While two children's hospitals, Our Lady's in Crumlin and the Sunderland Royal, will be the main beneficiaries of Niall Quinn's much lauded decision to donate to them the proceeds from his benefit game between Sunderland and the Republic of Ireland at the Stadium of Light in May, it seems Ryanair will also profit from the match, to which 5,000 supporters are expected to travel from Ireland.
One such supporter, who hopes to go to the game on May 14th, contacted The Irish Times yesterday to relate his experience of pricing return flights for himself and his two sons from Dublin to Teeside Airport on Ryanair's website.
"Dublin-Teeside, flying out on May 14th and back the next day, was €230 plus tax. A bit steep, I thought, so just out of interest I checked the prices for the previous and following Tuesday/Wednesday (i.e May 7th-8th and May 21st-22nd) on the same flights . . . and they were €26 plus tax! (€12.99 each way)," he reported.
Ryanair's "general information" department categorically denied yesterday the company was attempting to profit from the unusually high traffic between Dublin and Teeside that week. It was explained: "Our prices are just subject to availability - they go up as more passengers book on the flight. There are only three seats available on the Teeside-Dublin flight on May 15th, that's why it has now reached the highest price barrier." (i.e. €159.99 - the May 14th Dublin-Teeside flight was priced at €69.99 yesterday).
Irish supporters who booked their Dublin to Teeside flights early with Ryanair will, therefore, be relieved, having made a saving of up to 900 per cent on the cost of their trip. The bill for the supporter and his two sons who contacted The Irish Times yesterday? - €690. Anxious to support Quinn and the hospitals he is contemplating purchasing three non-attendance tickets for the occasion.
Of course, the option is always there for Ryanair to make a donation, even a small percentage from their unexpected windfall from that unusually high mid-week traffic between Dublin and Teeside, to Quinn and the two hospitals he is supporting.
