The boss of the Office of Fair Trading has attacked Ryanair over its online credit card payment procedures.
The OFT’s chief executive John Fingleton criticised the budget airline’s methods in today’s Independent newspaper.
He described the airline’s levying of fees for paying by card online as “puerile” and “almost childish”.
Fingleton reportedly added that the carrier was only operating within “the narrow letter of the law”.
The claims come as the OFT investigates airline and agencies over online pricing and advertising.
A key concern is “drop-pricing” where travelers only discover the full cost late in the booking process, making it difficult to shop around.
Fingleton reportedly said: “Ryanair has this funny game where they have found some low frequency payment mechanism and say: ‘Well, because you can pay with that [the charge is optional]’.
“It’s almost like taunting customers and pointing out: ‘Oh well, we know this is completely outside the spirit of the law, but we think it’s within the narrow letter of the law’.”
But Ryanair responded strongly saying: “As a general rule, anything that comes from an office that has chosen to ignore fuel surcharging airlines like British Airways and remained mute while London air passengers were being ripped off by the BAA monopoly should be taken with a pinch of salt.”
The no-frills carrier’s spokesman said the OFT needed to understand that passengers could avoid extra costs such as baggage charges.
by Phil Davies
