Bags go free on Ryanair for UK golfers to Ireland

RYANAIR IS not accustomed to giving things away for nothing, but under a promotion which it launched on Thursday in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland, British golfers travelling to Ireland to play a round will be able to bring their bags for free, at least until early November.

The joint promotion is aimed at encouraging more golfers to visit Ireland and it will save them £80 (€90.60) on a return flight.

The bags-fly-free deal will be available on return flights, from 13 UK airports to Ryanair’s six Irish airports and will apply to all flights booked before midnight on September 30th, for travel till November 7th with fares beginning at £14.99 (€17) one way.

“Ireland meets and entertains almost 150,000 overseas golfers annually. Golf is one of Ireland’s greatest tourist attractions, contributing an estimated €110 million to the economy – with Britain as one of our biggest markets contributing to that revenue,” said Keith McCormack, Fáilte Ireland’s head of golf.

“This attractive offer will provide us with a greater edge when wooing UK golfers over to play – and spend – here this autumn,” he continued.

The airline has also announced that it is to allow passengers to modify or amend their bookings after they have used the airlines online check-in facilities but it is certainly not giving that facility away.

Until now, once a passenger checked in they could make no modifications to their ticket but they now can, although the airline will charge them €15 just to access their booking.

If they change the name on a booking or modify a flight date they will have to pay substantially more.

The airline says it is targeting frequent flyers and business passengers who may need to amend travel plans after they have already checked in.

The “uncheck” service, which is available from the airline’s telephone reservation centres, will allow passengers to once again access “Manage My Booking” where they can amend names or change their flight dates.

The flight modification facility will be available up to 5pm (CET) on the evening prior to scheduled departure, subject to call centre opening hours.