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Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

theguardian.com

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Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#261

Post by andrew_lettuce »

Ziomislaw wrote: post #205
xp84 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true, but the other half is to ensure you don’t use a card with a foreign transaction fee, which will cost you 3-4%. There are free cards like the Amazon Prime Visa that don’t have it, but that fee is very common. The other thing I hate to see is people using the currency conversion desks at airports, or buying foreign currency from their banks in advance of trips. They give you awful rates. Assuming you’re trav…

When the ATM withdrawal usually costs you nothing, or in some cases when the bank does not have an agreement with the ATM company it can cost you 1,39$ then 3-4$ is a ripoff. Also people buy currency locally - before the trip - where I am from, and all the rates are displayed, both in a bank or in currency exchange. You can compare. And even when someone is lazy they can just ask friends which place has the best rate…

Yep, IME my bank tried to charge me close to 9% while current exchange was half of that.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#262

Post by wkat4242 »

petesergeant wrote: post #173
tyre wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember when they were seeking approval to provide blow jobs on flights (free in business class iirc.) The only thing that they won’t up charge. They even tried to get approval to charge for bathroom access. Wild company, but they are entirely on brand. To be fair, consumers have driven airlines this way. They’ve shown that they’ll buy based almost entirely on price and suffer any amount of agony in exchange. I ju…

I assumed you were making some poorly executed joke, but no! https://www.smh.com.au/national/ryanair-ceo-talks-free-sex-o... > He then asked the translator the German word for oral sex. After being told there wasn't one, he remarked "terrible sex life in Germany".

It's not true though, they call it 'blasen'.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#263

Post by handoflixue »

BloondAndDoom wrote: post #81
dcminter wrote: post #4

"O’Leary accused the travel agent industry of scamming and ripping off unsuspecting consumers by charging extra fees and markups on ticket prices." That is ... pretty rich. A couple of years ago I was going to go see my brother in the UK who lived near Stansted. As such Ryanair would have been the most convenient airline. The shere number of dark patterns I encountered trying to book the ticket was such that when I g…

I still don’t know why all these dark patterns are simply not illegal. What happened to consumer rights? It be a such a widespread practice, I think we will look back at this at one point and will say things akin “how did we let people smoke in planes”. One of those things utterly ridiculous in hindsight

I mean, it does seem relevant that this thread is for an article about them being fined a quarter-billion Euros, so they very much did break the law and the law very much does have teeth.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#264

Post by hdgvhicv »

amelius wrote: post #49
dcminter wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's very good at marketing his airline (often with outrage inspiring press releases) and very good at finding ways to squeeze more blood out of the stone of budget travellers. I don't really care whether he's "good" or "bad" but I would like to see the regulators shut down more of these aggressive tactics as they emerge.

I just wish the airlines were forced to put their booking behind an API so we could book flights without having to go through mazes that are different for every airline.

Talk to your travel agent. They will book you on sabre and bobs your uncle.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#265

Post by hdgvhicv »

vosper wrote: post #148
blell wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just the fact that people can’t talk on the phone whilst on a plane makes it infinitely better than a bus.

Starlink on flights could put an end to this

Phones in seats have been a thing for decades, WiFi has been a thing for 10-15 years.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#266

Post by hdgvhicv »

jonasdegendt wrote: post #227
ruszki wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could? I flew a month ago on a flight with Starlink. I downloaded 10s of gigabytes of data without hiccups. Calling was not an issue. And it was completely free.

Quite curious, which route was this on? Not one time have I had a consistent internet connection whilst flying transatlantic on Delta, KLM or BA airplanes, to the point that I regretted having paid for it every single time.

I haven’t been to India for 7 years but I distinctly remember a very productive flight from Delhi to Heathrow on wifi while I was sshed into a machine and working on something for hours with no issue - far better than the signal I get on the train from London to Manchester.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#267

Post by hdgvhicv »

ruszki wrote: post #226
aiiotnoodle wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been trapped on a 2 day flight to Madeira via Madrid, Porto and Porto Santo, eventually your powerbanks and headphones run out of charge. EU621 comp was denied because the aircraft could not land due to wind. I did spend about 12 hours in a fancy all inclusive on ryanair's dime (a bus arrived at the airport un-announced to the airport staff or us customers) while some slept in airbnbs and on the floor.

You can reimburse your costs of unplanned overnight stay, even when it happened because of weather. So those AirBnBs were also free. Even the taxi to and from there. Ryanair was unlawful if they hadn’t given this information. Btw, there are power banks and headphones which can easily handle 2 days.

Surely you can recharge them on the ground too. Do Ryanair not provide in seat usb sockets? Wouldn’t surprise me if they saw an opportunity to charge £5 for their use (log into wifi and activate them etc).

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#268

Post by hdgvhicv »

kiwijamo wrote: post #259
cvakiitho wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow, I never paid more than ticker price?

The issue is sometimes I want to compare flying with x with bags and flexible fares. These days I have to click++++ multiple times to get to the stage when I can add bags, flexibility, etc to the ticket and then repeat with each alriline I want to compare. In the old days this was the price shown upfront -- nowdays it's hidden behind several layers. Not just Ryanair but many airlines do this. I do appreciate tho it's…

Flying in the pre “no frills” days was far more expensive. This was good from an environmental point of view but bad from allowing mass transport

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#269

Post by deaux »

xp84 wrote: post #165
doikor wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't anything new though. Been like that for the last 15 years at least. Always pay in the local currency (your bank/visa/mastercard will give you a better rate then the merchant)

Very true, but the other half is to ensure you don’t use a card with a foreign transaction fee, which will cost you 3-4%. There are free cards like the Amazon Prime Visa that don’t have it, but that fee is very common. The other thing I hate to see is people using the currency conversion desks at airports, or buying foreign currency from their banks in advance of trips. They give you awful rates. Assuming you’re trav…

> The other thing I hate to see is people using the currency conversion desks at airports

If I've just arrived home with $30 left of whatever currency was used in the place I came from, they could be taking a 30% cut and it would still be worth it to just due it there rather than physically visiting a bank.

That is, if the currency is one they're even willing to exchange.

Re: Ryanair fined €256M over ‘abusive strategy’ to limit ticket sales by OTAs

#270

Post by chrisjj »

bcye wrote: post #231
chrisjj wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Third parties eliminate a large portion of their upsell pipeline. This is nonsense. Third parties cannot provide extra luggage space, priority boarding etc.

A large part of the pipeline consists of insurance, rental cars, hotels, etc.

I'd bet that's the smaller part not least because customers know there they have a choice.
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