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Budget steals our money

Posted in General, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs June 6th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

This week Ryanair, the number one budget airline, posted a 33 per cent jump in its profits, I know exactly where all that extra money is coming from and it’s not exactly from happy customers.

Yesterday was probably the maddest I have ever seen myself. After years of constant travelling I am used to delays at airports but Ryanair took the biscuit yesterday - I was parked in the check-in line to board my flight from Barcelona Girona to London Stansted for over an hour.

When we first entered the line it was only 17 people deep – we actually counted. But the woman behind the check-in desk took at least ten minutes per customer and argued with every single one of them. For some reason she was letting people repack their bags at her desk while she sat there staring into space.

This annoyed me greatly as Ryanair and easyJet alike argue that they don’t allocate seats in order to save time…well, I think in that ten minutes they would have had time to chose your seat for you so you can at least sit next to your travelling companion rather than being squished in a less than comfortable seat against a window with the man beside you spilling into your seat.

Once I finally arrived at the check-in desk we checked in two bags, which we had already paid £7 each for the privilege of having clothes to take on holiday. One bag weighed in at 11 kilos, four kilos under the maximum weight of 15 kilos. The second bag was 16 kilos, technically we still had three spare kilos that we had already paid for but she would not budge. She also would not let us repack our bags to even the weight as she said it was too late (too late because she was too slow).

Instead of taking a few minutes to repack a tiny proportion of the bags we had to go and line up at another desk and pay an excess baggage fee. This line was another 20 minutes and after we had paid our ‘fine’ of €8 we had to again line up in the check-in line to obtain a boarding pass.

By the time all this was complete our boarding time had been and gone. But still we rushed through customs and the security checks only to find that the plane was now delayed…because check in was so slow. We were delayed an extra two hours which forced us to spend money in the airport on day old sandwiches and watered down rum.

Once we boarded the plane it took what seemed like an eternity to take off. When we landed at Stansted we were sat on the tarmac for almost a hour while we waited for the ground crew to attach stairs to the plane. When we finally disembarked the torture tube we had to take a train to the terminal to collect our bags, but first I had to stand in the immigration line for 90 minutes as there were only two positions open for us filthy foreigners and about 10 for the Brits…the staff of which did not bother to help out once their lines had diminished.

Finally after waiting for our bags we ordered a taxi home as our flight was so late we could not take a bus then a tube. Standing in the taxi line for 20 minutes we were then informed it would be £95 to get home. So it was back to the bus and a mini cab. I finally arrived home at 4am this morning after spending an extra £68 than I should have because Ryanair was so disorganised.

Their excuse, ‘You get what you pay for’ and it is exactly how most will look at their brand. To be a budget airline I understand you must employ methods of gaining extra money other than the airfare, but this is what Ryanair has come to be known for. Earlier last month, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rapped the airline for advertising low fares, only to have customers come to the website to find the cheap fare rise by up to £50 for fees and charges.

After a slapping on the wrists by the ASA, the airline then advertised seats from 0.01p inclusive of taxes and charges. I logged on to the site as soon as we had the press release telling us of the plans only to find that in fact the airfare of 0.01p was not inclusive of taxes and charges and with the added cost of baggage I would be paying up to £70 each way. That’s £69.99 more expensive then the airline had ‘promised.’

Passengers have now come to realise that Ryanair’s marketing is false and misleading and the airline itself is budget with no standards or regard to its brand and image. I’d rather pay £100 more on the ever reliable and trustworthy British Airways than ever fly Ryanair again.