On the face of it, the news today that Ryanair are cutting air links from Edinburgh is bad news. Less holiday destinations for Scots and less business opportunities from afar.
However, digging a little deeper into the story, and one sees that there is little to be sad about. Ryanair trying to grind BAA down to keep its low cost deal for flights out of Edinburgh. Yes, the budget airline provides high footfall but is it worth the price? Shouldn’t BAA strive for quality not quantity?
We all know that Ryanair prices are suspiciously cheap, the feeling you get on their website is not unlike browsing around Primark, but we batter down our consciences in favour of taking advantage of that £5 flight here or £9 flight there, thinking that you’re beating the system. That had certainly always been my experience until a couple of weeks ago when I finally learned exactly how Ryanair could keep some flight prices so low.
The issue started with a boarding pass which had to be printed 4 hours before take-off or a £60 fine would be levied (it used to be 2 hours before take-off and a £40 fine but I guess Michael O’Leary saw some money to be made in making changes). It transpired that I missed the 4 hours by 56 measly seconds but, sure enough, Ryanair’s robust internal procedures meant there was no way around avoiding the £60 charge. Wallop, less kronor for me to spend on my holidays. Bummer.
Now, thankfully, I can absorb such hits into my monthly budgets relatively easily as (1) I have a good job and (2) I’m generally a total skinflint. However, I wasn’t the only one at the desk where such charges had to be paid.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the hulking Polish chap beside me, crying his eyes out at a charge that he had to pay with money that he clearly couldn’t afford. I sneaked a peak and it was a £360 bill he was faced with, for what I do not know. The oddly affable chap behind the Ryanair desk said, quietly (and suitably sadly) that this was nothing, we should have seen the family that was here the day before and another one the day before that. I can do the Maths, 2 parents and 3 kids with no boarding passes adds up to £300 out of the holiday budget. Is that really a way to run a business?
So even if these routes did go ahead at Edinburgh, I’d hope to be resolute in my decision from a fortnight ago to boycott them. It’s no more scratchcards, no more sleep-deprived pilots, no more queuing like animals to get on the flight, no more blaring self-congratulatory tannoy bulletins, no more landing 50 miles from the City I’m looking to visit and no more air attendants with a sadness deep in the eyes. Ryanair has joined the likes of Tesco and Amazon on my ‘I will not buy there no matter how cheap it is’ because, as tempting as the deals are with this airline, I will no longer be able to shake away the image of a tall Polish guy or a distraught family paying over the odds to subsidise my ticket.
Edinburgh could do with more international air links, and I hope BAA holds firm to attract quality airlines to provide new destinations for Scotland’s Capital, but I’ll be hoping the livery of any such planes won’t be daubed in garish blue and yellow and be part of a morally dubious business model.
#1 by Rory Cahill on April 12, 2012 - 10:17 am
People who complain about getting slugged by Ryanair charges are, quite frankly, cretins. There is a reason why the flights are so cheap. And contrary to what moany types say, the charges are not hidden. They are quite plain. I suspect you are just one of these people who expects BA service on Poundstretcher prices.
I have flown Ryanair many times and never been stung once by a charge. (I was by budget equivalent Tiger here in Australia but that was my own fault). That’s because I read the T and Cs when I book.
There’s a number of problems, both simplistic to exotic with Ryanair – contribution to carbon emissions, labour conditions for staff and more. But you having a sook because you weren’t bright enough to abide by the basic conditions is no reason to cut air services from Scotland’s capital.
I particularly LOLd at “no more queueing like animals”. Mate, I’ve flown some of the world’s “premium” airlines like Etihad and Emirates and guess what, unless you’re shelling out thousands for a first class ticket, they make you queue to get on the plane.
This piece reads like classic upper middle class lefty “stuff white people like” toss. It is the great problem of the modern left – how to connect with the vast bulk of the electorate who love Ryanair (the great democratiser of travel it is) and are smart enough to work within the terms it offers.
#2 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 11:06 am
It’s important to differentiate between boycotting a company because one disagrees with their business model and boycotting a company because one is in a huff. I can assure you I am very much the former (perhaps a tiny but the latter too though). Are you saying that you think it’s reasonable for a family of 5 to be charged £300 just because they didn’t print out their boarding passes? You’re happy getting onboard (literally) with a company that has that as a central plank for revenue raising?
You don’t seem to give any space for the possibility that Ryanair can only provide cheap prices if people keep messing up the rules. You can’t have it both ways, hold Ryanair up as a great democratiser of flying when the company’s survival depends on 10% (or whatever) of fliers not printing out their boarding passes, taking too much luggage to check-in or forgetting to have food beforehand so having to buy rubbish food at high prices.
I’m not complaining about getting hit by the charges. I knew, if momentarily forgot due to a busy life, the rules. I’m just saying that now I have seen with my own eyes how the operation really works, and from what I know from speaking with someone who works there as a flight attendant years ago, it’s just not the type of business I want to reward with my hard earned pounds. Consequently, I won’t be lamenting the fact that they are trying to hold BAA hostage with flight routes to, once again, get a cheaper deal than other, more reputable, airlines. Also, I don’t agree that it’s all that clear what the charges are regarding boarding passes and luggage sizes.
It’s a free world though, if you want families and elderly people subsidising your cheap Ryanair flights then go ahead. I’m done with it.
#3 by Iain Menzies on April 12, 2012 - 12:10 pm
I haven’t been on a plane in more than 10 years (oh look at my tiny carbon footprint) but if there is a charge for not printing off your boarding pass before a certain time what difference does it make if its a family, a geriatric or Bill Gates? The rules should be the same for everyone no?
#4 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 12:18 pm
That’s a rather obedient line to take Iain. Why should there be a charge in the first place, at any price let alone £60 a head? What if it was £300 a head? Should we all just lament that ‘the same rules should apply to everybody’.
Surely a fairer pricing structure is, like other airlines, to not think about revenue raising by catching people out with these ruses and just keep everything above board? Any other airline, if you forget your boarding pass, just print you a new one (since it costs pennies).
As I say, it’s a free world, and I hadn’t flown Ryanair in years (hence my being out of practice with what you have to remember!) but it’s too much of a sordid game for me.
Two things:
(1)East Coast trains adopt a worryingly similar pricing structure, hammering anyone who gets on the wrong train with obscene ticket costs. The Ryanair of the Rails they should be called (and I wish I’d folded that argument into this post now).
(2) My carbon footprint is abhorrent, I have no defence.
#5 by Iain Menzies on April 12, 2012 - 1:09 pm
Now ive been called many things but this is a first for obedient.
Im not saying that i LIKE this, but if its in the Terms and Conditions then, well you have agreed to it. Ryan Air is a business after all. You pay your money and you have a contract, that you have to do more than just pay your money to get the service is, well part of the contract.
This is the problem that i have with what your saying because i dont think it really matters what the penalty rate is, or who pays it. Its a simple matter of getting a contract and sticking to it. Ryanair isnt any other airline, even i know this and i dont have a passport!
Now dont get me wrong, i would NEVER fly Ryanair, ever, even if i was paid to do so. But thats because im a helluva snob, there are plenty of places that i would like to fly to but i dont have the budget (ie millions) to do it in the only way i would.
And if it makes you feel any better if i had the money to do what i would like to do i would make your carbon footprint look like that of a hermit.
#6 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 1:20 pm
I don’t think your disagreeing with anything I am saying. I fully appreciate there are terms and conditions. There is arguably a case to be made that Ryanair fall foul of ‘onerous terms’, a legal argument that, despite signing up for something, if the terms are too unreasonable and too punitive, then they can in certain cases not be legally enforceable, but obviously your average punter isn’t going to make that argument at the dreaded payments desk.
So yes, I’m not saying people should buy a Ryanair ticket and then refuse to pay whatever charge they happen to have been trapped into paying but the more people shrug about a business charging £60 for printing a single piece of paper the more worried I am.
What I am saying is that I hope more and more people shun Ryanair because of the approach they take to running a business.
#7 by Commenter on April 13, 2012 - 11:35 am
Surely a fairer pricing structure is, like other airlines, to not think about revenue raising by catching people out with these ruses and just keep everything above board?
These charges are annoying when you get hit by them (everyone who has flown Ryanair must have muttered “never again” at some point), but they are there for a reason, and they aren’t hidden.
Ryanair is able to charge low prices because their process is streamlined. For this to work, customers need to flow efficiently through the process. If a customer screws up, creating delay, then costs rise. Hence, punitive charges for stepping out of line.
No doubt they also capitalise on screw-ups to earn a bit extra over and above the headline cost of the ticket, but the main reason is the one stated above.
As an example, Ryanair wants to avoid all baggage handling because it slows things down and is error prone, so they charge customers to check bags, in order to discourage the practice.
#8 by Doug Daniel on April 12, 2012 - 10:45 am
“On the face of it, the news today that Ryanair are cutting air links from Edinburgh is bad news.”
I suspect one of your fellow editors would disagree completely!
#9 by Martin Cunningham on April 12, 2012 - 11:01 am
I do agree, however I have been stuck in the unfortunate position where my only option is to fly Ryan Air. Carcassone, for example, is a destination I have flown to, and I believe that Ryan Air is the only carrier that flies to this airport. I’m sure there are many places where this is the case.
Much as I agree with your stance Jeff, it is a lot easier when you have a variety of fights to choose from. Unfortunately, when flying from Scottish airports, they are the only flights available. Of course, O’Leary knows this and can use it to his advantage.
#10 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 11:13 am
I agree Martin, and I may well be in that unenviable position one day and just have to bite the bullet, but I’ll strive not to.
For me, the dearth of flights with quality airlines from Edinburgh (and Glasgow) is a real problem. It can be surprisingly cheap to fly to London and then on to wherever you are going, the Skyscanner website is excellent for looking at such options. However, I look at Copenhagen, Stockholm, Brussels etc; cities not that much bigger than Edinburgh or Glasgow, if even bigger at all, and I wonder why they have such a wide spread of travel options. Another reason to vote for independence perhaps?
In the meantime, I do hope the Scottish Government and/or BAA can work behind the scenes to get decent airlines in to serve Scotland. Cutting back on domestic flights (the train taking the weight) could be a way to free up scope for going further afield.
#11 by Martin B on April 12, 2012 - 1:27 pm
While we can be sympathetic to the families you cite, it’s not as if the fact that you have to do this isn’t made very obvious, not only on the booking site, but on your confirmation email as well.
And, incidentally, for a very small amount of money (making the total cost *still* less than competing airlines – even FlyBe charges for this), you can book a seat, for which you also get priority boarding. No queuing for you.
We flew EDI->Stockholm last month, on a relatively late outbound flight (landing close to midnight local), and none of the flight crew (which sitting in Row 1 we had plenty of opportunity to observe) appeared tired or containing deep sadness. The cabin crew actually appeared to be having a bit of a laugh on both inbound and outbound legs.
Ultimately, no-one is forced to fly Ryanair, or to pay their surcharges. If you don’t like it, then go back to the old days of “pay through the nose in all circumstances or don’t fly”
Now if you want to get het up, start on the premium airlines charging premium money whose service is getting more Ryanair-like every year. BMI, BA, I’m looking at both of you.
#12 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 1:36 pm
BA and BMI are getting considerably more affordable and one hidden Ryanair charge that you didn’t mention, given you flew into Skavsta airport in Stockholm, is the £15 single (£30 return) dull 80minute bus journey to get to the city centre. I can assure you that Arlanda is much more pleasant and much more central.
As for the sadness of the Ryanair attendants; I am largely basing that on the stories from an attendant who couchsurfed in Edinburgh a few years ago. I thought it sounded like a shabby way to treat staff but, hey, who knows, maybe that was a one off. She was eager to finish her time and join another airline but I can only say I’ve seen the same sadness behind her eyes as many other staff on the flights.
But I never said anyone is forced to fly Ryanair; I am nonetheless hopeful that BAA don’t cave into their demands of not paying for Air Traffic Control services, like all those other airlines who do pay for ATC and, surprise surprise, charge a bit more money for their services…
#13 by Martin B on April 12, 2012 - 1:57 pm
Sure, you can add the bus time & fare (and the Connect Hotel at Skavsta as you’re not getting a bus into the city at midnight), as long as I can add the costs & time in flying Edin->Stockholm via any other routing. Hours and hundreds of pounds.
You also get to add the Arlanda Express onto your side of the balance btw – £50 return.
#14 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 2:25 pm
Why the Arlanda Express? Take the local bus to Marsta and get on the Pendletag. Still much faster and much cheaper than travelling from Skavsta.
#15 by The Hill Mouse on April 12, 2012 - 2:58 pm
I’m with you on this one Jeff. It’s one of the triumphs of 21st century consumerism to make us forget or choose not to wonder why something we want is so cheap. In my experience, it’s usually because somebody is being screwed along the way. In this case, it’s people who forget to print their boarding passes more usually it’s either the employees, suppliers, tax payers or some combination of all three.
From time-to-time someone will invent a new mousetrap or invent a new way of building the old mousetrap that’s significantly cheaper but most times it’s just somebody somewhere else losing out so that we can, in this case, get a cheap flight.
#16 by Indy on April 12, 2012 - 6:11 pm
It’s cheap because of all the factors Jeff has outlined.
Basically flying Ryanair is like shopping at the Barras as compared to John Lewis.
You may get ripped off or you may get a great bargain.
You need to accept that both outcomes are possible.
#17 by Martin B on April 13, 2012 - 12:51 am
Given that a chunk of my dayjob is about productivity improvement, I have to take issue with this as being fundamentally shortsighted.
Done right, the reason things can be made or done so cheap(ly) is when you don’t spend the typical 90% of the effort doing things that don’t directly contribute to what the customer wants and pays for.
#18 by Colin Macleod on April 12, 2012 - 7:54 pm
Jeff you haven’t had much luck with travel. Didn’t you buy the wrong ticket for the train and get stung? Usually the people who are too absorbed in other things and walk about with a feeling of “oh we’ll I can take the hit” are the ones who can afford it.
With Ryanair you get what you pay for, with those who don’t pay attention helping keep flights cheap for those who do.
#19 by Jeff on April 12, 2012 - 8:05 pm
Good memory Colin. Yes, I got stung by East Coast, slightly different situation so two separate lessons I’m telling myself. I’ve got the £13 single tickets on East Coast ever since so I like to think I’m clawing my money back.
I do think East Coast ticketing prices are a joke though. Flat fare of £40 single, bookable any time, would be my preference.
#20 by Aldos Rendos on April 12, 2012 - 10:27 pm
Jeff I usually get onboard with 90% of your articles but not this one. As a guy in his mid 20s with family in Scotland & Ireland but living in London, Ryanair especially have provided me with a cheap and convenient way to travel and without them I doubt I would be able to visit my family and friends as much as I would like over the past 3/4 years. I don’t really find the boarding pass issue a problem, they send you a reminder a week or so before the flight which as ample time to print off the boarding pass even if you do have a busy life.
In two weeks I have a family do in Glasgow and as much I would love to travel up by train the £120 cost pales into insignificance versus the £60 charged by EasyJet. Quite frankly until East Coast & Virgin stop charging absurd prices for their train services I will continue to fly when heading home.
#21 by Rory Cahill on April 12, 2012 - 11:46 pm
The reality is that Ryanair will find itself in trouble not because of its sinister HIDDEN charges policy which it – much like Osama Bin Laden in Abbotobad – secretes from the world’s attention in plain view, but because its business model is one that only works in the late 90 to late 00s global economy of cheap oil and easy credit.
As the cost of extraction rises and more and more countries impose carbon pricing regimes, so aviation fuel costs will rise and Ryanair’s business model is predicated on passing these costs on. Once they go too high, consumers will simply not be able to afford to fly.
More importantly, Ryanair’s foundation business model is on getting airports to waive fees and charges and invest in infrastructure (hence the use of out of town airports) on the promise that bringing more people in will have them shopping in the airports and then spending money in that region.
Now that you Northern Hemisphere types are broke and staying that way for the forseeable future (medium term minimum) people simply don’t have the cash to spend to sustain that business model. They didn’t really ever have it but easy credit made them feel they do.
That’s what will do in for Ryanair, not people remembering to print off their boarding passes.
(Anyway, what kind of backwards society has Europe become since I left? Here in Australia they send you your boarding pass as a text message when you book and you just show that at the gate.)
#22 by Margaret Robertson on April 13, 2012 - 10:42 am
Interesting post and comments and even if some of the arguments around terms and conditions etc can be appplied to other companies, I also choose to boycott Ryannair- why? Because although a very shrewd and successful businessman I find Michael O Leary’s approach to business and customer service not what I am looking for from a company, and fortunately as he is not providing an essential service I dont have to buy his products.
Sometimes you don’t need a robust logical reason to take your money elsewhere.