10294 Ryanair a Warning

The Lovely O'Leary may have difficulty finding sympathy for holiday home owners, but he finds it very easy to accept their money when they want to put their bums in his seats several times a year.

What a wonderful human being he is! :no:

Al

[quote=AllanMason;95673]What a wonderful human being he is! :no:[/quote]
A capitalist, free-market loving Irishman. The English just can't win with him! :bigergrin:

Ryanair is a commercial airline, not a charitable organisation. They are there to make money, it is their duty, and if some destinations are not profitable it is obvious that they are going to either reduce the number of flights available or cancel them. Yes, during peak holiday period they are going to charge higher fares, because that is the time of the year when they increase their profits. That allows them to offer cheaper airfares at other times of the year.
Before buying a property, people should carefully take all these facts into consideration.
What seems to be a bargain, may not be one after all.
Think before you buy as circumstances beyond your control may change.
By the way, We don't fly Ryanair to go to Italy. We drive the car.

I agree with most of the sentiments in the Ryanair discussion,I have travelled with this airline almost exclusively since buying a home in Le Marche,I have yet to make the journey overland.My house is due to be finished by March 09 ( this is pure theory I know ) when it is finally finished I shall be doing the overland route.Have you any advice as to the route I should take,and how much time should I allocate.

Flippancy aside, Ryanair, in common with every other airline these days, is [URL="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/zoom-and-bust-airline-collapses-but-worse-is-to-come-913392.html"]struggling to make a profit [/URL]at the moment. It lost €91Million last month, so it is perhaps no surprise that it will be cutting back on the loss-making routes. As Gala said above, Ryanair is not a charity and has an obligation to make a profit for it's shareholders - as every other company does.

The up-side of this particular coin is that if people use the airline and populate the routes then there is a good chance that the airline will still be around when things recover again. Mr O'Leary may well be a hard-nosed businessman, but he has lasted far longer than any of the other low cost carriers - remember Go, Buzz, etc? Of course, there may still be Easyjet - although you will have to get to Malpensa 2 as a first step.

[quote=ron austin;95679]Have you any advice as to the route I should take,and how much time should I allocate.[/quote]
You will find these two route planning sites useful, I hope.

[url=http://www.mappy.it/]Mappy - servizio di cartografia : mappe, itinerari in Europa[/url]

[url=http://www.viamichelin.it/viamichelin/ita/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm]ViaMichelin:mappe, itinerari, hotel, turismo, viaggi, ristoranti, week end, prenotazione alberghi[/url]

I would give yourself a couple of days - one stopover - to arrive in some semblance of humanity.

Ron, I totally agree with the advice given by Nardini. Make one overnight stopover and you will feel much better.

[quote=Nardini;95676]A capitalist, free-market loving Irishman. The English just can't win with him! :bigergrin:[/quote]

Nor indeed The Scots!!!

[quote=Gala Placidia;95678]Ryanair is a commercial airline, not a charitable organisation. They are there to make money, it is their duty, and if some destinations are not profitable it is obvious that they are going to either reduce the number of flights available or cancel them. Yes, during peak holiday period they are going to charge higher fares, because that is the time of the year when they increase their profits. That allows them to offer cheaper airfares at other times of the year.
Before buying a property, people should carefully take all these facts into consideration.
What seems to be a bargain, may not be one after all.
Think before you buy as circumstances beyond your control may change.
By the way, We don't fly Ryanair to go to Italy. We drive the car.[/quote]

Of course it's not a charitable organisation but they really get up peoples' backs perhaps needlessly so. How can they explain the €35 online charge if you need/want to change a booking. This way too is even dearer than booking afresh. The debit card charge €5 per route. Unless you are quick to grasp promotions your flights are going to cost the same as BA etc.

However Alitalia really take the biscuit for high fares to London from Rome this summer - Would you believe they are charging €944 one way!!!

Yes, I believe it, Sally. That will be the published one way full economy class fare. No advance purchase, nothing. If you have to travel.... that's it.
I worked during 10 years for a major airline and I owned a travel agency some years ago...
At the time, there was no online bookings, nothing. Airlines paid agencies generally 5-7 % commission over the published fares, which were not very different from the ones they keep on applying. Agencies did not charge clients for their services. Nowadays, most of them do.... or they disappear.
Budget airlines have made things much easier for the general public as most of the time they are considerably cheaper than the other airlines, but they have to get their money somehow, and this is by charging extra fees. Even major airlines penalise nowadays passengers if they need changes from the original booking. You need to employ and pay people to do these things and they do take time, I can assure you. If they did not charge for the changes, they would not be able to offer reduced fares.
Overall everybody is better off nowadays than in the past. Evidence of that is the much larger number of people who can afford to travel.

My point is Gala that unless you manage to get a promotional fare you are no better off financially going budget airlines and a lot happier with the service and the location of the airport with "proper" carriers..

It will be interesting to see what happens to Ryanair's profits - losses??? when they are forced to declare the actual full fares.

You are right, Sally, the promotional fares are the ones which make the big difference. Still, even some of the higher fares during peak season sound pretty good to me. Overall, the most important thing is that this type of competition is what is going to force major airlines to start offering more "discounted" (they do not like the word) or promotional fares. And this is going to be good for the average traveller. My main concern with all budget airlines is the level of maintenance and security of the aircraft. That is the most expensive side of aviation but also the most important. With all the list of recent accidents, forced landings and mishaps it is a worry..... I don't mind paying a bit more if this is going to make flying more secure.

well I guess Ryanair has to make money like all businesses but the boss has a particularly abrasive way of saying it!
As for overland my advice is to take 4 days with three overnight stops - don't kill yourself!

Hi

Cost cutting at Ryanair seems to be particularly strident but is this a corner too far?

[url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article4641399.ece]Ryanair fuel ration angers pilots - Times Online[/url]

For those of us who don't' live near London the low cost carriers have had an incredible impact - no longer do we have to add an extra 5 hours to our journey to go via Heathrow and we aren't paying BA prices (yes they are cheaper than they were a few years ago and you don't' have to stay Saturday night to get a better price) but they are still VERY expensive - - I'm going to Bucharest (form Manchester) next month on business - ticket was booked well in advance and yet it is costing over £300 for the cheapest (non changeable) ticket. Yes we get a suitcase in the hold for that and we'll get a snack and a free drink but it's still very expensive compared to low cost carriers (sadly the lowcost carrier who was doing Romania from Liverpool pulled the route last year and now only does Luton - we did look at driving down to Luton & flying from there but it didn't save much and was much less convenient).

Ryanair have their faults but they have revolutionised travel; if you don't like it, don't do it. (and yes I do know from personal experience about routes being pulled - Ryaniar pulled Liverpool Ancona the week we signed our contracts so we now go via Rome (drove down this summer - had 2 nights enroute to the Marche which is probably the minimum from the north of England.)

Chris

Here is a useful guide for booking budget airlines - [url=http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/21082008/404/avoid-budget-airline-rip-offs.html]Beware budget airlines | Yahoo! Finance[/url]

Hi

I now do my utmost not to travel ryanair, even though there is a very convenient flight from Perugia, (about an hour away) and Stansted, about an hour and a half from my Dad's house in Suffolk. The attitude of the airline and most of the staff is one of ' Head ' em Up, Move em Out, Rawhide' ... (for those with fewer years, this was a popular western tv programme about cattle ranchers.) Their attitude from the top down makes you want to get one over on them!!

A couple of years or so ago, Meridiana, flying out of Florence (15 mins. from city centre), previously more of a business airline, opened its eyes to mass travel and introduce webfares etc. I now frequently find fares from Florence to Gatwick, with 20 kgs. + 5 kgs. + 10% leeway for much less than Ryanair, this is the same winter and summer so nothing to do with seasonal surges.

Yes, I am lucky to have a choice of airlines, but this was one of the things we considered when we bought a house here. Not only for ourselves but for our guests. Apologies if that sounds arrogant...

Hi again

Booked a couple of days ago to return to the UK for a few days at the end of Sept. with Meridiana (I know they can be late sometimes....) and thought I would compare prices. Ryanair - Perugia to Stansted €220 return, Pisa (with 2 x 3 hour train journey and possible need for hotel because of early/late flights) €190 return and Meridiana €200 with convenient times and full luggage allowance etc. Not a lot of difference but the convenience and courtesy make a huge difference.

It's simple. There are exceptional fares to be had when Ryanair start a promotion and you book there and then. One friend of mine is shortly going to Marseilles, costing only £8 return in debit card fees, no taxes whatsoever. Another friend of mine is off to Italy in October. Outward £5 card fee only, again no taxes, and return €1 + €5 card fee, no taxes. Sounds oh so cool to me.

[quote=Nardini;95676]A capitalist, free-market loving Irishman. The English just can't win with him! :bigergrin:[/quote]
Capitalist yes......... loving Irishman NO... He has cut loads of flights from Cork ( says it is the second most expensive airport for charges ) and Shannon airports including Shannon to Rome last year.

Hi Sally

Yes, there are bargains to be had, but if you have work or have other commitments it is rarely possible that you can take them. My point was that like for like on a given day ryanair is often not the best option.

[quote=Aretina;95742]Hi Sally

Yes, there are bargains to be had, but if you have work or have other commitments it is rarely possible that you can take them. My point was that like for like on a given day ryanair is often not the best option.[/quote]

Yes I agree with you Aretina. I have flown in the past with the usual carriers for that reason. Going on "time is money", how much time is spent/lost when trying to book online on that awful sluggish website of Ryanair's???

Just an aside, the Mediiana website is also appalling, design and information wise.