Ryanair Launching a Frequent Flyer Program – With a Twist

Starting later this year, Ryanair will be launching a frequent flyer program. But, in typical Ryanair-fashion, it will not be in the way that other airlines run such programs.

Ryanair Launching a Frequent Flyer Program – With a Twist

Link: Ryanair Frequent Flyer Program

Instead of allowing you to credit miles and earn benefits as you accrue more miles, Ryanair will be allowing those flyers to purchase a €199 program (per year) that lets you get select benefits that would otherwise cost for each flight. This new program will be called “Ryanair Choice.”

What this new program will include with the €199 fee is:

• Unlimited Priority Boarding
• Standard seat selection (which is to say, just selecting a seat, not one of the better seats)
• Fast-track service where available

The Independent did the math and figured that, based on average costs for those services, a flyer would have to take 22 Ryanair flights in a year to make this new frequent flyer service pay for itself.

Good Deal or Not?

Is that a good deal? I would have to say that, for most travelers, this is not a good program to purchase. I know that I almost always purchase seat selection for a couple of euro but never pay for priority boarding as I don’t check bags.

It should be noted, however, that the Priority Boarding option does allow you to take two carryons instead of just the one small bag. For the €6-10 fee, that could be worth it for most travelers. With this new service annual fee, that is included.

Of course, this program will not include any time on the Ryanair business class jet… 🙂

More Ryanair News

This isn’t the only thing Ryanair announced today. They also said they will handle EU261 compensation claims within 10 days. This would be an improvement, if they stick with it. Ryanair has had a lot of issues with delays over compensation over the past couple of years. This can be especially harmful to people’s pocketbooks when their cheap Ryanair fare ended up costing them a lot more money because of a Ryanair delay.

Another change they are making is a 48 hour grace period for changes to be made without charging a fee. This is actually quite a generous term for a grace period with airlines in the US, for example, only allowing for a 24 hour grace period.

Featured image Courtesy Senohrabek / Shutterstock.com