Ryanair - Why you should always pay in original currency

Ryanair used to be a complete ripoff when making payments in foreign currencies - they would charge you in the currency of your credit card, whilst adding a hefty margin, and not give you a choice about it.

Then they mended their ways, and would charge you in the original currency.

Then they went back to their bad old ways - but with an escape route if you spot it in time !


Now they have changed again - offering you a choice of currencies.

In this example I'm booking a flight that 16.99 EUR and I've put in a UK address ... so the first choice is in GBP

but 15.48 GBP represents a 6% commission for Ryanair on the GBP - EUR fx rate

and 179.05 NOK would be a 6.2% commission for Ryanair on the NOK - EUR fx rate

and 76.48 PLN would also give Ryanair a 6% commission on the PLN - EUR fx rate

and 190.94 SEK would give Ryanair another 6.2% commission on the SEK - EUR fx rate

and finally 20.14 USD represents a 5.9% commission for Ryanair on the USD - EUR fx rate

Since most credit cards charge 3% on foreign purchases - and some don't charge anything - this means you should always pay in the original currency of the flight.

Ryanair Boeing 737 Max seatmap

With the addition of the B737 Max aircraft to the Ryanair timetable, using a dummy booking we can seat what the layout will be for the latest additions to their fleet.

Ryanair had previously announced that the planes would have 197 seats - 8 more than their current B737-800 fleet, but hadn't said what the layout would be.

At the front of the plane, seat 1A has been removed - which I'm guessing is due to the curvature of the plane.  Since the seating will start further forward than on the current aircraft, there presumably isn't room for a full three seats.

In the centre of the aircraft the layout is a straightforward two rows of overwing exit seats.

The back of the plane is where things get really interesting - we already knew that an additional exit had to be installed to meet safety requirements.  Seat 27F has been removed - presumably because a cabin crew member will sit there in a backward facing seat.  This means that seats 27D and 27E become the most desirable on the aeroplane, since you will only have a neighbour for take off and landing - and Ryanair aren't (currently) charging a premium for this pair of seats.

The plane comprises 34 rows in total (no row 13) - one row of 2 seats, one row of 5 seats, one row of 4 seats and 31 rows of 6 seats.

As these 197 seat aircraft come into service, it will be interesting to see what happens when there is a problem and the replacement aircraft is one of the older 189 seat B737s. I'm guessing Ryanair will be hoping that if the original flight is full, eight passengers will choose not to fly ... or they will just offload them, and maybe send them by bus instead !