OFT Criticises Ryanair Charges
Irish budget carrier Ryanair has been criticised by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) over its payment policy. John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, is up in arms over the fees added by the airline when its customers use any type of credit card (excluding MasterCard prepaid card) to pay for their online booking. He says that the firm is using a legal loophole to justify the extra charge.
In the payment policy model set by Ryanair, they claim to allow passenger to avoid costs. Regulations say that a carrier is allowed to advertise cheap fares that don’t include extra charges for paying with a credit card as long as they offer at least one free way to pay. The carrier is charging £5 per person, per flight for a single transaction if they don’t pay with a MasterCard prepaid card.
Fingleton is accusing Ryanair of choosing a rare payment method as their free way to pay in order to get around the regulation. He describes it as taunting consumers and calls the airline childish for it.
Stephen McNamara, head of communications at Ryanair, says that the airline isn’t trying to please people like Fingleton, but the everyday person who opts to book Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares. This is because they give them the chance to fly to more than 26 countries in Europe for free or just £5 and £10, he continued. The OFT has to realise that passengers prefer their model, McNamara added, because it lets them avoid costs like baggage charges, which are added into the high fares of bigger airlines like British Airways.