O/T Ryanair on Panorama - O'Leary a Genius or a T**t?

[greenshrimp]

Anyone just watched this?

What do you think of O'Leary and Ryanairs pricing?

I think it's great that you can pay for exactly what you need, for example if you want to take a bag in the hold you pay for it or if you want food, you pay for it all on top of initial nominal charge. I don't think £15 is unreasonable if you have made a tiny initial fee and it means that those who are flying without hold luggage....day/weekend trippers etc. don't have to pay something they don't need to use. It is irritating when those charges become excessive - £70 for your second piece of hold luggage???

Whilst this modular approach to booking flights is great, what isn't so great are the charges you can't really get out of... £5 payment charge, £5 to print your tickets - I don't think these are fair and if the company want to charge them, I'd much prefer they charged them in the initial booking price.

On O'Leary....bit of a rude pratt, but he uses his rudeness and 'character' as a selling point and to get media coverage....is he just being clever?

[Mark S]

Really strange

My wife was telling me earlier this evening how her friend at work who wanted to fly to Ireland looked up a price with Ryanair and it was £20. She logged ot alooked again four hours later and it had gone up to £30. She asked Kerry to look up the same flight details and Kerry got a price of £20. Her friend logged out, deleted cookies and then tried again. £20. Naughty! Worth knowing and a good reminder to regularly delete your cookies!

[greenshrimp]

Wonder if it would have been £40 the third time....might have a little experiment....

[Plain Peter]

I booked return flights on Air Asia for me and Doris, between Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, both in Borneo btw.
Plus 7 nights hotel accommodation.
The total cost was £120!
The secret was to do my on-line trawling in the town Library.
Go home, and make the booking at my first visit to the Air Asia site.

[shrimper]

What they should be forced to do is advertise a price that 'assumes' you're taking a hold bag and that you are a couple or a family wanting seats together and any other stuff that people used to do as a matter of normal course.

THEN you can reduce the cost by removing items you don't want to take advantage of.

This is fairer than the 'wow' that's cheap, then £200 of add-ons (and I thought they were forcing companies to do it that way but they have now found loopholes evidently).

The 'reserving' specific seats is a scam.

If you book for a family without reserving seats, then click on the online 'check-in' system to see what seats you've been allocated they deliberately scatter you all over the plane, but then repeat the 'do you want to sit together?' icon which directs you to the £5 a time, each way, seat reservation option.

Now everyone travelling in a family group is doing that because of this issue and it costs £5 each, for each leg of your journey.
Previously you just turned up and your seats allocated on the day would almost always see you happily seated together.

Next time I think I'll not do it and then see how quickly someone offers to give up their seat rather than have Tess sitting next to them all the way to Spain!

[Christies Child]

Personally I'm totally in favour of the Ryan policy of offering a low basic price and then add ons if you want extras.

Would anybody seriously refuse the proposed chaep deal to America, if the business class was paying an inflated price on the same aircraft but getting a very personalised service to compensate for the extra cost?

A neighbour of mine regularly flies to far distant shores. I'd wager that he and his company would pay that bit extra if he arrived at his destination fresh and ready for business.

[shrimper]

Personally I'm totally in favour of the Ryan policy of offering a low basic price and then add ons if you want extras.

Would anybody seriously refuse the proposed chaep deal to America, if the business class was paying an inflated price on the same aircraft but getting a very personalised service to compensate for the extra cost?

A neighbour of mine regularly flies to far distant shores. I'd wager that he and his company would pay that bit extra if he arrived at his destination fresh and ready for business.

It's the interpretation of that which I think needs to be clear.

I don't consider being seated next to your four-year-old child, nor taking a suitcase on a family holiday as an 'extra' and I think things like that should be 'assumed' in the advertised price, with whatever plugs and blurbs they like about how you can reduce that price.
It's more honest.

[campdave]

Deliberately scattering people across the plane so they can get extra fees for seating you together and charging £5 per person for booking using a credit card (I can understand a £5 per booking, but £5 per person each way is not fair).

Though I agree that hand baggage should be an optional extra - I often fly "back home" to Northern Ireland, and can easily manage without checking anything into the hold, so appeciate not having to include the cost of that in my ticket.

I've never flown Ryanair, and don't think I ever will, not because I don't trust them, just ebcause I don't think the hassle of using their site and trying to figure out all the little extras they'll try and sting me for is worth it.

[Plain Peter]

EasyJet to Istanbul in just over 3 weeks for me and Doris.
Check-in in plenty of time, and we'll get the seats we want, no problem.
Always travel light. Never take what we'll never wear or use.
Only heavy baggage I take is Doris

[Christies Child]

On our recent flight back from Crete, their was a couple who didn't want a window or middle seat preferring instead to have 2 isle seats.

The trouble they created on the aircraft to accomodate their wishes was finally resolved, but I thought how strange when everybody norally wants a window seat.

Nothing of course to do with this topic, but just an example of how we all differ.

[George Dawes]

EasyJet to Istanbul in just over 3 weeks for me and Doris.
Check-in in plenty of time, and we'll get the seats we want, no problem.
Always travel light. Never take what we'll never wear or use.
Only heavy baggage I take is Doris

travel light, you can always buy what you need abroad anyway, like razors, batteries, shorts, cheap t-shirts, for messing about in during the day


or if you in America despite the ££ not as strong as it use to be vs the $$ i recently found it still good value for ie. Ralf Lauren, timberland, Nike Levi a hell of a lot cheaper than over here


oh and electrical gear in America, mobile phones, laptops, cameras are stupidly cheap

[Plain Peter]

The trouble they created on the aircraft to accomodate their wishes was finally resolved, but I thought how strange when everybody norally wants a window seat.

Don't know where you get from CC.
Aisle seats are favoured by many.
What I hate about some aislers are that they fall asleep before take-away, and don't go much on being disturbed.
It's bods like them who should be sat by the window.
Me and Doris prefer aisle seats for the freedom to move, and slightly more leg-room.

[shrimper]

On our recent flight back from Crete, their was a couple who didn't want a window or middle seat preferring instead to have 2 isle seats.

The trouble they created on the aircraft to accomodate their wishes was finally resolved, but I thought how strange when everybody norally wants a window seat.

Nothing of course to do with this topic, but just an example of how we all differ.

It IS to do with this topic, though.

If that was on my flight, there is no way on this earth that I'd move to accommodate them if I'd paid to reserve a seat - and if the cabin crew turned their noses up at my attitude I'd tell them to have a word with their company bosses.

Previously you requested certain seats and usually got them (free of any 'extra' charge). If you got on and others wanted to be near their partners or families, then you'd all shuffle about (if it wasn't too much inconvenience) and everyone would be happy.

But now those that pay the 'selected seat' charge, and in coming years that will be nearly everyone, won't move whatever.

[durhamshrimp]

I booked return flights on Air Asia for me and Doris, between Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, both in Borneo btw.
Plus 7 nights hotel accommodation.
The total cost was £120!
The secret was to do my on-line trawling in the town Library.
Go home, and make the booking at my first visit to the Air Asia site.

So that's how all those sex tourists can afford it.

[Plain Peter]

So that's how all those sex tourists can afford it.

Trust DS to lower the tone
I think that sex tourism is global.
It all depends on what flavour you like, how far you want to travel for it, and what you can afford.
Me, I've got Doris

[Keith]

It's a classic case of getting what you pay for. Recent flights with Emirates, we checked in on-line, chose our own seats for free and had 30kg luggage. Very reasonable food and free booze (not that I drink when flying). Flip side, even if travelling alone Flybe will 'book' you a random seat. You have to 'un-check' it to get a cheaper price! If you want to compare them, it is like a bus with a taxi. If you want the advantages of a taxi you can't expect to pay bus fair prices!

As for the aisle seat. If you are by the window and there is an emergency, you are relying upon the speed of movement of the person sitting next to you. Aisle seat for me whenever possible. That and the fact that I can never sleep when flying so I like to move around on longer flights.

[Plain Peter]

Emirates, agree.
Tis the start of The Road to Mandalay in February.
No booze for us either.

When I booked this little adventure to Myanmar the evening started off with me trawling for accommodation in Torquay.
I'd been down the boozer for an hour or so, and had a glass or two of vin rough to keep me company as I trawled the net.
Next thing I knew it was the following morning, and I found these confirmation prints for flights to BKK, and on to Yangon (Rangoon).
Couldn't find anything for Torquay, so I must have allowed the red stuff to let my mind wander to more exotic destinations.
I can't afford anymore footie weekends now.
And have had to take 5 weeks unpaid leave from work to fit our trip in
Will I have the only Shrimps footie shirt in Myanmar?