Ryanair has been fined £24,000 by a court for misleading customers
over fares on its website and pressure is being placed on all
airlines to give an all inclusive price. Despite this, Ryanair
has said that it will continue to go against advertising
authorities which insist the airline include taxes and charges when
emailing customers with its latest offers. Ryanair is resisting
a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority in Ireland (ASAI)
which upheld a complaint from ferry companies that Ryanair emails
to subscribers failed to include taxes and charges. The matter was
heard by the ASAI because the emails originated in Ireland. Ryanair
was ordered to include all costs in its emails, a ruling welcomed
by the ferry companies, 15 of which formed the 'Sail and Drive
Campaign' which aimed to end what it claimed were misleading
pricing policies from airlines. A spokesman for Ryanair defended
its stance: “We have not had a single complaint from
passengers, it is just a few ferry companies having a moan. These
emails are not adverts, they are private correspondence with
passengers and we will sue the ASAI for a breach of privacy if they
persist with this matter.” Ferry companies have pledged to
continue their battle against tax-exclusive fares. Hoverspeed
managing director Geoffrey Ede said: “It's about time the
relevant authorities took action to compel these so-called low-cost
airlines to advertise the real price of travel.”

On another matter, Ryanair was recently found guilty in Chelmsford
Crown Court of six breaches of the Consumer Protection Act over the
price of flights advertised on its website. On six occasions,
Ryanair had failed to state that prices excluded taxes and charges
and was fined £24,000. However, the court ruled that the airline
was not misleading customers by putting a net fare on its home
page, provided it made clear charges would be added. In response,
Ryanair said it welcomed the ruling. “This dates back to 2003
and for the past two years we have stated that fares exclude taxes
and charges. This is a vindication of our policy,” said a
spokesman.

A little while ago, we reported on a website set up to help pilots
working for the Irish budget airline exchange information about
their working conditions. Ryanair has now launched legal
proceedings over a campaign of “harassment and
intimidation” of its pilots. The British Airline Pilots
Association (Balpa) said the legal action was
“extraordinary” and was aimed at forcing it and the Irish
Airline Pilots Association to divulge the names of pilots who had
sent comments to the website. Ryanair told its Dublin-based pilots
in 2004 that if they do not sign new contracts tying them to the
company for five years, they will not be given training on the
airline's new fleet and could lose their jobs. Pilots were also
told that they would have to repay the full €15,000 cost of
training if they leave the airline before the five years has
expired. Ryanair is planning to replace ten Boeing 737-200s, based
in Ireland, with the larger and more fuel-efficient 737-800 by the
end of 2005 and more than 90 pilots in Dublin require retraining.