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So I got myself a pre-paid Mastercard (in 4 days!) to save fees when booking with the above.
However in the same 4 days the headline fair (Ed-Brussels) has gone DOWN from £36.99 to £26.99 ("whooh hooh", I am thinking) but the base price (i.e. inc. taxes etc) is now £20 MORE at £62.99.
WTF? Will this go back down...or just up and up and up?
Don't fly Ryanair - I would rather walk. Anywhere.
4 star service?
Hels can't get to Brussels as easily any other way, I don't think.
TSY 😀
Maybe they have lowered the [i]fare[/i] to offset the increase in airport taxes which would be outside of their control?
Don't fly Ryanair - I would rather walk. Anywhere.
+1,
Manchester to Dublin Return cost me about £15, but I had to jump through a million hoops to achieve it. If you know how to play the system it can be done, but it's not worth the stress.
£120 for me to get a train to London. £62 to Dublin? That sounds cheap to me.
Where did you get the prepaid Mastercard from?
Worth having a look on liligo.com normally (I think flybe are direct to BXL rather than Charleroi)
and how much are Ryanair going to add for your bike 🙁
How DARE they not give you something for nothing! They should be footing the bill to fly people around Europe, not the passengers! Outrageous!
Ooh flybmi do it for a mere £8 more 😀
Any other cheap ways of getting to Brussels folks?
Doesn't Druidh have major shares in a Ryanair?
Have you upset him recently? 😉
Perhaps he made a call to push up prices once he got word of your planned trip..
😈
Eurostar??
With Ryan Air you pay for what you get, no point in bleating about it.
leffeboy - fairfx.com - from moneysavingexperts. Getting another card for easyjet who I use much more.
£38 for the bik (£18 easy, £30 bmi) I think flybe is not direct and I CBA with that - also they use airports with the highest taxes possible and the free flight thing is a scam.
molgrips I am jhust wondering how the price has goen up bt £20 in 4 days, when the fare is claimed to have gone down bt £10 - read the OP before you try flaming me, you **** 😉
Well that was just a bit of banter, not flaming 🙂 but anyway it's the taxes that have gone up not the fare. Airlines do not control the taxes.
==============================================
** Buying paint from a hardware store **
Customer: Hi, how much is your interior flat latex paint in Bone White?
Clerk: We have a medium quality, which is $16 a gallan, and premium,
which is $22 a gallon. How many gallons would you like?
Customer: I'll take five gallons of the medium quality, please.
Clerk: That will be $80 plus tax.
==============================================
** Buying paint from an airline **
Customer: Hi, how much is your paint?
Clerk: Well, sir, that all depends.
Customer: Depends on what?
Clerk: Actually a lot of things.
Customer: How about giving me an average price?
Clerk: Wow, that's too hard a question. The lowest price is $9 a
gallon, and we have 150 different prices up to $200 a gallon.
Customer: What's the difference in the paint?
Clerk: Oh, there isn't any difference; it's all the same paint.
Customer: Well, then, I'd like some of that $9 paint.
Clerk: Well, first I need to ask you a few questions. W hen do you
intend to use it?
Customer: I want to paint tomorrow, on my day off.
Clerk: Sir, the paint for tomorrow is the $200 paint.
Customer: What? When would I have to paint in order to get the $9
version?
Clerk: That would be in three weeks, but you will also have to agree
to start painting before Friday of that week and continue painting
until at least Sunday.
Customer: You've got to be kidding!
Clerk: Sir, we don't kid around here. Of course, I'll have to check
to see if we have any of that paint available before I can sell it to
you.
Customer: What do you mean check to see if you can sell it to me? You
have shelves full of that stuff; I can see it right there.
Clerk: Just because you can see it doesn't mean that we have it. It
may be the same paint, but we sell only a certain number of gallons on
any given week. Oh, and by the way, the price just went to $12.
Customer: You mean the price went up while we were talking?
Clerk: Yes, sir. You see, we change prices and rules thousands of
times a day, and since you haven't actually walked out of the store
with your paint yet, we just decided to change. Unless you want the
same thing to happen again, I would suggest that you get on with your
purchase. How many gallons do you want?
Customer: I don't know exactly. Maybe five gallons. Maybe I should
buy six gallons just to make sure I have enough.
Clerk: Oh, no, sir, you can't do that. If you buy the paint and then
don't use it, you will be liable for penalties and possible
confiscation of the paint you already have.
Customer: What?
Clerk: That's right. We can sell you enough paint to do your
kitchen, bathroom, hall, and north bedroom, but if you stop painting
before you do the bedroom, you will violation of our tariffs.
Customer: But what does it mater to your whether I use all the paint?
I already paid for it!
Clerk: Sir, there's no point in getting upset; that's just the way it
is. We make plans upon the idea that you will use all the paint, and
when you don't, it just causes us all kinds of problems.
Customer: This is crazy! I suppose something terrible will happen if
I don't keep painting until after Saturday night!
Clerk: Yes, sir, it will.
Customer: Well, that does it! I'm going somewhere else to buy my
paint.
Clerk: That won't do you any good, sir. We all have the same rules.
I'd personally use flybmi as it seems to be the same price all in.
Have you ever seen the algorithms that airlines (and places like trainline.com) use for ticket bookings? It's actually quite interesting if you're a maths geek, it's also horrendously complex.
The more people start looking at a flight (not even booking, just searching), the more the price goes up. Give with one hand, take with the other - run a flight with zero taxes (and shout about it), raise the base price.
If you know how to play the system it's OK - I once got a return flight to Girona for £8 all in on Ryanair. If you look at the overall price it's still pretty reasonable, it's actually the fact that they break it down (flight: £10, taxes, fees, charges, baggage, check in fee, using the toilet; £100). If they just said "the flight is £110 all in" then people wouldn't complain half as much!
molgrips - taxes actually increased over the weekend?
What, you can't swim ??
How about the Rosyth Zeebrugges ferry ?? Then a train to Bruxelles. Far less hassle. Any don't forget that Charleroi "Brussels" is a shack in the middle of nowhere and you will have to get a 90 min bus to downtown Brussels. At least it was when I flew out of there a few years ago.
I don't think that ferry runs anymore hels, and the closest I could find (Newcastle - Endhoven IRRC) cost £170
Mate can collect me from Charleroi, he lives south of the city anyway.
Customer service and reproach are key to me. I'd rather pay triple than think 'that flight I booked in two weeks time, will it all be ok'?
I always book my flights and hotel seperate/direct and I've never been tempted by Ryanair. Holidays are for zero-stress not to be taken the piss with.
Rosyth Zeebrugge is freight only.
Al - see if you can get a free ride in a truck in return for [i]favours[/i].
I'm not one to jump on a bandwagon, but every time I see that smug scumbag O'Leary on TV I make a mental note never to give him any of my money if I can ever possibly help it.
Those who say they'd rather pay 3 times as much where would you draw the line? 5 times as much? 10 times as much?
I'd rather not go if Ryanair is the only choice.
Its like shopping at Dave Hinde. Plenty of info out there- take your chances or just pick up the item elsewhere.
molgrips - taxes actually increased over the weekend?
Isn't that what the OP said?
Funny example about the paint, but it's not quite the same thing.
I imagine airlines started off with a flat fare, then they figured out they could get people do to what they wanted/needed by massaging the prices.
Think about it another way: It's not that the late fares are very expensive, but the early ones are very cheap!
I've flown with Ryanair quite a few times without problem - with a bike too.
molgrips - I guess but it just seems too much of a coincidence. It's 3+ months away!
Flybmi are £8 more and I get din dins and a G&T so that's it sorted. KAPOW!
Bmi are definitely much better. Bon voyage!
Thats a shame that was a good ferry - I never vommed once on it which is a result for me.
I hate Ryan Air, so many hidden hidden costs, like trying to get to "Glasgow" Prestwick with bikes for a 6.00am flight. Had to take an extra day off work which more than negated the "cheapness" which it wasn't. And as for trying to get the taxes back on a cancelled flight, the "cancellation fee" was mysteriously £5 more than the taxes so they tried to say I owed them money. Actually that was worth it for the laff.
Thats a shame that was a good ferry - I never vommed once on it which is a result for me
Did you take it after they reopened it? (just before they reclosed it 🙁 ). It's one of the few ferries that I have actually chucked on. Apparently they used a ferry used to more mellow Greek routes and not up to the rufty tufty Scottish waters.
CynicAl - you're right, flybe aren't direct. I can't keep up with all the names any more, I confuzzled them with flybmi
From Dublin to Wroclaw I can fly with Ryanair for about 200 Euro return all inc. Apart from the nervous system breakdown therapy needed afterwards. Not the plane staff, not even the fit checkout girls can change it, it's the scum who come up with their prices. The ticket - 19.99 Euro return, taxes and fees plus charges - 180 Euro. WTF?
Have a guess why I'll be driving 1700kms at the cost of 400 Euro instead.
BTW, from London to Brussels it'd be the Eurostar for me. Or a car. Or a bike. Or even a Eurolines coach for 25 quid.
crazy-legs - Member
Have you ever seen the algorithms that airlines (and places like trainline.com) use for ticket bookings? It's actually quite interesting if you're a maths geek, it's also horrendously complex.The more people start looking at a flight (not even booking, just searching), the more the price goes up. Give with one hand, take with the other - run a flight with zero taxes (and shout about it), raise the base price.
How do they do this? Cookies or something more complicated? Is it worth deleting all your cookies prior to re-browsing at flights?? Or use a work computer for browsing and then your home computer to actually do the buying when you've decided when you want to go??
Ooh I can do eurostar for £50 from St. P...*looks into that*
EDIT WTF £30 one way per bike 😮
*starts thread entitled "Eurostar Robbing ****s part 1"*
Flybmi are £8 more and I get din dins and a G&T so that's it sorted. KAPOW!
Didn't you say above that taking the bike is £30 with Flybmi and £38 with Ryanair?
If so that makes them the same price, so even better.
Al, stop being such a kid, get a bike bag and it becomes your luggage not your bike. Besides, you can have a glass of wine onboard so it's worth the extra few quid.
Rich - that was totals.
HC - separate charge for bikes on BMI.
Tried to book for Barcelona today, price for outbound came up as 21.99 went through to book declined all the extras and it wouldnt let me book said there was an error.
Did it again outbound flights came up as 36.99 tried clearing cookies it still came up as 36.99 and was clearly recognising me because even after restarting IE it held my airports as the starting point.
Didnt book, came home using home pc and booked it at the original 21.99.
Dont know exactly what was going on there but very dodgy indeed.