Ryanair increases Baggage Fees again

The Irish 'low fares' airline Ryanair has announced a further increase in its fees for checked-in baggage from next month. According to the airline, it is "part of a change in company policy".

In order to keep people confused at all times, the amount of bags Ryanair passengers can check in will increase, but at a higher cost.

From October 1st passengers will be able to check in two bags, each with a separate 15 kg allowance. This a double the current Ryanair luggage allowance of 15 kg.

But the on-line fee for the first checked-in bag will rise from currently € 10 to € 15, while the fee for the second bag goes up from € 20 to € 35.

If the bags are checked in at the airport, the fee for the first bag climbs from € 20 to € 30, while the charge for the second bag goes up from € 20 to a staggering € 70!!!

The airline says that the higher charges will "recover" the cost of what has apparently been "a 20% fall in average fares" this year. And it adds that the increases are "aimed at encouraging passengers to travel with carry-on luggage only".

I am not so sure about this. To my knowledge, Ryanair fares have not fallen in recent times. In fact, with all the add-on charges for luggage, credit card use (which is obligatory for booking with Ryanair) and other so-called 'extras' that were free until recently and still are with many other airlines, travelling with Ryanair has in fact become ever more expensive.
Adding to this the fact that many Ryanair flights do not go to major European cities - despite the airline's claim that they do - but to obscure small airports* many miles away from these cities, the idea of 'cheap flights to the heart of Europe' becomes even less attractive.

Since Ryanair's boss Micheal O'Leary (right) never does anything without a reason - and without gaining a profit from it - I do wonder if the real reason for the sudden and steep increase in baggage charges might be that Mr. O'Leary is a strong supporter of the Lisbon Treaty. Has become a major donor to the YES campaign in the run-up to the second referendum on October 2nd, and I am sure he is keen to recover this money in some way.

Personally I do no longer fly at all (as regular readers of this weblog will know from previous entries) and I have never used Ryanair. But if I would still fly, Michael O'Leary's aggressive support of the YES campaign for the Lisbon Treaty would be a good reason never to use his airline again.
I hope that readers who still fly with commercial airlines will take notice of this and follow my line of thought.

The Emerald Islander


* Many Ryanair flights pretend to go to major cities, but their aeroplanes actually land on small airports nearby, or in some case quite a distance from the 'official' destination. Passengers are then transported to the actual destination by train or - more often - by bus. When Michael O'Leary developed the Ryanair network, he took advantage of the large number of small local and regional airports in Europe. Some of them had existed for a long time and serviced mainly small private aeroplanes and flying schools, without any airline ever going there. Others had been military airbases during the 40 years of the 'Cold War'. When, after 1990, the strength of NATO military power was reduced all over the European continent, a growing number of these airfields became available for civilian use. A typical example is the former US Airforce base at Hahn, in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate), which was the home of American fighter bombers for decades. Now it is a civilian regional airport and serves - among others - Ryanair as one of their main destinations in Europe. But only Ryanair sells their flights to Hahn as flights to "Frankfurt-Hahn", even though no such place actually exists. Frankfurt, the metropolis of the neighbouring state of Hessen (Hesse) and the financial capital of Germany, is in fact more than 100 km away.

Avoid Dublin - and save Money!

Ireland as a whole has always been an expensive country to live in, and it still is. Prices here are on average at least twice as high as in most other EU countries, and often even higher. There is also a clear difference between Dublin and the rest of the island.

Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO) has just published its regular comparison of prices in Dublin with the costs for certain goods and services outside the capital. The report shows that many prices are "generally higher" in Dublin, while the prices of most services are listed as "significantly higher" in Dublin.

In May the CSO looked at 79 specific items. Average prices were higher in Dublin for 51 of these and lower for 27, while the price of only one item was the same in the capital than anywhere else. Prices of 34 items were more than 3% higher in Dublin than elsewhere.

On average, prices were 4.4% higher in Dublin than in the rest of Ireland, little changed from the 4.5% gap in the last survey, which was done in November 2008.

The biggest price gap was found in the barber and hairdressing business. A wash, cut and blow dry for a man is on average 47% more expensive in Dublin than elsewhere in the country, while the same service for a woman costs 23% more. A dry haircut for a man is 18.8% dearer in the capital.
These are staggering differences and show how much our capital is still dominated by greed. As I had only one haircut in Dublin in all my life - and that was almost 20 years ago - my experience in that field is well out date. But from my regular visits to the capital I can only confirm that the prices for almost everything are much higher than they are - for example - in Cork, Kilkenny or here in Waterford.

Prices of meat, fruit and vegetables are higher in Dublin, but fish prices are generally comparable with the rest of the country.
The average price of an uncooked chicken is an amazing 27.3% higher in Dublin, while back rashers are 24% and pork steaks 23.8% more expensive.
There follows a long list of food items that are dearer in Dublin, from which I will mention only a few: Cod fillets (+ 11.2%), eggs (+ 10.1%), tinned tomatoes (+ 8.2%), lamb chops (+ 8.1%), pork chops (+ 6.9%), mushrooms (+ 6.4%), onions (+ 6.4%), jam (+ 6.3%), 10 kg of potatoes (+ 6.0%), marmalade (+ 5.8%), broccoli (+ 5.6%), salmon (+ 4.8%), fresh tomatoes (+ 2.8%) - and so it goes on.

The situation in the drink sector is not better: Orange juice (+ 14.9%), draught lager (+ 12%), draught cider (+ 10.9%), draught ale (+ 10.1%), bottled lager (+ 9.9%), draught stout (+ 9.1%), bottled cider (+ 8.5%), vodka (+ 7.1%), whiskey (+ 5.7%) and wine (+ 5.1%).

Bread prices, however, were around 8% more expensive outside Dublin, which is most likely a result of the structure of our food industry. While in most European countries bread is usually baked locally in many independent bakeries, Ireland has very few independent local bakeries. Most of the bread consumed in this country is produced industrially in large factories, and most of them are situated in Dublin. Thus the supply route for bread is the shortest in Dublin, and the extra 8% bread costs outside the capital are likely created by the expenses caused by transport and distribution.

Prices of hotel accommodation and entertainment services such as cinema and theatres are 'significantly higher' in Dublin than elsewhere.

Petrol prices were 2.1% higher in Dublin, while Diesel was 1.7% more expensive.

The overall verdict is that - despite recession - Dublin is not just the capital of Ireland, but still the rip-off capital of Europe. So my advice is simple: Avoid Dublin as much as possible - and thus safe a lot of money.

The Emerald Islander

Stay away from Ireland!

According to a survey, one in five foreign tourists coming to Ireland are dissatisfied with the cost of living here.

New research from Fáilte Ireland (our strangely named national agency for tourism) shows that 22% of tourists view the general cost of living in Ireland as a disadvantage.

This is no surprise to me. In fact, if anything does surprise me in relation to this matter, it is that only 22% of our foreign visitors are dissatisfied with the cost of living in this overpriced rip-off country. Perhaps the rest are too polite or too embarrassed to complain, or maybe too disgusted to say anything to an Irish person doing a survey on tourism.

Almost everything in Ireland is on average twice as expensive as in the other EU countries in Western Europe. And the differences with the newer EU members in Eastern Europe are even larger.
Irish customers - the natives as much as the tourists - are ripped-off systematically by those who control the means of production (as Karl Marx put it). Industrialists as well as traders are growing rich and fat on this small nation, and it has always been that way in Ireland.
When the founding fathers of our autonomous Free State (that later became our independent Republic) began to create our own national structures, they only concentrated on the State and the (Catholic) Church, but left the Economy to those who had always controlled it: the English, the Anglo-Irish ascendency and some wealthy locals who managed to fit into a few niches left by them.

Meanwhile most of our Economy is controlled by foreign interests, predominantly American and British. And those who control the plants, shops, hotels and restaurants are the ones who set the prices. There is no price control in Ireland, and hardly any consumer affairs agency worth the name.

So we pay through the nose, and anyone sentimental or stupid enough to come here as a tourist has to do the same. In fact, some cruel Irish fleece foreigners even more than the locals, on the basis that they don't know the ropes and have no choice but to accept what they are given and charged in a foreign place.

Last year I had to stay for some days in Dublin. When I was looking for suitable accommodation, I was truly shocked by the arrogance and greed most of our capital's hotels displayed. Not only were most of the rooms over-priced, the hotels were actually charging a further increased price for the same rooms on Fridays and Saturdays.

I have been to many countries and many hotels over the span of my life, but never experienced such blatant greed as in Dublin. Anywhere else one gets a fixed price when booking a hotel for a week. Seven days are seven days in any place and country. Only in Dublin could one not book a week in a hotel, because the Fridays and Saturdays were charged separately at a much higher price.

I did eventually find a suitable hotel for a - relatively - acceptable price. It is a family-owned business that also offers an excellent breakfast buffet (included in the room price) and the free use of a fitness centre attached to the hotel. (In all the large hotels which belong to big hotel chains there was nothing extra on offer and all one could get was rip-off and exploitation.) But I did swear to stay away from Dublin in future as much as possible and never to recommend it to my friends.

This year, as we are in economic depression and financial crisis, the Dublin hotels are falling over themselves with special offers. There are radio ads almost every day, with prices as low as € 39 for a room in a top hotel in Dublin. But don't be fooled or trapped by such obvious bait. They still find ways to make people pay more than they should and charge all sorts of things extra that one would have included in the basic price in any decent country.

As it is, I have the misfortune to live here, and thus I have little choice but pay the prices we are charged. But if I were a tourist, Ireland would be the last country on this planet (or perhaps the second-last after the USA) where I would go on holiday.
If you have any common sense and want to avoid being robbed and ripped-off by a greedy hotel and tourist industry, then stay away from Ireland!

The Emerald Islander

Broadband Operators con Millions in Ireland

Like a string of pearls one Irish scandal lines up neatly beside the next, and the next, and the next...
Today we had already the revelation that we pay a lot more for petrol and diesel than anyone else in the EU, but since there are so many scandals in Ireland, they now come out at the rate of two per day. So - here is the second for today:

New research shows that broadband subscribers in Ireland can rarely access the maximum connection speeds advertised by Internet service providers.

A study on broadband available in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick has found that - on average - consumers with fixed lines benefit from just 60% of the advertised speeds, for which they pay a monthly fee.
This is like being charged for champagne, but being served a cheap third-rate sparkling wine from Italy.

The report by the Epitiro Internet monitoring firm has found that wireless and mobile users do slightly better, receiving on average about 64% of the bandwidth they pay for. But still, this is less than 2/3 of the service one has contracted and pays for.

A high-speed Internet connection helps web pages to load faster, makes it easier to download or view video content, and increases the potential for gaming or making telephone calls over the world-wide web.

The Epitiro results were compiled following over 5 million tests on the services offered by nine different companies.

Overall, Smart Telecom was deemed to be the best of the providers surveyed, followed by BT Ireland and Digiweb. And to no-one's surprise Eircom - Europe's worst and still most expensive telecommunications company - brings up the rear, carrying the red lantern.

Because the report only examined trends in urban areas, further tests are planned in 2009, to compare services on an urban to rural basis.

The authors of the report say that broadband users should be aware of their connection speed and chose their provider and subscription according to their needs.

There are easy ways to test one's one connection speed, and if one finds that the actual speed is significantly lower than the service one is billed for, a serious word with the service provider is advisable.

The Emerald Islander

Inflation rises to 4.8%

The newest data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Dublin show that the annual rate of inflation in the Republic of Ireland has risen to 4.8% in February, from 4.3% the previous month. Consumer prices in February rose by 1.2% in the month, compared with a rise of 0.8% the same time last year. Inflation last stood at 4.8% in October of last year.

According to the CSO the rise is mainly a result of the continuing increases in food prices, which I already observed and wrote about two weeks ago. (see my entry "Irish Food Prices are rising too fast" of February 28th)
Prices for food are rising indeed, on average by 1.8%, with significantly higher prices seen in a wide range of products, including milk, butter, cheese, meat, bread and cereals.

Many of the most significant increases are only possible because many consumers with secure incomes seem to be willing to pay any price for food. Would they draw a line for certain items and shop around a bit, they would not only save a lot of money, but also force greedy grocers and supermarkets to re-adjust their prices to the true market value. Prices as they are charged here in Ireland would lead to riots in France and many other EU countries.

The ending of the January sales might also have had some influence on the rise of the inflation rate. The CSO says that the annual rate of inflation for services was 5.6% last month, while goods increased by 3.9% in the year.

The prices of clothing and footwear rose by 12.7%, due to a recovery in prices after the ending of the traditional January sales. Furnishings and household equipment prices also rose by 2.8% after the sales.

Last month also saw increases in average mortgage interest repayments and rents.

The Emerald Islander

Irish Food Prices are rising too fast

A survey of Ireland's top supermarkets has revealed little price difference between Dunnes Stores and Tesco. The National Consumer Agency commissioned the survey to measure the impact of the Groceries Act. They found that in a basket of 61 goods purchased at Dunnes Stores and Tesco there was only a 35 cents price difference between both.

However the survey found that Super Valu is providing real competition to Dunnes Stores and Tesco. The survey also indicates that the most competitive pricing in the retail sector exists between discount stores Aldi and Lidl.

What the agency does not mention in the report is the fact that the prices for food and other groceries in Ireland have risen massively during the past year and keep rising still. I am sure you have noticed that yourself if you do the regular shopping for your household.
I don't want to make long lists of prices here, even though I could. But that would be boring. Let me just give you a few examples of the constant and galloping inflation the current government presides over. Last year a normal pound of Irish butter was € 1.42 in most supermarkets. In the Autumn of 2007 this price rose in one step to € 1.76 (an increase of 24%), and a few weeks ago it rose again to now € 1.89 (which is another 7.5% extra). So in less than a year the price for an ordinary pound of butter - something most of use every day - has actually risen by more than a third!

Strangely enough, I have heard no one complaining yet. People moan about the high petrol prices, yes, but they are - unfortunately - set mainly elsewhere (even though the government puts a hefty portion of tax on it as well). Butter is a homemade product. And even though almost everything gets dearer all the time, nothing does justify a price rise of 33% on such a basic consumer product.
And butter is - as I said - only one very prominent example in a long line. Literally everything is getting more and more expensive, without any added value to the goods and products. And the worst sector is indeed food, the one thing we all need to survive.

While the shops and supermarkets are bad enough, it gets worse when one makes the mistake to eat out. An evening meal that used to cost me around € 20 some time ago is now priced at € 35, which is a rise of 75% in less than two years. Last week I met a friend in a local bistro for a chat. We shared a pot of tea for two, had a bowl of the "soup of the day" with a slice of brown bread, and my friend also had a slice of apple tart as dessert. How much do you think this very simple meal is worth? And how much should it cost? Well, I paid € 24.85 for that and really felt ripped-off in a very bad way. Not so long ago you would have paid with a tenner for that, and received some change back. I will certainly not go back to that bistro, but unfortunately these days the prices are very similar in all of the places one can go to.

So why is all this happening to us? It is not a result of a world crisis, nor anything the EU is forcing upon us - God forbid! No, this is an entirely home-made inflation problem, proudly sporting the "Guaranteed Irish" label. It is born out of the marriage between traditional Irish greed and the recent economic boom that befell us, commonly referred to as the "Celtic Tiger".
Having been poor, neglected and ignored backwoods people on the furthest outlet of Europe, we grabbed with both hands every single Euro we could get hold of. Many have made good and are now basking in wealth and sunshine (somewhere further south, where they bought a second home). But the "Celtic Tiger" has by-passed whole areas of the country, and a significant portion of the population has never been touched by luck, nor have they touched the magic pot of gold the tiger brought along.

These are mainly the old and sick, unemployed, disabled and otherwise deprived people. They live almost on a different planet now and would be shocked if they ever set foot into Dublin 4. But they are also the hardest hit by the enormous inflation, and especially the totally unreasonable increase in prices for food and basic commodities, such as electricity, coal, peat brickets and public transport (as only a small percentage of the poor have free travel passes). It might come as a surprise or even a shock to some of you, but there are meanwhile - once again - people in Ireland who can barely afford the basic items of living. In one of the now richest countries on Earth they struggle to survive, especially due to the prices for food, which are clearly out of control in Ireland. (In comparison, almost everywhere in Western Europe food costs are about half of what they are in Ireland, and in Eastern Europe even lower than that.)

The National Consumer Agency's survey results from small independent butchers and from fruit and vegetable retailers indicate significant price differentials, but no such price difference is found in larger supermarket chains (as they watch each other like hawks, if they don't even rig prices at times). The Agency says that consumers can drive competition by shopping around, and I wholeheartedly agree. It is the only way ordinary people can move things. If something is too expensive or not worth the price asked for, just don't buy it. You might find it cheaper elsewhere, and over time prices will and do come down when shops realise that the level charged is too high and turnover is down. It is all very simple, the basic rule of supply and demand, combined with the willingness to pay a certain price or not.

Ireland has already become a rip-off society, which also hampers tourism, which is still an important source ot income on the island. If we - the consumers - don't make a stand every day we go shopping, it will get worse and worse, to the point that we could well fall back into a real economic crisis. I am sure that no one wants this to happen.

The Emerald Islander