide aisles but you get what you pay for and it is a cheap airline. On our return to stansted we used the new system for checking your passports, all the way from the plane to passport control there were signs to use this new system when we got there the usual queue was at one side and not one person was using the abc system. If i can go anywhere in europe for what we paid we will definatly be of, read the rules and you wont get the hump.
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Hi
My main issues with ryanair, is as a wheelchair user, you have to phone up and book your wheelchair onto the flight. To do this is cost a £1 a mintes, when I did last year I spend about 3mins on the phone before talking to anyone. Who told I had to book my flight, in order to give a ref. number before book the chair on. The issues is that they will only carry 2 wheelchair on any flight, so you do not know if their are already wheelchair booked. In I had to make 2 phone, frist to make sure their is space for my wheelchair, and than booked my flight and call back. IS their a local or national call number for assisant travel booking for ryanair ?
s
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I was commuting between Ireland and England last year and took more than 100 Ryanair flights. Their customer service is awful, they push consumer law to its absolute raggedy limits in trying to squeeze fees for whatever they can get away with and they treat their passengers AND staff like cattle. But I still flew Ryanair twice a week, because otherwise I wouldn't have seen my family, so cheers Mr O'Leary. Your airline is a horrible excresence but I couldn't have done without it.
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I would never fly with RyanAir. I would rather fly with someone who at least pretended to care about their passengers. I watched he show on panorama last night and their treatment of both staff and passengers is abhorent, I wonder how long it will be before their planes start fallig from the sky. NO NO NO!!!!
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No-one is forced to use Ryanair. If they cost too much, don't go where you want or the service is below expectation then simply don't use them. Ryanair is a commercial organziation not a public service, so they look to maximize profits for minimal costs. Some people need to smell the coffee. Diddums if you didn't read the terms and conditions of booking and have had to pay for your own error. Some need to stop expecting a champagne service for beer prices, without doing their homework before booking. As for highlighting individual problems, handling errors etc name me a company that is fault free - you won't find one. Ryanair doesn't have systemic problems or they'd sort it; you just get what you pay for using a no-frills carrier that is profitable. As a tip for lowering costs further, book as far as you can in advance as they, like many companies, use algorythms that changes price according to factors such as demand/time in advance etc, and as a precaution, delete cookies off your pc as companies sometimes also use these to alter prices if you've shown previous interest.
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traveling from krakow ariport to liverpool with ryanair, the staff were relly nasty towards me and made me pay for the booster seats wich they have never done before and the check in staff upset my two young children by yelling and arguing with me that iam not going anywhere with my 10kg personal case they already checked in.this left me and my two children very distressed and my 5 years old daughter cried 2hours after.their attitude was rude and ignorant.i will never fly with ryanair again.
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