Perhaps they should just set up a toll booth on the jetway? There is an article in this month's "Reason" on Ryanair and Easyjet. Apparently, the fares are low enough that cross-national dating is the norm. On Dec 7, 2004, at 20:16, Alireza Alivandivafa wrote: > They charge for absolutely everything, that is how. You want to book > by > phone? They charge like a 900 number, by the minute. The only way to > pay is by > credit card, and they charge you a fee to cover what the card company > charges > them, and some. They charge a pound (or 1.5 Euros, an even more > favorable > conversion) for a 200 ml soda. Everything on board, they charge for. > They don't > even handle their own planes on the ground at their base airports, > even STN. > They do everything to make their costs the absolute lowest. They do > pay their > employees competitively, but they keep staffing levels at the bare > minumum > > > In a message dated 12/7/2004 5:20:01 PM Central Standard Time, > mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: > OK, how do they do it? I looked up (haven't booked it yet since I > don't have the exact date) a Ryanair flight from London Luton to > Dublin, and the fare (one way) was GBP0.99. (Yes, 99 pence.) There are > GBP13.65 in fees and taxes. I had seen stories about fares like that, > but assumed they were one-time-only promotions, but apparently regular > fares on that route are GBP0.99-12.99 with most at 1.99 or 3.99. > > What's the catch? I read the fine print and the baggage allowance is > strict, with only 15kg/pax free, and GBP7.50/kg above that. And this > is the airline that has dispensed with seat-back pockets, window > shades, and air-sickness bags. But still... how are they making any > money on this?