One way to fight an ongoing labor strike is to rally customers to your side. You might think Ryanair would be pulling out all the stops to make customers happy during this turbulent labor period. Instead, Ryanair is pouring gas on the fire through an onerous new hand baggage policy and sending out checks that bounce.
On the issue of carry-on baggage, you might recall that Ryanair already announced changes last year that were puzzling, to put it charitably. Passengers who failed to purchase priority boarding were forced to check in their larger carry-on bag at the gate (for free). The hope was to speed up boarding but it resulted in more delays. Gee, what a surprise that delays happen when 100+ passengers must gate check their bags…
Effective November 01, 2018, Ryanair is restricting hand baggage even further. While the cost of checking a 10kg bag will be reduced to €/£8, larger carry-ons will no longer be gate checked on complimentary basis unless a passenger purchases priority boarding for €/£6.
Did you catch that? You can pay €/£8 or €/£6 for essentially the same thing, since the €/£6 “priority boarding” option will still leave open the option of gate checking a bag for free. I predict further delays.
But wait, there’s more!
During this summer of woe, Ryanair has been forced to compensate passengers for many delays. Receiving compensation from Ryanair is like pulling teeth, but for about 200 passengers even a check (cheque for my European readers) was not enough. Their compensation checks bounced due to a missing signature. Ryanair claimed it was an honest mistake…
CONCLUSION
Maybe it’s just me, but I still think Ryanair is going about it all wrong. Its customer-unfriendly policies and stingy compensation turn customers against it, making them more sympathetic to union industrial action. This hurts Ryanair’s bargaining position and ends up costing the airline even more. Here’s what I know: I’ve flown Ryanair before, but will only fly it as an airline of last-resort. I far prefer EasyJet for budget travel within Europe. Others are voting with their feet as well.
> Read More:
- Ryanair Spits In The Face Of Customers
- Ryanair Strikes Expand Across Europe
- The Sudden Collapse Of Ryanair
- A Hot Meal on Ryanair
image: Ryanair
I what you are saying, but if you were going to pay to check a bag anyway, isn’t it cheaper to use 2 smaller ones now?
I’m curious as to whether Ryanair will just split the company into lots of Franchises to avoid paying out to both crew and delayed passengers.
Creating more red tape and hurdles to jump through is something Ryanair enjoys
So imagine if they did
Sorry sir but you flew with Ryanair Moldova even though your flight was from Manchester to Lisbon operated by and Irish crew. Heres their number (some 14 digit number) and BTW their customer services are in Romanian only. Bye.
Norwegian is also an excellent alternative. Been flying with them over easyJet the last two weeks and very much enjoy it.