End of Cash Passport?

An e-mail sent to CP holders:


Dear Cardholder,

Firstly we would like to thank you for purchasing a Ryanair Cash Passport card. We have seen thousands of our cardholders benefit from the offer of avoiding the admin fee charge on Ryanair.com since the launch of the card on 1st October 2011. We thank you for your continued support.

It is with regret that we write to inform you that, as a result of decisions by the UK Office of Fair Trading, Ryanair Cash Passport card users will no longer benefit from avoiding the ?6 admin fee for transactions made on Ryanair.com from 1st December 2012. While we are disappointed at this development, Ryanair is obliged to honour the decisions of the UK Office of Fair Trading.

We are committed to providing you, the cardholder, with further updates on card promotions and intend on notifying you shortly on our planned changes in the card offering.

Are you sure it's fake?
For me it's just little "overlook" of Ryanair, according to the below

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/consumer-enforcement/surcharges/Ryanair-undertakings.pdf

I meant ?6 was fake or atleast edited- I am a card holder and at this time have not received any such email todate.Still I have saved alot of money with the card so i cannot be too disheartened.

Ryanair Cash Passport Contact number

Phone Number/s
UK
0800 015 0401† (Free)
Other Countries
+1 954 838 8294††

† There may be a charge for calls to this number, if phoning from a hotel or mobile phone

†† Please remember to add the international prefix of the country you are in at the beginning of this number (in most cases this is 00, for example 001 954 838 8294). Calls to this number are not free of charge.

The URL given to the UK complaint website doesn't exist anymore as of a few minutes ago.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/consumer-enforcement/surcharges/Ryanair-undertakings.pdf

There is nothing at all on the website about this:

http://www.cashpassport.com/1/ryanair/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2169174/Victory-budget-travellers-Easyjet-Ryanair-12-airlines-agree-scrap-surprise-card-surcharges.html

For something that will have a major effect on many people, the media and forums are very quite, maybe we know that we have no recourse to complain.

Before now, it was stated that there had to be one method of free payment when paying for a service, Ryanair made us all jump through hoops to avoid the Ryanair admin charge, and changing from one type of card to another, but now it seems that they could charge what they like no matter the payment method.

The OFT says that as long as they show their fee from the start then they can do what they like, also that Ryanair is complying with their requirements!!

But how have they complied, the text that states that you have to pay an admin fee is quite small on their home page which states: “FARE INCLUDES A £6 ADMIN FEE WHICH CAN BE AVOIDED IF YOU PAY WITH RYANAIR’S CASH PASSPORT CARD”, but you have to really look to find it, it is still a surprise for many people to come to the end to find that they still have to pay £6 admin fee for each flight leg and for each person even when paying with a debit card.

The OFT says that as long as the fee is in the headline price, it is okay, but it is not in the headline price but in small text underneath, nothing has changed in Ryanairs advertising of fares and their RED HOT FARES is not the final bill!! The final bill has admin fees added.

Why am I getting hot under the collar. I travel every week with Ryanair, from December 2012 the fare advertised on the page where I select what flight I choose is not the fare that I pay but will have £6 for each flight leg added. What has changed? When I select the flight at that specific fare, that is what I expect to pay, but that is not the case,

Ryanair is blaming the OFT for redrawing the UK Cash Passport free admin option, but they can still provide the free admin as stated by the OFT but Ryanair is using it as a CASH GRAB.

Unfortunately I will have to pay as this is the most economical method for me to commute each week, I just solely wish there was an economical alternative!