Archive for the 'Ryanair' Category
June 27 2007
Probably not. The Irish carrier said that they expect the European Commission to reject its proposal to purchase Aer Lingus over competition concerns. Michael O’Leary, the outspoken CEO of Ryanair, said that the rejection is unlawful, considering the Commission has greenlighted the Air France/KLM and Lufthansa/SWISS mergers, combinations which have far more impact. This won’t be the last we hear from O’Leary on this matter. Meanwhile, Aer Lingus, which didn’t want to be purchased in the first place, is gloating.
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May 11 2007
Ryanair has been bashed repeatedly for being consumer unfriendly, but they announced a very consumer-happy move yesterday: all of their advertised fares will now include taxes. While this seems like a small deal, advertised fares can have upwards of $150 in taxes missing, so that $99 advertised fare to London actually works out to be $375. Quite a difference. US carriers have (obviously) fought including these fees in their fares, but it’s ridiculous that they don’t…
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April 13 2007
Ryanair executives say they are working on a transatlantic budget carrier that will allow people to fly between New York and Europe for 10 Euros (about $13.50). The carrier hopes to be flying within 3-4 years. While this seems completely insane, 10 years ago it would’ve seemed insane that an airline was giving away seats in Europe when a 1-hour intra-Europe flight cost $350. Look for US airlines to start lobbying the government to quash this right about now.
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December 01 2006
Ryanair had fired a flight attendant who roped off a row of seats, read a book, then took a nap during a flight. Seems reasonable enough. But not to an Irish court. An Irish employment court has forced Ryanair to reinstate the tired flight attendant, saying that the disciplinary action had "shortcomings." Ryanair, to its credit, called the ruling "bizarre" and will appeal.
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November 08 2006
Ryanair was told to stop advertising that said seats were available for GBP 0, because once taxes and fees were added in, no seats were available for free. In fact, the least someone could end up paying was GBP 11.70 (about $20 or so) which, while cheap, is not exactly zero.
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November 01 2006
In yet another move showing why Ryanair is not like other airlines, the carrier announced that customers will now be able to play Bingo online while booking flights. It’s early in the morning, I know. So perhaps this will make more sense to me later in the day. But if you like Bingo (and my wife likes Bingo), feel free to head on over to Ryanair’s website to bingo your day away. I guess.
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October 05 2006
Uber-Budget carrier Ryanair has launched a $1.9 billion bid to purchase Aer Lingus. The move would give Ryanair access to trans-Atlantic routes — a first for a European no frills airline. The two airlines would continue to be run separately. For its part, the Irish government, which owns 1/3 of Aer Lingus, said it would not sell its stake. Even so, this purchase would mark a huge change for Ryanair, which has focused on building an operation that can profitably charge next-to-nothing for its tickets. Absorbing another carrier — especially one with a completely different strategy, will be a stretch. But, if this goes through, consumers should benefit in the long-run with even cheaper fares across the Atlantic.
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August 23 2006
I have no idea why there’s so much Ryanair news lately, but the LA Times has a good piece about the low fares that Ryanair advertises. The reporter learns that the 34 cent ticket from London to Dublin will actually cost him $70 once you add in all of the unadvertised taxes and fees. The best additional cost is the one for using a wheelchair, which Ryanair charges everyone because it would be "discriminatory" only to charge people using wheelchairs. I’m sure their heart is in the right place.
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August 22 2006
Michael O’Leary, the head of Ryanair, is not happy about the way the British airports have handled the latest terrorism scare. No, he is not happy. He is now threatening to sue British airport authorities for the new security regulations, which he calls, "nuts." He added that terrorists "must be rolling around the caves of Pakistan, laughing". The article goes on to say, "He said it
was ‘complete horse manure’ to infer that passengers either faced
delays or death." (ed note: I think they mean imply, not infer. Whatever).
O’Leary added, "We are not in danger of dying at the hands of toiletries." Very true.
I can’t imagine a US airline chief questionning how the government is handling airport security, so I’ll give him credit for addressing the issue head on. Head on, apply directly to the forehead. Head on, apply directly to the forehead. Head on, apply directly to the forehead.
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August 21 2006
A US airline would never mention terrorism in an advertisement, let alone use terrorism as a way to sell tickets. But Ryanair is not a US airline, which is why they have this ad, which says that you can beat terrorism by flying Ryanair. You can’t argue with that.
(thanks to reader Sanj for the heads up)
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Will Ryanair Be Permitted to Buy Aer Lingus?