Watchdog criticises Ryanair pricing policies

The head of the Office of Fair Trading (OfT) in the UK, John Fingleton, has come out and attacked Ryanair for their infantile charging policies. He highlighted the fees that were added on when customers book online and use certain types of cards for payments. Mr Fingleton also went on to talk about the insurance on many low-cost carrier’s websites where the customer has to opt out or face being charged more on top of their flights.

Only last year the OfT stepped in and asked Ryanair to make the cost of flights on advertisements clearer for the public. The airline promised to take action and also make their website clearer for customers looking for flights. The budget carrier’s previous payment option charged passengers £5 per flight for booking online with a credit or debit card, unless it was a Visa electron and then the transaction was free. With the announcements late last year that some banks were to do away with electron cards, Ryanair changed the free option to MasterCard pre pay cards as the only way of getting to book flights with out the extra fee.

Ryanair have hit back at OfT and Mr Fingleton saying that the airline and its seats are meant for the working class of Europe and help many people that could not previously afford to fly. Most of the extra charges are for things like luggage in the hold and the previous option to be able to check-in online. The airline gives its customers the option to fly very cheaply across Europe with minimal fuss and will continue to give choice to the travelling public.