Jane Bradley: Ryanair boss threatens extra charge

MICHAEL O’Leary has done it again. This time, in his attempt to grab attention, he has told customers who have ALREADY booked on flights to and from Spain that they “may” be charged extra as a result of the Spanish government’s latest budget, which is likely to see an increase in airport taxes.

The Scotsman reported earlier this week that Irish budget carrier Ryanair had e-mailed customers telling them that Spanish “government-imposed increases” meant they would have to bump up the cost of their ticket – despite the passengers having booked and paid well in advance.

Even more irritatingly, the maverick chief executive is currently unable to tell these patient customers how much extra they will have to pay – if anything – as he is waiting for the budget to be ratified by Spanish authorities.

Poor Mr O’Leary – dumped on from a great height by The Man.

What he forgot to mention is that when this situation occurs, most airlines do not charge customers retrospectively. If taxes go up, as they inevitably do, the companies usually bite it for the bookings they already have and only put the price up for new customers.

But as we all know, Mr O’Leary likes to throw all of his toys out of his pram if something upsets him. Just a couple of months ago, he jetted into Edinburgh and dramatically called a press conference to highlight his irritation that Edinburgh Airport bosses wouldn’t give him the discount on fees he thought he deserved.

However, despite claims to the contrary, he didn’t really axe many routes – most had been summer flights that were always going to be cut in the winter. His second round of Scottish cuts – a few days ago – were much lower profile. Perhaps he realised it didn’t do him a lot of good. Or perhaps he had an axe to grind elsewhere that day.

I don’t believe for a second that he will charge Spanish travellers anything. If he does, it will be 50p or some trivial amount that allows him to make his point, but actually endears him with his relieved customers who were dreading a hefty extra fee on top of the cost of their holiday.