Beat Budget Airline Charges Article Discussion

A question about : Beat Budget Airline Charges Article Discussion

One thing that stands out from the article is that although Ryanair gets all the stick in the media, they are not alone in these charges. They are all at it - even some transatlantic flights charge for baggage. Quite why any business can get away with charging for the use of a debit card beats me - to my knowledge, it doesn't cost them anything.

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• One thing that stands out from the article is that although Ryanair gets all the stick in the media, they are not alone in these charges. They are all at it - even some transatlantic flights charge for baggage. Quite why any business can get away with charging for the use of a debit card beats me - to my knowledge, it doesn't cost them anything.
• I disagree - from the article Ryanair extras are clearly a lot higher than easyJet
  Not mentioned with Ryanair is that if you have bags then you also have to check in at the airport pushing the cost up even more. Plus not sure if it is still the case but it used to be that in Italy on line check in was not allowed so airport check in was compulsory - but still charged of course!
• As it says in the article, not the end of the world, and why get agitated? It's a holiday! Firstly, the plane is unlikely to go without you if you have booked in and have a card, so rushing the gate is pointless when the flight is called.See how people clamour to the gate? You won't get there any quicker. Travelling as a couple (admittedly children need more care) we wait until the last boarding if possible, take something to read and eat, and if necessary travel sitting apart (and wear earplugs.) When booking online, take your time. Don't rush into things, but have everything you need to hand inlcuding cards. Take hand luggage only and buy at your destination. You won't wear or use everything you take. Well known fact. Prepare your cabin luggage BEFORE you get to security. Coins, keys, anything metal in pockets can go in yet another ziplok bag. (Buy these in a supermarket and take a handful with you.) Belts will need to be off. Security will happen. I'd rather have a security check than a delay or dropping out of the sky. Inform yourself. Get it wrong and you'll pay or you may be left behind. (Recently we watched a man argue to take an item on board specifically classified as hold luggage. We were all held up until someone shouted, 'put him to the back of the queue'. Done, simple. Last on, last off.And it cost him.)Air travel is stressful, but it doesn't have to be. Budget airlines are cheap, so it's a bit like a cattle truck. Accept that and you're halfway there. Happy travelling!
• Martin,
  Here is one you missed in your article.
  Did you know that if you buy Ryanair vouchers with your credit card (charge of Ј5) you can use then to pay for flights and you are not charged a handling fee when booking.
  They charge a handing fee for the transaction of purchasing the vouchers on your card but but this is only Ј5. When you then pay with vouchers for your flight there is no handling fee. Whereas they charge you a handling fee of Ј10 per person when booking flights with debit card.
  Unfortunately they only do them in Ј25 and Ј50 denominations up to Ј200. IMPORTANT - If the vouchers come to more than the flight your forfeit the remainder of your vouchers.
  I just saved Ј25 on my latest flight! The flight for myself and 3 others only cost Ј40 (Ј10 each) but the handling fee doubled it to Ј80 so I spent Ј55 buying my vouchers. I used the Ј50 voucher (that cost me Ј55) to pay for a Ј40 flight, saving Ј25!
  I hope this makes sense!
• I have travelled Heathrow to Belfast on numerous occasions, with quite a large bag.
  I have never been asked to weigh it by Aer Lingus staff, even at check in.
• To help beat baggage charges, if you travel budget airlines often enough, it might be worth investing in a coat with large pockets, and a fold up bag. I have, what happen to be an engineereing coat from an airline, with 4 enormous pockets. I use a 'longchamp' style bag to carry some of my baggage to the airport, then empty it into the pockets of my coat, put the bag in my other hand baggage to get through security etc, and when all clear, empty everything back into the fold up bag, including the coat if I don't need it. I weighed it once. The coat (which is quite light) and contents weighed in at 9 kg. Might ound like a load of hastle, but it's not if you're organised in advance, knowing what will go into the pockets. I quite enjoy the puzzled looks from security...as there's nothing to say how much you can have in your pockets!
• I hope this makes sense![/QUOTE]
  Not really! You are still giving Ryanair Ј15. However, if you are prepared to accept that . . . .
• Hi
  Can someone clear somethinup. The last time I flew with easyjet the hand baggage allowance was unlimited as long as you could lift and safely store in the overhead locker, according to the article it states easyjet only allows 10 KG. Has this changed? I live in Spain and travel regularly to teh UK either to Liverpool or Manchester. My nearest airport is Granada which Ryanair serves via Liverpool. It is always cheaper to fly from Malaga via easyjet or Ryanair for some bizarre reason, I would have thought landing fees at Malaga are more expensive. Also I have a debit card with Caja Rural de Granada which happens to also be an electron card and I never have to pay the card fees. Even if I booked from the UK(which i never do) it would be cheaper to take the currency hit and pay with this card.
  Just as a point of interest I nearly always fly with easyjet, one they are much more polite and two in my opinion the airbus is a far better plane than the 737.
• Question (from someone who's never checked-in online before): if you check in online and have only hand luggage, who is going to weigh your hand luggage? Am I right in thinking you go straight to security with your self-printed boarding card, so effectively have freedom with you hand luggage? I've never seen airline staff weighing bags at the gate!
• This is EXCELLENT news! So Glad Martin is doing a campaign on this, as I put this very issue down in Martin's thread of "points to put to MP's in less than 50 words" - and it has now been picked up on.
  I wrote that because I was furious at having had easyjet basically nick Ј32 off me for suitcases that I hadn't wanted - they got added automatically, and as I was booking in a hurry before leaving for work one morning, I didn't spot the offending charge until it was too late. There is then NO WAY to remove these charges without it costing as much as the value of the whole flight!
  Clearly there should be a way to change one's mind about these, as there are for other internet transactions - especially as they are so carefully hidden and easy to miss.
  Another point I've not spotted here - unless I missed it? - but which is equally important - is the need to remove the added travel insurance which easyjet AUTOMATICALLY adds on - again, unless you spot this, there's no way to remove it later once you've put the transaction through.
  They're even sneakier with this than with the suitcases, as when you click to remove the insurance, it actually puts in an extra layer of hassle to remove it - it comes up with a box asking you if you really do want to remove it, and aotomatically defaults the box to NOT removing it! So even if you think you've removed the insurance, unless you look very closely you may find that actually, you haven't and are still being charged for it!
  This is clearly a disgraceful attempt to mislead consumers and trick them into paying for a product they don't want and that they could get much cheaper elsewhere.
• How long before they decide on the ludicrus idea of charging to use the toilet as recently muted! They are lucky you cant open a window!!!!
  I fly Ryanair a couple of times a year into Dublin, yes its is always a bit of a lottery on the total price but we normally have all in return for 2 at around Ј40, if costs that for one to take the train to London from Norwich on a standard fare so it puts things into a bit of perspective I guess.