Ryanair credit card charges in Germany "illegal"

[big cheese]

German courts have ruled that the Ryanair credit cardcharge per person per flight is illegal.

Urteil gegen Billigflieger Ryanair: Ticketkauf per Kreditkarte darf nicht extra kosten - Nachrichten Reise - WELT ONLINE
If your German is not up to much, translation via babbelfish...

Setback for Ryanair: The payment of a plane ticket in the Internet must be possible after a court decision also without fees for the map payment. Consumer protections had complained against the fact that with of Europe largest low cost airline per guest and distance four euros credit card fee are required. Of Europe of largest low cost airlines Ryanair may of his customers during on-line reservation no special fees for the payment with credit or kinds of hitting a corner require. This decided the Court of Appeal Berlin and gave so the Federal association of the consumer centers (vzbv) in far parts quite. The court explained thereby the past payment practice of Ryanair for inadmissible. The airline announced immediately revision. After representation of the consumer federation, which had complained against Ryanair, the enterprise charged for by credit card a fee of four euros per aircraft passenger and simple flight to its customers for the purchase of the ticket. For the employment of a EC-map the fee amounted to 1.50 euros. Customers would not have had a possibility pay their ticket without additional costs. Only over hardly the visa Electron map common in opinion of consumer protections a free reservation was possible. This map functioned usually like a bank card and is available only against an annual fee between 40 and 100 euros. In opinion of the citizens of Berlin judges a genuine return is not evident to the fees raised from Ryanair. In the past procedures give it no possibility for the customers of following its contractual payment obligation free of charge. According to estimate vzbv the decision means a further step for the customers to more price transparency in the Internet. more pictures Shrill boss Michael O' Leary and its Ryanair show Ryanair wants to proceed against the judgement, how enterprise spokeswoman Anja Seugling said. According to Court of Appeal the airline has time still until the end of the month for it. The spokeswoman did not resist also the representation, with Ryanair is possible free reservations at all. Of vzbv as hardly estimated visa Electron map spreads actually already of 20 per cent of the passengers is used, explained it. Because of obscure price structuring consumer protections have already longer a special attention to different airlines: Ryanair is not loud vzbv the only airline, which heavymakes customers with its price strategy the life. Thus many low cost airlines with fares would recruit to the taxi tariff, but at the end passengers would have to pay often to more than the double - for the Gepäckaufgabe, the ticket payment and even for check in. „With it conclusion must be finite. The consumer must recognize at first sight, as expensive the offered ticket is “, demanded vzbv boss Gerd Billen. Keywords Ryanair low cost airline airline reservation fee judgement since in the middle of 2006 introduced the umbrella organization of the consumer centers according to own data already 50 warning and complaint procedures against airlines. He got tail wind by a new guideline of the European union, which stepped in November 2008 into force. It specifies that the end price must contain all compelling costs of the flight. Additional costs for extra achievements are to be represented at the beginning of the accounting process clearly. Cost-relevant pre-setting with the reservation by Internet is inadmissible. (File references: Court of Appeal Berlin 23 U 243/08)

The translation is a tad pidgin, but gets the point across.
I hope that this may set a precedent Europe wide.
I accept that nearly all airlines now charge this ridiculous fee, but Ryanair started it

[Nem]

Ah, now, they found a different way to make mint. Out of 10 ukuleles that is.

Council helps pay ukulele air fair - Sleaford Standard

£250 in one fine swoop! I wonder if they will secretly count them as paying passengers.

What would Mr. Feckless say?

[euroboy]

I think Ryanair charge no fee for using visa electron and so it can advertise a price that is lower than what someone would pay using the other payment cards.

Its a pity no Irish banks issue visa electron. ryanair should be tackled on it here, becuase for most Irish bookers, the credit card charge is NO optional. Its vital, and as such it should be priced into the advertised price.

Oh and Ryanair never seem to think its charges have any effect on passeneger numbers while the travel tax is evil. What about the 5euro credit charge charge that seems to jump every so often, the luggage fees and the new online check in fee.

He treats us like fools, the media shouldnt allow them airtime to beat the travel tax, the media should ask why he thinks a 10euro travel tax stops people booking while ryanair's fees have no effect./

Another area where ryanair need to be investiagted its on its currency exchange. It uses DCC without giving one the option, which is required.

So if I use my euro credit card to book Pound Sterling tickets, I would expect ryanair to charge on card in sterling, and my card company to do the exchange(market rate with a commission). This does not happen, ryanair detect that my card is euro so it has a machine that converts the sterling value into euro(at a very poor exchange rate) and it charges my card IN euro. So while the bookling screen shows Pounds, my card is charged in eURO.

This HURTS the consumer. Ryanair can make up to 10% profit on the exchange than if my credit card company was to do the exchange for me.

[the_moss]

Are they still considering charging for a jimmy riddle ?

[Colada]

No.
Retrofitting door locks will cost 1.14 Billion (not million, Billion) according to Boeing.

However they are now suggesting charging you to become a baggage handler:

Ryanair: Passengers As Baggage Handlers?
http://industry.bnet.com/travel/1000...gage-handlers/

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary [COLOR=#005399]suggested today[/COLOR] that passengers should ferry their own luggage from airport to airplane — but still pay £5 (about $8) per bag to place them in the hold. O’Leary said that getting rid of baggage handlers would help the budget airline save £26 million ($43 million) a year.
“What it means is no more waiting at the carousel, no more losing your bags, no more wasting your life in over-priced airport terminals,” [COLOR=#005399]O’Leary told The Telegraph.[/COLOR]
It’s unknown [COLOR=#005399]how serious O’Leary [/COLOR]is about the new proposal. Similar proposals, like creating pay toilets on planes, have yet to materialize because of their complete impracticality. Similarly, baggage handlers and their unions may have something to say about O’Leary’s proposal — and we haven’t even discussed lawsuits. How does one person carry four bags of luggage? And what if they’re disabled? I take O’Leary’s suggestion as a publicity stunt rather than a legitimate proposal.

It probably deserves a new thread, just to cackle at - but I'm sufferring from RBF today and can't be arsed to start one.