Low-cost carriers have a reputation for offering travel to budget-conscious travelers -- for an added price, that is.
Hidden fees for carry on and seat selection add costs to the final bill, but the total is still often less than a ticket to Ft. Lauderdale on a major airline.
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But then you add in the reputation for poor customer service and the true cost of traveling with a smaller airline starts to add up.
It isn't just a U.S. problem either, as two travelers recently found with European budget carrier Ryanair (RYAOF) -).
A user of social media platform X -- formerly known Twitter -- shared a horrific ordeal her parents had to go through while traveling recently involving boarding pass tech.
Hey @Ryanair, my parents who are in their 70s and 80s, had accidentally downloaded the return flight boarding card instead of the outgoing ones and you charged them £110 to print them at the airport. £110 for 2 pieces of paper which took 1 minute. Shame on you
— Old School House Venosc 💙 (@old_school_alps) August 13, 2023
Most airlines these days allow travelers to download their boarding passes digitally through the app, so charging two elderly people from the Silent Generation nearly $140 just to print the tickets seems beyond the pale.
Further details from the story make the Ireland-based Ryanair look even worse.
Yes but you have to download at least 2 hours in advance. Because they’d paid extra to sit next to each other (dad’s disabled) they gave them the option of downloading the return ticket. They did that by mistake instead of outgoing. Honest mistake
— Old School House Venosc 💙 (@old_school_alps) August 14, 2023
Ryanair eventually did respond to the woman through Twitter, telling her to contact them through Facebook Messenger.
We’ve put in a complaint via your online form
— Old School House Venosc 💙 (@old_school_alps) August 14, 2023
My mum made a mistake while trying to check in. You told her she wouldn’t sit next to her disabled husband if she didn’t pay extra so she tried. It then checked her in for the return flight only. They sat separately after paying £110
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The woman said she has been contacted by the major broadcasters in the UK for an interview while noting that it's not the ground crew's fault for Ryanair having such a policy. "Give your ground staff some leeway," she said.
Meanwhile back home, hidden fees are set to make a comeback in the U.S. after Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House of Representatives Transportation Committee released a proposal in June that would roll back Obama-era regulations requiring airlines to show the total price of a ticket upfront when advertising.
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