news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

A Ryanair passenger has been arrested after he complained about the quality of a £3.80 sandwich.

The man was detained by police when his flight landed after crew complained he had become disruptive.

But Henrik Ulven (52), from Oslo, said he merely asked for a refund after he bought a sandwich and was unhappy with its quality. He was shocked when arrested upon arrival at Rygge Airport near Oslo on Tuesday.

source: Belfast Telegraph

Ryanair’s first-quarter net profits have fallen by 24% to 93.7m euros ($122m, £80m) because of the volcanic ash disruption earlier this year.

The airline said the Icelandic ash cloud had caused it to cancel almost 10,000 flights at a cost of 50m euros.

source: BBC News

Italy’s civil aviation authority has imposed a fine of just over $4 million on the Irish low-cost airline, Ryanair, for failing to help passengers stranded during the disruption caused by a volcanic ash cloud last month.

The Italians say Ryanair failed to provide passengers at an airport in Rome with drinks, meals and hotel rooms. Tens of thousands of flights were grounded during a week of travel chaos caused by the ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland.

The Italian civil aviation authority said its own staff had to help stranded Ryanair passengers in Rome, and it cited 178 cases where the company had breached the rules

source: ABC News

Passengers have been warned they will not be compensated after being stranded by the ash cloud.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has insisted his airline will defy compensation rules for stranded passengers.

The budget airline warned passengers it will not be held liable for their extra hotel and restaurant bills after they were stranded due to the ash cloud.

Mr O’Leary said customers will be refunded their original ticket price but no more, a refusal to abide by EU consumer rules.

The airline boss met authorities in Dublin and says he will see Ireland’s Commission for Aviation Regulation in court rather than pay.

source: ITN

Extra charges on Ryanair flights have increased by up to 700 per cent since 2006, it emerged this week.

The airline has announced it will increase the fee to check in luggage by 33 per cent – to £40 per bag per return flight – during the peak travel months of July and August. This compares with the original £5 charge in 2006.

Passenger must also now pay a £10 online check-in fee per return flight (not payable on “promotional fares“), a charge that did not exist in 2006. A fee of £10 per person per return flight is also added to all payments made by credit or debit card, with the exception of those involving prepaid MasterCard debit cards. This compares with a charge of £3.50 per person per return flight in 2006.

On top of these charges, the airline has again said it plans to install coin-operated lavatories on its fleet, charging customers £1 a time to use them

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Ryanair Holdings announced a halt to its in-flight phone service after a 13-month contract with OnAir ended, and invited rival providers to bid for the expansion of the service to its entire fleet.

The carrier said it will now invite other providers of in-flight communications to tender for access to its 73 million annual passengers. Considering Ryanair is well known for rapidly dropping initiatives that don’t pay off, news of a tender suggests the airline was happy with the trial it ran on part of is fleet.

OnAir currently works with six airlines and plans to launch services with six more during the course of the year.

source: marketwatch.com

European airport authorities subsidise Ryanair to the tune of at least €11 (£10) per passenger, Air France-KLM claimed this week as it filed a lawsuit in Brussels against the low-cost carrier.

In the latest in a series of legal attacks on Ryanair’s business model, the Franco-Dutch airline accused the Irish company of receiving illegal state aid and distorting competition.

Air France-KLM said that Ryanair obtained at least €660 million a year in financial incentives from regional authorities in Europe, notably in the form of reduced ground-handling fees and other airport charges.

source: Times Online

A Ryanair flight to Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, was forced to land on the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura during a thunderstorm.

When arriving at the airport, around 120 passengers claim they were left ‘stranded’ to organise their own accommodation and travel plans with no word from the airline.

European guidelines state if the flight disruption is outside the control of the airline, no monetary compensation is due.

source: News.com.au

Ryanair has been officially branded the worst budget airline for hitting customers with hidden charges.

Holiday watchdogs investigated the cost of passengers checking in one piece of luggage each and paying by credit card. Stansted-based Ryanair charges spiralled by 61 per cent – ahead of Bmibaby, Jet2 and easyJet.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Everybody knows that Ryanair has the lowest fares guaranteed which is why Ryanair will carry 73 million passengers this year.

source: Mirror.co.uk

It could all be dismissed as just another Ryanair publicity stunt.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the budget airline, has challenged Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the largest shareholder in easyJet, its arch-rival, to a race round Trafalgar Square to settle a dispute over insults concerning “high fares” and the portrayal of Sir Stelios as Pinocchio.

But the latest Ryanair insults have provoked a counter-threat. For the first time in the history of their rivalry, easyJet and Sir Stelios are threatening to sue Ryanair — on two counts.

“If Stelios does not want to run, maybe he can go round in a wheelbarrow,” said Mr O’Leary. “Or maybe we could do sumo wrestling.”

source: Times Online