[Closed] Ryan Air 'Free' Flights

The FLIGHT is free, but you still have to pay airport taxes and other charges. Simples! 😉

You should try spending BA airmiles I've got about 100,000 but after taxes and fees the flights still cost £200+

Total joke.

Choose your dates carefully on that (and other routes) and you can fly for 0.01p inc all fees/taxes/checkin fees

Amazed that people will use a company that offers a fax number for their customer services. Amazed. I wouldnt go near any company like that in the first place.

But the flight isn't free, cause you have to pay ryan airs fees, so therefore ryan airs services.

anyway i know they do it all the time, but its so annoying.

rich tea, what dates?

so therefore ryan airs services

airport's actually I guess rather than ryanairs. I'm sure ryanair will add a 'service charge' onto whatever they get charged though.

Take the policy of not believing a word ryanair says and you will be ok! as mentioned above, some routes are priced at 1p and you don't pay any tax - just gotta be flexible on dates.

leave NCL 04/Nov. return 10th.
Won't suit everyone but if you book ahead it can work in your favour

True some folk by over-focusing on the flights (i.e. spending their time doing so) will get a cheap flight- however the thought for me would be what if they have to ditch you at somepoint? Return journey etc. **** that. I'll fly with Easyjet etc etc. Better things to worry/spend my time on.

Yeah, I was looking on there as well, thought about going away just before Christmas with my girlfriend. Cheapest 'flight' I could find was about £9.99 plus taxes/fees/charges etc. Didn't find a single free flight in spite of an hour searching.

Just occasionally it can work in your favour - back in January I got a return flight to Girona for £8.02 all in but since then they've started charging for online check in and the booking fee has also gone up.

Just booked to go and see the missus in Gothenburg, got a return for £25 of which £10 is the fee to pay with plastic 😡 still cheap as chips.

I'll look again tonight, see if i can find a nice cheap trip around christmas... unlikely!

Flew Edinburgh to Carcassonne (South of France) last month for 15 return all in. If Id had a rare Visa Debit it would have been even less. Take it (and make their rules work for you) or leave it; which is O'Leary's point as well. The idiots that turn up late and/or over weight, expecting premium customer service deserve everything they get.

Edit: I think I mean Visa Electron

which is O'Leary's point

O'Leary's point is that the fares are free. The OP's point is that O'Leary is economical with the truth.

Doesn't matter either way, it's still cheaper than paying for the flight AND the taxes and charges.

O'Leary's point is that the fares are free.

the fares [i]are[/i] free

the fares are free

They're not actually, they cost 1p ....... ie, you can't have a ticket if you don't hand over 1p.

Besides, taxes and other charges are all part of the cost of a flight fare. So the flight fare isn't 'free', even if the seat is. Which goes back to the point that O'Leary is economical with the truth.

ernie - if you got a bike free but were charged import duty by the government would you moan at the guy giving you the free bike for not paying the import duty for you?

If I'd had a Visa Electron mine would have been free! As long as we agree 2400 miles of air travel for 4 quid is 'free'?

would you moan

It has nothing to do with "moaning", it's to do with facts........the flights are not "free". Even though they might well be very good value.

Is there a special law which states O'Leary can say whatever he likes, irrespective of the facts ?

And btw, I's like to withdraw my claim that O'Leary is "economical with the truth", I think that he is probably a liar, although I need a legal opinion to be sure. I've just looked at Ryanair website and to the left of the home page it [i]very clearly[/i] says no taxes [u]or charges[/u]

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

If you click on terms and conditions you get a blank page.

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7522043.stm ]Stop it you lying git[/url] O'leary is a didicoy.

I flew Lying Air to Rome recently, not for a cheap flight, simply because they went there from Stansted at a time when I wanted to go.

I booked online, for which I got charged extra ... why?
I took hold baggage which I booked in online.... then got told I hadn't and charged again at a premium for it at the airport!
I got charged for airport taxes and fees.... seperately, (see above)
I got charged seperately for handling fees.... why and for what? (see above)
I got charged for paying with a credit card when there is little other choice online.... why?
I got bollocked for not entering my nationality and passport details when I checked in online ..... incidentally thats impossible to do, as you cannot check in online without doing so.

The advertised flight costs were something like £40 each per head. The actual total cost was something like £200. I believe that is called misleading advertising. The guy gets away with it because he sails right on the edge of what is legal, and pretends to change each time he is approached about it, or just finds another way of fiddling the figures.

Incidentally, I also recently flew to South Africa by BA. The total flight cost was only marginally higher than the flight cost to Rome. The taxes and airport costs were substantially lower than those charged by Ryan Air for my flight to Italy. Bit weird that don't you think?

Sleazy Jet : here I come!

Love him or hate him, Michael O'Leary is a marketing machine - the very reason this discussion is happening is due to his marketing tactics - ie everyone has heard of Ryanair and is aware of what they do.

There is no law that says you have to fly with Ryanair, or pay their fares, but human nature lures us like flies to s**t to anything where we think we will get something for nothing - where as we are all aware that very rarely in life do we get anything for nothing!

And you just cannot argue with the success of Ryanair - MO'L is a genius at the end of the day - his methods may be questionable, but his results speak for themselves.

It has nothing to do with "moaning", it's to do with facts........the flights are not "free".

They are, you're just paying for incidentals in the middle, and you have the choice to not pay at any point. You get nothing for free, no sane human would assume you did, so why moan (and it is moaning)? Sure, it's an advertising technique, but they do warn you at every stage before you pay that you will be charged for this etc. It's just a tax on stupidity if you carry on and book it if it's not worth while.

Back to the bike analogy, would you moan at the bike seller despite the fact that he knows full well you'll have to pay import taxes?

And as for credit card charges - can you not use a debit card and avoid those charges?

How are the flights free? Its like one of those con ads with the astrix in the bottom of the screen etc.

Cheap-tricks. Not solid customer base building but a model based on churn. You might have a one,two-three time customer- but then on their fourth visit etc your customer will be ****ed royally and leave you..

Its like anal sex, your girlfriend will allow it once. She wont allow it again. This is also how your customers feel Leary.

I've flown ryanair twice now IIRC. Both great prices. Both cheaper than anyone else on the same route. Sure the additions took the price up, but then I've a brain and I could include that in my price to get somewhere, I didnt just go "ooh a flight for £20, book it now!".

the flights aren't free. it clearly says you are paying for ryan airs fees. if they were free you wouldn't pay those fees. yes you have to pay airport tax, fine. but why advertise something as free and then say you have to pay ryan airs fees. THAT IS NOT FREE!!!

coffeeking- wonder if he has the same policy with his maintance staff 😉

Is there a special law which states O'Leary can say whatever he likes, irrespective of the facts ?

Actually, there probably is - afaik there's no law against lying on TV...

Mind you, and specifically to this case: I thought the EU had changed the law to prohibit this kind of advertising for air fares?

hora - Member

coffeeking- wonder if he has the same policy with his maintance staff

Ryanair's staff policies are interesting. In the drive to the bottom line, they institute measures like making the pilots bring in their own in-flight water requirements...

Nice.

Panorama described the practice as "sweating the assets".

Panorama described the practice as "sweating the assets".

No thank you.

i f'kin HATE ryanair.

booked some flights to poland earlier in the year for me and a mate. both bought in the same transaction on the same card yet each fare incurred a £10 card handling fee. how does that work? the card was on used once FFS...

next, when we went to do the online check-in thing (granted we did leave it right to the last minute so are partly to blame) the site was down so ended up paying an extra £20 each to check-in at the airport. we incurred this fee BOTH WAYS.

and finally, i had with me my tripod for the camera. it was attached to the back of my backpack which i was taking on the plane (didn't pay for checking in items). the attendant at liverpool saw me with the tripod because she made me take off my backpack and show her that it fitted in those rack-things. never said anything to me about the tripod. coming back i was told that it was a weapon & i had to either leave it or pay £40 to check it in. so another £40 to the thieving scumbags then. i'd become so used to handing them cash for nothing by now that i did so with very little complaint.

i'll never fly with them again. great marketing tactics...if you can class stealing from and isolating your customers that. 👿

I regularly fly Gothenburg to Stansted with Ryanair paying anywhere between £70 and £10 return, which more often than not is cheaper than my train fare to my onwards destination!
Accept Ryanair for what it is, no thrills, very cheap not free flights, sod all service and you won't go wrong. If you want service, pay for it and chose one of the other airlines.

Accept Ryanair for what it is, no thrills, very cheap not free flights

Not free flights ? So that means you have to accept that O'Leary is a liar then ? It's a sad state of affairs when you have to be prepared to accept that the owner of an airline is a liar 😕

regularly fly Gothenburg to Stansted with Ryanair paying anywhere between £70 and £10 return, which more often than not is cheaper than my train fare to my onwards destination!
Accept Ryanair for what it is, no thrills, very cheap not free flights, sod all service and you won't go wrong. If you want service, pay for it and chose one of the other airlines.

but easy jet & another no frills airline that i've used - wizz air (real bargain flights to eastern europe :D) - fall into the same category yet their service is miles better and prices are similar, if not cheaper. there's just no need for ryanair's underhand tactics.

Not free flights ? So that means you have to accept that O'Leary is a liar then ? It's a sad state of affairs when you have to be prepared to accept that the owner of an airline is a liar

Yep, I can accept that he is a liar if it gets me to my destination cheaply. Like I said, if you have a problem with Ryanair, don't use them, simple really.

I still don't understand how anyone in there right mind can ever expect to get a flight for nothing - it's just not a realistic proposition. The guy on Panorama who was getting return flights for 2p must be one of the very few of O'Learys 67m passengers who get this, but to all intents and purposes it is free.
The other 66.999m have to foot the bill of the man who flies for free.
But, it gets peoples attention and gets them to the website - again no law says you then have to book!
Also out of 67m passengers, theres bound to be a few disgruntled ones - but many millions of happy ones.
And to say BA offers a much higher standard of service for a similar price, well this maybe true - but for how much longer???

When I say "happy", I suppose "satisfied", would be a better word to use - not sure anyone can be "happy" to fly Ryanair - unless it's for 2p 😉

I once flew with BA- an earlier cancelled flight took our scheduled plane. Net result I had to pay £70 for a solo transfer to Morzine. I'd still fly with BA rather than Ryanair. Saying that I'd chose easyjet/A.N.other over BA first.

coffeeking- wonder if he has the same policy with his maintance staff

Legal minimum requirements on maintenance, can't go too far wrong unless you book some unheard of middle-eastern backwater flights-r-us.

Though there is something self-contradictory about their website...

[img] [/img]
There either ARE taxes and charges, or there are not. Make up your mind.

Love the footer. Fares dont inc option fees/charges....even though the header screams NO TAXES OR CHARGES LOL.

My other half worked for them for a bit, the staff refused to work on the plane because they hadn't done the required safety checks. The plane was running late and they have a short turn around time. The staff were told to work anyway or they'd be fired! Not sure quite how true her stories are, though theres a similar story on The Times website
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article1343517.ece

Thanks for that link. It just reinforces what I think of the confidence-trickster.

A work colleague of mine uses Ryan air all the time, he gets round the "extra charges" by using an Electron card - so he reguarly jets off here, there everywhere for between 1 and 99p returns - apparenty the electron card is the only one which doesn't incurr any extras.

bigdonx - Member
I still don't understand how anyone in there right mind can ever expect to get a flight for nothing - it's just not a realistic proposition.

It works on the basis that your advertising has to both be true and not misleading. Simple really, if someone tells you something is free, then it has to be free. Otherwise its a con and therefore illegal. O'Leary has been taken to task numerous times by the OFT, and usually getas away with it because his company headquarters are in a different jurasdiction to where the offences are taking place. I beleive recently that they were told that the caveats and extras should be presented in at least the same size and prominence as the actual offers. One glance at the "free" advert posted on Page 1 shows how much notice he's taken of that.

so as that advert says you only pay for [b]optional[/b] charges on all flights in november and december on selected routes. The route newcastle to dublin is one of the free routes and if I want to travel between 18th and 20th Dec I [b]HAVE[/b] to pay 48 quid taxes and Fees and 11 quid insurance. That is not optional, thats compulsory. so therefore he is lying, plain and simple, these flights are not free. so why say they are? personally I'm speaking to the advertising watchdog this evening to ask them their opinion on it.

i booked yesterday weekend break in dublin, paid a total of 2p for the flights, paid with visa electron, and will not be checking in any hold luggage.

there are no taxes/charges on most sales flights, i do this regularlt it is a great way to see europe

There either ARE taxes and charges, or there are not. Make up your mind.

There's a key word in the advert - optional. There can be no taxes or charges, but if you choose to take a bag etc. then you'll be charged but this is optional - simples

Just did the same exercise with a standard fare. It was bumped up by 42.5% by unavoidable extras. Incidentally, the taxes are Taxes, Fees, Insurance, Whhelchair levy and Aviation Insurance..... this all on top of the optional travel insurance that is offered prior to getting that far. Also two online web check in fees (one for out and one for inbound), despite the fact that the purpose of online checkin is to reduce costs for Ryan air, and that the process only occurs once on the outbound leg.

I also use Ryanair a lot to fly home. I personally have no horror stories but a friend of mine here was left stranded in Morocco by Ryanair after the plane failed to show up. All the passengers were give the refund for their return flight (probably a few quid each) but then had to find their own way home which cost my friend over a grand. He will never use them again. But the point of the OP is not if Ryanair offer good or bad service it is simply if the advertising claims they are making are fraudulent which they patently are.

2p for a 2 night break in Oslo in December. No taxes or charges. Very tempting.

and there's another thing, how come some 'free' flights have no taxes, while others that are also advertised as free do have taxes?

Roter Stern -
That happened to me, too.
Left in Marrakech by Ryanair with the promise they'd fly us home on the next flight with available seats. Which happened to be in 4 weeks time!

We had to fight for our refunds, but no compensation for spending £800 to get home.

C N U T S.

Yep, I can accept that he is a liar if it gets me to my destination cheaply. Like I said, if you have a problem with Ryanair, don't use them, simple really.

Simple really ? No, not really that simply, because there is an accepted protocol which states that any company that provides a product or service to the public shouldn't lie. And "the law" has often something to say on the matter.

Although I'm not sure why less cheap companies shouldn't be allowed to lie, would you extend that attitude to any company which provides products or services to the public ? How about cheap supermarkets such as Asda or Lidl, should they get away with lying about their prices whilst Waitrose or Sainsbury are expected to tell the truth - or is only O'Leary allowed to lie ?

The purpose of this gimmick was to counter the bad publicity which Ryanair received from a Panorama programme. Instead of taking the BBC to court, Ryanair hoped people would feel that the claims should be ignored - because Ryanair are cheap. It would appear that at least one person on here has been won over by that argument. Of course in the process of this gimmick, Ryanair have reinforced the fact that they are liars.

Why do people get so worked up by the guy/airline? He comes accross as a bit of a chancer admittedly, but in my experience he delivers. I've flown extensively with them, and the vast majority of flights are on time, and cheap.

Vote with your feet.

and there's another thing, how come some 'free' flights have no taxes, while others that are also advertised as free do have taxes?

T&Cs

No Taxes on flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday in November & Dec

 

I'm with brycey. I used to fly round Europe a lot, and originally it was Ryanair. 30 odd flights, not one problem. Ever. But it got more and more like a cattle truck, whilst easyjet (and others) provide better service, and get you more or less to our destination - Ryanair to Venice- Treviso, and don't get me started on that shed that's supposed to be in or even near Paris.
Anyway, I seem to be one of the very few people in the world capable of not using Ryanair, and so not giving a flying **** what they do or say.
Also, my TV has an OFF button which works remarkably well when required.

No Taxes on flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday in November & Dec

Seeing this I tried to book a flight, newcastle - dublin leaving on saturday, coming back on monday. not only are the flights now a tenner each but they still have 60 quid taxes and other charges on them. so I ask again, Ryan Air where are these 'free' flights

Out of interest I tried booking a flight from Edinburgh to Krakow in January
Ryanair - advertised price - £2.99 out, £12.99 back. Actual price £76.something
Easyjet - advertised £27.99 out, £18.99 back. Actual price = advertised price.

so I ask again, Ryan Air where are these 'free' flights

If you really need to find free flights - use moneysavingexpert's flight checker - and yes there are free flights available, if you look

BigButSlimmerBloke - thing is, hes like an annoying gnat that entraps new victims. I bet the ASA have had soooo many complaints but they can only 'rule' and ask that an ad is pulled. I just wish RyanAir would be more honest

If you really need to find free flights

BigButSlimmerBloke - thing is, hes like an annoying gnat that entraps new victims.

..and how does he "entrap" his "victims"?

A website offers something that may or may not be available. Before you click on the button that commits you to purchase the final price is detailed right there, right in front of you - see my last post.
Are you a "victim" because checking the price is too much like work for you, or finding out that your £75 return flight doesn't mean business class? Is it really a secret known only to a few hardcore travellers that the price on Ryanair's front page is rarely the price you will pay?
How difficult is it to understand that you are free not to fly with Ryanair? In exactly the same way that you don't HAVE to give those nice Nigerian former ministers of state your bank details. But you can if you want to.

Couldn't have put it better myself BBSB.......