Ryanair charge passengers '€15 fantasy fees'
30.08.08
Ryanair passengers travelling from Cork Airport are being charged over €15 each in ‘taxes and fees’ that the airline does not have to pay, the Irish Independent reports. The airport charges only apply to a route a year after its introduction, but the budget airline is charging customers travelling on the eight-month-old Prestwick and East Midlands Airport routes.
The newspaper quotes 'aviation sources' saying that the budget airline, which announced this week that it was axing the two routes, was making a huge profit by charging consumers for these 'fantasy costs'.
The Ryanair website breaks down a €24.12 add-on charge for its Cork flights as €18.13 in taxes and fees and €5.99 in ‘insurance/wheelchair levy/aviation insurance’. This means that, after deducting the €2.50 security charge, the company is charging an extra €15.63. However, promotional discounts mean that no passenger fees are charged on routes in their first year of operations.
A statement from the airline said: ‘In most cases passengers travelling from Cork will not pay any taxes and charges as Ryanair absorbs these costs in order to make these routes attractive.’
Ryanair was also recently accused of profiteering from its £1.75 per flight passenger debit card fees, where banks charge around 20p per transaction (so a family of four taking return flights would pay £14 and the airline would have a cost of 20p).
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