Ryanair to charge £5 (each way) to check in online
13.05.09
Ryanair is doing away with the airport check-in desk from October this year, but will replace its current £10 airport check-in fee per person per flight with a £5 online check-in fee. Given that this will not be optional, we wonder why it would not be included in the airline's fares.
The ‘no-frills’ airline has decided that the administration of passengers at the airport should be classed as a frill, and expects to save €40m a year by phasing out use of check-in desks at the 146 airports it uses by October 1.
All travellers will have to check in online, and anyone turning up without their pre-printed check-in card from the internet will be charged a £40 ‘boarding card reissue fee’. However, as passengers can only check in online between 15 days and up to 4 hours before their flight, many will have to remember to return to the airline's website long after their booking in order to print their boarding card.
From next Wednesday, all new bookings with the airline will be on an online check-in and ‘bag-drop’ basis. However, given that the OFT said all advertised fares (including the fares shown during Ryanair's online booking process) must include all non-optional fees, and the online check in is clearly non-optional, we wonder how they can exclude it from fares and charge it as an add on. Answers would be appreciated!
To book a hotels stansted airport or car park stansted airport at the lowest price, click on these links to two great stansted airport car parking and stansted airport hotel price comparison pages.
