Nickel-and-diming – Is it worth it?

Yesterday the UK’s Office of Fair Trading stated that Ryanair had agreed to be clearer about its additional charges, after refusing to co-operate with the self regulatory system administrator, the Advertising Standards Authority.

Just a few days ago they lost a case in Germany over their exorbitant fees for paying by credit or debit card.

Ryanair are not alone amongst the so-called low-cost airlines in perpetuating a culture of nickel-and-diming their customers. Easyjet don’t even publish a chart of their additional fees! There almost seems to be a competition for who can come up with the most ridiculous additional charges. A payment fee that is a compulsory part of buying the ticket because you can ONLY pay by card should just be part of the ticket. The taxes and fees that you have no choice in ought to be included up-front. Various other devious tactics such as default-checking the boxes for the optional, carry-on baggage, priority boarding etc can all bring in additional revenue.

The purpose for making all these fees ‘optional’ is to be able to present unbelievably low headline prices in advertising or on the homepage.

Read the rest of this entry »