Europe’s biggest budget airline is going after frequent flyers by selling annual subscriptions to “Ryanair Choice”.

The €199 fee is aimed at regular passengers, the airline says, who will continue to pay basic airline fares but be able to avail of Priority Boarding and other services as bundled add-ons for the annual set rate.

Currently, Priority Boarding costs from €6 to €10 per flight (including a 10kg cabin bag, and a smaller personal piece of hand luggage), depending on the route, with seat selection starting from €3.

Other changes include a ‘Customer Care Charter’ that it says will see EU261 claims for delayed or cancelled flights processed “in 10 days”.

The service will be rolled out with “new 24/7 support” and connect passengers within two minutes, Ryanair is promising.

A new, 48-hour grace period for booking changes is also being introduced.

This will allow passengers who wish to amend a booking a two-day window in which to do so, without incurring extra charges.

Currently, name changes alone cost from €115 online.

The airline has also promised 24-hour advance notice of four seat sales per year.
The programme bestows similar benefits as “Ryanair Plus” at a flat rate.

Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, said:  “It’ll be all-digital, it’ll be done in a low-cost way. You will simply get a series of digits that you enter into your MyRyanair account.”

The scheme will not come into effect until the end of the summer. The target is for 100,000 passengers to sign up in the first year.

Source: Independent