Archive for the ‘Consumer issues’ Category

« Older Entries

Is Ryanair’s £5 per person online check-in fee legal?

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Karen Bryan

Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

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.

Is the Ryaanair online check in fee legal

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.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Air travel, Consumer issues, Travel news by Karen Bryan | 29 Comments »

Get a Visa Electron now to avoid the low cost airlines’ booking and card payment fees

Saturday, May 9th, 2009Karen Bryan

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

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.

Jet2

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.

Globespan

3% additional charge for peyment by credit and debit cards, Visa Electon no fee.

Easyjet

£2.95 booking fee plus 2.5% (min £4) for card payment, Visa Electron no fee.

bmibaby

£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.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Air travel, Budget options, Consumer issues, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | 6 Comments »

Advice on hotel overbooking

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009Karen Bryan

Hotel overbooking is when a hotel has taken bookings for more guests than it can accommodate. They can often get away with this as there is usually a number of cancellations and no shows. However you may be the unlucky person who turns up to be told that there’s no room at the inn.

Advice

1 Try to check in and claim your room as early as possible after check in time, especially during peak periods. I know this is not always possible. It just seems unfortunate that it’s the guests who arive latest who suffer the hassle caused by overbooking.

2 Know your rights in the case of overbooking by reading the terms and conditions when making your booking and be ready to insist that your rights are honoured.

3 If you are the unlucky victim of hotel overbooking do complain and you may receive compensation.

My recent experience with hotel overbooking

I arrived at the Edinburgh Dreghorn Travelodge, just off the Edinburgh city bypass, at 21.45 on 6 April 2009 after a long, busy day ready for a bath and cup of tea. As soon as I arrived at the car park I was amazed at how full it was and thought this is the busiest I’d ever seen it but it was the start of school Easter holidays.

Travelodge

My heart sank when I went to check in and the receptionist told me that the hotel was full and there wasn’t a room for me. He was on the telephone to Travelodge head office desperately trying to find out what to do with me but his call wasn’t being answered. I thought I was as well go to my car and have lukewarm cup of tea from my flask and use the toilet facilites at the adjacent service station.

I returned to reception at 22.15 to be informed that I had a room a the Edinburgh Haymarket Travelodge. Now it would have taken me around half an hour to drive there, as there are road works all around Edinburgh city centre due to laying of tram tracks. It’s hard to find a parking space around Haymarket and it costs £2 an hour to park and I wasn’t planning on leaving my room until midday. I also reckoned it could take me around half an hour to find a space and walk to the hotel.

As it would take me 75 minutes to drive home, which I estimated to be 15 minutes more than it would take to get my room in Haymarket, I decided to cut my losses and just drive home.

Now I do understand why hotels overbook and I’d booked my £9 at Dreghorn in a Travelodge sale at the end of 2008. Sometimes I find that I have to forgo my £9 rooms as my plans can change over the course of a few months. I rationalise that it’s such a good deal that I will take that chance.

My issue was that Travelodge should have contacted me earlier to inform me to proceed directly to Haymarket to avoid all that wasted time. I complained to Travelodge and give them their due they apologised, refunded my £9 and gave me a Travelodge e-voucher worth £50.

I’ve since read the booking terms and conditions, Travelodge will either

“provide a room in another Travelodge hotel and pay the reasonable cost of transport to that alternative hotel or any applicable car park charges and provide you with breakfast at no additional charge; OR

at your request, or, if in our reasonable opinion there is no suitable alternative hotel accommodation available, cancel your Booking and refund you the money you have paid for the unavailable room(s) including related extras”

However I was not informed that my transport costs to Haymarket and car parking charges would be covered and I would be given a complimentary breakfast, so you really should read the terms and conditions so you know your entitlements if something does go wrong.

I’d be extremely unhappy if Travelodge claimed there were no suitable alternative accommodation available and just offered me a refund of my £9. So I suppose I should be grateful that they did find me another room. What if you were further from home and offered no alternative, would there be any option but to sleep in your car?

Sleeping in car

Sleeping in car by jofus

Conclusion

I stay at UK Travelodges frequently, often in the £9 sale rooms. This over booking experience was extremely annoying but I was offered alternative accommodation and I have received £50 in compensation, a refund of the £9 I paid for the room and an apology.

The Overbookers.co.uk site is campaigning to make it illegal for hotels to overbook. Have you any experience of hotel overbooking? What was your reaction and the outcome of the overbooking?

Tags: , ,
Posted in Accommodation, Consumer issues, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

British Airways your customer service at Heathrow Terminal 5 sucks

Monday, April 20th, 2009Karen Bryan

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?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Air travel, Consumer issues, Uncategorized by Karen Bryan | 7 Comments »

Anna vs Wizzair

Monday, October 27th, 2008Anna Etmanska

Wizzair and me, we’re not getting along too well. We’ve never been close, but these days things are bad. Really bad.

I’d successfully avoided flying Wizzair whenever possible, but last week I had no choice. It’s the only airline flying directly from Skavsta (which pretends to be Stockholm) to Gdańsk (which is actually in Gdańsk – imagine that!). I despise the so-called budget airlines, which fly you to middle of nowhere, charge you for the privilege of paying with a credit/debit card (even when they don’t offer you any alternative payment options), and demand a hefty per minute fee for talking to a mindless automaton at their call center. Yes, Wizzair has joined the ranks of greedy businesses (and American embassies) around the world that charge you for getting in touch with their customer service representative.


image courtesy of the airline I don’t get along with

On Friday I tried to book my return trip. I found a flight for Monday and proceeded to the booking page. I entered my debit card details and clicked “confirm” and nothing happened. After several centuries I got an error message instructing me to start again at the beginning. But first, very prudently, I checked my emails to see if the booking maybe perhaps magically had gone through. There were no emails from Wizzair. I started all over again. I got to the booking page and entered my debit card details and clicked “confirmed.” After about an eternity and a half a “timed out” message appeared. I again checked my emails to see if maybe the booking had gone through. And nada.

I made a cup of tea, ate a cookie, brushed my teeth, watched the news and began the booking process again. This time, just in case, I decided to use my credit card. The booking went through without any problems.

Today I decided to check my bank balance online. And wouldn’t you know it – there are TWO charges from Wizzair. Yes, for the bookings that “hadn’t gone through” and for which there were no confirmation emails. Odd, wouldn’t you say? Now I’m thinking how to handle this. Since this was a debit card, I can’t just call my bank and tell them to reverse the charges. And in order to call Wizzair to chew them out I have to pay 10 SEK per minute (a bit more than 1 euro). I am not happy. So not happy that it’s not even funny anymore. Wizzair, now you’ve done it.

And oh yeah, my family and I definitely won’t be using your services anymore. I need to be in Poland again in three weeks, and guess what? I’ll take the ferry.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Air travel, Consumer issues by Anna Etmanska | 20 Comments »

Europe a la Carte featured on front page of Money Guardian

Saturday, October 25th, 2008Karen Bryan

This morning’s lead story on Guardian Money talks about the increased awareness of Visa Electron card with comment from me and a link to Europe a la Carte. The Saturday Guardian Money picked up on my recent article about how to avoid Ryanair’s tripling of debit card fees by paying fee free with a Visa Electron card.

If you book frequently and/or for a party of several travellers with Ryanair it’s worth your while opening a bank account that offers a Visa Electron card as you can avoid the £4 per flight per person debit or credit card fee.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Consumer issues by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

Use a Nationwide credit and debit card to avoid fees and charges on European transactions

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008Karen Bryan

If you want to avoid fees and charges for cash withdrawals when travelling in Europe then you should use a Nationwide debit card available through their current account.  There will be a charge if you use the card outside continental Europe from 6 May 2009.

You can use the Nationwide credit card to make purchases in another currency within Europe without paying any fees and using a credit card to make purchases above the value of £100 will give you the added protection of your credit card company being jointly liable if you have a problem with the goods or service purchased.

However don’t use the Nationwide credit card to withdraw cash or you’ll be charged a 2% fee with a minimum charge of £2.50 and remember that if you don’t pay the balance of the credit card off in full within the interest free period you’ll start paying interest too.

I use my Nationwide debit card when I make purchases, such as a hotel booking, in a foreign currency, when there is an additional charge for making payments by credit card.

You can see just how much you’ll pay to use other providers debit and credit cards abroad in the comparison table drawn up by APH.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Consumer issues by Karen Bryan | 1 Comment »

How to avoid paying the Ryanair £5 debit and credit card fee

Thursday, July 17th, 2008Karen Bryan

Ryanair is now charging a £5 handling charge per person per flight for credit and debit card payments. This is pretty steep, meaning if you book a return flight for two passengers you’ll pay a whopping £20 in card payment fees.

ryanair

However if you pay for your Ryanair flights by Visa Electron there is no card handling fee.  The basic current account Halifax EasyCash account offers a Visa Electron card. The Ryanair website states that this offer to holders of Visa Electron cards is for a limited time only but it’s been on the go for years.

If the total transaction cost is £100 or more it may be a wise move to pay by credit card to ensure that if the airline goes bust, the credit card company will refund you.

I’d advise you to apply for an account which offers a Visa Electron card as soon as possible so you’re ready to avoid the £5 Ryanair debit and credit card payment fees next time you book your Ryanair flights.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Air travel, Budget options, Consumer issues, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | 25 Comments »

Why jet2 hacked me off before I even flew with them

Friday, May 23rd, 2008Karen Bryan

I’ve never flown with them before I’m already hacked off by Jet2.com, although they claim to offer “friendly low fares” We fly with Jet2.com from Edinburgh to Pisa, Italy for 7 nights from Edinburgh on 24 May 2008. I tried to check in online and it would appear that you can’t check in online unless you pre-book your seat at a charge of £3.99 per person, plus payment card fees, per person per flight, so that would be another £16+ for 2 passengers making a return trip. I don’t think there should be a charge to check in online and it doesn’t cost anything to allocate you a seat during online check in. Surely there is a cost saving for the airline not having to pay staff to staff the check in desks?


by jennyfoo

I’d read the on my confirmation email that you are allowed to take hand luggage weighing up to 10 kgs per passenger and I thought if we both take a small suitcase as hand luggage we’d only need one bag in the hold. It costs £6.99 for a hold bag per flight. This charge was £5 in November 2007. However I read the small print which states that the maximum size of cabin package is 46×30x23 cms and both our small suitcases are a few centimetres wider than this.

In order to avoid a possible additional charge for 2 hold bags, as they charge per individual bag, if Jet2 are meticulous about cabin baggage size, I thought I’d better pre-book another hold bag as if you are charged £12 for each piece of hold baggage at the airport. On my confirmation email it states that hold baggage can weigh up to 20kgs. However today on the Jet2 site baggage rules its states that the maximum weight for hold luggage is 17kgs so it looks like Jet2 charges per hold bag have increased by £2 while the weight limit has decreased from 20 to 17 kgs in the last few months.

I flew with Easyjet from Glasgow to Berlin a couple of months ago, with only cabin luggage, and there was no weight limit on cabin luggage and the maximum size was 55×40x20 cms

I’m getting fed up with all this, it’s really confusing and so easy to get caught out and you feel that it’s all designed to trip you up and make more money out of passengers who don’t pore over the small print. Legally UK cabin baggage can measure up to 56×45x25 cm with a maximum weight of 18kgs but airlines can set their own limits.

I think that there is a real need for standardisation of cabin luggage which would set a sensible size and weight as a minimum, so that at least you could buy a suitcase that you knew you could always take on board on any airline.  Of course individual airlines could choose to increase the size and weight of hand luggage.

My advice to you is to read all the terms and conditions carefully, then you can choose either to adhere to the limits or risk the additional charges at the airport if all bags and carefully weighed and measured.

Have you been forced to pay additional charges at check in, either through ignorance of the rules or by hoping you could flout them?

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Air travel, Consumer issues, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | 2 Comments »

Is London’s tap water that bad?

Friday, May 23rd, 2008Karen Bryan

by shriff14

Representatives of the Tirolean Tourism Board in Austria are whipping up the rumour that London tap water has passed through an average of eight people before you drink it to launch the promotion of pure Tirolean bottled water in London. A spokesperson from the Tirol is quoted as “Iwondering what London’s fish swim in?” The Austrians will be handing out 25,000 bottles of water between the 27 – 30 May at Canary Wharf and Liverpool St stations and there will also be a prize draw to win a short break in the Oetz Valley in the Tirol.

I don’t like negative advertising, Of course there are a lot of negative points about bottled water anyway such as pollution caused by the manufacture and transportation of the bottles. How will you react if you’re offered the free bottled water? Ask them how they transported the 250,00 bottles from the Tirol to London, tell them you’re quite happy with your tap water or happily grab the freebie?

Tap water has beaten the majority of bottled waters in recent blind tests. There is a campaign running to encourage restaurants to offer their customers free tap water as a matter of course. I think that’s a great initiative. I noticed that in restaurants in France there’s always a jug of tap water on the table.

What’s your opinion? Next we’ll be sold pure bottled air because the air we breathe has passed through other humans. Could bottled air be a profitable new chargeable item for Ryanair?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Competitions, Consumer issues, Restaurants, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

« Older Entries