Rip-off Ryanair take it a step too far!

Although off topic this issue got me so fired up I had to post it. This was motivated by a plain-text email that I received from Ryanair this afternoon.

Irish Airline Ryanair has recently been getting a reputation on being a rip-off with the many hidden charges that inflate a seemingly low cost air fair to premium prices. These increases in charges come with no increase in quality of service. An advertised price of £2-10 can soon escalate to £60 when taxes, baggage and credit card fees are applied.

Now Ryanair may have taken it a step to far. Customers that have existing bookings due to take place after 1st of Feb will have received an email today notifying them that their tax on their flight will be doubled! As a budget airline in many cases the tax on the flights is more than the air fair as it is, with the tax being doubled this makes a significant change to the value of the booking.

Ryanair offer no opt-out of your flight - just notify you that your credit card will be charged the extra fee automatically. They take no responsibility for the additional fees - blaming the fee entirely on MP Gordon Brown. The email is very unprofessional - no offer of further information, no option to cancel flight for a refund, no link to a customer service page or a contact number. Instead an email address to the government ministers to complain about Gordon Brown is provided.

This is simply unacceptable.

Calling their support number (at 10p/min) will get you into a long queue with no help or alternatives offered by the representatives when you get through.

When I finally did get through I spoke to a rep called "Anna" and requested my flight be cancelled and I be refunded. She told me "I will lose this ticket and this money" if I didn't want to pay the additional fee. Team Leader "Lisa" confirmed Anna's comments and said that all airlines will be doing the same.

I contacted British Airways. They confirm they WILL NOT be passing this fee onto their customers.

With so many other airlines either offering better service or better prices it doesn't seem Ryanair has a lot to offer.