04 Jul 2012 6:44 PM:
Hi
Yes, I have received an email today from Ryanair in relation to flights that I booked on 3rd June for flights from Alicante to Manchester on 23rd July. The Ryanair email is as follows ...
'The Spanish 2012 budget was passed into law on Saturday 30 June, as a result all airlines are obliged, with effect from 1 July onwards to collect increased Spanish airport departure taxes from all passengers booked on flights after that date.
It appears that the increased Spanish airport departure tax may also apply retrospectively to customers who booked flights before the 2nd July 2012 and are travelling from the 1st July onwards.
In accordance with Ryanair's General Terms and Conditions of Travel (Article 4.2.2) we hereby advise passengers that we may be forced to debit passengers for the increased airport departure tax imposed by the Spanish government for all flights departing from Spain which were booked before the 2nd July 2012 for travel from the 1st July 2012 onwards.
Once the Spanish authorities confirm whether the increased airport departure tax applies retrospectively (as set out above), Ryanair will notify passengers by email of the additional charges applicable to their pre 2nd July booking. Passengers not wishing to accept the additional tax will have the option to cancel their flight and receive a full refund.
N.B. All new flight bookings departing from Spanish airports made on or after the 2nd July are not affected by this retrospective clause as the increased departure tax has already been included in the purchased flight price.'
I booked these flights on a deal with "free" taxes and charges.I fail to understand why Ryanair are suggesting that they may need to pass on any increase that they are charged ( irrespective of its monetary value)given that the flights were purchaed with no taxes. On the 3rd June when I made the booking airlines were already aware of the Spanish governments budget plan to increase taxes from 30/06/12. Given that Ryanair must know the increased tax amount why hasnt this been stated in the email?
Mr O'Learly clearly never has , nor is ever likley to have, any concept of brand reputation or customer loyalty, so really doesnt care and will take every opportunity to pass on charges where he feels he can. As someone who has used Ryanair extensively (purely based upon price) I am getting more and more disgruntled with them and now will always seek to use other airlines where I can, even if the cost is slightly more. as is my consumer right - I will take my business elsewhere.
I would be interested to hear if other airlines are intending to pass these increased charges onto customers.
Thread:
Spanish Airport Tax Increases from 1st July
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