Ryanair Charges Elderly Couple £110 To Check-In: Unfair?

For Ryanair and discount airlines in Europe, it is quite common to have check in from weeks before the flight. So it’s very possible they may have checked in for the return flight.

I cannot comprehend when people forgot the maxim that you get what you pay for. If you buy the cheapest tickets you can find, you should expect the horrendousest experience.

(So, to be clear, I'm with Ben on this one. Don't want to pay a supplemental breathing fee? Book a legitimate airline next time.)

Yep, came here to say the same.

European low cost carriers such as Ryan Air and EasyJet allow you to check in weeks ahead of departure. They probably were checked in for their return. It’s one thing to charge for baggage, priority boarding, seat selection etc. However a £55 airport checkin fee is abhorrent. Something which almost all airlines offer free of charge.

Ryanair doesn't discriminate on the basis of age, disability, race, gender, preference or anything else. They are equally "no favours" to everyone. When my 80-year old parents fly, I probably stress more than they do that they have the right seat assignments, boarding passes, etc.. I sympathise with the parents, but my disdain is more for the daughter than the airline in this case.

Furthermore, the cost of printing a boarding pass is not just the cost of the paper. It is the cost of renting the checkin counter, installing the equipment, paying the staff to sit there, and finally the actual cost of the paper. If you only have two passengers on the flight needing the service, when you add all that up, £55 isn't that bad a deal after all.

You'd think if the parents found the check-in experience "very confusing", they would have mentioned this to the daughter who would have ensured they checked in properly...

They may be guilty of violating a disability's law

Sometimes you can be “right” and downright despicable at the same time.

This is such a non-story. In fairness to Ryanair, they are very clear with their rules and are very good at sending reminder emails to check in online etc. It's takes less than 1 min to do online check in. We all have a choice and when I fly with ryanair, it's very simple and straightforward. You only pay for what you require (specific seat, luggage etc).

*Books lowest cost ticket with airline that charges for all services*

*Gets angry that airline is charging for servies*

Seriously, I don't understand why Ryanair are getting a hard time here, would I fly them, no, will I be able to fly on BA for anywhere near the same price where boarding pass printing is free, also no.

You get what you pay for, this is hardly a hidden fee, it's cear as day for all to see.

I agree with you Lucky. If my parents (in their 70’s) choose to fly Frontier or Spirit, it’s really on them to understand what’s needed to avoid charges. That, or ask for help. It’s a big reason I try to avoid ULCC’s anyway

When I book a ticket on something like Spirit for an elderly I usually pay for bags and boarding pass (airport assist) ahead so they wouldn't have to deal w/ it at the airport. That said, charging 110£ for 80-year olds for boarding passes (due to their honest confusion) is like charging a 3-year old to sit with their parents, when there are extra seats. Most mainline carriers would make an exception/accommodation here.

This brings me memories of Southwest and how stupid some airline personnel can be. Flew in the morning with wife and kids for a day trip on Southwest. Kids were not old enough to have cell phones so I had all 4 electronic tickets on my phone. No issues at all getting into the plane. On the return flight on the same day, I had all 4 tickets on my phone. At the gate in Chicago, gate agent denied boarding since according to him each passenger had to hold their own boarding passes. I explained to him that my kids did not have cell phones so there was no way they could hold their own boarding passes. No success. The idiot made us get off the line and go find an agent that could print all boarding passes on paper so we could board. Not needed to say that was the last time I flew Southwest.

If you make an exception for this couple then everyone is entitled to one. They received equal treatment.

While we may not approve of Ryanair's system and how they charge for extras...it really isn't their fault. Are they not supposed to charge older people for mistakes? What would be the age limit for that? The couple made a mistake, they need to pay for it and move on. Next time either have someone handle their online check-in for them or pay for a full service airline.

This is an example of why social media is terrible.

Airline did nothing wrong here. But the "gotcha" mentality of modern social media doesn't care about reality or facts.

How dare the airline follow it's clearly published policy! The horror!

Equal treatment is not the same as fair. In this case making an exception would have been the kind, fair thing to do even if not equal.

As I said elsewhere, the kind and fair thing to do would have been to let it slide. Would that have been equal treatment? No, but we also don't treat many situations equally because we recognize that due to age certain things don't make sense. The amount of defense for corporations on here is staggering, as if someone is going to get a free pair of tickets on how much they lick boots.

The daughter had better spent the time checking her parents on than to complain on twitter. I truly am not a fan of Ryanair but I cannot really fault them for applying their policy to everyone equally. The policy may be absurd but it applies to all.

It’s funny how any customer isn’t tec savvy when it comes to any additional fees they might get charged but they are tec savvy to buy a ticket on an ultra low cost airline at a low price. Book on Ryan air and expect them to enforce their t&c’s wether you like them or not I’m afraid.

Ryanair (and most of the commenters here) seem to think they publish the law, rather than the government

I'm not so sure about your argument that they don't discriminate based on disability. If someone states at checkin they had trouble checking in online due to any number of disabilities that come with age or other factors, would the airline agents waive their fee? Nope. They are trained to collect these fees ruthlessly, because the regulators allow them to operate this way. Until their hand is forced, stories like this will continue to be daily business for ULCCs around the world.

Scandalous. It is the worst airline in my opinion. I get that you must read the fine print but I have never seen such inflexible, ruthless policies as with Ryan air. I travel very frequently and prefer any budget airline besides them.

Just download the app and get your BPs electronically. Problem solved. It's pretty well stated that Ryanair will sock it to you for printing boarding passes, so don't complain when they do. Also, don't they have kiosks? (And, I honestly don't know this one - ULCCs in the US tend to) Either way, when you fly these kinds of airlines, you need to follow their "soup nazi" rules or pay the price.

If these folks are too feeble to figure out how to obtain boarding passes, they'd be better off flying BA or some other full service airline. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's true.

Ryanair does not deserve any "fairness", since they systematically operate unfairly. If they operated fairly, why is it always the more elderly passengers who struggle with these fees and policies? Oh right, they were clearly stated, therefore they are lawful and acceptable and moral and fair. Blame the passengers or blame the daughter. Ryanair is certainly innocent!

Oh honey, your parents aren't special, Ryanair simply hate everyone, and will willingly fleece you in every way possible at every opportunity.

No wrongdoing here on ryanairs part - their rip off charges are clearly stated (somewhere). However, you can be in the right, yet still a scumbag airline at the same time - the two are not mutually exclusive.
Caveat emptor.

Have you ever booked with Ryanair? Are you aware that at the last step, once your card details are entered, you will be asked to pay in your home currency at a 10% inflated rate compared to what you saw before, and the legally required opt-out button is hidden within a pop-up link? The entire booking and checkin process is littered with deception. If you don't want them to scam you, you have to be tech/industry savvy at all steps of the process.

Regulation EC 1107/2006 and the correspondng 2012 Implementation Guidelines lay out in detail the requirements for those with disabilities to notify the airlines, and for the airlines and airports to provide the necessary services.

Showing up at the checkin counter claiming a disability that prevents you from checking in online unfortunately would not be covered under this regulation.

The root cause here is that the website is too confusing and that resulted in them not being able to check-in. The Ryanair website is very clunky with a lot of pop ups and ads and constant attempts to trick you into buying ancillary services. Sometimes you can be in the middle of booking and it takes you on tangents to buy all kinds of extras like hotels and insurance on multiple occasions. A friend of mine was trying to book and he ended up on a whole other site somehow that even referenced his Ryanair booking... very confusing.

I don't think the airline should have made an exception but I do think airlines (as with many customer facing businesses) should be required to provide a simple easy-to-use website (or make a version of it available) that really breaks everything down step-by-step so that those with cognitive impairments still have access to their services. Yes, that creates costs for the business, but tricking vulnerable people into spending money is not really a fair business model either.

Best Irish joke ever , shite airline don't know why you people put up with them over there put up with them

If you are going to pull the elderly/disabled card, then perhaps you are not capable of traveling alone. There is nothing "confusing" about the check in process. If it is too complicated for you, i can only imagine what else they are not going to be able to do. Too bad but having lots of birthdays does not exempt you from the rules the rest of the world.

I think it’s cute that everyone assumes BA would have been more accommodating here. 100% luck of the draw.

Once thought of taking this airline as an experiment. Normally fly biz seats. Three big bags (long vacation) always use check in for everything, where is the lounge? Ryanair's total fare with all the crap made full biz look reasonable. Plus no hassle and a free cup of coffee before boarding, snack (sort of) on board. I still love you Mr O'Leary, honest.

At the end of the day it’s extremely clear when you book. Ryanair also allows you to check in upto 30 days before departure

The daughter then goes on a rant and just because they are elderly isn’t an excuse, otherwise everything is discrimination including being too young.

Nowadays many see social media as a route to vent and blackmail.

I have flown Ryanair numerous times recently and found them very efficient. The app is very simple to use. I’ve also had two delay compensation claims paid within 10 days by them.

Yup and there are plenty of clueless with tech "young" people as well. If technology confuses you, it's better that you avoid it or get someone to help you until you're more comfortable.

What "mistake" did they make again? Restate it using your own words. And tell me why it is fair to punish that mistake.

It’s all on the daughter not Ryanair. Deflecting blame on social media for not preparing better by taking care of the checkin process proactively.

Who bought the ticket for the Jaffe's? How did the Jaffe's not know RyanAir's reputation and that they needed to be on guard for the gotchas?

110 GBP is a shame and I'd be pissed too but they are solely at fault here. The mom and dad entered into a contract and they had to hold up their side of it.

I suspect the daughter was embarrassed that she let them down and tried to make up for it afterwards. Shame on her.

Ryanair has been charging for most services for over 20 years and the boarding pass fee has been around for more than a decade. So unless it’s their first time flying FR, then these people were not as old when the fees were introduced and should be familiar.

Ryanair is very clear about all of these fees on their website and in confirmation emails. It’s a rough situation to find oneself in, but it’s a simple part of their T&C’s. The simple answer is to not fly them again.

If the daughter wanted kind and fair treatment for her elderly parents, why didn't she book the flights for them? On a full service carrier rather than a ULCC well known for strictly following their T&Cs? And check them in for them?

Ordered the cheapest beer in the bar, then complained on social media that it didn't taste like champagne. SMH.

Ryanair is the most horrible airline in every way possible.... extremely stressful airline to travel with and to be avoided .... And of course their website is a maze, especially for elderly.. Ryanair is preying on those who are least able to navigate the net.. Shame on them....

There are so many holes in this story.
- Clearly they had not check in as a reprint of the boarding pass would have been £20, instead £55 (not checked in + boarding pass).
- They had not booked assistance for the disabled husband, which would have put them seated together without paying for seats.

How do you feel about mistake fares? Not sure why companies with all their resources and employees are allowed to make mistakes and cancel with no penalty, but when a customer screws up it's tough luck.

Except it's not extremely clear.

Ryanair intentionally makes it difficult to understand how their processes work and do as little as possible to communicate with the customers on potentially costly actions.

For example, I had a case where I had already checked into a flight two weeks before departure. One week out, I logged into my booking to confirm I had a bag and to see if there was an earlier flight available. Ryanair took the occasion of me logging into my booking to uncheck me from my flight. When I showed up at the airport, my boarding pass no longer worked and had to pay the 55 EUR to check-in.

I take at least 20 flights a year and am a Millennial so it's not like I'm clueless when it comes to technology or how to manage a booking.

It was the first time I flew Ryanair in 15 years and will be the last.

Ryanair's practices go against European values of fairness and consumer protection. The EU needs to legislate these deceitful practices out of existence.

"why is it always the more elderly passengers who struggle with these fees and policies?

Citation needed. When I search for "Ryanair fees policies complaints" I see lots of hits but few from the elderly. Where is your evidence of age discrimination?

I have flown Ryanair multiple times and never had an issue. Very efficient clear booking process. Mostly on time and for the two tech delays I received €500 within 8 days of submitting a claim. Frequent push notifications. And to add I fly legacy carriers frequently.

Why should someone else have to book someone's tickets when a website is actively dishonest and confusing? As other's have already mentioned Ryanair's website and checkotu process is actively deceitful in how it is structured and worded.

Also a list of RYanair's fee's is hilarious as there is literally nothing they won't charge you for. Have a baby you are holding? Here's a fee. Have a car stroller/car seat you are legally required to have to drive anywhere once you get to your destination? Additional fee. Si tnext to your kid? Additional fee. These are all the sort of insane junk fee's that rightly the DOT here is targeting, and which hopefully will no longer exist. The number of people who are defending these practices is exactly why we've ended up with no consumer protections and questionably deregulated aviation sector.

Contrary to what you say I find it easy to navigate their processes. I guess you’ll never fly any airline as your story could be repeated with any company. It’s just your opinion and situation.

Courts generally uphold mistake fares in Europe.

I'm not a huge fan of FR, but they just followed a clearly published policy here. There's nothing to talk about, really. If you're not confident in your or passenger's IT skills, you can buy one of their fares that allows check-in at the airport.

Surprising to me that the daughter has plenty of time to kick up a fuss about the properly charged fees after the fact but didn't have enough time to help her elderly parents with an unfamiliar experience! Travel and leisure companies certainly engage in some matter of dodgy stuff at the edges but clearly laying out fees and assessing those fees isn't really dodgy in my view.

Some airlines do honor mistake fares. Some are well known for being "kind and fair" to use another commenter's phrase, while others are well known for enforcing the T&Cs to the letter. So when your elderly parents are taking a trip, now you know which kinds of airlines to look for. Hint: Probably not the cheapest guys in the sky.

If you can't figure it out from this article and all the other comments on here and STILL need someone to explain it to you...then maybe you avoid complicated articles such as this.

As others have said it’s in their T&C’s which you agree to when completing the booking, it must be a slow news day here in the UK for this article to gain so much traction as our local travel correspondents often have to deal with these types of questions from the general public and they overwhelmingly side with the airline.

First off, you are correct - it is Ryannair policy. And it’s a stupid policy. Perhaps a front line employee made a poor decision, but you get what you pay for on that horrid airline.

it is 100% on the pax. I too have been hit by this, and it was my fault, so I paid.

This is why you shouldn't fly Ryanair.

I haven't had a problem checking in for a RA flight but when booking tickets one has to fight innumerable pop-ups trying to get you to buy any number of extras. If you can get past them and actually purchase the ticket . . .
In the spirit of fairness - which RA doesn't show - I had a cheapo discount flight out of Riga and yeah could not get the system to process my check-in ahead of time. Yeah at the counter they were going to charge for check-in but instead sent us up to a general ticket office who checked us in and printed the boarding passes. That was a clever workaround and a big thank you to the agent who came up with the solution. Though I am sure it helped that I had a screen shot of the system failure.

Funny in this case that the couple succeeded in purchasing the tickets and in checking in for their return flight - but they didn't look at the board passes? If they had they would have seen that they were for the wrong date and a clue that something went wrong. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic and it's a pain that they had to pay. It seems they accidentally made a mistake but didn't check.

This is why I would never fly with this airline (having been forced to do so once due to a fire in the Channel Tunnel). I would rather pay more to fly with an airline that I don't feel is trying to catch me out at every single turn to ensure that their "cheap" fare turns into something highly profitable. Whether their policies are clearly printed or not, I find the whole experience of flying with them borderline abusive and cruel.

You’re a nasty condescending little idiot aren’t you Julia? Hypertext can’t read your mind and he/her is asking a legitimate question you jackass!

If it is publishized offer before hand, I think any airline have had any choice to ask the passengers to pay for it.
Even I had paid Rs.50/- quite a while back to get my ticket printed.
My mistake.

I think outrageously high fees ought to be illegal - I prefer that airlines would be forced to play by the same set of "base rules" like no stupid fees, minimum seat size, must provide water to drink, and automatic payment when EU rules are violated (no need to fill in claim forms). Slightly higher fees but everyone will feel more civilised. Regulate them.

He was the one being condescending to me in the first place. You're the jackass here for defending his right to be nasty and calling me out for defending myself from his asinine comment. And it had nothing to do with reading my mind, dumbass. Goodness you'd think Hypertext was the daughter of the couple in the article...

Or Ryanair just has a badly designed website and IT system. It's okay to acknowledge that an airline isn't easy navigate for elderly people who may not be tech savy and the airline had no empathy to help them when it was partially their fault in the situation and didn't want to make it right. If you don't empower your employees to do the right thing as a service in a situation like that says how much you care about your customers. It doesn't matter if it's no frills or full service, you treat customers with respect and dignity.

The blame is on the daughter. Period!

Why? As long as they are published, there is nothing to be said against fees. Nobody is forced to choose that particular airline.

The policy is designed to lower costs - fewer people checking in at the airport = fewer agents. The whole point is to drive the cost down to be competitive on fares. You can't have it both ways, paying 30€ for your ticket and having a full service experience.

Which law is that, precisely?

Yes, almost all airlines offer it free of charge, on base fares that can cost several times more.
If you want a row of agents waiting to check you in, it has to be paid for.

I think the daughter should reimburse her parents for the £110 fee.
Not because she failed to help and oversee her parents' transaction (although clearly aware that they were not good with technology), but for all the free publicity and advertising that she has gained for her holiday company by using their Twitter account name.....

It's inconceivable that they could have booked Ryanair without knowing about the exceptionally high fees charged for everything. To the airline's credit, they tell you at every step of the process how much higher fees will be at the airport, as a way of encouraging pre-pay for any and all services you may need. I have no sympathy at all. It is like someone who buys the cheapest insurance to save money but then complains that the deductible is too high.

Totally agree with the comments whereby if the ranting Daughter was a tad more helpful with her elderly parents, this issue wouldn't have arisen. Being elderly is not a disability, I am in that age range, fortunately I am.'Tech savvy'. I often help.others who are not. We fly Ryanair sometimes 3/4 times a year and have never had a problem. Rules are Rules

People fly on super cheap ULCCs and they somehow expect a wonderful experience.

That's been tried, specifically in the US prior to 1978.

To Ryanair's credit, they are very transparent about the fees throughout the booking process. In fact, getting the Priority+2 cabin bags option includes airport check-in, should you wish to use it.
I had a similar attitude towards Ryanair years back, but as legacy carriers took away most of their services, I now find LCCs to actually set expectations much better.

Strongly disagree.
Ryanair may have been a shady business years ago, but lately they've been extremely upfront about everything. The booking process clearly tells you what's included and how much it will cost later if you don't pre-pay. Sure, they push all kinds of extras, but it's not hard to decline those and breeze through the booking.
Yes, you have to board via bus, the seats don't recline and there's zero amenities. That's the deal you get for €10 fares. At the same time, there's a decent, reasonably priced BoB selection, even including hot meals. That's more than you can ask of most European carriers.

Frankly, if there's bona fide outrage, I'd suggest that folks should press the gov't to order airports to install complementary boarding pass printing kiosks at airports and require airlines to let customers use them.Frankly, if there's bona fide outrage, I'd suggest that folks should press the gov't to order airports to install complementary boarding pass printing kiosks at airports and require airlines to let customers use them. I'd be quite content if the result were to be to run the sleazeballs at Ryanair (I'm thinking of the foot-dragging on compensation/refunds a few years back) out of town.

Having said that...the idea of "checking in" 30 days prior to departure seems to utterly defeat the purpose of checking in, and I wonder why they don't just bin the concept at that point?

Rs.50 is less than USD1 (I think it's around 50p in the UK?). I don't think Rs.50 and GBP55 are really comparable fees.

NGL, that sounds like grounds for a complaint.

That would require her knowing there was, in fact, a problem prior to the trip...

This may be true, but I'd be more sympathetic to these fees if "You WILL respect mistake fares (and not play any games*)" or an extension of EU261 compensation if there's enough advance notice** were black-letter law with the only possible defenses relying on outright sabotage.

In the US, it's a bit dodgier.

*I can see a situation where an airline would rather simply pay several hundred [UNIT]s to void out a mistake fare than eat the cost of doing so.
**If the fare pops up/they want to cancel the day/week of the trip for some reason, then I wouldn't allow this on the grounds of last-minute bookings being expensive, but otherwise "If you want to cancel a mistake fare then you will (essentially) pay a fine to the folks you booked" seems reasonable.

And that's your choice. I choose to fly with them as, over the course of a couple of hours, they are no different to any other airline. Long-haul would be a different matter.

Older people do not have the IT skills of younger people and it is time businesses understood this . It includes airlines, banks , and online everything .
There needs to be some flexibility .
I cannot recieve e-statements from my bank because my Samsung smart phone ( 6 years old ) does not have finger print or face recognition . It is a nightmare and I have reasonable IT skills at 77 years old

This is different . Elder citizens in 70s and 80s who are not IT experienced . There neds to be some flexibility .

they should be required to issue boarding cards at the airport as part of selling a ticket should ppl need it or they shouldnt be allowed to operate from an airport

Authors takeaway:
"Well, I know they robbed them, but they did say they were going to rob you if you didn't do Y. So it is technically the elderly peoples fault"

Absolutely BS, you should not be charged for a ticket you already PAID for! Imagine if your hotel did this? Jesus, daft people to write this dribble.

Are you stupid? 55 for printing a ticket? How disingenuous can you get?