Legality of extra airline charges queried
I decided to avail of one offer from Flybe to the UK. The return flight was €42, so I pressed ‘Continue.’ The next thing that was added was over €60 in ‘Charges and Taxes.’
Unless they can provide an accurate breakdown of that sum, I believe this charge is possibly illegal - simply a little extra profit on every passenger. Then they added €3 each way for my case, as if I had a choice about taking a small case for anything over two days. And they appear to have added something else for the privilege of them allowing me to use my credit card. How did they expect me to pay without using it?
Even more insolently, on anther occasion Ryanair charged me 10 card fees (one per passenger booked) even though I only used the credit card once. That could also be illegal. My total bill this time came to more than €120, three times as much as the fare. They will counter this objection by saying that it’s a free market - take it or leave it.
However, my real objection is to the trend towards arrogance and, frequently, questionable practices by large companies with no comeback by small people.
Ryanair already charge extra for anybody in a wheelchair as if such people didn’t have it tough enough already.
With that sort of arrogance, who or what is to stop these airlines installing coin slots on the toilets or charging for sick bags during turbulence, or even introducing a check-in charge?
Given the seeming careful division of routes between the low-cost carriers, the rapidly increasing charges for ‘extras’ and the already infuriating near impossibility of being able to complain to anybody in a large company about anything at all, we will soon be in an even worse situation than the monopolistic, business-oriented airlines that we thought we had left behind.
At least they pretended to care for their passengers. Once again, the bully boys are winning.
Richard D Barton
Kevin Street
Tinahely
Co Wicklow
