In message , at
21:47:49 on Tue, 13 Oct 2009, pete remarked:
No one should object to paying a low price and getting something basic
and, as far as I am aware, no one does. But they do object to getting
mugged.

Give an example of Ryanair mugging.

The programme gave two fairly explicit examples. The booking fees, which
are far beyond the actual cost of the transaction

The "mugging" referred to above was about unexpected, or "surprise"
charges. While the credit card fees are somewhat high (it's necessary to
factor in all the costs when buying these fares) they are not
unexpected, nor are they a surprise. Indeed, the very way we are
discussing them here indicates how familiar everyone is with them.

Other outfits charge "booking fees" and/or "Credit Card fees". Why do
cinemas charge *more* for you to buy online and pick up at the cinema,
than if you buy in person? Now that's what I call a surprise. Some train
companies are now charging such fees, so it's not just airlines (and
certainly not just Ryanair amongst the airlines) who charge these fees
for public transport.

and the "penalty" they impose if you forget to print or lose your
boarding pass.

Unlike the much more aptly named "Penalty Fare" on a train if you forget
to bring your ticket, or get on the wrong train? Or hotel vouchers,
which mean you have to pay again if you forget to take them with you?

The paradigm has changed, from paper tickets, to e-tickets, back to
paper print-your-own [1] which Ryanair prefer because to save money they
often use manual systems at the airport. Look on the bright side - at
least it's only £40, not a forfeit of the whole fare.

Just about the only one of their charges which I do object to (I think
it may have been swept aside in the 100% online-checkin scheme) was the
way you could only check in online if you had an EU passport. So other
nationalities couldn't avoid to paying to check in at the airport, even
if travelling only with hand baggage. At least one country apparently
deemed this discrimination illegal, and so the fee was waived when
checking in there, in these circumstances.

[1] They call it a boarding pass, but it's much more like a ticket.



Again, the charge is vastly in excess of the cost of the service.

A pint of cola in a pub costs them about 1p to produce, so there are
many examples of things not being priced on a "cost plus" basis.
--
Roland Perry