Ryanair

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So as a few of you may know, I'm going to Ireland/England around Thanksgiving time (3rd week of November if you're not from the United States of Jesusland) because my girlfriend is studying abroad. She also has two friends that are in Italy as I type this and she wants to go visit them.

So in researching air travel in Europe she found out about Ryanair and she's thinking about using them to get to Italy. She told me how cheap the fares were and if I'm honest I was a bit concerned, I figured they would be a bit higher. But it seems to be a pretty good deal for her.

So my question is: Does anyone have any thoughts on Ryanair? or has anyone ever flown with them? Anything she should expect or look out for?

/Oh yeah, she's only going for a weekend so she'll only have a carry-on bag.
 
I have flown with Ryanair 4 years ago and I try to avoid them if I can these days. They basically offer no service at all, but their fares start off really low. So if you book early you will pay little.
The problem I have with them, are their routes. They fly mostly to minor airports (Dublin & Gatwick are the exception here). I prefer not too spend more than 30mins to get into a city. So airports such as Stansted, Weeze or Frankfurt Hahn are out. But if you can live with that, or are planing to actually go somewhere near their Airports, then they are ok.
 
i've flown with them once and it was ok, i don't need any service on a short flight anyway.

the airports might be a problem though, you have to check that out for your trip. some are really far away from where you want to go and then you'll have to figure out a way to get there and that might easily cost a lot then.

also their prices are not always as low as they advertise. they can be very low but you have to check that out, too, if it applies to the trip you have in mind.

on the other hand, regular airlines can also be affordable if you fly at weird times and there are some other cheaper airlines that will also take you to major airports. it all depends on the trip you want to make really to find the best deal. ;)
 
Ryanair (and EasyJet) are the two carriers I fly with most. It is 'no-frills', so you won't get an onflight meal or film or anything. It's a free-for-all for seats, too. It's essentially a flying bus service.

On the flip side the prices are absurdly cheap (from ?10, tax included). Which in my opinion more than makes up. I've never had any problems with them, to be honest. Just make sure to take either a book or something to do. Plus buy a drink airside at the terminal.

edit - as mentioned their airports tend not to be a city's main airport. Check in advance what airport it is. Then make sure your flight will get there at the right time for a bus or train, as Ryanair airports tend to be a bit further out and not somewhere you want to get a taxi from. Rather infamously, one of Ryanair's Sweden airports was actually in Denmark before they were made to rename it.

edit edit - Book as far in advance as you can to get cheapest flights. Use this tool to find cheapest flights by searching loads of flights at once and loads of cheap carriers, plus you can give a 'max price' limit. Remember that probably doesn't include taxes, and it doesn't include Easyjet.

edit edit edit (good grief) - If you can't fly direct, you could take 2 cheap flights (stopping over in a cheap flight hub like London Luton or Brussels Charleroi) and it'll still probably be cheaper than BA or similar. Make sure to leave 2 hours min in between flight 1 touchdown and flight 2 take off though.
 
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I just flew with Ryanair to Ireland and I have to say this.

If you aren't on a tight budget avoid it like the plague. The flights are cramped and the planes dirty. Plus you'll always be late.
That wouldn't be so bad if you wouldn't end up waiting in a cramped airport lounge with about 5 seats pre-flight. That and the fact that they almost exclusively use smaller airports that can't cope with the Ryair masses. The whole pre flight thing takes about 10 times more time compared to an airline like Lufthansa.

All in all I'd say Ryanair is what taking a bus in let's say Venezuela must feel like.

My advice would be researching other airlines. Almost all European major EU airlines offer good deals if you look for them.
 
I flew with Ryanair in July from Glasgow to Dublin and it wasn't that bad. My points:

- The plane arrived in Dublin 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and on the return trip 10 ahead so it wasn't late

-I sat right above the cargo areas and watch as some wanker flung my case into the hold, they don't give fuck if its valuable or not and I'm glad I took my laptop on board.

-The seats were uncomfortable and my table was filthy, luckily the flight was 230 minutes in the air so I didn't have time to complain

- In flight food and drink is crap so fuel up before hand.

Overall its the air alternative of talking one of those cheap service buses that cost 50p.

Dublin is VERY expensive btw so Id recommend bringing plenty of money.
 
WizzAir is my girlfriends low budget airline of choice. It's a Hungarian/Polish carrier. You should check them out.
 
-I sat right above the cargo areas and watch as some wanker flung my case into the hold, they don't give fuck if its valuable or not and I'm glad I took my laptop on board.

I suspect that this happens on all flights, to be honest. I think that baggage handlers are airport-hired and not airline-hired, too. Although I might be wrong.



I am fond of Ryanair (I'm a student), but for one reason : my flight to France two years back. I flew Ryanair to Carcasonne, on the south of France. Plane landed, I got off : it was a strip of tarmac that had a really dramatic approach (right on top of the 15th century Old Town, beautiful). Literally our plane was the only one there (other than flight school propellor Cessnas). And the terminal building was achingly quiet, except for the 200 of us. And once we'd cleared customs and hired our car we could see the plane take off, leaving the entire area deserted again. Yet only a few miles from the city centre.

Admittedly I got lucky, but *some* small airports have a charm that a thousand flights from Heathrow won't get.
 
You get what you pay for. Like others said, no service, small airports with crappy terminals far away etc. But then again, if you book in advance most of the time you can find fares for 10-15euros + taxes or even only taxes if there's some promotion for a new route. That means a return trip for less than a 100euros, compared to at least double or triple that with a regular carrier. You don't get a meal indeed, but I don't think that's a problem since you can buy a sandwich for a few euros (and it's not like you get a proper meal on regular carriers in economy class either). Some of the low cost carriers are a bit dirty and packed like already pointed out, but distances in Europe are not big, chances are you'll spend at most 2-3hours on a flight. Hell, I used to spend that much standing in packed city commute on subways buses and trams every morning.

Like someone above said, Wizzair is one of the best. They have a very young fleet of airbuses and the leather seats are nice and comfortable compared to others carriers in the economy range.

In my personal opinion LCCs are a pretty good deal, I don't mind waiting a 10-15minutes more than usual on a crappy terminal, given that you can easily save yourself 200-300euros. For such short range flights within Europe its well worth to suffer 2-3hours and save yourself some cash.

Long distance transcontinental/atlantic etc flights is where you want to spend a bit more money on, since there we're talking about 10-15hours of flight. But on short European flights I couldn't care less how the terminal looks like or whether I get a meal on board.

edit:
I suspect that this happens on all flights, to be honest. I think that baggage handlers are airport-hired and not airline-hired, too. Although I might be wrong.
Nope you're not wrong. That's airport personnel, has nothing to do with what airline they are loading.

-I sat right above the cargo areas and watch as some wanker flung my case into the hold, they don't give fuck if its valuable or not and I'm glad I took my laptop on board.
It must have been your first flight then, otherwise you wouldn't even think for a second to leave your laptop, or anything else thats valuable or fragile in your checked in luggage .

I've seen a guy flip one of his trailer cars full of luggage at Schiphol Amsterdam, where taxes are one amongst the highest in Europe. So regardless of place, airlines, baggage handlers are fast and harsh when it comes to (un)loading.
 
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-The seats were uncomfortable and my table was filthy, luckily the flight was 230 minutes in the air so I didn't have time to complain

- In flight food and drink is crap so fuel up before hand.

Yes, Ryanair do not clean there planes during flights, only once in the morning/evening so if you get a later flight (e.g the last flight) expect a dirty plane.

If you want to fly in comfort, spend more, if you don't mind roughing it a bit its good, especially for short haul flights.

Out of the two, I think EasyJet is better, they do take time to look over the plane (or atleast it felt like they did).

Also, if you can avoid it, don't check in baggage, they don't like it (costs them more) and you may find there going to charge you for it.
 
Right on mates, thanks very much for all the input.

It seems the overall consensus is that they are cheap, often times a bit unkempt, and sometimes a bit in convenient. Well seeing as she will only be on a short flight the in-flight luxuries of meals and movies are largely irrelevant. I will be sure to tell her to double check the airports of arrival and departure. Thanks again guys.
 
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