Office of Fair Trading Attacks Ryanair

The Office of Fair Trading has just accused Ryanair of being childish and unfair to its passengers due to its payment policies. The chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, John Fingleton, went on to attack the budget carrier, saying that there are stealth charges on customers when they use credit cards to pay online.

He went on to say that Ryanair has found a legal loophole to justify charging this extra fee, and thus, there is nothing that can be done about it. Pretty much, companies have to state all charges upfront in ads if there is no way to avoid the charge. Ryanair does not have to include this credit card charge, because people who pay with Mastercard Prepaid cards are not charged the credit card fee.

Ryanair went on to defend their payment policy by saying it gives passengers a way to avoid the costs. Ryanair also did not see why Fingleton was trying to single this airline out when Ryanair’s credit card policy is the same as many other airlines.

Ryanair head of communications, Stephen McNamara, said that what the Office of Fair Trading has to realize is that passengers prefer Ryanair’s model of credit card charges as it gives them a chance to avoid the costs. The Ryanair model gives customers a chance to avoid costs like baggage charges, high fares, fuel surcharges and much more. This is much different than the charges that many strike-threatened airlines offer like British Airways. The point of the matter is that people are saving money when they fly with Ryanair, and this is what customers want.