back to article Google is developing flight 'price comparison thing' with us, claims Ryanair boss O'Leary

Outspoken Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary has claimed that Google is working on a price comparison site for flights that will outshine rivals in the content-scraping biz. In an interview with Irish newspaper the Sunday Independent O'Leary said that Google would not ask for cash from the famously thrifty Ryanair boss. "Because …

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  1. Chris Miller

    Will Google be allowed to display the true cost of the flight, after you've added in the £24 per head charge for using anything except O'Leary approved plastic in payment?

    1. AbelSoul

      > true cost of the flight

      Indeed, as well as the additional cost in time and money of actually getting to the desired destination following Ryanair depositing you some 30 miles away.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: > true cost of the flight

        If you want to land at a specific airport, book a flight that lands at that airport... you may have to be selective about which airline you go with however.

        Just bear in mind that not all of us want to go to $nearest_big_city... in about 50% of cases, the smaller airport that ryanair uses is actually closer to my destination than the main city airport.

        Take London as an example... if I want to go to central London, city airport is great. If you want to go to Brighton, you'd benefit from flying in to Gatwick. If you want to go to Milton Keynes however (apparently some people do), you would be better off landing at 'London' Luton than 'London' Gatwick.

        1. Erroneous Howard

          Re: > true cost of the flight

          So a great idea would be to combine the comparison engine with something like Google Maps to work out both the cheapest flights as well as an indication of the travel distance from airport to final destination. So at a glance you can see that while flight A might be the cheapest, it lands you significantly further away. Essentially you'd input your start and finish locations and let the tool work out which airports are most convenient for you.

          Either way, they should also ask questions about any potential extras so you can compare the price of the flight PLUS extras against flights that may potentially come with those inclusive.

    2. Benchops

      You /will/ be able to see the true cost of the flight

      but you'll need to pay an extra £4 per head to google play

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They don't want to have a limited or biased search

    I thought O'Leary's more... on the ball about Google activity. Or did he mean something else to what I understood that he said? Or was it just marketing bull somebody prepared for his little speech?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: They don't want to have a limited or biased search

      Ryanair famously sued other flight price comparison sites - claiming that Ryanair's prices were copyright.

      The other sites also tended to show the real price, including the booking/credit card fees and the 50quid breathing-on-board surcharge

  3. wolfetone Silver badge

    Coming from the bloke who said they were working with Boeing to develop standing areas on aircraft.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I would pay extra to stand on a flight personally.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        >I would pay extra to stand on a flight personally.

        Standing on the flight was cheap - it was more expensive if you wanted to stand inside.

  4. RonWheeler

    Does it automatically add...

    ...the endless list of hidden costs. If it doesn't - a waste of time.

  5. Cliff

    Ryanair - a mistake you don't make twice

    Yes, their headline prices are cheap. Yes, they have a pretty new fleet and run mostly to time.

    But first time they stitch you up, you realise there's no lonelier feeling than being a Ryanair passenger in a cock-up, even if/especially if it's theirs.

    They appear to be actively hostile towards customers, gouge where they can, and frequently fly to crappy nowhere airports to get cheaper landing costs (at the expense of your taxi bills).

    Never again. Would rather walk.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ryanair - a mistake you don't make twice

      I'm luck that Ryan air no longer fly to any places I'm interested in going to. I'd rather take a full price airline than suffer the humiliation of flying with them again.

      1. Getriebe

        Re: Ryanair - a mistake you don't make twice

        Flew with them twice. So shitty, short of leg room and so nasty were the cabin staff I have never flow again. I refuse to go to certain meetings if Ryan Air is the only feasible choice.

        Also so called full price airlines aren't too far of Leary's prices once you have worked out like for like. Also if you get stuck somewhere - own fault - someone like BA works to get you back. Ryan air fuck off as quoted

        And for the poster abover listing London Airports above - all well and good if you know where the airport is - try Ryanair Vienna for one example. Where do you you think you go?. No looking.

        1. I like noodles

          Re: Ryanair - a mistake you don't make twice

          Funny how experiences differ. I've got nothing but praise for Ryanair. I've had plenty of decent city breaks and trips away purely because of the low prices that airlines like Ryanair have brought about.

          No, I'm not a shill, I'm just old enough to remember the likes of BM and BA charging me ridiculous fares like £350 to fly from Belfast to London and now I can do it for less than £40 often enough, sometimes even less than £20.

          Sure there's no frills, sure you pay heavily for extras, but you pay your money and you make your choice and if it wasn't for the likes of them you'd have no choice.

    2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Ryanair - a mistake you don't make twice

      > Would rather walk.

      Yep. I'll pay more to fly another airline, if it lets me avoid Aer O'Flot.

  6. Chris G

    Air Assimilate

    O'leary should keep quiet, with his don't give a shit attitude to what people think he would be a perfect assimilation for Borgle to get into the airline biz.

  7. BigG
    Flame

    Perhaps Ryanair could learn from he chocolate factory..

    ... about less intrusive advertising. Michael ORLY should know where he can stick his scatcards.

  8. Anonymous Coward 101

    "They don't want to charge us, they make all of their money out of advertising,"

    That's just the headline price, Michael.

    Did you take into account the Pixel Fee, whereby Google charge you 50 cents for every pixel displayed on their advertising website that isn't coloured black? And that they charge you an additional 50% if the Pixel Fee isn't paid in Albanian Leks? No? Well, fuck you, Michael, because that's how it is.

  9. drunk.smile

    I do hope they also combine it with Google maps

    so I can see how far RyanAir airports are from their actual destination.

  10. Nick L

    Google own itasoftware.com...

    Google bought ITA Software, a flight search company, in April 2011. They have no need to develop anything in partnership in Ryanair, it's just that obnoxious windbag laying claim to someone else's work. Putting ITA's stuff in front of punters direct, under a google brand, would be new though I believe?

  11. phil dude
    WTF?

    what about taxes?

    This is all well in good, but I would say that for those of us who travel a fair bit, price comparison is already quite good.

    The elephant in the room is the massive taxes charged by the Govt for internation travel and every other "grubby hand in pot" between leaving and arriving some place on Earth.

    London to Charleston via Dulles -Fare $282, Taxes $560. WTF?

    I suspect this is another way of gaming the system by only showing "their bargains".....

    P.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: what about taxes?

      In the US you are allowed to advertise fairs not including "government fees/taxes" - in the Eu you are supposed to advertise the full fair.

      One major US airline got sent to the naughty step for including the cost of the crew in the fees/taxes because the government set the number of crew required.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blimey,a UNION of evil empires

    Two companies that I utterly loathe are 'teaming up'. They deserve each other. I will still take great pleasure in not using any services from either of them.

  13. Valeyard

    How to do flight comparison

    1- select flight details, any extras number of passengers etc

    2-get as far as final payment screen which shows the final after taxes

    3-enter method of payment

    4-repeat steps 1-3 for each airline that does that journey

    5-compare

    6-close tabs on all the runners-up

    it's the only way to be sure!

    I wonder if ryanair wonder why the final payments screen get 10x as many hits as passengers they carry

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: How to do flight comparison

      And don't forget to clear the cookies - many airline sites offer higher prices if you go back after a previous search. Obviously if you return to them after they offered X then X was the best deal you could get, so they now offer X+Y

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good

    Let's hope that it will give clear pricing for Scumbagair rather than the obfuscated fecking mess that's their booking site.

    Meanwhile I await the appearance of fairies at the bottom of my garden.

  15. This post has been deleted by its author

  16. a well wisher

    Its his usual PR style

    R y a n a i r : Keep puffing on the PR !

    any excuse to get that companies name in the media as per usual

  17. tin 2

    "They need to find who has got the lowest airfare on these routes ... and that's us."

    Fine, I'll choose the next lowest then.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ryanair is about the best argument you can ever use ..

    .. why you shouldn't use the lowest price bidder. Ever.

  19. Ian 55

    If Google want to get into bed with Ryanair...

    .. it shows they don't bother to use their own search engine to research potential partners first.

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