How on EARTH could a return flight for two people, costing €0.99 for each flight (i.e. €0.99 x 4 = €3.96) end up costing €180.40?!?!?!?!?!?
Why can't the lying, thieving shower of
Okay. We decided to go away for a few days after our wedding, for a little break, as we're not planning on taking our honeymoon straight away. So we pick a destination and start looking for flights...
Firstly, when selecting the flights, you find out you're going to be charged €116.44 in "Taxes, Fees & Charges". Okay, so that's got us at €120.40. Still cheaper than the other "cheap" airline we checked out. (Oh, they were equally as sneaky - they were quoting us one figure the whole way through and then when it came to putting in your credit card details at the end, decided to inform you in really tiny writing (hoping to sneak it past you, no doubt) that that was only for ONE passenger, so in fact the total amount was TWICE that! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!)
Anyway. So I selected the flights and checked the wee box and hit continue. I put in our names. Of course the default options already selected are for you to take travel insurance (an extra €7.50 each... No thanks...) and to "Be one of the first to board this flight" for €10 each (HA! Have you ever gotten a Ryanair flight?!? Why would you want to spend an extra €10 just to get sitting down a few minutes earlier on one of their planes? It's not like you're going to get a special seat or special treatment or anything...) So I took those options off.
Of course, as we're going away for a few days, we can't exactly make do with just hand luggage, so we decided to check a bag in between the two of us. That's an extra €30 (€15 each way, I presume)... But get this! Because we're booking together, we have to check in at the same time and in the same way, right? And because you can't check in online (online check in is free, by the way -- but give them time! They will charge for that too!) when you're checking in a bag, that means that while one of us is charged €30 for the bag, the other of us is charged €10 for the wonderful pleasure of standing for ages and ages in a big long queue in order to check in at the airport!!! Oh joy!!! All I've ever wanted to do!!! (On that note, my housemate was recently directed to one queue at the airport in order to check in, where she - and loads of others - queued for an HOUR before being told that it was the wrong queue!)
By this stage in the proceedings, I'm feeling absolutely fed up. I don't even WANT to go away anymore. We're forking out every available penny we have on our wedding and now they've left a sour taste in my mouth. But at least that's it, right? The flights, taxes, fees, bag and airport check in (I'm still LIVID about that bit, grrr!)... We've now got two flights cosing us €160.40 and that's us good to go... right?
NO!!! OF COURSE NOT!!! Because in order to PAY for the flippin' things, we are charged another €5 per person per flight!!! I went through every single payment method and they are all the same. No matter whether you use your credit card, debit card, mastercard, library card, Dunnes Stores loyalty card... All the same. Another €20. Sigh.
So that's it. €3.96 has suddenly turned into €180.40. I'm waiting for an extra €10 to be slapped on for receiving an email confirmation of our booking...
Maybe we should look into self catering accommodation for when we're out there. After all, at this rate, cheap Lidl's beans and toast are about all we're going to be able to afford to eat! (I'm afraid that's probably all I'm good at cooking too, but that's a different story for a different day...)
GRRR!
4 comments:
August 28, 2008 10:24 am
Hmm ... so we're having holidays in Ireland then? Or taking the ferry instead?
August 28, 2008 10:40 am
Ah no. It's bought and paid for now... (But I reserve the right to whinge about it from now until after we come home, though... Or until I get sick of whinging about it... Whichever comes first!)
From now on, though, I think holidays in Ireland!!! (I don't really "do" ferries very well!)
August 28, 2008 1:28 pm
This will be a story to tell your children and grandchildren.
August 29, 2008 4:32 pm
Well, strictly speaking it was another cheap airline that messed up the queues at Stansted and not Ryanair. Though Ryanair do still not appear to have sent me an email to let me know the flights I booked for December and January are now departing several hours later than they were when I booked....And it does not appear from their policies that they see fit to refund the check in fee for people who are no longer checking in on that flight because they have had to book entirely new flights to connect with the flights that are now departing hours later than originally scheduled....Even though they do not quarantee connections and make this very clear, I cannot see why there is no policy of automatic refund of the check in fee for a flight cancelled for any reason and especially in good time. Granted, I haven't seen any reason to waste more money on telephone calls to try to squeeze any money out of them, so I have simply not bothered to cancel the flights just in case they change their minds again about the other flights....
I guess as long as they are still considerably cheaper than the competition on similar routes, they will get away with it.
Norwegianblue.
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