I read this letter and reply in the Sunday Times London concerning the
policy of RYANAIR to give any refund on money paid for flights that can not
be used.

QUOTE
IN A RECENT rant (Travel, May 30), EasyJet replied to an inquiry about tax
refunds by saying: "By law, we are only obliged to refund the Air Passenger
Duty, which is £5 each way." I quoted this to Ryanair, requesting a refund
for return flights for two to Italy on which we shall be unable to travel.
Ryanair, however, has replied: "All tickets issued for flights operated by
ourselves are nonrefundable, including any taxes, fees or charges that may
have been collected in respect of such flights." Presumably it has chosen
not to abide by "the law" on this occasion.
M Howard, by e-mail

Ryanair replies: "Passengers agree to our terms and conditions (which are
clearly set out on the website) at the time of booking. These advise that
"all monies, including taxes, fees and charges, are nonrefundable". Given
that all Ryanair bookings may be changed up to three hours prior to
departure, no money needs to be lost, as all monies can be transferred in
full to the new reservation."
UNQUOTE

So it appears that if you book with Ryanair and have to cancel, you lose
your money including the money paid to them for AIR PASSENGER DUTY and
Taxes.
Now I imagine that this is factored into the costs and Ryanair basically
encourage passengers to book flights that are admittedly sometimes very
inexpensive but some passengers may be surprised to find the total costs are
NON REFUNDABLE if they cannot make the journey.

I can understand Ryanair not wanting to sell cheap flights for £1 each way
or some ludicrous cost, and then have the hassle of refunding the additional
costs such as Air Passenger Duty and taxes, which would easily be much more,
but I am wondering what others feel about this.

They say, quite cleverly, in the reply to the Rant above, that---- :::: "
that no money needs to be lost, as all monies can be transferred in full to
the new reservation."

What they do not mention is that to transfer a booking incurs extra
expenses. A minimum of UKPounds 15 PER Euro22 Person and Per Sector. So
that's UKP30 or Euro44 for a cheap return flight. In addition you would have
to pay any difference in the current cost of the new flight booked.
Obviously, you won't get any refund if the new flight booked is cheaper than
the original.

So I suppose they are correct in saying that "No money needs to be lost !"
But wait a minute. That statement is actually false, because MONEY IS BEING
LOST ! By the very fact that they are charging this extra fee, you are
losing money. Or is this Irish?

once bitten twice shy.