Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish court

[oz_mark]

A Spanish judge has ruled that Ryanair’s policy of charging passengers for printing their boarding passes at check-in is illegal after a passenger took the budget airline to court over the charge.

Ryanair charge passengers 40 euros (£34) to print their boarding pass at the airport but the Spanish court ruled that the Irish airline must print the documents for free.

Ryanair charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish judge | Mail Online

 

[simongr]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

So in order to maintain their margins Ryanair will now need to spread that cost across all pax rather than the ones that choose not to print at home or are unable to print at home.

That's a net loss for a lot of people then.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Does it really cost that much to print a boarding pass?

I know Ryanair is a joke but occasionally they need to get serious....

 

[nlagalle]

And yet another reason not to fly Ryanair!!!

 

[simongr]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Does it really cost that much to print a boarding pass?

I know Ryanair is a joke but occasionally they need to get serious....

If Ryanair have built a business model around not printing BPs at the airport then there are two things to consider. First the GBP40 fee is a "go away" fee - they are making so expensive that they are discouraging people from trying to do this. As a result of this Ryanair can then design their business processes and infrastructure at the airport around a minimal amount of people getting BPs printed there.

The second thing is that based on a business model of minimal printing then the actual per unit cost of printing the BP is not just the piece of paper - it is the staff time, training for staff, physical counters etc. I certainly don't think it would be cheap for them to print all BPs given that is not their business model.

BTW - I would never fly Ryanair and have no interest in flying Ryanair but I do find it ridiculous that the courts can decide on how they price their products. I also would find it annoying if I was a Ryaniar pax that now I have to pay more because someone else doesnt want to comply with the published T&Cs...

 

[JohnK]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

First the GBP40 fee is a "go away" fee - they are making so expensive that they are discouraging people from trying to do this. As a result of this Ryanair can then design their business processes and infrastructure at the airport around a minimal amount of people getting BPs printed there.

Agree with most of your points but essentially what you are saying is that if someone cannot print a boarding pass then it is OK to gouge.

By the way not everyone can print a boarding pass before the flight. If I am not at work, or the lounge, I cannot print a boarding pass. Similarly if I am travelling should I have to go to an internet cafe to print a boarding pass? In my opinion GBP5 would be a more realistic cost to print a boarding pass at the airport and would more than cover all the issues you raised about having staff at the airport.

There are other LCCs with a similar business models to Ryanair yet still provide most of the basic requirements of taking a flight free of charge.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

FR resolution: threaten to withdraw all services from Spain.

No, that's not official, just a guess, considering how aggressive FR are in selecting destinations etc. I'm surprised they didn't do this to Italy when they were fined over EUR 3 million for not complying with Regulation 261.

 

[serfty]

OT: Spanish judge tell FR forcing pax to print BPs illegal - FlyerTalk Forums

I wonder what it would cost to put a pay-per-use internet kiosk with printer nearby. I could charge $4.99 for 15 minutes of use, and $4.99 to print per page... and come out ahead while still charging less!

When Gatwick Airport did this (free of charge) for passengers during 2009's snow disruption, Ryanair IP blocked the machines.

Mind you, going by the above quote (by an Airline operations manager) from FT, it's not much else more then value adding/revenue collection.

:shock::evil:

 

[GT351]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

A boarding pass should be the requirement of the airline not the individual and that is the crux of the legal arguement.

Otherwise why not just use the e ticket?

And 40 pounds is a total rip off, no arguement about that!

 

[Mal]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Ok, then how about this (slightly different) situation involving FlyBe.

Checking-in at the airport (via staff or kiosk), or online is free.
If you check in online, and then fail to print (or lose) your boarding pass, you can get it reprinted at the airport for a fee.

Just goes to show - never check in online with FlyBe, unless you know you can reprint the boarding pass if you lose it...

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

As long as people are willing to fly with FR, they will remain in business. I preferred Easyjet to Ryanair, but when l did have to fly with FR, they were by far the cheapest and 2 hours isn't that bad.

London (Stansted) to Gothenburg City wasn't bad for around $40 return including taxes (fares were $4, the rest tax - airfare only, add bus and train both sides too). In the end l just used BA where l got miles, lounge, some sort of food and drink, could get the tube to LHR and arrived at a airport where l didn't have to travel another 1 hour get to the destination city via bus/train.

 

[browski]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Another example of airlines believing that any clause they insert into their T&Cs is actually law. Hoping (in vain) that some judge somewhere will finally throw the book at these cowboys for willfully breaking the law. Ignorance of the law is not a defence.

 

[simongr]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

I dont think it is the role of the government or courts to determine how businesses should price their services.

@JohnK - fair point on poeple who can't print a BP before the flight. Though I do think that given the queues you will find at LCC desks - personally I would duck into an internet cafe (even at the airport) and print it myself then to avoid the queues.

Printing a BP is pretty archaic anyway and we should be looking to more ways like the NGCI cards on QF or sms as the primary means of checking in.

 

[NM]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Printing a boarding pass should not require any human interaction these days. Should be a matter of walking up to a kiosk, entering the booking reference or swiping the paying credit card or FF card (ok, no FF for Ryanair), verifying details and selecting "print boarding pass" option.

 

[medhead]

I dont think it is the role of the government or courts to determine how businesses should price their services.


Printing a BP is pretty archaic anyway and we should be looking to more ways like the NGCI cards on QF or sms as the primary means of checking in.

True regarding pricing. But my impression is the problem is that the airline is trying to make the pax responsible for their legal requirement for pax to have a printed BP. The extension being that if the passenger refusing the pay the fee then immigration will prevent them from flying. So the airline could be using the fee as a means to get out of their contractual obligation to fly the passenger.

I also assume this involves international flying. NGCI doesn't work in that case and it will never work as it will be a long time before immigration/customs will accept a QFF card as being a BP. In fact customs take your BP when you travel domestic on international flights. Why? The passenger hasn't left the country, there is no risk. They say it is to collect pax details because they haven't filled in a declaration card. But why do they need that information and if they do need it why not just make people do the card. Just saying if they have this attitude about domestic international pax, I can't imagine they would respond well to an airline that said how about NGCI.

I've only given superficial thought to this and I'm not saying the fee is wrong just that it doesn't seem that clear cut.

 

[UP4014]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

If Ryanair have built a business model around not printing BPs at the airport then there are two things to consider. First the GBP40 fee is a "go away" fee - they are making so expensive that they are discouraging people from trying to do this. As a result of this Ryanair can then design their business processes and infrastructure at the airport around a minimal amount of people getting BPs printed there.

The second thing is that based on a business model of minimal printing then the actual per unit cost of printing the BP is not just the piece of paper - it is the staff time, training for staff, physical counters etc. I certainly don't think it would be cheap for them to print all BPs given that is not their business model.

BTW - I would never fly Ryanair and have no interest in flying Ryanair but I do find it ridiculous that the courts can decide on how they price their products. I also would find it annoying if I was a Ryaniar pax that now I have to pay more because someone else doesnt want to comply with the published T&Cs...

Here the ACCC can decide a charge is over the top. Look at the class actions against bank fees and suddenly it doesn't cost the bank so much for a late payment and they've nearly all lowered their fees.

 

[UP4014]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

I dont think it is the role of the government or courts to determine how businesses should price their services.

@JohnK - fair point on poeple who can't print a BP before the flight. Though I do think that given the queues you will find at LCC desks - personally I would duck into an internet cafe (even at the airport) and print it myself then to avoid the queues.

Printing a BP is pretty archaic anyway and we should be looking to more ways like the NGCI cards on QF or sms as the primary means of checking in.

Of course Govt should be involved in pricing when there is price gouging. That's why we have an ACCC and Dept of Fair Trading, to keep this stuff under control.

All I can say about this happening to Ryanair, couldn't have happened to a more deserving company.

 

[simongr]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Here the ACCC can decide a charge is over the top. Look at the class actions against bank fees and suddenly it doesn't cost the bank so much for a late payment and they've nearly all lowered their fees.

And at the same time put up interest rates ahead of the Fed. So now people who don't incur fees by sensible banking are paying more for their mortgages. A little glib but essentially the banks are making a return that they need to make - all that has happened is that they have pushed the sources or profit around.

Of course Govt should be involved in pricing when there is price gouging. That's why we have an ACCC and Dept of Fair Trading, to keep this stuff under control.

I though part of the purpose of Fair Trading and the ACCC was to make sure that companies werent breaching laws/their responsibilities not to police pricing. Surely the market should be able to manage pricing?

All I can say about this happening to Ryanair, couldn't have happened to a more deserving company.

A lot of people like Ryanair as it gives them opportunities to have cheap holidays. I really don't understand all of the hate directed at them - they are giving people what they want.

 

[UP4014]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

Here is an example (albeit old) of ACCC price monitoring in the aviation industry.
Price monitoring and financial reporting: price-monitored airports 2003-04

And ACCC unfair contract terms for consumers.
Unfair contract terms

 

[simongr]

Re: Ryanair's £40 charge for printing boarding passes is ruled illegal by Spanish cou

I have no doubt that the ACCC gets involved - I just think that it shouldn't and that the market should "decide" this.