At last, Ryanair gets fined $100m for abusive practices
NewsFrom the Daily Telegraph:
Ryanair and easyJet have been fined €179m (£149m) for “abusive practices” such as charging passengers for hand luggage.
Spain fined the two carriers, along with Vueling, Norwegian Air and Volotea, and said it would also ban some of the practices – including additional fees for hand luggage.
… Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, said: ‘These illegal and baseless fines have been invented by Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry for political reasons, and are clearly in breach of EU law.’
Surely a fine like that would drive a small airline out of business.
In any case, O’Leary may be right and Spain may not have the authority.
Oh, for the days of travel agents…
I also lament the death knell of the travel agency business. It was thanks to my regular one that I got a confirmed upgrade to Concorde on a round the world business class ticket. And with another such ticket using Cathay Pacfic, BA and American, my agent called three weeks before the start of the journey to inform me that if I could switch to a combination of Singapore, Swiss and Delta, he could get me an upgrade to first for the same price. That meant two small detours but would never have been possible had I already purchased the earlier ticket from the internet.
¡Viva España!
Service industries depend on customers. When they abuse that relationship, they should be reprimanded, regardless of what the damages may mean for their financial stability.
There are other carriers only too happy to serve these routes.
Michael Leary, the jig is up.
“There are other carriers only too happy to serve these routes.”
Sure, but not at the price you’d like to pay. If they could’ve beat the lowcost airlines, they would’ve, and you’d’ve flown on them, but they didn’t and you didn’t.
The market always speaks.
Ryanair charges are pretty clear when you choose to book with them.
Actually Ryanair serve a number of routes other airlines choose not to.
As a customer, you always have a choice and know what you are doing if you choose Ryanair, or any other budget carrier.
Shirley, if you do the crime, you pay the fine.
Clearly illegal action by the Spanish government to prop up it’s national airline, Iberia, and its lowcost line, Iberia Express.
The governements of Ireland and Norway will countersue in the European courts and Spain will lose.
Their closest business model ally in America Spirit Air went bankrupt this week. The business model is subjective, as a passeneger, you never know what your final price will be until you reach the baggage desk at the airport. The EU and the UK should force Ryan Air to have a menu of costs and fees on the front of their website and behind the ticket counter at each airport. I flew them once between Dublin and Paris 20 years ago and after the financial rape over our bags, I’ve never flown with them again.
Which business has a menu of costs and fees on the front of their website and behind the counter?
Not even McDonalds.
There must be some limit to what can be carried in hand-luggage. Otherwise, the plane will be too heavy to safely take-off. Besides, there is only so much space available in the cabin for the luggage to be safely stored.
I can’t wait to see people defend ryanair in the comments. The despicable attacks against the double bassist the other day in the comment section shows how repressed, brainwashed, and bitter a lot of people are to the point that they’d not only willingly bow down to illegal/unethical companies, but they demand others to do the same. Sanctions like these are necessary to rectify this culture.
History has finally absolved Georgina!