Ryanair extends booking fee to all passengers

[sn26567]

Ryanair extends booking fee to Cash Passport cards

All customers who book flights online with Ryanair after 1 December will have to pay the booking fee. Ryanair customers who went to the trouble of using the airline's own credit card to avoid paying a £6 booking fee will no longer have that benefit after the firm announced that all passengers will have to pay the admin charge. Anyone taking a Ryanair flight after 1 December will be required to add on the £6 a person fee for each single journey – on top of the headline ticket price – irrespective of how they pay.

Until now, customers who took out a Ryanair Cash Passport Mastercard could avoid the credit card fee, which adds £48 to the cost of booking a return journey for a family of four.

Ryanair's charge is similar to the £9 per booking charge (more if paying on credit card) now levied by rival easyJet for all customers.

More details from The Guardian

Separately it has emerged that Ryanair has looked at the possibility of charging passengers for carry-on baggage as part of its plan to increase revenue and profits.

Details from The Independent

[Stij]

Great! Now they should do what they should have done years ago: include it in the base fare: there's no way of avoiding it, so its part of the base fare, so now it's just a scam and misleading.

Cheers,

Stij

EDIT: typo

[sn26567]

Great! Now they should do what they should ave done years ago: include it in the base fare: there's no way of avoiding it, so its part of the base fare, so now it's just a scam and misleading.

By keeping it separate, it looks like the money is not going to them, but to the credit card companies, which is wrong and misleading: no credit card company takes £6 as a fee on a £12 payment!

[airazurxtror]

Anyone taking a Ryanair flight after 1 December will be required to add on the £6 a person fee for each single journey – on top of the headline ticket price – irrespective of how they pay.

Until now, customers who took out a Ryanair Cash Passport Mastercard could avoid the credit card fee, which adds £48 to the cost of booking a return journey for a family of four.

The Ryanair card was available only in UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Spain. The Guardian, being British, cares only about the UK.
Customers living in another country (Belgium for instance) can avoid paying the Ryanair credit card fee by using a Mastercard Prepaid debit card.
That rule still stands, as far as I know and until further notice ...
(as of now, to a Blgian customer, the Mastercard Prepaid still avoids the booking fee for flights after 1 December)

[Inquirer]

Another unavoidable fee that isn't included in the advertised ticket price.
This is getting utterly ridiculous: some legal action is urgently required to enforce all-in prices from being standard business practice once again in aviation. Consumers can only fare well from it if there is full and immediate pricing transparency, although I doubt the LoCo airlines will see it that way...

[Sabena320]

But is this legal? I heard that the only reason they still allowed you to avoid the booking fee (although via a complex way for most people) was because according to EU laws you have to offer that possibility. Someone with more background on this?

[airtrainer]

But is this legal? I heard that the only reason they still allowed you to avoid the booking fee (although via a complex way for most people) was because according to EU laws you have to offer that possibility. Someone with more background on this?

This is what I've heard as well. (At least in Belgium), companies are obliged to offer at least one free payment method...

[fcw]

Strange that none of you complain about the 7€50 bruAir adds to your fare for payment by credit card...

[cathay belgium]

hi,

euh,why,sn offers free payment on normal banc-account, I can't book this way with fr,easy,..
euh.. even starA partner germanwings don't offer a free booking solution for us belgians..

and they don't answer me why they don't offer a free solution...

hi europe,wake up!

cxb

[fcw]

FR doesn't charge for a prepaid Mastercard either!