to fly with Ryan air? Anyone had any experience, good or bad?

[dandycandyjellybean]

prob wrong place but need a quick response. Trying for a cheap holiday and their fees seem very good. I know you have to pay extra for baggage, but are there any other hidden extras? Any advice gratefully received.

Try to borrow a pre paid mastercard to pay as otherwise you have to pay £5 per person per flight admin fee.

I'm nervous I must admit, we're booked with them to go to Ireland in May and the customer reviews I've seen are not good.

Have answered this on general travel thread.

if you want priority boarding, you will have to pay extra - worth it though! We flew with them last year and were quite happy!

Worst. Airline. Ever.

Awesome airline once you read the terms and conditions.

They're fine, cheap, it's like getting a bus. Take your own snack on board rather than buy theirs.

Does the priority boarding work? I'd read that it didn't always happen and you could be swamped by "plebs" before you get to your seat? If you don't do priority boarding don't get precious about sitting together and expect others to move for you.
Whatever you do, read the t+c's and don't mess about with your luggage. Have the right size, the right weight, and leave yourself plenty of time at the airport for check in. I have found them a bit erratic and check in was hard to find once when I flew with them!

they are like travelling by coach, no frills, if you remember that, they are fine.

just make sure to travel lightly and do read the t+c as they are slightly different than other airlines.

I am going to try my best never ever to fly with them again as long as I live which will be tough as I'm from Ireland and I live in England. If you're only bringing cabin baggage the bag has to be tiny or they won't let it on. I flew with them last year and they let my cabin baggage on when I was flying out but not when I was returning (try to explain that one) so I had to pay 40 euros to put it in the hold.

I stick to aerlingus now if I can when I'm flying to Ireland. They used to be very expensive but now they're as cheap as Ryan Air if not cheaper and they're not a bunch of shits.

Did you know Ryan Air were going to charge passengers a euro to use the bathroom until the EU stepped in?

I have had truly evil experiences with Ryan air (including a flight attendant making fun of my breasts and me breast feeding). Their response to my complaint letter was a horrid letter full of misspellings and grammatical mistakes suggesting that I had made the whole thing up. Wouldn't fly Ryan Air if you paid me.

The general consensus was that that was a media stunt and knowing Michael O'Leary I wouldn't be suprised.

I'm always surprised at how generous the cabin baggage is! 50cmx 40cm is hardly tiny! It's not even the smallest size of suitcase on wheels, but the next size up. My Mum came to stay with me for a week with just one of those.

I fly with them a lot and will be next week!

Read everything they give you. If they find an opportunity to charge you extra they will. I like to see it as some kind of challenge!

Cheap way to get places but just abide by the rules.

I have 3 kids and never book priority boarding, I just ask the cabin crew very nicely if they can rearrange some seating so we can sit together, never been separated yet.

Make sure your bag fits, we only ever take hand luggage (rucksack each), never had a problem yet!

You get exactly what you pay for with Ryanair and 'no frills' is putting it mildly. You'll get from A to B on a plane - that's it. Expect to queue up, be charged extras at every opportunity, squashed into a seat and treated like a parcel rather than a person. As long as your expectations are very low, you will not be disappointed.

Probably mayorquimby. Overall it's the general attitude of Ryan Air that annoys me, the sense that you're no better than cattle and if you have any problem or need help (as I did when I was pregnant - the attendant just sneered at me) then you're getting in their way. Flying with them makes me feel uneasy.

My friend refuses point blank to fly with them - she says they always manage to screw extra money out of you somehow.

We use Ryanair at least three times a year to go to our house in Brittany, and have done for five years. Have never had the slightest problem with anything, and it's great value for money, including some lovely new planes which are vastly superior to some of the shabby BA ones I've been on. Yes the food & drink prices are silly, but on a short flight, what's the big deal? The cabin crew are lovely, mainly Eastern European or Irish, with a great work ethic & sense of humour.

Too many people try to take the mickey with oversized 'cabin luggage' and I agree with Michael Leary that, in general, people try to lug waaaay too much stuff around with them - how much do you really need on a short visit ?

I also agree with his semi-humorous suggestion about charging for the use of toilets during flights - on a short flight, the vast majority of passengers really don't need to get up, get in the way and wander around on the excuse of going to the toilet, just because they can.

So YANBU to chooose Ryanair !

I actually refuse to fly Ryan Air ever again.

Check easyjet, bmibaby, flybe, air berlin, ANYTHING.

"she says they always manage to screw extra money out of you somehow."

I don't think I've ever had to pay an extra charge beyond what I agree on line. I bring carry on luggage, check in on-line and don't care where I sit. They are brilliant for what they are.

I suspect that the problems arise when you travel with anything other than a single item of hand-baggage. Things like prams and car-seats seem to be an issue. My friend has had a couple of situations where she has checked the terms and conditions and then been asked to pay extra and the reason has been so convoluted as to be nonsensical. But of course when you are stuck in an airport with two screaming children you will probably pay anything to just get home.

Wait til you go to book ....extra on extra on extra and they IMo are crappio .... will fly with them at a last resort only !

Priority boarding just means that you pay for the privilege of being in the first scrum to get on the plane (along with those who haven't got priority boarding but join that queue anyway )

They will also check the sizes of bags right up until you are boarding so if your bag is a bit bigger than it should be but they haven't checked it when you checked in don't think you've got away with it, theres still a chance they'll collar you just as you're boarding the plane.

Check-in was hell -2 desks open for every RyanAir flight that was departing from that very busy airport that day (ie. not a separate desk for each flight so massive queues.

i wouldn't fly ryan air ever again after they basically left us stranded in paris and refused to refund us for a cancelled flight or tell us if we could fly at another time, leaving us having to phone parents etc for money/help getting another flight... we tried to get the money back, but in the end gave up. they dont care about the passengers, just about the money.

They are probably ok if you are travelling alone,but it is a struggle with young kids.We went with them one year, and as soon as the gates opened everybody charged to the plane like they were possessed, to get seats together.They only have 15kg luggage allowance which they are very very strict with.If ryanair offered a ticket for a pound I would still not fly with them.

We flew to Spain with them a couple of years ago. They are no better and no worse than any other budget airline.

PS -we flew Monarch outward and returned with RyanAir.

Prices were near enough the same but Monarch far, far better (from legroom to attitude of cabin crew to baggage allowance).
Have also had good experiences of BmiBaby.