It's not often that I hear 'whooping-n-hollering' coming from the sitting room; even rarer that I should hear Lady Magnon singing 'I shall survive' at the top of her voice. Somehow I knew that she had just finished successfully booking her flight (online) with piss-poor budget airline Ryanair.
Ryanair's owner, Michael O'Leary, has recently declared that his airline aims to be more user-friendly, no more herding passengers on-board with sheepdogs, etc. I wonder!
Booking her simple return flight from our local small airport to London took about two hours, leaving her exhausted, almost tearing her hair out, and demanding brandy. At every opportunity they are trying to trick you into paying for unwanted extras, it's a nerve-racking exercise, that requires both mental agility and patience.
I've advised that she has a lie-down in a darkened room until lunchtime.
God Morning Cro, yes airline travel gets worse as the economy tumbles throughout the world. Now that we have to pay for each bag of peanuts it's only a matter of time before we have to pay extra for the oxygen when it drops from the ceiling per-crash. Good luck collecting on that one
ReplyDeleteWe recently wanted to rearrange a Ryanair flight. It's hard to see how to do it on the website but we got there and in the end discovered that it costs three times as much as writing off the original booking and making a new one !!
ReplyDeleteQuelle surprise!
It seems that once they've got the peanuts you pay for the seat they would rather the monkeys didn't turn up !!
O'Leary's not known as "King of the add-ons" for nothing, and Yes, it is a minefield, easy for the unwary to purchase services and extras not wanted.
ReplyDeleteBut occasionally there really is a bargain in there, it just takes perseverance and determination.
It also gets worse when you have to print your boarding passes out, don't under any circumstances forget these, the cost of printing them at the check-in is astronomical.
Oh my goodness Cro ..... I know Lady Magnon's pain. I booked for 7 people to fly to Croatia this year { it was the only airline to fly to the airport we wanted } and I was literally on the computer all day........ I had to go through everything 7 times ..... 7 times to tell them that I didn't want their insurance, 7 times that I didn't want to buy their carry-on bag etc. etc. The final straw came when, my card was rejected because, unknown to me, my card had been stopped due to suspeccted fraud on the internet { that bit wasn't their fault } After being on the phone to sort that out, I had to go through the process 7 times again and use another card. It then rejected that card so, I had to phone Ryanair. It took ages to get through to them, only to be told that, that sometimes happens !!!! ..... I had to redo everything 7 times again.
ReplyDeleteI really do embrace modern technology but sometimes it's a pain ! I think that you might have opened a can of worms this morning !! XXXX
Jeeeez; that's even worse than Lady M's problems. Refusing the card is the final insult!!!
DeleteIt is a challenge certainly, but I wouldn't have visited so many Cities over the last few years without just gritting my teeth and taking my time over the darn bookings.
ReplyDeleteOne experience with Ryan Air was enough for me.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately they're the only airline offering the flight she wants.
DeleteI thought O'Leary was your creative name for Ryanair's owner, but I see that really is his name. One should obviously be leary. We always used to say, (in disbelief at whatever), "Oleary", (as in "Oh really".)
ReplyDeleteWe recently travelled back from Poland with your favourite airline. They refuelled the plane while we boarded and a fire engine parked up and watched. Is this common practice?
ReplyDeleteDid they re-fuel it from a Jerry-can? If so; that's common practice!
DeleteYes and good customer service will cost you extra as well.
ReplyDeleteI heartily dislike when they can make you jump through such hoops since they know they've got exactly what you want and you can't find it someplace else.
ReplyDeleteWhen my friend and i were flying to Alaska, we tried pricing it from several different airports to see if we could save a few bob on airfare. Some midsized airports offered the most attractive fares. The larger and smaller airports seemed to think they were the only game in town, and so you could pay more.