Ryanair Sinks to New Depths as Southwest Flies High

May 19, 2009 | Uncategorized

Following closely on the heels of Air Jamaica’s new — and ludicrous — luggage policy (see the previous blog Who Thought the Airline Luggage Fiasco Could Get Worse?), today I woke up to another bit of ludicrous news from European carrier Ryanair. Ryanair is that infamous carrier that does anything it can to extract every possible cent from your wallet and land you penniless at your destination.

Today’s revelation is just a new bit of fodder for its nickel-and-dime mentality. Get this: Ryanair is getting rid of its airport check-in staff so you’ll soon be able to check-in only online. And despite most carriers charging less for a ticket when you book online — they do benefit from having to have fewer personnel, after all — Ryanair will implement an additional online check-in charge of $7.50.

But there’s more from the Machiavellian marketers of Ryanair…after you book online, if you don’t print your boarding ticket at home they’re going to charge you another $60 or so to print one at the airport. This will be called a “Boarding card Re-issue Fee” and, as the blog BlackBook points out, this might well pose a problem for those of us who don’t travel with a printer.

On the brighter side of things on this side of the Atlantic, USA Today says U.S. passenger satisfaction with airlines has gone up for the first time in six years according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index which randomly surveys thousands of people across the U.S.

Southwest once again came out on top — for the 16th year in a row — with its highest score ever of 81.

And as to how some other big names in the sky faired, Continental was rated 68, Delta 64, American 60, US Airways 59 and United 56.

It’s too bad these surveys can’t rate American carriers against their European counterparts, but then Ryanair would likely tack on a “Customer Survey Fee” of $80 if you participated.

Jim Ferri