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-   -   Ryanair - Help please! (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/ryanair-help-please-878335/)

humptynumpty Feb 17th, 2011 10:54 AM

Ryanair - Help please!
 
They seem to quote prices on some routes which don't attract tax.

The price for Liverpool - Ibiza return is £31 with no tax.

Is there anything I need to be aware of ? Catches ?

Thank you

jamikins Feb 17th, 2011 10:59 AM

No catch - its a sale price I think.

The catch is all the costs on checkout - luggage, credit card, first to board etc.

Be very careful on their luggage weight restrictions and extra charges for going over - they mean it and weigh everything!

flanneruk Feb 17th, 2011 11:13 AM

I honestly think jamikins is wrong on this.

For whatever reason, they have a number of (usually, in my experience, relatively unbusy) flights which quote "no tax", while others a week apart don't have this flag.

Push the dummy booking right through to the end, and these "no tax" flights really, really, seem to stay just that way.

I know O'Leary will be mortally offended by this appalling slight on his character - but <b> I truly think he sometimes just cuts the price, with nothing underhand, to fill otherwise empty planes </b>

Now I last did this about six months ago, It's obviously against nature for a toerag like Little Michael to go six months without dreaming up some technique for defrauding us all. But age hits us all - and while I can't imagine he's got honest, or decent, well he could have just got slow in his old age.

Just keep on modelling. If you find he IS being honest: please tell us all. With any luck, he'll be mortified at the indignity of being exposed and die of a heart attack.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke.

humptynumpty Feb 17th, 2011 11:15 AM

Thanks Jamikins

we are very happy not eating or breathing for 2 hours and our luggage will be hacked down to one bag between three as we are only going for 4 days.

Has anyone purchased a no tax flight and had problems. I presume Ryanair stand the tax. In our case that would leave them just about breaking even on the the direct costs of the ticket.

£134 for three tickets and a bag looks to good to be true. The petrol to Dover would be more than that!

humptynumpty Feb 17th, 2011 11:21 AM

Flanner

The "no tax" offer is only on a small number of routes. We would like to go to Spain, checking the routes Girona, Ibiza and Palma don't attract tax but Seville and Malaga do attract.

The Italians routes seem to be taxed.

I have progressed the booking to the final credit card page and the final figure is £134 including all options.

Do I press book ?

Do I trust the Devil ?

Pvoyageuse Feb 17th, 2011 11:29 AM

"Has anyone purchased a no tax flight and had problems."

Never had problems and I once flew Girona/Madrid for €5.
Be very careful about luggage weight : one bag per person, maximum 10 kg does not mean a 30 kg bag for 3 persons.

jamikins Feb 17th, 2011 11:29 AM

Just curious flanneruk - what am I wrong about? Calling it a sale? It is a legitimate price that for whatever reason they are discounting. I imagine they are just paying the tax. I;ve booked these with no problem...

jamikins Feb 17th, 2011 11:31 AM

I meant that the taxes still have to be paid but they are embedded in the 'no tax' price. Anyways, I have booked these many times over the last 4 years and had no problem.

humptynumpty Feb 17th, 2011 11:38 AM

That seems to make two of us that have trusted the devil.

Thank you to both of you for the words of comfort.

Which one of you do I blame when they cancel the under-booked return flight with 10 minutes notice?

Pvoyageuse : have booked two weeks in Sardinia again for this July. Struggle to get through more than 18 months without a visit to Sardinia.

jamikins Feb 17th, 2011 11:43 AM

Well knock on wood, but I have never had a flight cancelled for being underbooked hahaha - almost every RA flights i have been on have been packed! Not saying it doesnt happen, but I have never heard of a flight being cancelled for being under-booked on RA :)

humptynumpty Feb 17th, 2011 12:02 PM

That almost sounds like someone underwriting the booking!

annhig Feb 17th, 2011 12:10 PM

humpty - if the flight cost says it's without taxes, it's without taxes.

that doesn't mean that there aren't other costs - including the notorious check-in cost - even if you do so on line, and the charge for using a credit or debit card, which you can only escape by using a special pre-payment card.

I was looking at a BA flight the other day - and the headline rate was the rate you paid, including 20kgs hold luggage, hand luggage AND a handbag or laptop case, refreshments during the flight, etc. etc.

why can't Ryanair and Easyjet [not quite such an offender but still loading on costs at the end] do the same?

Pvoyageuse Feb 17th, 2011 12:13 PM

"have booked two weeks in Sardinia again for this July."

With Ryanair I hope :-))
Am planning to go next fall (Barbagia this time). Unfortunately Ryanair is cutting down flights to Sardinia from Girona : Cagliari is out and flights to Alghero won't be as frequent.

cambe Feb 17th, 2011 02:04 PM

humptynumpty, I use Ryanair a lot and have taken flights from Stansted to Trieste, Genoa etc for £3 each way. When you come to pay there is always a £10 debit/credit card fee, they used to have a Visa connect option which was free but I haven't seen that lately. Anyway how many people have Visa Connect, it is so difficult to get! If you go carry on (which I always do), and check in on line there is nothing extra.

Also, look for flights that have no taxes and no check in fee.

My flights from Belfast to Trieste and Genoa cost me return

Belfast - Stansted = £6 plus £10 Credit Card fee = £16 total

Stansted - Trieste or Genoa - £6 plus £10 as above

Total Belfast - Trieste/Genoa = £36 total and no problems.

You people who live in the south east of England are so lucky!!

willit Feb 19th, 2011 01:48 AM

On a similar note, I have just booked two flights from London to Sicily for May. Even including the ridiculous £5 per part of flight per passenger credit card surcharge, Ryanair was less than a third of the price of other available carriers.

BA Gatwick to Catania = £460
Easyjet Gatwick to Palermo = £466
Ryanair Stansted to Palermo = £129

Mucky Feb 19th, 2011 03:25 AM

"Ryanair was less than a third of the price of other available carriers."

That's good as long as you don't mind being treated like a dog.

Lifeman Feb 19th, 2011 06:21 AM

To save two thirds? Woof!

annhig Feb 19th, 2011 08:41 AM

it is the fact that you have to wait to the end of the booking process to find out what the flight is going to cost you that narks me - and the consumers' association who has referred these practises to the office of fair trading.

after all, you have to book in, so why charge for it? and surely they could absorb the cost of a debit card transaction.

prices should be transparent and not appear at the end of a long and tedious booking process, when people may end up paying more than they would have with an alternative carrier but can't be bothered to go through it all again!

humptynumpty Feb 19th, 2011 09:20 AM

Ann

I have always found Easyjet to be pretty fair. The fare that is returned following a search isn't far from the fare you can check-out.

Jet2 are appalling, there is a long way to go once you have clicked on the advertised one way fare.

Could never see the point in paying a king's for BA when all you are effectively doing (even in economy) is contributing to those that down the free booze like it is the last 10 hours of their life.

Going to have to decide tomorrow.

Hopetown in May will make a lot more sense.

I think O'Leary is winning.... end up booking flights that you don't really want, to places that don't interest you, just beacuse they are cheap.

Woof!

cambe Feb 19th, 2011 10:02 AM

Murky, I have never been treated like a dog on the many Ryanair flights I have taken. All Ryanair flights are short flights which is why they are cheap as they can do a 20-30min turn around. I consider it the same as taking a bus or train to my destination - I don't need to be pampered.

Annhig, Ryanair is no different to Easyjet when it comes to extras. When you click on the flight that you want it tells you what the on-line check in fee will be. The next stage is the same as Easyjet - pay for bags, insurance etc. The only difference is that Easyjet charge less for debit cards than Ryanair but we are talking £5.

Every Ryanair flight I have ever taken has left on time and arrived, frequently, early. I can't say the same about Easyjet but I am also a fan of them.

Humptynumpty, I check their website all the time but would never book a flight to somewhere I didn't want to go. However most of the destinations are places I would be very happy to explore so I go with the cheapest and have had some fantastic trips for next to nothing.


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