Going Crazy.

Best friend and I want to have all our accommodations (air, hotel and tours)paid for before we set foot in Europe (3 city tour) in September. We are at a crossroad however in securing our flights from Paris to Rome. We saw cheap flights on Ryanair, but all the post on Fodors have me somewhat scared to book a flight. (I didn't like reading that "although you pay to be up front for premier boarding, you still have to run for a seat". On the other hand EasyJet seemed better (cost more), but seemed easier to deal with.

My question to all is, which should we choose? We hate being frustrated, but we also have a very high level of tolerance, but even the most tolerant person can be tested.

Oh and we are taking carry-on's.

Please help!

Either one is okay - just don't have any expectations.

I don't know what the latest rules regarding cabin luggage (ie carryon) for either airlines. Just make sure your carryon luggage fits the limits (both dimensions and weights) that are allowed by the airline.

If costs are comparable, I'd just choose the one that offers better time schedule.

FYI, though both airlines fly into Rome Ciampino, Easyjet leaves from Paris Orly where as Ryanair leaves from Paris Beauvais, which is quite some distance from Paris itself. You need to investigate how much more time & $ you'll spend to get to either airports.

Both good lines, take most convenient. My husband took RyanAir when in Ireland and said it was great. My Italian cousin recommended three airlines and EasyJet was one of those. I looked at both, neither had an early departure from Venice to Paris in August so ended with Air France.

Both are likely to land at Ciampino in Rome, whic is no problem, but do they both take off from Orly ? Tyanair often uses an airport quite far from Paris, and you have to take both the travel time and cost into account.

If there is not a huge difference in price, I would choose Easyjet, but Ryanair are not bad.

Thanks everybody...I think I will choose EasyJet. They fly out of Orly and Ryanair goes out of Beauvais, which from what I understand is at least an hour and a half traveling time...not good on an early a.m. flight.

Thanks again!

dwebb,

If you were to take the shuttle bus to Beauvais, you would need to be at Porte Maillot THREE HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES before your scheduled departure. Flying from Orly on easyJet is a much better plan.

EasyJet will be more convenient because you'll be flying out of Orly, which is definitely A LOT more convenient than Beauvais.

I've flown the Paris-Rome route on easyJet. I believe my flight time was around 7 AM and we had to be there 2 hours for check-in (although some people say 1-1/2 hours but I'm anal about showing up early).

If you're not into the early departure thing, there's an evening flight around 6 PM which should get you into Rome just after 8 - a nice way to end the day for sure.

Another convenient low cost option: Vueling flies from CDG to Rome Fiumicino (FCO).

www.vueling.com

Hope this helps,
Andre

Don't be fooled by the ticket prices. We had a really cheap flight from Barcelona to Paris on Vueling, but ended up paying an additional $92 for our"extra and over weight" luggage, which was accepted by American Airlines.

The reason you had "extra and over weight" luggage is that you didn't read the rules on checked luggage with Vueling

Easyjet has a "free" limit of 20kg, Ryanair it's 15kg & Vueling is 20kg

In most cases there is also an additional charge for each bag you check

Above that and you are stuffed for excess luggage charges

NOTE 20kg & one checked bag is roughly what you'd get with ALL airlines in Europe - not just the low costs ones

Ryanair passenger totals continue to rise. Planes and flights are being added to accommodate new customers. Total travel time should be the criterion to base a travel choice. Build a spread sheet showing your three cities and the travel options available.