Ryanair flights, can't travel, options?

Booked two Ryanair return flights (Dublin to Beauvais) back in June for this week but now tied up with work, so can't travel. Total cost: E158. Booked insurance, but won't get any joy there, looked through the T&Cs, only illness, etc will get you a refund. Seems pointless to change the flights (I couldn't even choose to fly from Dublin, would have to change the entire route!), the cost is nuts - eg if I chose to change to Stansted-Gothenburg (return flights cheaper than the original Dublin-Beauvais booking) it would cost me over E200 in fees! Would be cheaper to book Stansted-Gothenburg from scratch. Do I just give this up as bad job, or has any clever clogs out there come up with a way of rescuing such a situation?! Thanks.

Can you change the name on the tickets (for a fee) perhaps in order for somebody else to avail of them?

ClubMan said:

Can you change the name on the tickets (for a fee) perhaps in order for somebody else to avail of them?

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The fee to change a name on the tickets is E100! To be honest I didn't even bother checking if this was E100 for each leg of the journey, E100 was enough! Any way, we tried finding someone else able to go at such short notice but no luck. Never mind, I'll put this one down to bad luck and over-work! Thanks.

Could you go to your doctor complaining of a mysterious pain in the flange and maybe get a cert?

Slim

PS: Spare me the moral outrage please folks!

Slim said:

Could you go to your doctor complaining of a mysterious pain in the flange and maybe get a cert?

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Hardly worth it, given doctors fees and all the paperwork that insurance companies impose when processing even the most basic of travel insurance claims.

Slim said:

PS: Spare me the moral outrage please folks!

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If you post such comments then it's not your prerogative to dictated to others what they can and cannot post in reply.

Why waste the GP's time with such frivilous and fraudulent issues?

Was actually looking at this today. Booked flights for 2 to london but now can't make it. Cost of flights was €20 return (€120 after tax and charges). Tried to change to Feb instead. Flights at same times on same days. Cost of these flights was €40. Was expecting to maybe be charged €60 or something but they came back with a quote of €170 to change making the total price €280. I could book the new flights for less than the price to change.

Total rip off anyway.

I'm going to try ringing them to see if I have any further joy but not too confident. They will only take calls on changing times up to 14 days before flights.

Are other airlines as expensive as ryanair for changing flight details?

River said:

Total rip off anyway.

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I disagree. Unless the terms & conditions of the original booking implied that the charges to change the booking would be otherwise or something?

ClubMan said:

I disagree. Unless the terms & conditions of the original booking implied that the charges to change the booking would be otherwise or something?

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It is a rip off.

I have no problems with being charged a fee for the service of amending my original details. However this charge is dearer than it would be if I just made a seperate purchase. Why would anyone take up this offer when it is cheaper to simply buy another flight and allow the price of the original flight to be sunk. They are basically making the service obsolete so they shouldn't really offer it as a service.

They do not mention, in the T&C's, how they calculate their fees in much detail so I cannot work out for myself whether their figure of €170 is correct.

River said:

It is a rip off.

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I disagree on the basis of the evidence presented so far.

However this charge is dearer than it would be if I just made a seperate purchase. Why would anyone take up this offer when it is cheaper to simply buy another flight and allow the price of the original flight to be sunk.

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Doens't make it a rip-off though.

They do not mention, in the T&C's, how they calculate their fees in much detail so I cannot work out for myself whether their figure of €170 is correct.

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[broken link removed].

Flight and name changes

• Flight dates, times and routes are changeable subject to availability and upon payment of a discounted change fee per one way flight/per person if made on www.ryanair.com of £20.50/€30 or a standard change fee of £30/€45 per passenger/per one way flight if made through a Ryanair reservation centre, plus in each case any difference in cost between the original total price paid and the lowest total price available at the time the change is made. If the total price is lower on the new flight, no refund will be made. Changes, subject to availability, can be made up to 12 hours prior to the originally scheduled departure time of your outbound journey on [broken link removed]or up to 4 hours prior to such time through a Ryanair reservation centre (subject to centre opening hours). 'Internet/Web only' fares are not available for any changes made through a reservation centre. No changes can be made once check-in has taken place.
• Passenger names can be changed up to 4 hours prior to scheduled flight departure through a Ryanair reservation centre only (subject to opening hours) and upon payment of a per person name change fee of £70 and €100. Any name change made to a flight reservation must be for that individual passenger’s complete flight itinerary
• ELV cannot be accepted, on line, as payment for flight or name changes. Passengers wishing to pay for a change a flight or name change using ELV should contact the German reservations department on 0190 170 100 (calls cost €0.62 per minute). ELV payments can only be accepted up to 10 days prior to the flight departure. Web fares/discounts apply.

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ClubMan said:

I disagree on the basis of the evidence presented so far.

Doens't make it a rip-off though.

[broken link removed].

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Didn't actually have that much details on the T&C's on the itinerary I received, cheers. So I worked it out as being €140 they should have charged. They charged a little over €170 so I suppose I could argue the difference although it is probably down to taxes. Either way I still think its a rip off regardless of the fact that this was contained in the T&C's.

Basically I think the cost of amending the service should not make it more expensive than if the service was bought outright again. I do not think this service is equitable to the customer. I think a percentage based charge would be fairer and I actually think this would benefit both parties although this theory is dependent on passenger volume statistics that I don't have.

I know you should read T&C's carefully however there are eventualities in life that you cannot foretell. I had every intention of flying on these dates and so didn't think it would be as much an issue. I, not unlike alot of the population, do not read the entire T&C's for every single purchase I make.

Anyway, it would make me reluctant to fly with Ryanair again. Although I suppose this depends on what charges are like on other airlines (don't have access to ryanair/aerlingus websites right now).

I remember changing an aer lingus flight a few years ago for 2 of us and it only cost something like €30 total. I presume these charges have been increased in recent years though.

I suppose if other airlines are charging similar fees, I'll just put this down to experience and move on....

River said:

Didn't actually have that much details on the T&C's on the itinerary I received

...

I know you should read T&C's carefully

...

I, not unlike alot of the population, do not read the entire T&C's for every single purchase I make.

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If I recall correctly the online booking process presents a link to the Ts&Cs and explicitly asks you to confirm that you have read and understood them before you can buy tickets. If you or others confirm without actually doing so then it's hardly Ryanair's problem?

Either way I still think its a rip off regardless of the fact that this was contained in the T&C's.

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I disagree.

Basically I think the cost of amending the service should not make it more expensive than if the service was bought outright again. I do not think this service is equitable to the customer.

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I don't see why this should necessarily be so.

Anyway, it would make me reluctant to fly with Ryanair again. Although I suppose this depends on what charges are like on other airlines (don't have access to ryanair/aerlingus websites right now).

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All I can see on the AL site is:

Changing and cancelling your booking

If you wish to make changes to or cancel a booking made on the Aer Lingus website, please call your local Aer Lingus office. For relevant contact details, please refer to the 'About Us' section of this site. Depending on the conditions applicable to the fare you purchase, changes to or cancellation of your ticket may not be permitted or change/cancellation fees may apply.

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I suppose if other airlines are charging similar fees, I'll just put this down to experience and move on....

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So I presume you won't fly with anybody if they have similar policies and charges to Ryanair otherwise you might be putting yourself in danger of being "ripped off" again?

ClubMan said:

If I recall correctly the online booking process presents a link to the Ts&Cs and explicitly asks you to confirm that you have read and understood them before you can buy tickets. If you or others confirm without actually doing so then it's hardly Ryanair's problem?

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Pretty much every site has T&C's. If you did a survey of how many people actually read the entire T&C's of any site where they purchase, I would guess it would be less than 20%. I agree that's not Ryanair' fault but that's just the way it is.

ClubMan said:

I disagree.

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think we both do

ClubMan said:

So I presume you won't fly with anybody if they have similar policies and charges to Ryanair otherwise you might be putting yourself in danger of being "ripped off" again?

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Eh, I clearly stated that if other airlines also charged this then I would put it down to experience. Meaning, I will know not to be suprised by these charges in the future.

River said:

Pretty much every site has T&C's. If you did a survey of how many people actually read the entire T&C's of any site where they purchase, I would guess it would be less than 20%. I agree that's not Ryanair' fault but that's just the way it is.

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Fair enough - if people can't be bothered reading the details of the agreement into which they are entering then they can hardly complain after the fact if those details come back to bite them subsequently.

Eh, I clearly stated that if other airlines also charged this then I would put it down to experience. Meaning, I will know not to be suprised by these charges in the future.

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You also said:

Anyway, it would make me reluctant to fly with Ryanair again.

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which presumably means that similar policies and charges on the part of other airlines would make you wary of them too?

ClubMan said:

Fair enough - if people can't be bothered reading the details of the agreement into which they are entering then they can hardly complain after the fact if those details come back to bite them subsequently.

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I just feel that these charges are excessive regardless of whether they are in the T&C's or not.

ClubMan said:

which presumably means that similar policies and charges on the part of other airlines would make you wary of them too?

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I said "Anyway, it would make me reluctant to fly with Ryanair again. Although I suppose this depends on what charges are like on other airlines (don't have access to ryanair/aerlingus websites right now)."

"Although" meaning to indicate a seperate train of thought where I realised that other airlines probably charge similar fees and in all likelihood it would be something I would just have to accept.

I think Aer Lingus charge €35 per change per passenger so not much difference there. I wonder why there is not more flexibility in such a competitive marketplace, especially where the change is requested well in advance of the flight date.

Unfortunately, this is the way airlines like Ryanair make their money. Had to make a last minute change myself for flights to Brussels a couple of years back. €30 each way to change to flights which were half the price of my original dates. Ryanair add on the difference if the new flights are more expensive but if less, then tough luck. I know, it is in their terms and conditions which I did read so I knew the risk but it still annoyed the hell out of me.

Oh, before anybody says that I could have just bought new tickets, the new taxes/charges would have made it more expensive