Of course, in these times of aviation, it’s good practice that for safety reasons, anyone not having a boarding pass not corresponding with the name on their passport should not be allowed to travel. It’s much easier for an airline to administer the ‘no ifs or buts’ rule rather than to apply a little bit of leniency. From the airline’s point of view, once you grant someone a pass, someone else may bring this up, and can quickly lead to an inconsistent service.

And not least because there are ‘fees’ to be made in this type of charge. A quick search shows these are the name fee charges:

Ryanair: £100 online/£150 airport
Easyjet: £25 online/£37.50 airport
Wizzair: 40 Euro online/ 60 Euro airport
British Airways: Not permitted (depending on ticket)
BMIBaby: £25
Flybe: £30

In all situations you may also have to pay the difference in fare between your ticket and the new one, which is likely to be very substantial if you have left it until short notice.

Ostensibly, the reasons for the costs not reflective of the admin required to actually process the name change (which is negligible) but to rather moderate customer behaviour – just like a parking ticket, it is the way of saying ‘don’t do this’. And this also avoids the ‘ticket tout’ scenario. Imagine if the name change fee was free, or a nominal amount – you could just book up loads of the cheap tickets, and sell them on at profit closer to the flight.

Of course, this ignores the grey area; where mistakes are made and it’s obvious that the person did not intend to profit. If you’ve done this, the feedback we have had so far is that airlines are generally good about correcting minor mistakes (ie. 1-2 characters) without charging a fee. They won’t advertise this though, and it’s purely discretionary, but this should be your first port of call if you find yourself in this situation.

Let’s not beat around the bush though: you want cheap flights, you better make sure you put your name in right. There are not many excuses for making a mistake, given that you have to confirm a form many times. Check, check, and check again. You wouldn’t make a mistake on a passport application form, or a job application? Here are some of the most common pitfalls you can avoid:

1) Wrong Gender: For example, ‘Mr’ instead of ‘Mrs’
Often occuring when filling in the drop down form to select. Easiest one to rectify, and in fact title doesn’t appear on many of the self-printed check in forms (and which staff check your name to your passport to). Technically you may get away with this one without contacting the airline if everything else is spelt correctly, but don’t take the chance; man up and admit your mistake.

2) Wrong Name Version: For example, ‘Danny’ instead of ‘Daniel’
An easier mistake to make considering that most people have the most formal version of their name in the passport. But it would be silly to enter in the name you like to use, given that forms invariably state ‘please enter your name as it is shown in your passport’. Possibly may get away with it where all the forms of the name are known, but could you guarantee that abroad? Again, contact before you travel.

3) Middle Names: Almost everyone has middle names, but it’s fine to omit them in almost all cases as long as your first name and surname have given. From a personal experience I have flown to many places in the world on many airlines and never had put in middle names when checking in.

4) Given Names: The most ridiculous one here. ‘My real name is Dennis, but everyone calls me Howard’. Very little chance of things working out here – do you expect staff to be mind-readers somehow? Don’t make this error. I could apply this to maiden names as well; always use what is in your passport.

As long as you keep checking, you’ll be ok. Don’t pay more than you need to.

Predictably, the topic is on the aviation industry and I am investigating components of brand equity; given this I am interested in consumer opinions onto some of the components and how they make up your purchase decision. It’s certainly quite complex but poses a few good questions: for both full service and low-cost airlines – clearly there are benefits on both sides but by examining consumer behaviour, is there a way perhaps one could leverage their competitve advantage and provide some, if not all, of what the other side offers?

Please see the link below, and thanks for all your help.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/32T7GBG

Interestingly the responses of the low-cost airlines have varied. Ryanair first hardballed all customers, saying that refunds were limited to the cost of the ticket, then begrudgingly backed down , with mixed experiences on other airlines. Clearly, the law wasn’t designed for a situation such as this and urgently needs reform, perhaps with the creation of some sort of EU-managed insurance scheme, giving the passengers the option to pay in, say, £10/flight to get all the rights. This would allow for the provision of a consistent service in the event of another event such as this; airlines simply don’t employ the numbers of people required to pacify customers at such short notice.

As well, this optional insurance supplement would allow airlines to continue the low-cost tickets. Like it or loath it, low cost is here to stay, and with a scheme like this airlines could legitimately offer the lowest cost tickets in the knowledge that there would be no further liabilities. After all, if a customer opted out of the scheme, he or she would have little case for complaint. Even at a cost of £5 a sector, there would be a huge amount of cash generated for this fund.

Enough about this, which is a future issue, and onto the current issue, that is how to minimise your chances of problems at the airport. The simple answer is that in the event of another volcano, no amount of tips would help you, if the planes cannot fly, no-one is going anywhere. But, your subsequent pain depends on the precautions you have taken before hand. I’ll give you a run-down on what I’d advise:

1) Examine your route (and alternatives) beforehand: Some routes frequencies already have me thinking ‘uh-oh’. For example, a route that is served just once a week; if a flight is cancelled, in the worst case scenario, you’ll be bumped to the scheduled flight next week – and since that flight already may have a full load on board, there may be even further delays. Flights that have regular service are much better as it’s likely you’ll be able to get one at short notice if conditions do improve.

2) Examine your airport: Be aware of airports with poor connecting facilities as well; that is, where the airline doesn’t offer a good range of destinations. Let’s say you need to come back to London – Easyjet are often a better choice here as many of their routes fly to to Luton, Stansted or Gatwick allowing for maximum flexibility. It’s also wise to examine the distance from the airport to the city as well; if your airport is 100km out, then it may be likely you could be stranded at the airport as the costs of getting to and from the city are prohibitive.

3) Keep your receipts: In the event that something should occur and you are delayed, do make sure you keep your receipts for everything: food, drink, accomodation – if you have paid for it. In the event of a claim, you will need these, and expenses without receipts are useless.

4) Know your rights: There is a thread here discussing what your rights are, but don’t be surprised if staff have the same idea, or if there are even any staff. Whoever may be at the airport may simply not be authorised to make an expenditure on accomodation or bus transfer. If you are really unfortunate, whoever is there might not even speak your language.

5) Speak to others: Particularly if airport officials don’t speak your language. It is extra useful to get someone perhaps to act as translator; and it often pays to get larger groups as taking taxis and so forth becomes easier. It often is very difficult to get official updates on the situation and you’ll find the best way will be from other people who may have had other sources of information.

6) Don’t leave the airport until told otherwise: Speaks for itself really; it may be the case that any changes are not even announced on the tannoy. But it has been known that people have missed bus transfers to other airports or accomodation simply because they had sat somewhere else. Stay where most of the people are so you can see developments occuring.

7) Have an adequate supply of money: Most airports have ATMs and money changers but some do not. In this case, do have bank cards and currencies ready. There have been real horror stories of people being stranded having spent all their money and being totally dependent on the airport. You can save yourself a lot of hassle simply by having the money to purchase items, of which you should be refunded at a later date.

Be flexible: You’re likely to have a couple of options; in that you can re-route, re-schedule or refund. If you take the refund, be aware that it may be a lot more expensive to rebook at short notice, and a refund discharges any further responsibility. Re-routing may be a good option if possible. This may extend your journey considerably but if you need to get home, is a better option than nothing. Re-scheduling is also a good option; you can book your flight for another date, and leave the airport for a hotel (hopefully paid for by the airline!) but do be warned that when you do return you could face the same problems again.

9) Don’t give up: On returning, if you have paid for anything, you may have to make a claim accordingly. Do keep copies of your receipts, and if you have to send a letter, make sure it’s recorded delivery. Don’t make outlandish claims (such as staying in a plush hotel suite) as these may fall outside the scope of ‘reasonable’. You may have to push more than once for this, but eventually you should be reimbursed. As long as your flight is within the EU, eventually all airlines should settle. The reason being is that no-one wants a court case which would provide a judgement which would allow other claims to be fast-tracked. It is my opinion that the low-costs operate this way as it is far cheaper as not every one files a claim, and as ‘no-frills’ there is hardly any damage to brand expectations.

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In this latest series of articles, we are going to detail how you can miss out on the optional charges and
what you need to be best prepared for it. As you’ll see, all the optional charges can be missed out on
if you are prepared to do a little homework.

1) Card charges
If there is one thing you could choose to miss out on, it would be the card charge. Simply put, it is an added expense that makes no difference to your journey. If you purchase checked baggage, fast boarding or insurance, there are tangible advantages to be had. But not so with the card charges.

At a potential £5 per person, per sector, this can add up very quickly and often, the efforts needed to sidestep this quickly pay for themselves. If you fly 1o times a year, you would be overpaying by as much as £100 by not using the correct card. It should be added that this £100 is probably more than or equal to your flight costs if you are savvy.|

The ‘FREE’ payment card for Ryanair used to be Visa Electron but as of this year, it has changed to a PRE-PAID Mastercard. This is not the same as the regular Mastercard you already have; pre-paid ones carry no credit limit and are just that: pre-paid. If you see the link above, you’ll already see who we recommend: FairFX – and you can get a free card (usually £9.95) when you purchase one with top up.

I’ll recommend the following points:

- Get a pre-paid card purely for the purpose of paying for flights. It usually isn’t worthwhile to use this for other spending means because of the hassle of topping up regularly.

- Once you have it, keep it in a safe place, so you don’t lose it. Unlike normal cards, there are administration fees required to get a new one, which could exceed your balance.

- Try to anticipate your flight demands and keep an balance accordingly. If you’re only going to use it for free, or £1 flights, you won’t need as much, but it’s always best to have a buffer in case.

- That said, do not load too much onto the card. Nothing is concrete, and there is nothing to say that next year, another card might be free.

What are the downsides? I wouldn’t worry about this too much. Clearly, there are many cards on the market for you to choose from, and you may feel an affinity to another brand (Entropay, for instance). But don’t get sucked in to paying application, or monthly fees and you should be fine.

The card providers make their money by these means, or by charging you a transaction fee (ie. 1.5%) or when different currencies are involved, making you take their exchange rate (probably a couple of percent worse). However, compared to paying a card charge, this really is small change.

1) Use the correct payment card – Find out which payment method incurs the least fees. For Ryanair this would be a prepaid Mastercard (Entropay do a good one) – Easyjet and Wizz would be Visa Electron. You can get a good one here.

Payment ‘fees’ are a major source of profit for the airline and a way of catching out the unwary and lazy. It quickly adds up if you are travelling more than once.  Travelling on the very cheapest flights on Ryanair is impossible if you do not have such card. If you have not got one, apply for one now.

2) Online check-in charges? (Ryanair only) – with the advent of a new £5.00 online check-in charge, this is also something you will have to consider. It’s per sector, so this adds £10 to a return journey. The bad news is that this charge is unavoidable – after all, online is the only way for Ryanair – but they have only got around it (just, in my own opinion) but making promotional fares exempt from the charge.

How to tell? When selecting a fare, ‘FREE ONLINE-CHECK-IN’ should appear to the left of the flight number. If it does not, cross-reference that with the charges breakdown; you’ll see if it is there or not. Do not be scared to take things straight through to checkout (but don’t enter card details) to check if it is included or not.

There appears to be a shift in the pricing strategy of Ryanair, with more and more ‘No Taxes’ fares – basically, these are just all-inclusive prices more comparable with Easyjet, as opposed to the ‘Regular Fare’. But do check the breakdown to see what is what.

3) Luggage allowances – Luggage allowances another thing that the airlines make cash on. If you need to take a luggage, then fine, make sure you use good use of it. If you don’t, then make sure your hand luggage adheres to the maximum dimensions and weight allowed as the penalties for not doing so (like the boarding pass) are large. As the airlines feel the pinch more, policing of baggages are likely to increase. There is a cost trade off between the costs of employing someone to check bags, and the revenues realised. Many passengers have seen random checks increasing.
A tip for anyone wanting to take oversized luggage but not wishing to pay for it (which is only effective on cheap/free flights) is to book a seat for a musical instrument, and use a guitar case as your luggage. Of course, you would have to be a bit unlucky to be caught, but to save cash, I have seen people do this before.

4) Insurance - Like in blackjack, you should always decline the insurance. It may be the case that it’s added already, so you will need to find this section and select ‘Insurance Not Required’.  If you need insurance, arrange your own, as it often works out to be cheaper. In any case, many of the insurance policies will not cover you in the most likely scenarios you would like to have it.

5) Other services: – Such as SMS confirmations, priority boarding – often are a waste of time, although I can accept that some may need it more than others.  Generally none of these services offer any great benefits.

6) Do not forget anything! Cheap fares often assume a transfer of responsibility from the airline to yourself, although this is unwritten. Some may complain at this, but look at it like this: you are willing to accept the reduced cost for less frills, so be willing to put in a little work to make up for this. Of course, I don’t mean manual labour or anything like that, but any slip-up will cost you money. To be more succinct: expect no frills, get no frills. This way you cannot be disappointed. I could give you the following tips for travel that fall under your responsibility (where they would not with a legacy carrier):

- Do not forget to check in online and do not forget the print out boarding pass. If it says it wants it in black and white on A4 paper, then obey that. You need your passport and ticket to travel. When people forget their passports, they blame themselves. Yet, when people forget their tickets, they blame the airline. You need to get into the habit of giving more importance to your print out. Check and double check that you have it. If disposing of a used one, make sure you are not inadvertently binning the returns.
- Do not be late. Always budget a good amount of time to get to the airport. Remember there are some queues at security. There are always people giving the excuse that they need to go in front because they are going to miss their flight – don’t be one of these people. If you miss a flight, the penalties can be huge – if it’s a place that Ryanair only serve once a week, then this could quickly eclipse the rest of your holiday.
- Weigh your luggage before you go.  We often are poor judges of weight, and this is a schoolboy error. Electronic scales at home are a good rough guide. If you don’t have them, buy some – it’s good for your general health to keep tabs on your own weight as well.

Need a pre-paid card to dodge Ryanair fees? We’ve teamed up with FairFX to offer you their anywhere card – get one for FREE (usually £9.95 for loading under £500). Any currency – anywhere – it’s ideal for everyone.