Low fares can be a costly business

MY WIFE and I were booked to depart by Ryanair from Brussels South on the last evening flight of December 24 to Shannon, returning on the afternoon of December 29.

This has now been changed using the same flight number to an unrealistic (for us) early departure on both sectors, thus ensuring we cannot travel for work reasons.

Why was this done? In a phrase, 'yield management.' There's heavy demand on the evening/last flight, so bump those cheap low fares types onto the earlier flight. This is Christmas humbug at its worst.

The positive thing is that there will always be a demand for carriers that would not consider doing this in extremis let alone as a matter of course. I wanted Jet Magic, but they had stopped the Brussels service. We booked early, on October 7, to get the lowest fares, taking work and social engagements into account.

It is completely unreasonable to expect us to change our plans so late in the day to accommodate Ryanair's profitability. Where is the reciprocity in this bad faith? And no, we didn't get what we paid for!

David Connolly,

178, Avenue Louise,

1050 Brussels,

Belgium.