Ryanair Outrage Or Simple Economics?

Are you flying with Ryanair soon? If you are, are you  aware of the new check in changes?  From the 1st November Ryanair has announced it’s decision to reduce the free of charge check in time from seven to four days. If you are one of the unlucky people that are unable to get an internet connection whilst away and not able to download your own boarding pass then Ryanair will charge you a £45.00 fine.

Before we all scream at Ryanair, let us not forget that other airlines do have a smaller check in time, however the difference is they are rarely charged to check in at the airport.  You can imagine the backlash that Ryanair are having for these new changes. The chief marketing officer simply states, and I quote –

‘We’re continuing to listen to our customers through our “Always Getting Better” programme and this change reflects the customer feedback we have received.

‘From 1st November, we’re offering those customers who wish to reserve seats more time to choose their preferred seat, by reducing the check-in window from seven to four days pre-departure for those customers who prefer a random seat.

‘Customers who do not wish to reserve their seat will be able to check-in between four days and two hours ahead of their departure, using both the Ryanair.com website and Ryanair mobile app, and will continue to be randomly allocated a seat, free of charge.’

These changes also take in any existing bookings.  Basically, is this also pushing you to make a seat reservation for which you pay from £4 to £15 per person?

So is this simple economics? Well, Ryanair have announced that this years profits will take a hit because of the plunging pound. An 18% fall in the value of sterling since the Brexit vote. They are not the only airline to suffer, Easy Jet for example have also revealed a 90 million pound impact from the falling pound plus a further 125 million in lost profit which is a combination of terrorist attacks in Europe, Egypt and Tunisia as well as air traffic control strikes in France and the political turmoil in Turkey. Hence fares are been slashed to boost demand but is that robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Perhaps with Brexit and all the other uncertainty in the world,  the world is just too small a place for the budget airline? Only time will tell.

What do you think?