Saturday 7 February 2009

Don't get caught out as Ryanair try to get another 30 pounds / euros out of you at the departure gate

Read here about how Ryanair are now charging if your duty free does not fit in your hand luggage, which let's face it, it does not normally...

Passengers unable to place items into 1 bag and who refuse to make the additional payment at the departure gate will not be allowed to travel.

Yet another charge from the company that finds new and ingenious ways to make revenue out of us.


The Guardian here says:

It could be the most expensive bottle of asti spumante you'll ever buy. Ryanair has confirmed passengers will be charged £30 if they cannot fit their duty free purchases into their single piece of hand luggage............... Under the hand luggage rules, any passenger who attempts to board with more than one piece of hand lugage will be charged £30 at the departure gate. If they refuse to pay the extra fee, they have the option of dumping their purchases at the gate or missing their
flight.

Back to me again: When Ryanair agrees to fly out of an airport, it often gets the airport to subsidise this. The only way they can afford to is due to the profit they make in their stores. People won't buy if they have to pay further for the pleasure, so the airport suffers. When Knock airport on the West Coast of Ireland started to lose revenue when duty free started to only apply when travelling outside Europe, they had to introduce a departure fee of 10 euros per person payable to the airport itself. They really rely on revenue from their shops, and Ryanair made sure they really relied on THEM, which is why for years and years there was no other airline flying out of Knock. When an airport is brand new and small, Ryanair hold the bargaining chips.......

The Irish World dot com says:

"Ryanair operates a policy where passengers can only carry one item of cabin
baggage on board. Previously, passengers adhered to the rule while checking in
and going through security, but often
accumulated other bags with
last-minute duty-free purchases.
Now it appears that even a humble box of duty free chocolates could cost passengers €30 if it will not fit inside the one item of permitted carry-on luggage".

It's funny my mum told me 60 euros, and she heard about it on the radio. I then go online and it turns out to be £30, now I am reading £28.50, below. I guess until I next travel I will never know for definite. The following sounds a bit more accurate, and is from the Telegraph:

"Under the new arrangements, which came into force at the start of the year,
passengers must fit whatever they buy at an airport duty free shop into their
one piece of hand baggage. They also have to be able to close the bag with
the duty free items inside the bag which can weigh no more than 22lbs (10kg) and
be no bigger than 21.6 x 15.8 x 7.9 inches. The policy is enforced by Ryanair's staff as they check boarding passes at the gate.
Anyone found to have an extra bag – perhaps containing a box of chocolates or bottle of wine – will be given a choice if they cannot cram it into their carry-on bag. They can either leave it at the airport or alternatively they can have their existing piece of cabin luggage put into the hold, and take the duty free on board.
For this they would have to pay the £28.50 Ryanair charges for checking in a piece of luggage at the airport. According to an airline spokesman only a few passengers have been forced to surrender duty-free so far".

The Telegraph also shows how the charges have steeply gone up over the years:

Ryanair's rising extras
Check in one bag £5 2006 yet £30 2008
Paying by card £3.50 2006 yet £10 2008
Sport/music equipment £31 2006 yet £60 2008
Excess baggage per kilo £5.50 2006 and now £15 2008
Flight changes £30 2006 and then £50 2008
Name changes £70 and then £100 2008


Don't get caught out. Make sure you only have one piece of hand luggage or be prepared to dig deep in your pockets.

I wish I'd found this before I wrote all of the above. Ryanair put a news release on THEIR website on 20th Jan 2009. I don't know why it's only become common knowledge early Feb, with alot of the links above being Feb and my mum only having just heard about it on the radio. Anyhow, to save all of the interpretations just read the official news release.

Liska Life xx

Wii Fit - how long will it last?

Given that I am loving my Wii Fit, I thought I'd Google "Wii fit + weight loss" and this article came up, and it seems it was written on 30th January 2009.

Says that people normally give up on it after a month.

Well, given that my thighs are weak, and it gives them SUCH a good workout I am going to try and stick at it. When I was on it Sunday 1st Feb for whole day, I could hardly walk on Tuesday and Wednesday. I guess it's that that makes people shirk it. It is a game but it is WORK.

Given that I had an old fashioned weighing scales with a needle (analogue I think they call them) it is very refreshing for me to have the digital weight I get from Wii Fit. Love the graph it produces too. It is superb for tracking, and even tracks BMI.

It's funny, but the games that are hardest on my thighs are also the ones I am determined to beat to get a better score, i.e. the bubble down the stream one, and the Ski Slalom... So my addictive personality is helping me get fit for once :-) They are actually my favourites, despite the aches. I also absolutely love the step game, although I can imagine it will eventually get boring.

What I am absolutely amazed by is that there is a delayed reaction between your brain wanting your balance to shift on the board, and it actually happening, but I read in Dr Robert O Young's book today that bouncing on a rebounder for 15 minutes a day helps with that. Only trouble is, although that gives you the gift, what tells people that they are lacking it in the first place, before it is too late???? Well the Wii Fit certainly does, along with the age it gives you. I have varied from 30 to 60 years of age on it .............

Given that I am guilty of playing with things for a couple of months till the novelty wears off (haven't used my Vita Mix nor my IPOD in ages) it will be interesting to see how long the wii fit lasts. Victor always tells me off for buying gadgets I don't use for long.

Anyway I am signing off now, as I have an urge to............ play with my Wii Fit :-)

Liska Life x

Happy with the scales and the Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Hi, I weighed myself on the Wii Fit at 11:39 and was delighted to find that I was 13 st 3 pounds, so I am down to 185 pounds, which is 84.09 kg.

It gave me some high readings last week as there was two days in a row when I had late take-a-way dinners and weighed myself an hour or two after - silly me! That was 3rd and 4th February, and mainly because of birthday........ by 5th it had me back down to 190 pounds but now today 185, which I think is a true reading.

I have been to aqua aerobics twice this week and they were both punishing fab workouts. It is not your typical gentle aqua, as there are all these props that she uses, it is like doing a weights workout but in water - love it.

Anyway, being heavy wasn't spurring me on, but seeing this weight loss is! I think reverse psychology works on me :-)

The other thing that's making me mega happy is that up till now the Wii's been measuring me as OBESE, but for the first time today it said simply OVERWEIGHT, yyyyyyeeeeaaaaah!

So the amount of weight left to lose is now below 40 pounds (gone from 42 to 38) on my weight loss ticker. The BMI has gone below 30 which now means overweight instead of obese, and I am getting much closer to 13 stone. My next milestone is to be 12 stone something....... Very happy today.

Anyway, going food shopping now for some healthy bits and pieces so bye bye.

Liska Life
xx