Budget Travel - Ryanair goes from low-cost to no cost

Be afraid - be very afraid....

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,147112,00.html

I'm sure the winner here will NOT be the passenger:(

But they've been saying that for YEARS... so why issue a press release claiming it's something they've only just thought of? (Not a serious question - I know what the answer is - "to get themselves into the news again")

Won't affect me as I don't travel Ryanair any more...

They already had better than this, with €0.01 including tax fares in a sale this spring, which they occasionally advertised as "free". They have to make sure the ticket cost isn't quite zero so that they have an excuse to charge their inflated per-flight debit and credit card processing fee (the flight is €0.01, but they want €3 to cover the cost of getting that €0.01 off your card). This also discourages people from booking flights on every day of the month if they're unsure when they want to travel, or otherwise booking flights they have no intention of taking, thereby tying up a lot of seat availability without ever giving Ryanair a chance to extract more money from them. This was actually a problem with the €0.01 fare sale, making it unlikely Ryanair will do this again soon.

The article just means that the flights will be "free" before taxes and fees, which is already mostly the case anyway. Ryanair has loaded up their fees to such an extent that fees-only flights would still be more expensive than EasyJet in many cases. I get annoyed by the too-good-to-take-Ryanair attitude of a lot of people on this forum, as I've not found they treat customers any worse than a lot of legacy carries, but on purely financial grounds they're rarely worth taking any more unless you catch a sale where they pay some or all of the "taxes and fees" for you.

I get annoyed by the too-good-to-take-Ryanair attitude of a lot of people on this forum, as I've not found they treat customers any worse than a lot of legacy carries


The reason I don't fly Ryanair any more is that I have safety concerns... and that's based on my own experience, not hearsay. (I have worked in the aviation industry - still do, part-time - and am also a private pilot, so I am probably more aviation safety aware than many).

I had the most scary experience ever when a Ryanair flight I was on landed with an almighty thud two-thirds down the runway and came to a screeching halt on the opposite-end numbers. When I looked at the METAR it emerged we hand landed with a tailwind on a short (1800m) wet runway... all to save time and fuel. (Being in a window seat I saw the control tower way way below us as we were crossing the threshold, and I said to myself "This will be a go-around"... followed by "You've got to be joking" when I realised the pilot was continuing his approach. A lot of the passengers were gasping or even screaming when we hit the ground).

My other main concern is about cabin crew - I don't feel particularly safe on a flight where the cabin crew don't share a common language with their passengers. I have been on flights between the UK and Germany where none of the cabin crew spoke more than broken English (and, of course, no German at all). Their English was barely good enough to sell coffee, how would they have coped in an emergency?

I'd rather pay more and feel safe.

tend to agree with Aviatrix, even the native FA's they employ you have real hard time telling what they say in between floggin you lottery tickets, train tickets, junk food, duty free, and anythig else they can squeeze a dime out of

They have to make sure the ticket cost isn't quite zero so that they have an excuse to charge their inflated per-flight debit and credit card processing fee (the flight is €0.01, but they want €3 to cover the cost of getting that €0.01 off your card).

that's actually not correct. the fare sale they had in the spring was €0.01 (or £0.01 depending) including ALL taxes and fees. there was no additional credit/debit card fee. i purchased 2 return tickets and the charge on my credit card was £0.04.

the real reason they had to make sure the ticket cost isn't quite zero is consideration. from wikipedia: "Consideration is anything of value (an item or service), which each party to a legally-binding contract must agree to exchange if the contract is to be valid. If only one party offers consideration then the agreement is not a contract."

so if the ticket was free, the contract (ticket) isn't valid because you're not exchanging anything of value in return for Ryanair's promise to fly you from A to B.

that's actually not correct. the fare sale they had in the spring was €0.01 (or £0.01 depending) including ALL taxes and fees. there was no additional credit/debit card fee. i purchased 2 return tickets and the charge on my credit card was £0.04.

I was able to purchase one of these tickets for €0.01 total using a Visa Electron card, which they did not charge fees for, but for a lot of major cards they did still charge per-flight transaction fees (which are at any rate not normally included in their "including all taxes and fees" advertised prices).

While I love EasyJet and SkyEurope, I try to avoid Ryan Air.

The reason I don't fly Ryanair any more is that I have safety concerns... and that's based on my own experience, not hearsay. (I have worked in the aviation industry - still do, part-time - and am also a private pilot, so I am probably more aviation safety aware than many).

I had the most scary experience ever when a Ryanair flight I was on landed with an almighty thud two-thirds down the runway and came to a screeching halt on the opposite-end numbers. When I looked at the METAR it emerged we hand landed with a tailwind on a short (1800m) wet runway... all to save time and fuel. (Being in a window seat I saw the control tower way way below us as we were crossing the threshold, and I said to myself "This will be a go-around"... followed by "You've got to be joking" when I realised the pilot was continuing his approach. A lot of the passengers were gasping or even screaming when we hit the ground).

My other main concern is about cabin crew - I don't feel particularly safe on a flight where the cabin crew don't share a common language with their passengers. I have been on flights between the UK and Germany where none of the cabin crew spoke more than broken English (and, of course, no German at all). Their English was barely good enough to sell coffee, how would they have coped in an emergency?

I'd rather pay more and feel safe.

Shouldnt the LBA (the counterpart of the US FAA) come in effect in these situations ?

I would expect drastic sactions against an airline operating in a european country landing under these conditions :rolleyes:

Shouldnt the LBA (the counterpart of the US FAA) come in effect in these situations ?

I would expect drastic sactions against an airline operating in a european country landing under these conditions :rolleyes:

Well, who is going to report them?

Most of the passengers wouldn't know how to.

That leaves airport staff - whose jobs (at this particular small airport) are entirely dependent on Ryanair. Knowing how MOL will rant and rave and threaten to pull out if the smallest thing doesn't go his way I wouldn't be entirely unsurprised to find that staff are reluctant to blow the whistle.

PS Or did you mean the language problems? Those would be down to the Irish authorities...

I think the real motivation of Ryanair and others who aggressively play the unbundling game is restoring OPACITY to pricing, as many people don't know and may not even be conscious of what they really pay once the nickel-and-dime stuff is added in.

Airlines generally don't like the idea of people being able to compare fares online. Too empowering, and it reduces the business to a commodity where price is king. So they'll break out a ton of separate charges and even sometimes invent some hidden fees, all to make it hard to compare apples to apples.

If they keep at it enough, they'll train customers to completely ignore any advertised fares, at which point they'd need government mandates on advertising disclosures to save them from themselves.

Travelling this weekend with Ryanair total cost for 3 of us 6p, great value but you have to spend time seaerching for these. Your right they do not make it easy for you.

I think the real motivation of Ryanair and others who aggressively play the unbundling game is restoring OPACITY to pricing, as many people don't know and may not even be conscious of what they really pay once the nickel-and-dime stuff is added in....
As the OP on this thread I think Rusty C has hit the nail on the head. Ryanair et al count on there being enough suckers out there for the unbundling game to work - just check out any newspaper's consumer column complaints and you'll see what I mean.

There are specialist price comparison sites like Dohop or Skyscanner which will compare the published fares incl compulsory charges (Thanks, EU:p) but Ryanair's latest move renders these ineffective - hence my original cry of alarm

I was able to purchase one of these tickets for €0.01 total using a Visa Electron card, which they did not charge fees for, but for a lot of major cards they did still charge per-flight transaction fees (which are at any rate not normally included in their "including all taxes and fees" advertised prices).

If you are charged a card fee on the "totally free" fares, you've actually not selected one of the free fares - which can be hard to find! However, there's a way around. Ryanair do not publicise it but all "totally free" fares follow the same format on the fare listing page, as follows:

Reg fare Adult Reg Fare 0.01

This is slightly different from the listings of other fares. The easiest way to find a good selection is to follow the 'Find Lowest Fares' link from the homepage and specify a date range. I've booked many of these fares mayself and can confirm that the cost is always £/€0.01 per person per segment, with no fees.

Note also that they have one of these sales on at the moment, valid until midnight tonight (Thurs Nov 15). The selection of routes ain't the best though, and I doubt there's much availibility left at this stage.

My other main concern is about cabin crew - I don't feel particularly safe on a flight where the cabin crew don't share a common language with their passengers. I have been on flights between the UK and Germany where none of the cabin crew spoke more than broken English (and, of course, no German at all). Their English was barely good enough to sell coffee, how would they have coped in an emergency?.

As a long time Ryanair flyer (and fan), I share your concern. My experience suggests that FR's cabin crew standards have plummeted in the last two years or so. I've seen a lot of 'horseplay' among FAs in this time.

Your point about language concerns is also very valid. Very few of their FAs nowadays seem to be native English speakers on UK-IRL routes (and generally have poor spoken English) and I also find myself wondering about their ability to communicate to frightened pax in an emergency. The FAs these days seem to be primarily from Spain, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

If you are charged a card fee on the "totally free" fares, you've actually not selected one of the free fares - which can be hard to find! However, there's a way around. Ryanair do not publicise it but all "totally free" fares follow the same format on the fare listing page, as follows:

Reg fare Adult Reg Fare 0.01

This is slightly different from the listings of other fares. The easiest way to find a good selection is to follow the 'Find Lowest Fares' link from the homepage and specify a date range. I've booked many of these fares mayself and can confirm that the cost is always £/€0.01 per person per segment, with no fees.

Note also that they have one of these sales on at the moment, valid until midnight tonight (Thurs Nov 15). The selection of routes ain't the best though, and I doubt there's much availibility left at this stage.

I am pretty sure my the flight I booked last May showed up that way and still wanted me to pay card fees for most cards, but the few €0.01 flights still available in the current sale seem to indeed not require handling fees (though the information popup on the payment page still lists the fees, they don't get added to the price). Though with Ryanair charging a €3 fee just for not being an EU citizen, I'll never be able to get a truly one-cent fare again.

I am pretty sure my the flight I booked last May showed up that way and still wanted me to pay card fees for most cards, but the few €0.01 flights still available in the current sale seem to indeed not require handling fees (though the information popup on the payment page still lists the fees, they don't get added to the price). Though with Ryanair charging a €3 fee just for not being an EU citizen, I'll never be able to get a truly one-cent fare again.

It possibly said "Web fare" in blue, which is a different "code". The regular Ryanair offers, from best to 'worst', tend to be as follows:


1. Free incl. taxes and charges. €/£0.01 per person per segment. That's it. Has only started appearing in the last year (3 times in that time I think). Note you must follow their rules exactly - i.e. 12pm Mon - 12pm Thurs for the current offer. Limited routes.

2. £/€10 each way incl. taxes etc. but excluding card fees. UK based? - book on a Euro site and pay €10 instead of £10!

3. "Free" plus taxes and charges. Varys widely depending on airport but you're talking €20 - €40 per pax per segment excluding card fee.

4. Normal fares.


I presume the €3 you refer to is the airport check in charge. Will they only accept EU passports for online check in?