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.

Three words:

DON'T DO IT!!!!!

Ryanair quite clearly fly from Bristol to Girona (Barcelona), nothing small print about it, its under G in the alphabetic drop down, always has been.

I refuse to give Michael O'Leary the benefit of my money.

I hate hate hate the contempt that he displays towards customers.

Flown a couple of times (before I knew better) from Prestwick (horrible airport) to Paris - or rather, not Paris, Beauvais. By the time you have factored in costs of getting to Prestwick and the cost of to/from Paris from Beauvais, it's not cheaper (espaically if you need to check in luggage).

I'd rather drive to Edinburgh to get an Air France flight - or get Easyjet from Glasgow - both of whom go into Paris CDG.

DO NOT exceed luggage allowance!

DO NOT fail to read the small print or misinterpret the phrase "15kg of luggage per person" to mean you can take one big suitcase with 26kg of luggae between 3 of you and think this will be fine

Because when you find that it means no suitcase can exceed 15kg and then that the lock on your overweight suitcase won't open so you can distribute some of the shoes etc around hand luggage, you will be charged £120 excess baggage which is pretty annoying when you've only paid £7.99 each for the flights

I would imagine

Sometimes the RA flights land at the more convenient airports for a city - eg Rome.

And CDG is hardly central Paris either!

Not a RA apologist - really

...no - but there is a rapid and regular train (RER) service right into the centre of Paris - as opposed to being dumped at Porte de Maillot when you still need to get the metro or a taxi.

We even go into Paris for an evening meal close to Notre Dame when we're in transit and have a few hours at CDG :)

Thanks for the spelling correction winterofourdiscounttents. It was three and a half years ago so maybe it has improved since then? Like I said, I checked the small print and only saw it was to Girona on the boarding pass.

Fimbo, there was a coach service into Barcelona but as we knew we were flying to Girona we decided to spend one night there for a look around and then get the train the next morning. It was beautiful btw but not something I would have done on a short trip.

The fact of the matter is it is a budget airline and you get what you pay for. They are easily the best value for flights (I fly to the Algarve alot and their flights are a third cheaper than even easy jet) even with the extra you pay for admin costs or using a credit card (although how you are supposed to pay without a card is beyond me!)

No food on the flight (but let's face it airline food is yuk anyway)

Be careful with luggage allowance they are very strict especially about hand baggage but the rules are clearly stated on their website. It always annoy me when passangers who take the piss with hand luggage then get narky with the staff when they are asked to check them in-the rules are very clearly stated.

Seats are around the same size as Easy jet (but annoyingly without the little pouch to keep a book and mags in.)

For a relatively short flight (up to 3 hours or so) they are fine.

sorry Bitey but its not small print at all, you failed to look at where you were going when you booked it. It's really clear on all of them where you are going, its not hidden at all.

(and it is Gerona in Catalan, but Girona in spanish )

My Dad is ex-RAF and knows pilots who have flown/fly with them.

He made me promise to never ever catch a Ryanair flight. Apparantly they push every legal limit to the wire - i.e. maintenance, fuel, age of aircraft.

I know they are in business to make money, but if my flights diverted I'd really rather not be flying on fumes.

I have heard the opposite about Easyjet. A pilot for them said that their safety regulations and training were second to none and better than what he had received through BA. This was a few years ago though so may not be the same these days.

The OP asked for our experiences and I shared mine. I haven't made it up and I checked the small print. We have obviously had different experiences Winterofourdiscounttents, that doesn't mean I am wrong about what happened to me.

Umm, okay the website must have been completely different for you than everyone else, also the booking process, the departures board at the aiport etc etc.

Not that you read it wrong. Okey dokey, if you insist.

This thread is actually quite funny, and between people boarding aircraft without seemingly knowing where they are going to get off, people not knowing they need tickets, people misreading one bag as "plus any other bag you might possibly need for a 90 minute flight" and not understanding that 15 kg does not equal 26 kg I think what has been revealed is some people aren't safe to be allowed out on their own without a Paddington luggage label round their necks, let alone abroad.

Yes they count handbags as hand luggage. But I have always just put my handbag inside my hand luggage and take it out again after boarding the plane.

I only priced flights from Dublin to London yesterday. Over ?200 with Aer Lingus, ?80 with Ryanair. No prizes for guessing which I'll be booking. I have flown with them before, and they are no different than any other air line that I have flown with. The only thing that pisses me off is the rigmarole you have to go through when booking on the website

I fly with Ryanair every six to eight weeks between Ireland, UK and France (and have done for the past six years), sometimes more frequently. I have never had any problems. A couple of delays of which the longest was five hours, others were about two.

If you are wanting someone to help with bags/prams etc if you have children then don't fly with them. However if you want to get from X to Y in the cheapest way possible then do. Ryanair is like a bus, you get on and fend for yourselves.

I have no complaints against them (except as someone mentioned earlier the bloody music as you land early/on time "You have landed on yet another on time Ryanair flight. Did you know that over 90% of Ryanair flights land on time....." )

If you are going to fly with them it is worth getting a pre-paid mastercard as this is the only card you do not have to pay the £5 per person, per flight processing fee! The one I have is Neteller i just add the money as and when I have selected the flight.

Hope this helps a bit.

horrible airline... do they still play taped applause on landing?

Bucharest

I read the "15kg per person" as meaning that we could take 15kg each. Not unreasonably

So I packed all our stuff in one big suitcase. Which weighed 26kg. I was travelling alone with two small children and wanted to keep a hand free for holding on to them "That's fine," I reasoned. "between 3 of us we can take 45kg so I'm well under that"

What I did no realise was the "15kg per person" meant it had to be in separate suitcases, none weighing more than 15kg each.

Sorry if that makes me too dim to be allowed out of the house alone but it was not clear to me so thought I'd point it out to the OP since no other airline I have travelled with seems to have this rule

HTH

I certainly wouldn't advise paying extra for Ryan air's 'priority' boarding. We flew with them from Biarritz a couple of years ago, and approx 3/4 of the passengers on the flight had requested priority boarding... rendering it pretty useless.
On another occasion, I flew with them to Spain, and the take off from Stansted felt very dodgy. Not sure what the problem was, but I've flown quite alot & it really didn't feel right. However, if you're not nervous about flying generally, not concerned about 'frills' (ie free toilets, complimentary snacks & drinks, baggage allowance, being treated like a valued customer etc) AND are able to get a good deal without paying for lots of extras, then I'd say go ahead.

we went ryanair from east midlands to girona last year. all went ok, but top tips are -

1. pay for priority boarding, it just takes the stress out of boarding.
2. check your printed boarding passes against what you see on screen once you've printed them at home. in particular, make sure your black ink is printing properly and has printed that you do indeed have priority boarding and the barcode correctly. i speak from experience on this, which leads me to item no.3...
3. never leave your dh in charge of printing boarding passes, if you want a job done properly, do it yourself

But don't you read the very easy to follow FAQ's on the site when booking? Also available as a pop up when entering baggage details?

See here:
"No pooling or sharing of baggage allowances is permitted, even within es may vary from time to time but it is the rates in force at the time you book and/or pay for your checked baggage allowance which apply.a party travelling on the same reservation. Pooling of an individual checked baggage allowance is not permitted even if you have two items of checked baggage (each item must be within its own prepaid weight allowance). Any passenger exceeding their personal checked baggage allowance will be charged for excess baggage at the rate prevailing on the day of travel. This is currently £20/?20 per kilo (or local currency equivalent). (click here for details).

There is no checked/hand baggage allowance for infants. However, one fully collapsible pushchair per child may be carried free of charge. Additional infant equipment such as car/booster seats and travel cots may be carried in addition to the personal checked baggage allowance up to a limit of 20kg per item. Infant equipment (car/booster seats and travel cots) are charged at a separate fee per item/per one way flight (Click here for details)"

I understand that most people don't check these things and get caught unawares fair enough. What I don't get is why its anyones fault but your own? Mean old Ryanair, doing exactly what they say they will, again!

lesley33 "Yes they count handbags as hand luggage. But I have always just put my handbag inside my hand luggage and take it out again after boarding the plane."

It wasn't a handbag though. It was a wallet style purse, around the size of my hand. Nothing handbaggy at all about it. Which contained my boarding pass and passport. They weren't for arguing when I told them it contained my boarding pass, all "handbags" must go in hand luggage. I complied and then simply had to get it out again to get my boarding pass.

There are hidden charges with all of them, taxes, baggage, online check-in (although Ryan Air are the worst for this as you still need to queue for 2 hours at check-in). you just need to look at the final cost whether its ryanair, jet2, easyjet or BMI or whoever.
Buy a boots meal deal at the airport (departure side) as the food is hideous and overpriced and dont expect too much. Then you'll be fine. Its like a bus in the sky.
The 15kg baggage allowance is a pain and they are sticklers - you cannot have 10kg and 20kg between the 2 of you - got to be 15kg per bag, weigh it carefully. Jet 2 give 22kg per bag so can be cheaper if taking kids as you then get away with less bags. And they allocate seats which ryanair do not and they are not too accomodating about you all sitting together which I think is farcical when people have young kids. You have to rely on other peoples good nature to move