Ryanair slammed by OFT for credit card charges
The Office of Fair Trading has expressed its concern at the way Ryanair is levying fees onto credit card bookings.
Customers using the largest airline in Europe's website are not informed about the £5 per person, per trip fee until the final moment in the debit and credit card payment process at present.
However, John Fingleton, chief executive of top UK business watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has heaped criticism on the strategy in an interview with the Independent.
He noted that Ryanair appears to have applied a "low frequency payment mechanism" in an attempt to bypass the rules by only omitting charges for those using a prepaid MasterCard to book flights.
"On some level, it's quite puerile, it's almost childish," he told the newspaper.
"It's almost like taunting consumers 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'."
The comments prompted an angry response from Ryanair, which highlighted fuel surcharging - into which the OFT is still conducting an inquiry - as a more pressing concern for consumers.
"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," commented head of communications Stephen McNamara.
Last summer, Ryanair agreed to make charges and fees more prominent on its website after clashing with the OFT following a call to action from the Advertising Standards Authority.
Written by Tobias Bluth
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