Good to know about Ryanair

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Even before the recession and certainly nowadays, people like to find great bargains and no more so than when it comes to flights. Due to the fact that airline tickets often are expensive, finding a better value deal means a lot to most of us. The entering of low-cost carriers to the airline market certainly gave many budget-minded travellers the opportunities to fly more frequently. In Europe, the budget airline Ryanair has proved to have the touch and has conquered this highly competitive marketplace. To some, a great thing but to others, it proved to be the end of and era when the customer was treated with respect.

Ryanair has a clear strategy. They want to be the cheapest airline and frequently advertise flight tickets that cost nearly nothing. This no-frills airline must however make a profit and they have cleverly created several strategies for doing so. Every year they seem to sneak more and more hidden fees and opt-ins in order for them to get paid. They seem to want to be able to say that they have the cheapest ticket but still make a high profit on their flights. This is how it is done.

When Ryanair first launched their business they used to promote their amazingly cheap tickets without showing the cost of taxes and fees. As most of us know, you cannot actually buy airline tickets without these charges so in the end, the Ryanair flight ended up costing a good bit more than the advertised price. After several complaints and investigations by the consumer groups and EU, it was ruled that all airlines need to show these taxes and fees as soon as you tried to find out the price of a ticket.

For Ryanair however, this was not the end. They started promoting flights where they took care of these taxes and fees and consumer was tempted by nearly free flights yet again. In order for them to recoup a profit, other charges were brought in. You now have to pay for luggage to be checked-in, the actual check-in cost you a good deal, even if you do all the work yourself online. In addition to this, they charge hefty fees to pay for these flights. In true Ryanair spirit, they don’t charge per transaction, but per person per flight. You used to be able to avoid these credit card charged by using the VISA Electron but as of January 2010, they have closed this loop-hole. As they need to provide one free way of paying, they have cleverly joined forces with MasterCard and promote their prepaid card as a free alternative. The only trouble is, it doesn’t only cost you money to charge this card, it also cost you a percentage of the transaction price.

Additional way for Ryanair to make money is to have the voluntary opt-in pre-checked. Instead of asking if you would like travel insurance with your flight, Ryanair has ticked the yes box for you and it becomes your responsibility to un-tick if you do not require this insurance. In order for you to get a good seat, you can pay an additional fee to be able to queue in the priority lane. Whether or not this is worth the money is highly debatable as many do pay for this privilege.

As Ryanair seek out the very cheapest alternatives in order for them to keep their flight tickets low, they usually only fly to smaller airports far away from where you really want to go. They do provide transportation for a cost to the main destination, but it could be hours away. The best thing is to go on the Internet and check out transportation prices and times before you book a ticket to a remote location. They also usually fly very early in the mornings or late in the evenings as this are off-peak times.

There have been many rumours about what Ryanair is trying to do next. Charging for toilets on the plane or having the back of the plane remodelled so that you could fit more people in, standing, are only a few of them. One thing to be sure of, Ryanair will not stop trying to find ways of squeezing money of their passengers in sneaky ways.

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Ryanair's 250% increase in luggage fees

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The low-cost carrier has done it again. They have made it to the headline with yet another incredulous announcement. The fees for checked-in luggage will rise steeply, in some cases up towards the 250% mark.

In an attempt to make passengers travel with hand-luggage only, Ryanair is raising all their fees for checked-in baggage. If you only carry hand-luggage, weighing less than 10 kilo, you will not notice any differences. However, if you want to check-in your bags, the following will now apply;

Checking in 1 bag online: will rise from €10 to €15 per flight from next month, a 50% increase.

Checking in 1 bag at the airport: will rise from €20 to €30 per flight from next month, a 50% increase.

In an attempt to profit further, Ryanair is doubling the checked-in baggage allowance for each passenger. From having allowed each passenger a weight allowance of only 15 kg, you can now bring with you 30 kilos, as long as no single bag weighs more than 15 kilos. A strange turnaround from an airline that says that they want to get rid of checked-in baggage.

Checking in 2^nd bag online: will rise from €20 to €35 per flight from next month, a 75% increase.

Checking in 2^nd bag at the airport: will rise from €20 to €70 per flight from next month, a 250% increase.

If you bag weighs too much, you will now have to pay even more for the extra kilos as the excess bag fee is being increased from €15 to €20 per kilo. So, do note that if you have more than 1 kilo too much, you are better off paying the 2^nd bag charge online.

If you are travelling with checked-in luggage, the other airlines start to look like a more appealing offer, and possibly even a cheaper one.

Related posts:

• Budget airlines: Ryanair the European low-cost carrier
• Where to find cheap flights
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• Why only one piece of hand-luggage?

Budget Airlines: Ryanair the European low-cost carrier

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A few years ago the budget airlines started taking off and managed to get a fair share of the market. The most successful company, at least in Europe, is Ryanair. This Irish flight operator marketed themselves as the no frills airline and slashed prices of flying.

Their strategy certainly worked and even in times of recession, they have managed to hold their own. What did Ryanair do to become so successful and do we really like Ryanair?

I certainly use Ryanair when I fly within Europe and although they annoy me most of the time, they are so cheap that I seem to overlook all the hassle that comes with booking a flight with them. Ryanair cleverly uses pricing as their number one strategy. They have a very low basic price, and to increase their own revenue, they then sneakily add hefty fees to things like, luggage, check-in and credit cards. Even though it angers customers, it does seem to do the trick.

It is also important to know that it is only during certain weeks that their prices are very, very low. When they first introduce the routes and fares, they have a standard price. A couple of months before the date of the flight, they introduce their cheap fares. As they then sell their tickets, the rates increases. In the end, the rates they charge just a few days before the flight is due, are extremely pricy. At least in comparison to the ones a few weeks ago. It is very important to buy your ticket in advance, just not too many months before the flight date.

I will keep blogging about Ryanair, please comment on this and mention what annoys you and tips and tricks that you have come across. I will be blogging about those soon.

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How to avoid paying Ryanair’s credit card fees

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Ryanair is one of the world’s cheapest airlines. This low-cost airlines offers amazing value tickets for flights within Europe, starting at € 0. However, as always there is a snag. You will have to fork out substantially more than the flight price to actually be able to book the ticket. If you do decide that you don’t need much luggage and that the handbag allowance of one bag is sufficient, you will still need to pay to check-in. On top of that, you will have to pay a credit card fee unless you are the lucky holder of a VISA Electron. In the end, the free ticket could cost you a good bit more than you expected.

So, is there a way of getting around this? Well, if you could get your hands on a VISA Electron card which Ryanair doesn’t charge for using, I’d say; go for it. However, that seems to get increasingly hard to do so, especially if you are an adult. There is another option that I have heard about but not yet tried . It won’t be free, but it will cost you less than the €5 single fare credit card fee that Ryanair charge you if the ticket price is low.

Entropay is a company that offers virtual credit cards for a small fee. This fee is currently 4.95% of the amount you load your virtual card with. If you only load it with €10, the fee will be €0.495. As I haven’t used it myself, I can’t vouch for it to actually work but plenty of people swears by it. There is a snag though. When you choose your account currency, you need to pick GBP. That is the only way at the moment to get Ryanair to pick up on this card as a VISA Electron. So, once you have signed up to Entropay and created your virtual credit card, you need to pick VISA Electron when you are paying Ryanair and they credit card fee should be € 0.

Has anyone heard of this before or tried it?

Related posts:

• Ryanair's 250% increase in luggage fees
• Budget airlines; Ryanair the European low-cost carrier.
• Where to find cheap flights.
• Why only one piece of hand luggage