Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary defends criticised fines policy

Ryanair’s CEO and boss, Michael O’Leary, has defended his company’s fines policy which have come under increased scrutiny.

The budget airline has constantly come under attack from the public for their policies and how they operate in terms of charging customers for little things such as booking certain seats and paying for extra luggage.

However, they are still soaring through the skies serving thousands of people every year with their budget way of travelling that allows so many to get all around Europe for very little money compared to other airlines.

O’Leary though – who is not shy to defend his opinions – has slammed certain customers for complaining about having to pay when they arrive at the airport and have not already checked in online prior to their flight.

It’s believed that if any customers fail to check in on the Ryanair website prior to their arrival at an airport then they will be forced to pay a hefty fine which is over £100, even if they were unable to do so or simply just forgot.

Ryanair check-in policies defended by O’Leary

While it certainly isn’t difficult to check in online and Ryanair do send reminders out to customers via emails to do so, it’s the fact that people who may not be as tech-savvy are forced to pay for this when they have already splashed out a lot for their actual holiday.

The Ryanair boss saw his company come in for criticism when an elderly couple were shocked to learn of this fine when they checked in for their inbound flight instead of their outbound one and he has since promptly responded.

He said: “This elderly couple, I feel sympathy for them. But, you know, the daughter is on complaining that we shouldn’t have charged them.

“We get lots of criticisms on a regular basis for these policies that are known, and we are absolutely unapologetic for them. If you show up, looking for airport check-in, we’ve been charging for about 20 years.

Why this is a sensible decision and explanation

“We don’t want the money, we just don’t want anybody showing up the airport without having checked in online. It’s a very simple policy.

“It’s like arriving at the check-in gate with an oversized bag. You will not get it on board. We will charge you £60 or £70 not because we want the money. We just don’t want your bag.”

It’s a very sensible and logical response from O’Leary because if the check-in gates are expensive to rent out then he needs to make money to cover that added cost, so getting people to check-in online is a good way of doing so.

Checking in online will also save people a lot of time and mean they do not need to arrive at the airport as early because there’ll be no need to wait at a check-in desk, instead, people can just use a bag drop which is readily available in Europe and form Ryanair.