Well it looks like the airline which everyone loves to hate, Ryanair, is finally succumbing to pressure from its customers!

Michael O´Leary has announced a draft of improvements following the aftermath of Septembers profits warning for the company - a turnaround for the man who is always quick to criticise any customers who moaned about the service offered. Obviously he has realised that something had to change in order for the company to survive - even going onto the social networking site Twitter to answer questions personally. Perhaps he has taken heed of the momentous 1991 downfall of Gerald Ratner, when the jewellery shop owner confessed that his shop sold "total crap"!

Already implemented (as of 1st November) is a 24 hour grace period for those that make a mistake on their booking. Minor errors such as a spelling mistake will now be amended FREE of charge - previously this would have cost 110 GBP per person.... often more than the cost of the flight itself! Also flights which depart before 8am or after 9pm will be deemed "quiet flights" and announcements over the PA system will be restricted to essential safety information, with the cabin lights dimmed allowing passengers to sleep - no more selling of scratch cards!

From 1st December passengers will be permitted to take a second "small" carry on bag measuring up to 35cm x 25cm x 25cm.... about the size of an average ladies handbag or small duty free bag. Previously they were extremely strict on the one piece only rule.  The other major change is the cost of re-printing a boarding pass, which is currently an eye watering 70 GBP - that will fall to a more reasonable 15 GBP.

The last group of measures to be implemented are the reduction of airport bag fees for those that wish to check luggage in at the last minute - from 60 GBP to 30 GBP, which comes into effect from 5th January 2014.

Surprisingly the company has also just announced that as of 1st February 2014 the company will move to fully allocated seating on all Ryanair flights, to make the boarding process smoother - no more elbowing fellow passengers out of the way in the scrum for seats... yes I have actually witnessed that! You will still be able to chose preferred seating for a 5 GBP charge, such as front row or extra legroom rows but those that do not wish to pay the charge they will be allocated a seat 24 hours prior to departure. However, what puzzles me about this is what happens about printing boarding passes - will you have to do it twice? Currently you can print your pass off up to 15 days before departure, which is probably what many do. If seat numbers are not allocated until 24 hours before what happens to your pass? Will you have to queue at the check in - most that travel with hand luggage only do so to avoid this. If you are on holiday with no access to a printer will you end up paying the 15 GBP to have your pass reprinted at the airport - lots of questions with no answers at the moment.... maybe they are still trying to work that one out.

Personally I love Ryanair and use them to travel back and forth to the UK - a return flight in December from Alicante to East Midlands has cost me under 50 euros... the taxi fare alone is more to get to the airport! Currently the airline fly from 10 UK destinations to Alicante - gateway to Benidorm and a very popular choice for those wanting a cheap break.
It looks like the company is changing its attitude towards those that keep the company afloat.... which can only be a good thing for us.