I live off the state pension, so money is always tight. For my 70th birthday, a friend held a secret fundraiser for a “trip of a lifetime” to a French music festival that I’d always wanted to attend. Between them, my friends covered flights, accommodation and festival tickets. The only flights available from Manchester are with Ryanair and its website said there were only four tickets left for the provisional festival dates in September. I therefore decided to book return flights for £120 and paid an extra £146 for the Flexi Plus service, which would allow me to amend the booking if the festival dates changed. When they did change, I tried to put my flights back by a week, but was told I’d have to pay an extra £240 to do this.
A customer service rep told me that the freedom to change flights only applied if I was rebooking for the same day. My only recourse was to borrow £130 to make a new booking from scratch. I’m heartbroken and too ashamed to tell my kind friends I’ve lost £266 of their donations on the original tickets.
PS, Todmorden
Yours is a confusing and concerning predicament, not least because Ryanair appears clueless as to what its overpriced Flexi Plus option actually offers. The fee for this service was 22% more than your fare. For that you get priority boarding, a reserved seat, two cabin bags and fast-tracking through airport security, as well as the option to amend the booking without a flight-change fee. Since a flight change fee is £45 each way, and a small cabin bag is carried free, you paid a needlessly high price for your peace of mind.
Flexi Plus terms and conditions on Ryanair’s website are unambiguous. If you amend your booking to a departure more than a day before, or after, your original date, there’s no change fee, but you will be liable for any difference in fare. Unsurprisingly, you don’t get a rebate if the new fare is less than the original.
However, the message that popped up on your Ryanair account when you endeavoured to rebook, stated that change fees do apply to Flexi Plus customers if the new flights depart more than a day before, or after, the originals. So a complete contradiction, and a restriction that makes the service almost worthless.
Even if Ryanair makes up the rules as it goes along, it’s a mystery why you were quoted an extra £240 to rebook via Flexi Plus. The mystery only deepened when I asked Ryanair to explain. It first told me that change fees do, indeed, apply if a Flexi Plus booking is altered by more than a day, and that you were charged correctly.
When I pointed out the terms and conditions and sales summary on its website, it changed its tune and stated that change fees are not applicable, only any difference in fare (in your case £10). It subsequently refunded you the £130 you’d paid for the new flights.
I’d advise anyone to look very carefully at the small print for add-on deals offered by airlines. They are rarely worth the outlay, even if the company does honour its promises.
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