Two airlines' lack of transparency (2)

People booking with Ryanair should be aware of some of the less than correct practices adopted by this airline. My wife recently booked a flight to Pisa for €89, €19 euro or so for the flight and the rest for airport charges and taxes. She had to change her flight and took a different airline.

Ryanair's website states that you can change the flight but that entails a re-booking fee of €35. So, it did not make sense to change the flight and one just asked for a refund of the airport charges and taxes which Ryanair presumably would not have paid once a passenger did not show up.

Ryanair's website makes it as hard as possible to claim a refund of such charges and taxes. I called customer service and after several minutes on the line, I got through to a lady who accepted my request for a refund of these charges and taxes. She said the refund would be effected within 15/20 days.

However, a few days later, my wife received an e-mail stating that such refunds entail an administrative charge which was more than the amount to be refunded, that is, €70. Thus, no refund would be made.

Besides the fact that Ryanair, which specifies charges for anything from A to Z, does not specify the entity of such an administrative charge to effect a refund, surely it is absurd to use a kind word, to impose an administrative charge of more than €70 euro to refund €70.

I can't help noting that I prefer the transparent pricing adopted by Air Malta to these kind of ploys which I am sure are more designed to boost the bottom line than anything else. Though the competitive pressures exerted by airlines like Ryanair on the airline market are a great boon to consumers, it seems that this airline has forgotten that the consumers should remain at the heart of its commercial strategy and thus, should not be taken for a ride, as in this particular instance.

This incident has put me in the camp of that UK minister who branded Ryanair as "the irresponsible face of capitalism".