By being so cheap, Ryanair has actually reduced the level of competition on the market. No new airlines can enter the market because there is no way they could beat the prices offered by Ryanair. Even well established airlines would find it hard to beat them on low fares, we can see this by the way that BA is struggling.

However, this is not necessarily good for the consumer as this could all be a plan of Ryanair. They could be aiming to oust BA in its monopoly holding of the aviation industry only then to raise the prices up slightly so they make more profit. Undoubtedly they will deflect this by stating this would be due to the rising cost of fuel. The best interest for the consumer is to keep the competitive market as open as possible.

Ryanair may try to pass themselves of as the people’s favourite and the people’s friend, but look at the reality. Ryanair is a fiercely competitive firm. They cut their competitors down and they entice people over to their website and feed them false hopes of a cheap luxurious holiday. The truth is the flight is not that cheap and the flight is not luxurious. People would only choose Ryanair if their financial situation was not able to afford another flight. But this does not make Ryanair the best thing since sliced bread for the consumer.

Ryanair may advertise the flight as costing a certain amount, but when booking, they slyly add on extras hoping that someone will book without a second thought as to price, assuming it would be as cheap as they advertised. Not only is there a charge of £5 to pay by most cards, Ryanair also blind sight us but automatically opting us in for flight insurance with them! If they really were like sliced bread to the consumer they would be exactly what they said on the label. But they are not as simple as sliced bread. They are divisive in their pricing policies and John Fingleton from the OFT was right to make a statement to that effect.

If there’s one thing Michael Ryan is brilliant at it’s grabbing headlines. The problem is we buy his nonsense. He can get away with claiming whatever he wants and the newspapers will print it. And he can get away with claiming his flights only cost 1p and we’ll buy them.

The truth is never quite what he claims and his prices are never quite what they seem. Pay 1p for the flight and the outrageous, rip-off, credit-card processing, baggage handling, pay-to-pee charges will ramp up the costs thousands of times the initial outlay.

Ryanair have one of the worst customer service policies in the world yet read their in-flight magazine and they’ll claim they’re the world’s favourite airline just because more people fly with them than anyone else. Sooner or later this charlatan will get found out and the appalling airline he runs will go bust and I, for one, can’t wait for that day.