Ryanair to introduce airport check-in charge

[TheBear]

From Ireland.com:

• Ryanair is to begin charging customers a €3 airport check-in charge from next month.
  
  Passengers who use the check-in desk will be subject to the fee which the airline says reflects the cost of airport facilities. The new charges come into force on September 20th.
  
  The move will hit passengers having to check-in luggage the hardest as the airline also charges a fee of €12 per item of checked-baggage.
  
  Ryanair says the new fee is designed to encourage passengers to travel without excess baggage and use the company's web check-in and priority boarding service.
  
  In the short-term the move is likely to contribute to a significant revenue boost for the airline of between €100 to €150 million per annum for the Ryanair, based on its estimate of carrying around 50 million passengers a year.
  
  Last month the company said its other ancillary revenues - including car hire, hotel bookings, travel insurance, onboard sales and excess baggage revenues - had risen by 53 per cent to €117.1 million and the latest change will boost these, at least in the short-term.
  
  However, revenue from paid check-in may fall if significant numbers of passengers transfer to online booking. Ryanair's Peter Sherrard said declined to give the percentage of passengers currently using web check-in but said it was "quite small. Obviously we would like to see that grow."

They are removing the charge for web check-in once this new charge comes into effect, but moves like this are steadily decreasing the margin by which flying with Ryanair is cheaper than the alternatives.

[cilldara]

Is it just me or is the days of low cost flying going already?? For every euro they slash off the price of a ticket they seem to add through hidden costs.

[kerrynorth]

From Ireland.com:

• Ryanair is to begin charging customers a €3 airport check-in charge from next month.
  
  Passengers who use the check-in desk will be subject to the fee which the airline says reflects the cost of airport facilities. The new charges come into force on September 20th.
  
  The move will hit passengers having to check-in luggage the hardest as the airline also charges a fee of €12 per item of checked-baggage.
  
  Ryanair says the new fee is designed to encourage passengers to travel without excess baggage and use the company's web check-in and priority boarding service.
  
  In the short-term the move is likely to contribute to a significant revenue boost for the airline of between €100 to €150 million per annum for the Ryanair, based on its estimate of carrying around 50 million passengers a year.
  
  Last month the company said its other ancillary revenues - including car hire, hotel bookings, travel insurance, onboard sales and excess baggage revenues - had risen by 53 per cent to €117.1 million and the latest change will boost these, at least in the short-term.
  
  However, revenue from paid check-in may fall if significant numbers of passengers transfer to online booking. Ryanair's Peter Sherrard said declined to give the percentage of passengers currently using web check-in but said it was "quite small. Obviously we would like to see that grow."

They are removing the charge for web check-in once this new charge comes into effect, but moves like this are steadily decreasing the margin by which flying with Ryanair is cheaper than the alternatives.

Ryanairs charges are jumping up and biting them in the pocket where it hurts. When they put on a E3 charge or checking in online people queued up instead costing Ryanair more in labour and other costs. So now they have reversed engines and now will charge you for queuing to checkin. Mary Harney would be proud of us!

[SPN]

Is it just me or is the days of low cost flying going already?? For every euro they slash off the price of a ticket they seem to add through hidden costs.

I think you have it backwards.

Currently the cost of providing the check-in service is "hidden" in the total ticket charge. RyanAir are actually making the costs more transparent by splitting them all out individually.

This makes it possible for people to take actions to avoid incurring these additional costs, and for them to stop subsidising those who can't be bothered planning properly for their trip.

[the saint]

good idea

[kerrynorth]

Is it just me or is the days of low cost flying going already?? For every euro they slash off the price of a ticket they seem to add through hidden costs.

I think you have it backwards.

Currently the cost of providing the check-in service is "hidden" in the total ticket charge. RyanAir are actually making the costs more transparent by splitting them all out individually.

This makes it possible for people to take actions to avoid incurring these additional costs, and for them to stop subsidising those who can't be bothered planning properly for their trip.

You could view it that way alright. But if you are checking in baggage you cannot avoid the charge.

[meriwether]

Is it just me or is the days of low cost flying going already?? For every euro they slash off the price of a ticket they seem to add through hidden costs.

I think you have it backwards.

Currently the cost of providing the check-in service is "hidden" in the total ticket charge. RyanAir are actually making the costs more transparent by splitting them all out individually.

This makes it possible for people to take actions to avoid incurring these additional costs, and for them to stop subsidising those who can't be bothered planning properly for their trip.

When can we expect to spot a decrease in ticket charges of approx €3, and will we be able to identify it?
Becasue the cynic in me says that this is simply an extra €3, rather than a splitting of the costs, with a consequent reduction in the ticket charge.

[Aindriu]

That's why I won't fly Ryanair

[LiquidPaddy]

WTF? Next charges if you use up the aircraft tyres while landing, tiring the staff too much, it's just ridiculous. I never fly with them, after having been massively inconvenienced by them in the past. Now with another crackpot scheme to fleece customers (or is that cost centres on legs), I'll certainly never travel with them in the future... for their faults, I'll stick with Aer Lingus.

[Gerrymanderer]

Well Ryanair are introducing new stealth charges all the time. As has been said at least consumers have the opportunity to avoid paying this one if they want by checking in online.

But the Govt or EU Commission needs to take Ryanair and Aer Lingus to task for misleading advertising and promotion on their websites by allowing them to advertise prices which bear no relation to the final price. I just started to book a flight to Aberdeen, supposedly €.01 each way...but by the time I was finished with fees, taxes, insurance, baggage charges, credit card fees etc it came to €60.75

Some of these taxes and fees are going to be on all flights so it is misleading not to present them upfront. The insurance charge is a big bugbear for me...its automatically ticked that you will pay this...and many people probably think they need it, but it is a rip off, and don't get me started on the credit card charge...of €6...how else are you going to pay on line by cheque?

Yes, Ryanair do provide good value for money, and I don't expect them not to charge, but they should be required to present the full price up front for those aspects of the cost that you cannot opt out of.