booking with ryanair... WTF?! you pay to have a bag checked in? and you have to know in advance how many bags you'll have? me no understandy. can anyone help?

[AitchTwoOhelicopterfraek]

is 15kg a small suitcase (not filled with bricks)?

are there any good rules of thumb? will they still let you take hand-luggage on board?

can you tell i haven't been abroad in ages and never with dd?

I haven't flown with Ryanair but when I flew with robbing bastards Flybe you could save money by pre-paying your bags for the hold online. Online = £5 per bag, at the airport = £9 per bag (each way!)

Long haul tend to give you about 20kgs, which is a filled family sized suitcase. So yes, I would guess 15kgs was a small suitcase.

Check the website for the dimensions allowed for hand luggage (usually one piece each). I measured mine when I flew Flybe but my small bag wouldn't fit in the cage at check in so they made me check it through . They did this for an awful lot of passengers, so I think the cage is smaller than the dimensions listed on the website; money spinning opportunity for the airline I think...

so they do at least let you take hand luggage? how the HELL am i supposed to know what we'll be taking? if i remember to take dd i'll consider myself well ahead...

15kg is hardly anything, and if you have an actual case, that'll weigh about 4-5 kg alone - so get a nice lightweight holdall, and check it once packed as if you are over 15kg the robbing bastards will charge you about £10 a kg on top.

And you have to pay to check yourself in.

And you have to pay about £5 per person to use a credit card.

If you can get by with a cabin bag you will save yourself a fortune!

Yes it's all a massive swizz, you'll pay more for your luggage and airport check-in than you will for your ticket.

You can take a large bag (only one, not handbag plus holdall) on board.

Ryanair care not for families, don't expect any help with your DD

(can you tell I hate them)

waaaaah!

does that large bag have to fift inside some weirdy cage with ryanair? will they weigh the large carry-on bag?

If you take more bags than you booked you pay for the extra case at check in, charged more than cases pre-booked, obviously

Also you are allowed 1 - ONE - item of cabin baggage only and that includes your own handbag or whatever you use.

You can take a buggy though and they don't charge you for that (presumably because the same has to apply to wheelchairs, obv, and if they can't discriminate against the unable-bodied they can't discriminate against babies either )

they prob won't weigh your cabin bag unless it looks suspiciously weighty

By the way if there are two of you each with a 15kg allowance, don't assume you can take one bag weighing 17kg between the two of you & it'll be OK - a friend of mine did this at the weekend flying to Seville - it was fine on the way out but on the way back they were charged something like 20 euros excess.

oh bleedin' hell, i thought it was bad enough trying to find somewhere to stay.
i take it they've relaxed the rules about cartons of juice etc?

don't take a carton in case they ask you to taste it - take a bottle or cup with a lid.

Ryanair don't actually seem to like people having luggage...or women having handbags, and they only ended up being nice to disabled people after a court case.
I love the way they charge you to check in, when of course, you cannot avoid checking in otherwise you can't actually get on the plane!!!!!
Flybe seem to charge £3 for a ticket, but so much for everything else that it ends up £150-£200 by the time you reach the checkout.
And you pay for everything. Do they have a coin slot on the plane toilets?

Easyjet are ok and let people with walking sticks on the plane first (hooray for me), but do not fly to where I want to go this summer...

gotcha. anything else i should know?

should i assume 15kgs per person then (£18) and just book the fuckers?

No, you can still only have 1, 1 litre clear plastic bag containing liquids in your hand luggage, which is comprised of bottles of no more than 100ml capacity. This also applies to gels and creams.

You can buy liquids airside though.

Cabin bags are one of those tiny suitcases on wheels, or a small rucksac. If you have a small, soft handbag you can stuff it in the bag at security and checkin, then pull it out as needed.

take a deep breath and think hard about what a nice time you will have

Most security checkpoints will only let you take formula through - so don't try and take a beaker through as they will prob make you dump that along with the juice. They'll prob be getting hardline for the summer season.

really? Jesus... this is all so DIFFICULT.

Not sure that's true cmot, I have taken beakers of water for DS and it was fine (though I have had to taste it a few times)

Alternatively take the empty beaker and buy a drink in departures

It depends on the security people tbh - the rules say only infant milk, and no containers (so you couldn't take an empty sippy cup over 100ml capacity). I fly a lot, and some of them are a bit lax, and some very strict, so not worth the hassle ime when you can buy a juice carton or bottle of water.

wish you loads of luck with flying with these ignorant shower of gets. feeding babs atm.(so excuse typos and grammer) We went to dublin overnight, dh, 17yr son, 15 yr dd, 15yr dd friend, 13yr dd, me and 11mth old. We didnt pay for baggage all managed with a few bits in small cases, divided between us. They did online check in for free BUT cos of baby I couldnt Going out wasnt too bad but coming back (think i was lucky to be allowed on plane cos i kicked off) the others all had priority boarding and went in a different queue to me. People were commenting to us how silly it was we couldnt go together. anyway the let priority boarding through and dh asked could i go with them got a firm NO, then he said ok can I get the buggy from her and take that ..definately not sir its not yours so they all board without me she is screaming the place down I folded buggy cos she wasnt gonna sit in it and it was our turn to go to plane. I asked can someone take buggy to plane for me please was told NO open it up put baby in and wheel it to the plane. I did thid very slowlly whilst telling nice lady what I thought of her. #Got to plane steps no one around to take buggy, had to fold it with baby in arms and then wait on the tarmac till someone came and took it. Then when getting off plane asked was buggy at bottom of steps and was told no its gone withh all the luggage inside ffs what a nightmare I WILL NEVER EVER fly with them again.

shite. but they're the only carrier from glasgow to rome so i am a bit stuck.
i don't really understand the online check-in/priority thing, can anyone explain it?

yep will do for you in a sec.

Ok deal with them is if you take hand luggage only then you can easily do online check in which qualifies for priority boarding. BUT if baby is under 2 you can't do online check in

How old is lo Aitch