Ryanair doubles name-change grace period to 48 hours
Ryanair passengers who want to amend their bookings will have a 48-hour window to make changes for free, as part of a 'customer care improvement' package announced by the airline today.
At the moment, Ryanair passengers have 24 hours to make minor changes to their bookings, such as correcting a name. After this, they face a £115 fee to make amendments, which rises to £160 at the airport.
But today the airline announced that this grace period would be doubled to 48 hours, giving customers a little more time to change errors for free. It's part of the airline's 2019 'customer care improvement' scheme, which also pledges to improve processes around delay compensation and offer a €199 annual frequent flyer scheme, which includes seat selection and priority boarding.
The announcement comes after MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis called on Ryanair to waive the name change fees for customers who claimed their surnames had been changed to match that of the lead passenger.
MoneySavingExpert submitted a dossier of more than 160 reports of the issue, but Ryanair said there was no technical problem, and the Civil Aviation Authority said its response was credible.
We've asked Ryanair when the changes will come into force, and if the £115 fee to make changes after the grace period will remain. We'll update this story when we hear back.
See our 20 Ryanair Tips for help mastering the airline's mega-strict rules and charges.
Martin: 'When someone is just obviously fixing an error there should be no charge'
Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "While this tweak by Ryanair is welcome, it is a very, very tiny tweak.
"Extending the grace period – in which people can change their name if there's an error – to two days from one may help a few people.
"Yet why would you spot it on the second day if not the first? Whether the problem is due to a glitch, an unspotted auto-correct error or a good old human mistake – to charge someone more than £100 to correct their name simply isn't on.
"If Ryanair really wants to 'care' for its customers, it should ensure that, where someone is obviously just fixing an error, there is no charge whenever it is done."
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10 September 2024
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