RYANAIR SCAM!

It is a well-known FACT that Ryanair is one of the worst airlines in Europe, however for the sake of cheap(ish) tickets and hundreds of routes, you put up with all the crap they throw at you. Normally, the only thing that saves them is the friendliness of the plane crew.

But now the story has changed, and they entered the realms of scamming people. Now I don’t have proof it is them, so you take your own conclusions. Here’s what happened to my mother yesterday (and is still on-going).

She had to book a return ticket to the UK from Italy (where she lives), and she could only choose Ryanair because it’s the only company that flies to East Midlands. So, as usual, she went to Ryanair.com and followed all the normal procedures to book a ticket. She got to the confirmation page, saw the price and cost breakdown (€140, already fairly high considering it’s just Ryanair, but hey-ho) and clicked ‘confirm’. A few minutes later, the confirmation mail came through from Ryanair to her inbox: up to here, everything normal.

Two minutes go by when another e-mail appears: this time is it from a company called Fly-Go (fly-go.it), it contains all the booking details and cost breakdown, but then adds and extra €28 for “handling charges”. Now, we never heard of this company before, it is nowhere on the Ryanair website, and it wasn’t on the confirmation page, but they had all the details. Who are they? A quick search reveals they’re a Romanian-based company which sells tickets for Ryanair, WizzAir and AirOne. The problem? My mother never used them, but she got charged for something. What to do then? 3 steps: call Ryanair, ask advice at a Travel Agent’s, go to the police.

CALL RYANAIR.

Finding a number isn’t easy, it is like they don’t want to be called. After extensive searches, she found a UK-based number. She explained the situation to the lady and said that maybe someone hacked onto their website, but she replied: “I doubt it very much! Our system is INFALLIBLE! You must have clicked on something wrong! I’m not staying here to argue, so Goodbye!” and hung up the phone. Now, first of all very rude. Secondly, infallible? Not even the FBI is infallible… Also between my mother and I we must have used Ryanair’s website over 100 times and know it like the back of our hands, so a mistake is very unlikely. Also, since she confirmed to paying just the €140 and not the extra €28, then you should acknowledge something fishy is going on, right?

GO TO A TRAVEL AGENT’S.

So after cancelling her credit card she went to the local travel agent’s and explained the situation. They immediately gave this answer: “considering you didn’t agree to pay that charge, it is definitely a scam. However, the fact that they don’t only have your card details but also your booking details can lead to only two scenarios: either Ryanair doesn’t realise they have been hacked, or THEY ARE IN ON THIS TOO.” Interesting right? They are experts, they should know.

GO TO THE POLICE.

The final piece of the puzzle was to go to the Carabinieri (Italian military police) to report the incident. Even THEY DIDN’T HAVE A SINGLE DOUBT: A SCAM WAS IN THE PROCESS. After a few questions, they saw fit to LAUNCH A CLAIM AGAINST RYANAIR AND FLY-GO.

You may say, all of this for €28? Think about it: how many times does Ryanair fly each day? Here’s a few calculations:
-they have about 1,600 daily flights
-each flight holds about 144 passengers, almost always on full planes
-144x1,600=230,400 passengers could be carried each day
-let’s say the scam only applied to 15% of the bookings, as to not attract attention: that’s 34,560 a day
-that’s still 34,560x28=€967,680 MADE EVERY DAY FROM A SCAM!!!

You realise now why this is a problem?

Also I just came from BBC News: the same airline which on the phone claimed to have an infallible website, just admitted £3m have been stolen by hackers on a fuel-buying scam. Who do you trust now? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32510986

So, to conclude, don’t buy Ryanair. The alternative is there: EasyJet, Norwegian, even British Airways has some very competitive prices, so there is no need to give your money to a company who only thinks about themselves and never about the customer.

Make a change! Boycott Ryanair!

Seeya!

xx