Ryanair may have made a name for itself with crazily cheap airfares but Europe’s largest low-cost airline has never offered a Buy One, Get One Free deal before… Until now. With forward bookings for the upcoming winter season slumping by as much as 90 per cent, Ryanair has decided to launch a flash BOGOF deal for travel between September 25 and December 14, 2020.
“Anyone would be crazy to miss it,” commented Ryanair’s head of communications Alejandra Ruiz on Thursday but you’ll have to be quick. The deal, which is only available on Value Fare bookings, can only be booked until midnight on September 24.
“Customers can book this unmissable deal to top holiday and city break destinations across Europe, bringing their family or close friends on a well-needed autumn/winter escape,” Ruiz continued. The BOGOF deal is available on 1,600 routes across the Ryanair network.
The limited-time offer, however, has proved so popular that some bargain lovers have reported problems accessing the official Ryanair website. The deal isn’t available on popular flight search engines.
Ryanair is eager to drive new business after seeing new bookings drop off a cliff edge in recent weeks. After a short-lived recovery during the Summer season, a second wave of COVID-19 across Europe is putting people off overseas travel yet again.
The airline has already slashed its schedule by a further 20 per cent for October and now plans to operate less than half of its pre-COVID schedule. “We have never seen such awful forward bookings,” Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary commented in a recent interview.
“Flying is safe, but governments must create an environment where people can make these bookings with some degree of confidence,” O’Leary continued while blasting some countries for constantly changing travel restrictions and imposing draconian quarantine rules.
If there’s not a quick recovery, however, Ryanair warned on Thursday that thousands of pilots and cabin crew would be put on unpaid leave through the looming winter season. O’Leary called for further government support to top up the wages of employees where work is lacking.
