Ryanair trying to fleece you some more

I wrote early last month about the costs of flying on a budget airline http://www.kking.co.uk/blog/2009/04/flying-on-budget-airline.html well it seems Ryanair have trumped me with a charge for printing out your ticket. There seems to be some completely wrong and criminal about charging some for a essential document of journey. I don't mind paying for food or them charging for fast boarding as all of these charges can be avoided but charging you to £10 pounds per return to print your ticket at home or £80 pounds at the airport seems criminal and a sign of a money grabbing and dishonest company.

"Ryanair passengers face a £5 charge per flight to print out their tickets at home as part of moves to abolish check-in desks and increase revenues. The policy replaces Ryanair's practice of offering free online ticketing and charging anyone who opted for face-to-face check-in £10. In future, anyone who arrives at the airport without a pre-printed check-in card will have to pay a £40 "boarding card re-issue fee". In-built restrictions to the online ticketing system mean many customers will be unable to print their tickets when they book, raising the chances for penalty charges from customers who think they have completed the process.

Wow to a penalty charge of £40 pounds if you don't have a printer or if like me someone else say like a promoter of a music gig in another country mormally books the tickets for you, now we didn't see that one coming. I love the Daily Mash take on it

RYANAIR URGED TO SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP
In a statement released yesterday Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said: "Cock-a-doodle-do! Everyone pay attention. These are my new rules.

"You will print out your own boarding pass and pay me for the privilege of doing so. If you do not have a printer you will pay me £40 for not having one and you will then wear a paper hat that I will make for you. The hat will cost £40.

"You will complete a quest. Probably involving a rare gemstone. You will bring me the gemstone wrapped inside a cheque for £40.

"Luggage is a sin and you will be punished for it. Therefore your holiday will last no longer than 14 minutes. If it does I will kidnap your goldfish and charge you £40 a leg to get it back."

A spokesman for the British Psychiatric Institute said: "Ryanair is no longer something to be hated, it is something to be pitied. It's as if Mr O'Leary has suffered some kind of severe mental trauma. Perhaps he has finally flown on one of his own planes.

"He needs to be sedated, isolated and subjected to a twice-daily programme of powerful electric shocks. If that doesn't work we will have to carve out a hefty chunk of his frontal lobe.

"In the meantime we would urge other airlines to step in and start flying to Ryanair's destinations as soon as possible. For the love of God, please."

UPDATE: Damian Corrigan, of about.com asked Ryanair some of the questions http://gospain.about.com/od/ryanair/qt/ryanair_questions.htm interesting replies

MyRail and MyRail lite

My Rail was one of the best app's for the Iphone from Kizoom. It gave you the train time and from what platform the trains were running and updates if the service was delayed etc. This app has been an part of my life and in daily use for a long time. Its even told me the correct information when the announcements they make at stations are hard to believe.

You can get a full run down on what the app did here http://iphoneapplicationlist.com/2008/12/22/myrail-lite/ as I've said above I've been using this app for a long time and it was sad to see this appear on Twitter.

MyRail: We’re sorry to report that our license to distribute real-time train information from National Rail Enquiries is not being renewed.

MyRail: We regret that this service will have to be discontinued as of 31 March 2009. Thanks for all your interest and support

---
I think National Rail are missing a trick here unless they come up with an app which is as simple and easy to use as MyRail then I think its going to be a great part missing from my life and it won't make me travel by train anymore as I will not have upto moment information. Their Journey Planner is good but it shows too much you need something that is clean and elegant like MyRail was.

Update: There is a great article here by Rory Cellan-Jones http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/03/who_owns_train_times_or_th.html

"I'd received a press release promoting another train time iPhone application from - guess who - National Rail Enquiries. At the time I'd asked the press officer how the app compared to MyRail Lite - and been promised that it was far superior.

So last night I installed it and tried it out - and it was indeed very good, enabling you not just to check departure times but to plan a whole journey. But there's one catch - it costs £4.99, whereas MyRail Lite was free."

---

£4.99 bloody hell, how can they justify making the information on when train are running or delayed so expensive. I think I'll be giving that one a miss