Ryanair closes frequent flyers club after members take advantage of discounts
Ryanair is shutting its frequent flyers members’ club after only eight months because customers exploited its benefits too much.The budget airline said on Friday it was closing the scheme, which offered benefits including flight discounts, free reserved seating on up to 12 flights a year and travel insurance.It said 55,000 passengers had signed up to Prime, generating €4.4m (£3.5m) in subscription fees but customers had received more than €6m in benefits, making it a lossmaker for the company.
Dara Brady, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, said: “This trial has cost more money than it generates,This level of membership, or subscription revenue, does not justify the time and effort it takes to launch monthly exclusive Prime seat sales for our 55,000 Prime members,”The company said it would return to offering discounts to “all our customers, and not this subset of 55,000 Prime members”,Prime was launched in February at a cost of £79 and €79 a year to customers in the UK and the EU,With seat costs ranging from £4.
50 to £38, the scheme could have saved between £54 and £456, the equivalent of several low-fare flights, for those making use of the maximum 12 flights a year.The membership scheme was opened for a 12-month rolling basis with automatic renewal in February.Ryanair said all members would continue to “enjoy exclusive low fare offers until October 2026 but no new members will be allowed to sign up after Friday, 28 November.“We are grateful to our 55,000 Prime members who signed up to this Prime trial over the last eight months, and they can rest assured that they will continue to enjoy exclusive flight and seat savings for the remainder of their 12-month membership.”Ryanair, the market leader in budget airlines, with more than 207 million passengers a year, made low fares its unique selling point but managed to claw back revenue on equally innovative charging for bags and seats, something unheard of 20 years ago.
Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionIt was the first to introduce fees for checked-in baggage in 2006, followed by check-in fees in 2009 for those who did not, in the pre-smartphone era, print out their boarding cards at home.Earlier this year, Ryanair increased the bonuses airport staff receive for every noncompliant carry-on bag they take from passengers.Passengers whose cabin cases exceed the maximum dimensions for a small suitcase are charged fees of up to £75 and their luggage is taken into the hold.
UK at risk of ‘sudden confidence crisis’ if markets lose faith in budget – as it happened
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Asda hits out at government for ‘killing confidence’ among consumers
Asda has criticised the government for “killing confidence” among consumers but blamed “self-inflicted” problems that left gaps on shelves for a big reverse in sales.Total sales at the UK’s third-largest supermarket fell 3.8% to £5.1bn in the three months to the end of September compared with the same period a year before – diving back from 0.2% growth in the previous quarter
More than 1,000 Amazon workers warn rapid AI rollout threatens jobs and climate
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After a teddy bear talked about kink, AI watchdogs are warning parents against smart toys
As the holiday season looms into view with Black Friday, one category on people’s gift lists is causing increasing concern: products with artificial intelligence.The development has raised new concerns about the dangers smart toys could pose to children, as consumer advocacy groups say AI could harm kids’ safety and development. The trend has prompted calls for increased testing of such products and governmental oversight.“If we look into how these toys are marketed and how they perform and the fact that there is little to no research that shows that they are beneficial for children – and no regulation of AI toys – it raises a really big red flag,” said Rachel Franz, director of Young Children Thrive Offline, an initiative from Fairplay, which works to protect children from big tech.Last week, those fears were given brutal justification when an AI-equipped teddy bear started discussing sexually explicit topics
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It’s not over yet. There is still hope. Before the Ashes started I had plenty of it, because of England’s fantastic array of fast bowlers and because I felt they had improved on their crash‑bang‑wallop, one-size‑fits‑all approach to batting. Then the series got under way, and while the bowlers did their bit, the batters failed badly. After the two-day humiliation in Perth they are inevitably under the microscope – but while everyone is questioning England’s approach, how much are they challenging themselves?I based my optimism on some of what I had seen over the summer
Northampton coach Phil Dowson: ‘I tried working for a bank – it was tough’
Saints’ director of rugby on being converted to coaching, his ‘bromance’ with Sam Vesty and why Henry Pollock is smarter than he seemsNorthampton is not the most exotic destination on the planet, but there is plenty of romance and adventure in its rugby union team.In a town famous for boot‑making you might expect kicking, as frequently and as far as possible, to be the Saints’ modus operandi. But under the director of rugby, Phil Dowson, the team in green, black and gold prefer to keep ball in hand. Despite representing a quintessentially English town, they display a panache synonymous with the greatest French exponents of champagne rugby.Since Dowson and the head coach, Sam Vesty, took over in 2022, Northampton have won what was then the Premiership and gone deep in the Champions Cup – losing to Bordeaux-Bègles in last season’s final, knocked out by Leinster in a semi-final before that
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