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Ryanair Kicks Off 2010 By Taking On UK Consumer Rights Agency

January 8, 2010 at 12:37 PM | by | Comments (0)

Refusing to sit on the laurels of their solid 2009 finish, where they were dubbed the worst family brand, Irish LCC Ryanair is starting 2010 with a flourish. Less than a week into the new year, the airline is already in a tiff with the UK's Office of Fair Trading, which had the audacity to complain about the airline's brazen abuse of consumer protection regulations.

Ryanair more or less charges £5 per person—that's per ticket, not per order—on every online booking. Some people might say "hey, if there is a universal £5 charge on every ticket, that's not a fee as much as it is a ticket that costs £5 over the listed price." And that would be true, except Ryanair has until now allowed customers to avoid the fee if they booked with the no-one's-ever-heard-of-it Visa Electron card. That way they could dodge UK regulations on ticket pricing—in theory anyone could avoid the fee—while still reaping the extra few pounds from the vast majority of customers.

Recently the company changed even that, switching the lonely "no fee" option from the obscure Visa Electron to the even more obscure Mastercard Prepaid card. OFT chief executive John Fingleton took notice, pointing out what's long been obvious to everyone: Ryanair is unblinkingly trying to hide its fees by choosing the most random payment option in the universe so it doesn't have to list the £5 surcharge. The words "puerile" and "childish" both featured prominently.

Given the temper tantrum that Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary threw when the BBC leveled some mild criticism his way, the OFT's broadside was bound to produce fireworks. And indeed, the company collectively staged an entirely predictable hissy fit, complete with public declarations of we-scoff-in-your-general-direction "laughter."

Official criticism of Ryanair's mountain of hidden fees? Check. Reasonable and accurate evidence to back up that criticism? Check. Hysterical and childish overreaction from Ryanair HQ? Checkity check check. Everything old really does seem to be new again!

[Photo: Jonik / Wiki Commons]

Related Stories:
· Ryanair labelled ‘puerile and childish’ by OFT [Cheap Flights]
· Ryanair [Jaunted]
· Airline Fees [Jaunted]

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