Spain 1, Ryanair 0

Judge in Spainrules that Ryanair's €40.00 Boarding Card fee is illegal.

Ryanair are as smug as usual "If the problem is the €40 charge for this service, we'll simply stop offering the service. That, of course, will mean the passenger who arrives without a boarding card cannot fly."

Is it a charge for a service OR a penalty?

The €40 is a penalty for doing that.

Surely it is either one or the other.

Plus is the charge the cost of providing the actual service plus a reasonable profit?

Remember the grief the banks caused for themselves and ended up at the receiving end of a UK Supreme Court judgement over their fees which were in effect penalties.

Whilst I would always be organized enough to remember my boarding pass if I needed this, I just can't stand Ryanair! They really are so smug, i agree!!

I know for some people Ryanair suits them and to be honest I understand why they charge a €40 penalty, after all the flights are cheap for a reason!

If I was an airport operator or concession holder like a coffee shop I'd look to seting up a mini internet cafe style thing close to the ryan air desks offering to print BPs for €5 a piece.

I'd even consider offering a BP printing facility for free like a lot of US hotels do.

If I was an airport operator or concession holder like a coffee shop I'd look to seting up a mini internet cafe style thing close to the ryan air desks offering to print BPs for €5 a piece.

I'd even consider offering a BP printing facility for free like a lot of US hotels do.

With Ryanair you can only check in online and reprint boarding passes up until 4 hours before departure time though, have presumably out that in place to stop things like this happening!!

Someone told me that FR will reprint the boarding pass for you FOC if your barcode doesn't scan? He told me that his brother in law had a sheet of paper with just the FR logo on the top, claimed his printer ran out of ink halfway through and that his BP wouldn't scan (!!) - they printed one for him for free...

[Darren Wheeler]

MO'L has to realise that if he keeps pushing, eventually someone in the European Commission is going to start taking an interest in little schemes.

[honey lamb]

MO'L has to realise that if he keeps pushing, eventually someone in the European Commission is going to start taking an interest in little schemes.

They have already, Darren.

He has had to change how he advertises fares for starters (and I'm sure there are others but at 10pm on a Saturday night with a couple of G&Ts under the belt it's hard to remember what)

He's also fallen foul of the advertising standards agencies on both sides of the Irish Sea

I just can't stand Ryanair! They really are so smug

In all honesty I haven't had a bad Ryanair flight. It's the management, i.e. Michael O'Leary, that are

I just can't stand Ryanair! They really are so smug

In all honesty I haven't had a bad Ryanair flight. It's the management, i.e. Michael O'Leary, that are[/quote]

Honey Lamb, same for me. It's true, each time I have used Ryanair it's been on time with no issues. As you say, it is the management. The best thing would be for Micheal O'Leary to take a back seat!

I see nothing wrong with what Ryanair do. They make no bones about the service they provide, the charges they make and come up with some really hysterical PR.

It just proves that all that matters to a massive amount of people is price, they will go for the smallest figure on the screen. The business model requires that some people will fall foul to their restrictions in some way, but for the majority who play the game correctly - it works out for some cheap air time.

I see nothing wrong with what Ryanair do. They make no bones about the service they provide...

I've never had a problem with Ryanair either, although their attitude stinks.

But making no bones about something doesn't make it right. Ryanair could have in their T&C that you will be punched in the face when boarding and if you don't like it you can pay €40 - but that wouldn't be allowed no matter how upfront they were about it.