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Low cost carriers make their money on fees. You want to bring a bag onboard? Fee. You want a snack? Fee. Seat selection, boarding priority, and even printing a boarding pass all carry fees. An elderly couple ran into excessive fees recently while traveling within Europe when they were charged nearly $140 to print their boarding passes. Their daughter took to Twitter to express her anger.
Hey @Ryanair, my parents who are in their 70s and 80s, had accidentally downloaded the return flight boarding card instead of the outgoing ones and you charged them £110 to print them at the airport. £110 for 2 pieces of paper which took 1 minute. Shame on you
— Old School House Venosc 💙 (@old_school_alps) August 13, 2023
The Daily Mail reports that Ruth Jaffe, 79, and Peter Jaffe, 80, where flying from London Stansted Airport (STN) to Bergerac Dordogne Périgord Airport (EGC) in France. The couple mistakenly downloaded their return boarding pass instead of their outbound. They had already checked in and had paid an extra fee to sit next to each other (to accommodate Peter Jaffe who is disabled).
Yes but you have to download at least 2 hours in advance. Because they’d paid extra to sit next to each other (dad’s disabled) they gave them the option of downloading the return ticket. They did that by mistake instead of outgoing. Honest mistake
— Old School House Venosc 💙 (@old_school_alps) August 14, 2023
Instead of helping the couple, Ryanair wanted the cash and charged them around $140 to print the two boarding passes.
People replied to the tweet saying that Ryanair charges £20 to reprint a boarding pass and not the £55 each they paid. A Ryanair spokesperson told the MailOnline: ‘
As per Ryanair’s T&C’s, which these passengers agreed to at the time of booking, these passengers failed to check-in online for their outbound flight from Stansted Airport (11 Aug) despite being advised to do so via email the day before travel (10 Aug) and therefore were correctly charged the airport check-in fee of £55 per passenger.”
This fee seems excessive and it’s not the first time it has been questioned. CNN reported back in 2011 that a judge in Barcelona ruled the carrier’s boarding card reissue fee to be illegal. This was clearly appealed and stands as the fees are still listed on Ryanair’s site.
Anthony’s Take: There should at least be a kiosk to reprint a boarding pass. Elderly or disabled passengers should be accommodated and assisted without charge. This is a clear money grab and seems low even for Ryanair.
(Featured Image Credit: The Daily Mail.)
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1 comment
Step 1: Book ULCC.
Step 2: Complain about fees.
They knew what they were getting into. Sympathy level zero.