I Hate Ryanair

We’ve only just been alerted to this new scam of scams that Lyingair are employing and we think it is a bloody disgrace.

The no-frills airline said it had introduced the new levy to “ensure fairness to all passengers” and to stop the flouting of its luggage rules.

The rules have been brought in as Ryanair tightens restrictions on what passengers can carry on board its aircraft free of charge.

While hand baggage is free, passengers must pay for anything which gets put into the hold.

Under the new arrangements, which came into force at the start of the year, passengers must fit whatever they buy at an airport duty free shop into their one piece of hand baggage.

They also have to be able to close the bag with the duty free items inside the bag which can weigh no more than 22lbs (10kg) and be no bigger than 21.6 x 15.8 x 7.9 inches.

The policy is enforced by Ryanair’s staff as they check boarding passes at the gate.

Anyone found to have an extra bag – perhaps containing a box of chocolates or bottle of wine – will be given a choice if they cannot cram it into their carry-on bag.

They can either leave it at the airport or alternatively they can have their existing piece of cabin luggage put into the hold, and take the duty free on board.

For this they would have to pay the £28.50 Ryanair charges for checking in a piece of luggage at the airport.

Michael O’Leary defended the latest changes in the company’s baggage policy.

“We are not running around like Nazis targeting people,” he said Michael O’Leary. Er…yes you are Michael.

“We are doing this because, people with extra bags are slowing down the boarding of our planes. If you turn up at the gate with a bottle of Asti Spumante, all we are saying is shove it in your bag.

“I have been a victim of the policy at Gatwick myself when I turned up with a computer bag and a suit bag which was as light as a feather, and it is my own airline.”

But it was condemned by a spokesman for the Air Transport Users Council, the consumer watchdog.

“Passengers will start thinking that airlines are doing anything to get their money,” he said. “They will see through this and might start switching to other carriers.” Well lets hope this happens. Bunch of filthy thieving bastards.

Michael O

My oh my, this really does make me laugh. Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, lost €102 million (£92 million) in the last three months of 2008 after botching its fuel-hedging strategy!

The carrier locked in fuel prices of $124 a barrel for 80 per cent of its consumption during the third quarter, but the price of oil collapsed to a low of $33 a barrel during that period. Hahaha.

However, Ryanair said that its lack of hedging in the fourth quarter would enable it to take full advantage of the low oil price. As a result, the carrier upgraded its full-year profits forecast to between €50 million and €80 million yesterday. Its previous guidance had been to break even.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, has admitted that he “screwed up” Ryanair’s fuel strategy in 2008 after remaining largely unhedged as prices rose to $147 a barrel in July. He then bowed to shareholder pressure to protect the airline against rocketing prices by locking in fuel prices during October, November and December – just as oil prices crashed. Ryanair’s fuel costs during its third quarter rose by 71 per cent to €328 million, which accounted for 47 per cent of its operating costs.