Sounding off

We've got mail:Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, text or blog your experience to us.

Fly and be free

Quite a few people have got in touch to see if we could find out more about the taxes and charges associated with flights and how Ryanair applies them. One reader noticed the taxes and fees on flights to and from Dublin from Cork were different. On a morning flight leaving Cork with a ticket price of €14.99, the charges are €23.47, while on the return flight later the same day with the same ticket price, the charges are €22.74, a small difference but a difference nonetheless.

Another reader spotted a greater discrepancy. "I always assumed that taxes, fees and charges would be the same for a specific route," he writes. "Not so it seems with Ryanair."

He noticed that when he checked the flights on exactly the same route, on exactly the same day, they had different taxes, fees and charge. When he looked at the price of a flight from Dublin to Stansted leaving at 8.10am on Saturday, November 17th, the cost of the taxes, fees and charges came to €22.74, while the flight leaving on the same route at 11.15am had taxes, fees and charges of €9.94.

We contacted Ryanair to see how it calculated its taxes and charges and to see if passengers could expect them to always be the same on the same routes. A Ryanair spokeswoman would only say that the taxes and charges varied by departure airport, with Cork airport being slightly more expensive than Dublin, although she declined to say why. In connection with our second reader's query, the seat on the 11.15am flight was one of six million seats Ryanair had discounted to €10, including taxes and charges.

Not such an Eazy rider

Thérèse Hogan from Dublin got in touch to complain about Eazypass, the electronic toll collection system from National Toll Roads. It has a monthly handling charge of €1.21, even though the account is always in credit "and if the account reaches a minimum credit balance, they will then debit your credit card or current account, so there are absolutely no credit control issues".

According to the Eazypass website, the monthly charge "covers the administration and insurance of your tag", but it also says that in the event of a tag being lost or stolen you will have to pay an additional €15 to get it replaced.

We contacted the company. A spokeswoman said the cost of replacing the tag was €40 and consumers would have to pay €15 of that as a form of excess, albeit an excessive excess, by Pricewatch's reckoning. She said that the 100,000 users of the Eazypass system were given their initial pass free and said the charge was "nominal" and used to offset administration charges.

The Italian good job

Rachael Irwin from Kinvara recently visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy. At a patisserie beside the tower, she enjoyed the best quality espresso she has had in a long time as well as a "delicious, high-quality pastry". And how much did it cost? The price of the espresso was 85 cent and the price of the pastry was 90 cent. "I was so shocked at the great value of both items. In Ireland, the price of both would surely be at least double. This place is near one of the most viewed tourist attractions in the world. Go figure."