This may seem like a silly question, but are the discount European airlines like Ryanair limited to UK/EU residents? I have been planning a trip to the south of France, and I noticed that Ryanair has a service beginning soon which goes from Stansted (London) to Grenoble for absurdly cheap. So my plan was to fly into London, spend two days there, and then continue with my southern France trip. I just want to make sure that there is no restriction on my booking that cheap intra-Europe flight since I'm an American.

Thanks for any insight.

Matt

Of course you can.

Ryanair is a commercial operation, dedicated only to maximising the income of its owners. The idea it would discriminate among potential customrers on any ground other than their ability to pay is downright preposterous.

Are there such inane corporations in your country? So what on earth makes you think there would be any here?

They will be just as happy to take your money as that from someone from the UK or EU. Trust me, there is no problem with an American booking on Ryanair.

Same with equally cheap EasyJet or other low cost carriers.

Easy flanneruk. That question is not so "inane" as one might think. Don't forget there are such things as special eurrail passes which are ONLY available to people from outside the EU, and there are various discounts on transportation including student, youth, or senior fares which are limited to those who are residents of the country they are good for.

Flanneruck never said the question was inane, but that such a company would be. Which is true, but who knows, there might be some kind of special national business regulation or something that a company can only give certain prices to some nationals.

However, I don't know why Matt asked except I think I have heard that there are some websites that will not allow certain nationalities to use them, and perhaps that's where the question came from. I think some of them are travel agencies, and some may even be American. I just remember that some do restrict purchases to credit cards only from certain countries, although I can't recall who they were.

Well, I did say it was a silly question, but... Patrick had the right idea, in that I know that certain products (like Eurailpasses, etc.) are limited to passengers with certain residency. And since the prices I was seeing on the Ryanair website were so cheap (and since there is apparently no US office for me to call with questions), I thought perhaps there might be some governmental restriction. I'm happy to hear there is not. Thanks for the responses.

RyanAir is not off limits to Americans....I've flown it. BUT their post 9/11 luggage restrictions are NOT particularly friendly to those travelling long distances. Be sure you read the fine print.

It (the existence of thses very low fares) is so astonishing, that your question is not inane, but a rational attempt to grasp what seems to run contrary to everything you know about air travel in the US.

It gets asked here regularly - - is there a "catch"? yours just used a little more imaginative thinking as to what thecatch might be!

There really is no catch - - unless you have the same assumptions you have about other aspects of US air carriers. One of the few differences that comes close to a "catch" is that they offer NO connecting service. Seriously. Grenoble to Stansted, then Stansted to Dublin? Those are two separate and unrelated purchases. And if flight one is late and you miss flight two (even when it's their fault), then YOU missed the plane. No rebooking, no mercy. You hve a worthless ticket and have to repurchase at the going rate.

I never scvhedule "connecting" service on Ryanair. Fly onward the next day. See Thaxted (a nearby town to Stansted).

Best wishes,

Rex

Sure I bet they would be happy to take your money.

Remember one thing...

Check the baggage allowance because it will be far less generous than what you are offered on trans-atlantic flight. If you baggage is overweight you will have to pay and that could cost you as much as buying a ticket on a legacy airline.

I even got to use Aer Lingus without being questioned, other than showing my passport.

I find EasyJet different!! I even tagged my own luggage in Geneva!

Beware, however, that in some cases US dollars are not accepted.

On a flight from Geneve to Gatwick, I had spent all of my Swiss francs, and al of my €s, and had not yet acquired British £. When I wanted to buy a drink, I learned that my US$$ were useless paper.

I would agree that it is not a stupid question. I do not believe that Ryaniar has any restrictions of non Europeans buying tickets online. Relatives of mine have managed without problems.

Not all airlines are as accomadating : I tried to book internal flights with South African Airways between two Cites in RSA, and got all the way through the online booking procedure before being told they could only accept a South African issued credit card.

Regarding the luggage restrictions, how large a bag do they allow someone to carry on. I hate checking my bags.

One time I flew on Lufthansa and since I don't speak German I didn't get ant pretzels.

RichardAB, are you now boycotting Germany, LOL

I agree that it's not a stupid question.

Some of the local South American airlines, (Argentina for one) have special, lower fares for citizens/residents of the country. Foreigners can still buy a ticket and fly the airline, but on a higher fare only.

The European budget airlines do not have such restrictions.

Ryanair reservations is an easy site to use and accepts and processes US or Canadian credit cards as easily as UK or European cards.

Many full service airlines can present challenges to booking using credit cards with billing addresses which are not in the country in which the airline is based. This is often not evident until you reach the "confirm booking" stage. Other full sevice airlines require you to identify your country of origin and a fare structure specific to that country is presented.

Remember when using Ryanair that luggage allowances and onboard services are basic. Also the airports they use are most often some distance from the city named e.g Ryanair's London is Stanstead [check www.baa.com for connections between London Airports and from the city centre] so you must factor in travel time and method of transportation to and from those airports.

W

Ryanair has a limit of 15kg for checked luggage.You are only allowed one bag. They will charge you 4.50 Euro for each excess kilo. Beware !

We loved Ryanair. It was great. Their baggage allowance is perfectly adequate. Very few people should need more luggage than that running around Europe. The best thing - their seats don't recline! I hate to fly, but I liked their no nonsense, everybody equally miserable, we're just here to get you there, approach.

Judging by a lot of the flak Ryanair gets from people in Europe, they might sometimes feel like taking only NON-residents!

"Beware, however, that in some cases US dollars are not accepted.

On a flight from Geneve to Gatwick, I had spent all of my Swiss francs, and al of my €s, and had not yet acquired British £. When I wanted to buy a drink, I learned that my US$$ were useless paper."

I fully expect my £GBP would have been turned down on my Soutwest flight between San Diego and Las Vegas, had I ever considered using them. Is that any surprise?

I wouldn't even have dreamt of asking them to take Sterling so can't see why anyone would expect it to work the other way round.