RYANAIR 'STUFF'!!

RYANAIR, El Altet’s largest carrier, has announced the imminent cancellation of 57 direct flights from Alicante linking a number of European cities, representing a 40% reduction in service affecting around 2.5 million passengers. 

The move is the result of Ryanair’s battle with airport authority AENA’s insistence that the airline board passengers via air bridges and not from the ground.  Ryanair protests that boarding passengers via air bridges affects their impressive 25 minute turnaround and also their ‘no frills’ service, and would result in pushing up fares.

The most significant cancellations will inconvenience 1,000 passengers per week using the Alicante – Zaragoza route.  The reduction from 11 to 2 aircraft this winter (5 aircraft based in winter 2010), reduces passenger traffic at El Altet from 4m passengers p.a. to 1.5m.

OUTRAGE

Outraged passengers have begun a petition to persuade AENA to reverse its decisions concerning the use of air bridges in order to enable the airline to restore service to the routes affected that include Murcia, Logroño, Zaragoza, Pamplona, Santander, Valladolid, Palma, Pisa, Venice, Paris, Poznan, Fez and Marrakesh with more to come.

Ryanair will ground 80 of the 300 aircraft that make up its fleet to implement the reduction in service, having a devastating impact on staffing in Alicante, one of its major bases in Europe.

SAFETY

The row that prompted Ryanair’s drastic decision to cut its service out of El Altet ignited with AENA’s ruling that passengers at El Altet could only be boarded from the ground during the winter season due to passenger safety being compromised by heavy summer ground traffic.  Ryanair strongly refutes that passenger safety is the issue and contends that AENA’s motives for enforcing the use of air bridges are purely financial. 

AENA stubbornly claims that tests carried out in May confirm an “unacceptable risk” to passengers boarding from the tarmac in the summer.

UNLAWFUL

Ryanair’s Head of Communications Stephen McNamara, speaking to RTN exclusively on Tuesday, points out that AENA’s actions are not only impractical but also unlawful.  And the airline’s unprecedented trimming of its Alicante service is estimated to represent a staggering €30 million loss in revenue in the area and hundreds of job losses. “AENA should explain why there is no safety issue with Ryanair’s walk on/walk off procedures at 20 other AENA airports in Spain or at over 140 other EU airports Ryanair flies to,” he said. 

As the economic climate forces seatbelts tighter, Costa Blanca passengers relying on low-budget flights will be forced to consider more expensive alternatives, while Ryanair remains adamant that passenger safety is in no way compromised and continues to fight AENA through the courts over the air bridge issue.

Source:RTN

Source: thisismoney

Ryanair is to force customers take out the airline's own pre-paid payment card if they want to avoid card charges that add as much as £48 to the cost of return flight for a family of four.
 

The low-cost airline yesterday launched the Ryanair Cash Passport and confirmed that it will soon become the only payment method by which passengers can avoid the card charges.
 

The law requires companies to provide at least one payment method that is free of charge to the customer. Unavoidable payment charges have to be included in the cover price.
 

Ryanair has drawn the fire of regulators and consumer groups who say it has made it increasingly difficult for customers to avoid charges that currently amount to £6 per person, each way. 
 

Most companies allow free payment by debit card, while applying charges for credit cards. 

However, Ryanair previously insisted that customers could only pay for free is they used Visa Electron, a relatively little-used pre-paid card. It later changed the rules so that only a prepaid MasterCard would avoid the charges.
 

Now the change to Ryanair's own branded card  - also administered by MasterCard - will bring accusations that the airline is making customers jump through hoops in order to access free payments that the law intends to be easily available. 
 

The Office of Fair Trading has already launched an investigation into airline card charges following a complaint by the consumer organisation Which?

It is likely to take a dim view of the latest Ryanair move, particularly as it requires customers to spend £6 to take out the Rayanair Cash Passport. Customers then receive £6 of Ryanair vouchers in return, which Ryanair argues makes the card free.

Customers can apply for the card via the Ryanair website. Any purchase from Ryanair will be free of charge, but customers will be charged 50p for they make from anywhere else, following an initial period when all purchases are free. Ryanair takes a cut from the 50p charge.

Stephen McNamara, head of communications for Ryanair, said: 'It is only the media and groups like Which? that complain about these charges. Customers simply realise that there is a way to avoid admin charges and they do it. 

'The low-cost airline business model is based on charges that are avoidable if you want to avoid them and the same applies here.'

Mr McNamara said that 'between 20 and 25 per cent' of bookings made with Ryanair were completed using specified pre-paid cards, which he said indicated many passengers were successfully avoiding the charge.

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Source: Ryanair

RYANAIR LAUNCHES BRANDED PREPAID MASTERCARD

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