To ask if I can rebook ryanair without them charging me exchange fees?

[SpeedbirdSquawker]

I booked an inbound flight with Ryanair. It's leaving very early in the morning which means an expensive hotel stay the night before near the airport. The flight is also landing at an airport some distance from where I live as flights to my local airport where astronomical at the time I was searching.

I have seen a flight also with Ryanair that is departing just the day before my flight is books and is leaving much later in the day which means that's how I could leave my accommodation and head straight to the airport rather than getting the hotel near the airport for a night. It's also going to my local airport.

Have looked on the Ryanair website and found this flight but when I try and swap the flight on Ryanair's website it tries charging me over 100 pounds despite the flight being a similar price to what I paid originally. So my question is can I just independently book this flight and just not turn up to my original one or might Ryanair catch on and charge me to my card anyway?

Do you mean just book a second flight and keep the original booking (but just not use it?) If so, then of course you can. You'll just be paying for two flights instead of one.

I think there is a grace period of 24 hours with Ryanair to make certain changes. After this I think you would need to pay a larger amendment fee

Mosy airlines don’t let you make changes for free unless you’ve booked a flexible fare

Thank you @angelikacpickles I was just afraid they might pop some fees on anyway for me adding the other flight.

@Star81 I made my original booking ages ago so too late for the 24 HR changes option.

I think if you’ve booked a return and you don’t show up on the first flight then they might cancel you off the second - watch out for that

Is your return flight attached to the outgoing flight you don’t want? That will be your biggest hurdle - if not go for it people no show to flights all the time

Thank you for your replies. My new flight is the day before my original one so hopefully they won't cancel any.

I think I did book my outward and inbound flight at the same time.

I did this last year with Ryanair and it was fine. I wanted to change my flight for an earlier one but it was much cheaper to pay for 2 flights than to pay the charge to transfer flights. I just didn’t turn up for the 2nd flight, because I’d already done the journey on the earlier flight.

So to clarify - you’ll still be taking your outbound flight as booked, you’ll be missing your return flight, and rebooking a one way return flight? If so, absolutely fine - you can always miss the last leg of a flight with no consequences.

You'll be absolutely fine just buying a new ticket. Airlines actually overbook the actual number of seats on the plane purposely for no shows!

I couldn't check in for an easyJet flight once due to a system error and their customer service told me it was fine, just check in at the airport. When I got to the airport check in desk, they said the flight was full! 🤦‍♀️

Yes you will be absolutely fine. I've done this myself for convoluted travel issues.

I actually rang them to check because I was worried that I was somehow breaking a rule!

Thanks for your replies. I've had a message saying that I have to check in to avoid a 30 euro fee at the airport but as I'm not travelling to I have to still check in? I don't want a fine!