When is a cheap flights not a cheap flight? When extras increase it by 337%

We have a mid-year meeting for our leadership team in June. We had a great year last year and so far we have done well this year – so as a thank you to the team we have decided to hold our mid-year get together in the South of Spain. To get the ball rolling I asked our office manager Ping to do some research into flights.

“Great news” she reported back, “Ryanair are showing flights from Stanstead for £36.98 pounds return”.

By anyone’s standards that is a bargain and I momentarily felt genuinely grateful to Ryanair for fighting the corner of the little guy against the big airlines by keeping their fares so competitive. Their price was a no-brainer and they had done a good job of promoting them.

“Fantastic” was my reply to Ping “Book them before they sell out.”

Just as I was basking in the warm glow of satisfaction that our Spanish trip was meant to be, my desk phone rang. It was Ping

“If you want to check in any luggage it costs £30.....” came the bad news. Just as I was about to complain of the lack of transparency in the advert Ping continued here sentence: “.....per person and each way.” £60 a head to take a suitcase!

In an instant Ryanair went from heroes to villains. They had hooked us in with a very cheap headline price and now we are interested they tell us that it will cost more to take a suitcase than they charge for the flight.

But I quickly get over my irritation – after all the flight was still under £100 a head. Still a bargain even if it is not the bargain that we thought it was.   

“Not so fantastic” was my reply to Ping “But go ahead and book them before they sell out.”

I returned to my work with a slightly less warm glow of satisfaction. It was only a few minutes later that my phone rang again. It was Ping – my heart sank anticipating more bad news and she didn’t disappoint me.

“There is an administration charge of £12 person for booking......” she announced. Just as I was about to complain that the only way of getting a ticket was by booking Ping continued here sentence: “......and a £12 person charge for checking in online.”

“Let’s not worry about checking in online” I suggested in an effort to stop costs mounting.

“I can’t find any way for you not to check in online – I think you have to pay it” replied Ping dolefully.

I felt the anger rising and stopped to count to ten. As I got to about seven the final insult was delivered: “There is £4 per person “passenger fee”” said Ping. She didn’t add that she couldn’t see any explanation of what this was for – but I could tell she was thinking it.

 This beggared belief. A fare that had been advertised at £36.98 return was actually nothing of the sort. It was loaded with extras, some of which aren’t even optional, that ended up increasing the fare to £124.98 a head – 337% higher than the advertised fare.

I am sure that Ryanair have an army of lawyers who have checked that they are not in breach of the strict letter of any advertising standards. But that approach misses the point by a country mile. Here’s why.

If Ryanair had advertised an all inclusive £124.98 fare to the South of Spain, we would probably have booked it and felt we hadn’t got a bad deal. Ryanair would be good guys. As it is I feel that Ryanair’s sales tactics are misleading to say the least. I feel as though I have been sucked in on a false promise of a very cheap flight and the actual price is much more than I was led to believe I was going to pay. So although I will end up paying the same amount of money, rather than thinking Ryanair are good guys I will go out of my way never to fly with them again. Does Ryanair think that is a good outcome? Does Ryanair think that is a good return on their marketing spend?

So when you next advertise a cut price deal stop for a moment to look at it from the customer’s point of view. Sometimes the eventual price isn’t the issue, it’s the customer’s perception of how they get there that counts.