Anyone used "Ryan Air"?
 

We will be in Sweden in August and we're thinking about flying over to Paris for a week. My mom told me that Ryan Air has really cheap tickets to go there. My question is, do we need to book these tickets now or are we safe to wait and get "last minute" tickets? And how cheap are we talking? It gets confusing to me with the addes on taxes and what else? Is this a good airline and can we call them and talk to them directly? Any recommendations?

If you search from RyanAir you will find a lot of threads.

I would recommend booking in advance, but sometimes last minute deals are to be had. Its not possible to ring them and talk directly (without paying), and there will be extra fees for everything - airport check in, baggage, credit/debit card use, food, etc.

Search "for", not "from"! (It's early)

Ok:-) Thanks for the info. I will research it some more....

Ryanair are used a lot for flights from the UK, they are one of the bigger cheap airlines. The earlier you book, the cheaper your flight will be. The cost of the flight may be cheap but as you are booking (online) you will be adding the cost of things on as you go - extra cost for checking in at the airport, extra cost for bags, charge for using a credit card etc etc. It's usually still fairly cheap at the end though. You won't get anything on the plane for free, if you want food or drink you have to pay. Seats are also not allocated, you get on and sit where there is a free seat. You can pay extra to board first if you want.

Book as soon as you can to get the cheapest fares.
Kay

As Kay says, the earlier you book the cheaper. The headline rates like 1p are only generally available the minute they go on sale.

I wouldn't use them though, as they are terrible if anything goes wrong - you are on your own, basically. We regularly see newspaper stories here about people being stranded. If a flight is cancelled, you have to either a) wait for what may be several days until they can get you on another flight, paying for your own accommodation in the meantime, or b) get a refund of the price you paid which will obviously not go far towards booking alternative same-day transport. And they generally have a horrible attitude and non-existent customer service.

It's basically a bus with wings. Really and truly no frills.

Booking in advance is best as Ryan Air's CEO openly admits it's the 'last minute' crowd that makes him the most money as they decide they have to fly in the next few days, whereas if you bok 2 weeks out minimum you can get a good deal.

you will pay for everything extra including using your credit card to buy the tickets online.

While I undertand customer service is limited if at all, I've flown 4 round trips with them in the last 3 months and the only problem was our plane back from paris was delayed about 40min. But other than that you probably won't find a cheaper flight.

Search, Ryanair. They detail every charge you will have to pay. Your final ticket price will include everything you have to pay if your baggage is within limits. You can price tickets for any dates available and at this time. Sometimes we get too much anecdotal advice insead of the actual facts. Ryanair is the most popular airline in Europe.

Despite widepread criticism on boards like this it is worth noting that Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) carries a million passengers per week and carries more international passengers than any other airline in the world.I do not particularly like them myself but I use them regularly.You really need to book many weeks in advance to get a cheap flight but they can be very cheap then.

considering that the US airlines are now charging to check bags,requiring minimum stays on the cheapest tickets there isn't much difference between them and Ryanair anymore. The biggest difference between Ryanair and the US carriers is that Ryanair's planes are new and clean. I have traveled on Ryanair several times and it has always been a good experience.

With Ryanair you need to keep your wits about you at all times during the booking process, otherwise you will generally find that "helpful" extras have been added to the cost of your ticket and any mistake you make will be punished by Ryanair charging you a lot of money to fix it - most of the time it's cheaper to book another ticket.

Ryanair's headline prices are for people who travel with cabin baggage only, use online check-in and use an Electron card to book tickets which is probably somewhere in the region of 0.00001% of their passengers. For most other people the charges soon mount up.

Also when Ryanair say something, they mean it TO THE LETTER, so when they say 15kg free checked baggage, they mean 15kg, not 15.01kg. If check-in closes 40 minutes before the scheduled deaprture time they mean 40 minutes, not 39 minutes 59 seconds.

To repeat - KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU.

Finally - and this applies to all airlines - don't rely on them if you need to make another flight that day. If you are using them to get to an airport so you can fly home then have a backup plan so that if things do go wrong you aren't in the merde

We have flown Venice to Dublin and also East Midlands airport to Dinard, France with Ryanair. Some times the airport they use is far from the city you want to go to so you have a bit of a bus ride. Other than that we were completely happy with our cheap flights.

We weighed our bags to be sure they were under the limit and we had no extra added costs.

You may want to check out www.airgorilla.com for other airlines.

Wouldn't touch them for anything I rely on. They're cheap for a reason. They use small regional airports miles from anywhere and if they cancel you're on your own.

Used them loads - no problems - just be careful about what you pay for, as others have said. And they don't always use airports that are miles from anywhere - and when they do, I think these airports are a joy to land in - you're out in minutes, and I quite like a bus ride to look at the local area in comfort.

Used them for a trip with my mother. Never again, unless there are no alternatives.
Stansted was a zoo. The whole airline checking and boarding process was a mob scene. Although some people have priority boarding status (like my 80 yo mother), with frequent gate changes, the mob mentality takes over and people are pushed aside. If you've ever battled the crowds for special sales at Filene's Basement, you'll know what it's like.
However, once you're onboard, it's actually not bad at all. The planes are new and clean. The seats are comfortable and don't recline, which is fine for their short haul flights.
So it depends on what you're wiling to spend and what you're willing to put up with.

Just used Ryanair a few weeks ago, and because I was prepared from reading about it, found it to be just fine.

I knew I would have to pay to check my luggage so I wasn't surprised. It still was much cheaper than any other flight or train I could find.

We are flying Ryanair out of East Midlands on a Saturday in September. Never been to East Midlands airport--any advice on timing to return rental car, etc., or is it about the same or easier than most airports? Not overjoyed about using Ryanair but price was terrific as we booked in April and in our case we really want to fly into a regional airport--Limoges is only an hour and 20 minutes from in-laws.

Yes, Ryanair is cheap. But take heed from the other posters. If you are one minute late for the boarding...even if the gate has not closed...they will not let you board and you will have to pay to fly the next flight. And pay special attention to the weight of your carryon and checked baggage. They charge a fortune for overage. They have really cheap flights but you have to remember to add on taxes etc. which can bring a 16 Euro flight up to 90 Euros. But it is still a good deal.

I flew them from Stansted to Dublin a few years ago and my son, who was already in Ireland, was to meet me at 7:30 a.m. The flight was diverted because of fog and they told my son that we were going to Shannon. We actually were on our way to Cork. The other airlines had turned around to land back at Dublin since the fog had cleared but not Ryanair. They landed in Cork and bussed us back to Dublin. Meanwhile, back at the airport, my son was continually checking to see where I was and nobody could tell him. He was just about to leave when I got there. One day wasted.

But that said, I would fly them again for the price. However, not if I was depending on them to get me where I wanted to go on time.

In reply to Cathinjoetown, we flew from E. Midlands airport to Dinard, France 2 years ago. E.Midlands is an easy airport to get into. We had a bit of a problem finding where to return our rental car (think it was Avis) and it turned out to be not at the airport. It was a short distance down a side street. There are some car rentals who have their return at the airport. If you don't find the company you want you will have to ask for directions. When you pick up your rental car you may want to get specific instructions about returning the car and get an address where to return it. The car rental co. then had a shuttle to the airport.

Allow a lot of time as there was a long line in the ryanair window to check in baggage etc. There was also a long line to go through security.
They allowed one carry on bag and one bag only and it had to fit into a form they had as an example before getting to the security. My sister had to put part of her things in my tote and put her purse into her tote. It is all easy you just have to allow time for everything.

Here is an article from today's San Francisco Chronicle Travel section regarding the "low fare" European airlines and what to watch out for regarding their various add on fees.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...DDMN11GD7E.DTL