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When I read that Ryanair will charge a £5 per person per flight online check-in fee for all bookings made from 20 May 2009, the first thing that crossed my mind was, is this legal? My understanding was that airlines had to include all complusory costs in the price displayed on the website.
Ryanair certainly has plenty of additional charges such as the £5 per person per flight card handling fee for payment by any debit or credit card except Visa Electron, so until this most recent charge, as long as you paid by Visa Electron, checked in online and had no hold luggage, you could actually pay only the advertised price.
However as you can’t fly without checking in, every passenger will have to pay the £5 online check in fee, a headline cost which doesn’t include an unavoidable fee is not accurate. In 2007 the UK Office of Fair Trading instigated successful legal proceedings against thirteen airlines who did not include all non optional costs in their advertised prices.
I’d like to get to the bottom of this, please leave your comments and views on the £5 Ryanair compulsory online check-in fee.
People often say to me that it’s virtually impossible to book a really cheap Ryanair flight. unless you are willing to fly to the middle of nowhere in the depths of Winter. To prove that it’s entirely possible to find a cheap flight to a great destination in June, when there’s a good chance of some decent weather and long, light evenings, I spent around 15 minutes today (9 May 2009) on the Ryanair site to check out the availability of their £2.50, including taxes, fares on their current 75% off lowest fares promotion. I searched for return flights from Edinburgh during the middle of June, as there’s no point in getting somewhere for £2.50 and then having to pay a lot more to get back. So for a 7 day trip, travelling midweek, I found £5 return flights from Edinbutgh to Zadar in Croatia, a historic city on the Adriatic coast with access to hundreds of islands, Poitiers in France, a city of art of culture, home of the Futuroscope theme park and Billund in Denmark, an attractive city close to Legoland.
So yes I’d say that there is fairly good availability of the £2.50 fares but remember the price will only be £2.50 if you pay by Visa Electron to avoid the debit and credit card handling fee of £5 per person per flight, you only take one piece of hand luggage weighing up to 10 kgs. Ryanair are now charging a £5 online check in fee except on promotional fares.
Therfore as long as you don’t travel in peak season, travel midweek and have some flexilblity with dates, you can book really cheap Ryanair flights to some great destinations.
If you book a few flights a year with low cost airlines, you could save yourself a tidy sum by paying by Visa Electron card and avoiding the additional booking and/or card payment fees. Visa Electron cards are available with some basic current accounts such as the Halifax Easycash Account.
Ryanair is probably the worst offender, especially if you bag a cheap flight, charging £5 per person per flight card handling fee if you pay by debit or credit card but waiving the payment fee if you use a Visa Electron.
However you can still save a fair amount in booking fees and card payment fees with other low cost airlines.
3.5% booking fee, no charge for Visa Electron. Payment by debit card, an additional fee of £2.49, payment by credit card, an additional fee of 1.95% (min £1.95), no charge for Visa Electron.
£2.75 processing fee for debit card payment, £3.75 for credit card payment, per person per one way flight, Visa Electron no fee.
Do bear in mind that if your total transaction cost is more than £100 that you will have additional protection if you pay by credit card, so it could be a wise move to pay for more expensive flights by credit card for extra protection in case the airline goes bust. However for cheap flights there’s no point in paying credit card fees.
So don’t delay apply for a Visa Electron card now, so you’re poised to avoid these additional booking and/or card payment charges next time you spot a bargain flight with a low cost airline.
Now I thought that British Airways dedicated Terminal 5 at Heathrow was supposed to ensure great service for passengers. Well I can testify to the fact that this is not the case.
My BA flight from Edinburgh to Heathrow Terminal 5 this morning was delayed due to fog at Heathrow. I was due to connect with the BA flight from Terminal 5 to Venice with a 70 minute gap between flights.
I asked the cabin crew on the Edinburgh flight what would happen re my connection and was told “that a dedicated customer service team was on hand to assist my connection”.
Initially I was fairly confident that all flights in and out of Heathrow would be delayed. However when I arrived at Heathrow 50 minutes late, at 09.30 I saw that the Venice flight was still due to depart on time at 09.50.
I saw that there was a British Midland flight for Venice departing at 11.05 so assumed that although it left from Terminal 1 that as I only had hand luggage I could make that flight. However this was made virtually impossible by the length of the queue at customer services where only two of the four desks was manned.
I stood in that queue at Customer Services for an hour. We had to demand that more members of staff come to the desk to attempt to reduce the queue.
I was told the only flight to Venice departed from Gatwicik at 19.50 arriving in Venice at 23.00, ten hours later than I was originally due to arrive. I asked if there was an alternative route so I could arrive earlier than 23.00 but was told no, that was my only option.
The customer service representative gave me a voucher for the coach to Gatwick and when I asked about a meal voucher was told I’d have to get one from Customer Services at Gatwick.
I went to board the Gatwick bus but was refused boarding when I showed my voucher, being told that I had to go to the National Express office to exchange my voucher for a ticket, so yet another queue but at least I had plenty of time. Why didn’t Customer Services tell me I had to go the National Express office.
On arrival at Gatwick I went to British Airways Customer Service, yes another queue, where to my astonishment I was told that I had in fact been booked onto the British Midland 11.05 flight from Heathrow to Venice but due to length of the queue at Heathrow Customer Services I was unable to catch that flight.
At Gatwick I was offered the option of a flight to Venice via Rome which was due into Venice at 21.00. However I didn’t want to chance another connection. Now I had asked if there was any way I could get to Venice earlier at Heathrow Customer Services and was told no. So how come Gatwick Customer Services could find an alternative?
British Airways you need to get your act together and provide some decent customer service. If you know that incoming flights are delayed and connections will be missed you need to be more on the ball in trying your best to ensure that passengers can catch the next possible flight.
How have you found the British Airways customer service at Heathrow Terminal 5?
Imagine that ten minutes after landing you have cleared passport control, picked up your luggage, you’re sipping a complimentary drink, munching on local delicacies whilst being entertained by a band playing local folk music. This must be a dream?
The welcome drinks and nibbles at Zadar airport
Well that was the reality at Zadar airport when the inaugural Ryanair flight from Edinburgh landed on 1 April 2009.
If only all airports laid on such a welcome. I think it would be a wise investment for tourist boards/airports to lay on this type of event as it leaves a very positive impression with travellers. Word of mouth recommendations to other potential visitors can be much more effective in influencing leisure destination choice than traditional advertising campaigns.
Ryanair launch flights from Edinburgh to the Croatian coastal city of Zadar on 1 April 2009. The flights will operate twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays. I found a return flight for £20 flying out on 13 May and returning on 20 May 2009.
I’ll be on the inaugural flight from Edinburgh on 1 April, to visit Zadar on a press trip hosted by the Croatian National Tourist Office, Zadar County Tourist Board and Ryanair.
I love Ryanair. Plenty of people will disagree with me. And that’s fine. But when I fly Ryanair I’m not looking for customer service or any sort of luxury. I am looking for cheap flights that will get me somewhere I want to visit. Or somewhere I didn’t know I wanted to visit.
Recently I was searching through Ryanair’s website and stumbled upon one of their deals flying out of Stockholm. Well, close to Stockholm at least. You know how Ryanair works. Anyway, after a few of the fees that are always tacked on, I managed to fly round trip from Stockholm to Wroclaw, Poland for 93 SEK.
Before this trip, I had never been to Wroclaw. Not to mention Poland. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even know where Wroclaw was. For 93 SEK I couldn’t resist.
And I was pleasantly surprised. I found a hostel just a couple of blocks away from the main square of Wroclaw. Smack dab in the middle of Old Town. Which actually isn’t so old.
Wroclaw was one of the last cities to capitulate under Nazi rule during World War II. Because of this, it took a beating. The city was destroyed. In fact, 70% of the city was destroyed. And Old Town took even more of a beating with 90% being damaged.
As Poland rebuilt, most of the focus was on Warsaw, leaving Wroclaw to fend for itself. And fend it did. Today the city is filled with history, culture, and a thriving university.
During the rebuilding process though, Wroclaw was not rebuilt to look as it had just prior to WWII. Instead, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style which once dominated years prior to the German rule. Walking through town you would think it is one of the best preserved examples of old Baroque style architecture in Europe. It’s all a façade though. Literally.
Because the rebuilding process actually focused on communist buildings. The fronts of the buildings are the only part that took the Baroque architecture to heart. What looks to be a well preserved Old Town was really built in the years following the end of WWII.
While the Old Town of Wroclaw might not actually be that old, a visit to the city is well worth it.
Ryanair have now hiked their card handling fee to £5 per person per flight. This is a massive increase, as the fee for payment by most debit cards was £1.20 per person per flight in June 2008.
If you book a return flight for two passengers you’ll pay £20 in card fees, whether you pay by debit or credit card. All the more reason to follow my advice, featured by Guardian Money and get a Visa Electron card meaning that you can, at least for the moment, avoid Ryanair’s card handling fees.
Do you have friends and relatives in Scandinavia but no idea what to get them for Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Kwaanza/ other politically correct and officially approved winter holiday? No worries, SAS can help.
Though normally SAS is as useless as … (I shall refrain from using harsh words here, ‘tis the season after all, and I ought to be nice) their annual Advent sale has started today and I am inclined to hate them a little bit less for the next 23 days.
So, how does it work? Everyday starting today until December 23 (or maybe 24) SAS offers a new deal that’s only available throughout that particular day.
So, how to get it? You go to their website at sas.se and look for a little square with “Dagens lucka” written on it. Don’t worry, even though the whole thing is in Swedish, it’s very easy to follow. You click on the little “Dagens lucka” square and check out the deals for that day. They’re valid till midnight, and each day there’s a different destination on offer. Today for example, there were two, one from Stockholm to London for 1200 SEK round trip, all taxes and fees included, and one from Copenhagen to Berlin for 940 SEK.
When I tried the London one, I got a nice surprise, the actual total for the flights I chose was even cheaper – came out to 1100 SEK. And that’s from Arlanda to Heathrow on a normal airline where you don’t have to pay extra to have your luggage checked in. Flying to a normal airport, too, not some hole in the countryside from where it takes another 2 hours by bus to get to the city center.
Ryanair is of course hitting back with their 0 SEK fares (as if!), but after a quick check of that incredible fare, it turns out more like 500 SEK ticket. Add to that a 50SEK booking charge if you don’t have a Visa Elektron card, 50 SEK for checking in at the airport, and oh yeah, another 300 SEK for a return bus to Skavsta and suddenly that deal is not so sweet anymore. Especially, if you’re connecting from elsewhere via Arlanda.
Still, that’s exactly the kind of price war that SAS Advent Sale brings and price wars are always a good thing. Especially in this economy.
I could not find any info on it on the English version of the SAS website, which leads me to believe that since the new requirement applies to domestic flights, SAS thinks that everybody who flights with them within Sweden should speak Swedish. Oh well… The announcement in Swedish is here.
Basically, don’t be surprised when you’re asked to be fingerprinted on domestic flights with SAS while in Sweden. The explanation for it is that if you have checked-in luggage you need to be matched to it later on, and hence the need for your fingerprint. In theory it works like that: you proceed through the self-check in, print your luggage tags and when you deposit your luggage at the luggage drop, you leave a fingerprint.
Later, while boarding, you are required to leave a fingerprint at the gate. That way SAS knows you and your luggage are on the same flight.
However, in practice, the check-in staff seems a bit confused. On a recent flight from Umeå to Stockholm on November 19, everybody was required to leave fingerprints at the gate, even if a person didn’t have any checked in luggage. However, when returning from Stockholm to Umeå on November 21, only people with checked-in luggage were fingerprinted.
Because this is Sweden, and people meekly accept and do what they are told, and because the information is supposedly stored only for the duration of the flight and later erased, there were no objections to this new innovation from the public at large.
This requirement applies to both foreigners and Swedish citizens who fly SAS domestically.
