scdreamer

We've been planning on taking the train from Venice to Paris (October 29 2007), but I see that Ryan Air is much cheaper (and of course faster!) - even if we end up paying extra for our baggage weight. The problem is that I have found a large number of negative reviews about the reliability of Ryan Air - canceled flights, poor customer service, passengers left stranded, etc. - does anyone on this forum have any info to share - recommendations one way or the other?

ibiza_girl25

Hello!

I have flown Ryan air 4-5 times in the past 2 years and have not had any problems with them! Other than having to pay a little extra for your checked luggage, I actually really like the airline! We paid 7 euros to check our bags.....but the flight was on time and all the service we received was great!
Hope this helps!

scdreamer

Thanks, ibiza - that's what I was hoping to hear. I think sometimes it tends to be the people who have had bad experiences who are the ones who take the time to post online reviews ... often the rest just don't comment. Human nature ...

rex

Many, many other positive experiences with Ryanair - - in party of two, or five - - including "up and back in the same day" (Stansted to Glasgow Prestwick). To be fair, I have not flown them since 2003. But I find ot hard to believe that any airline has significantly less in the way of complaints.

Best wishes,

Rex

nukesafe

We flew another similar airline from Venice to Paris Orly last year. We found MyAir to be clean, comfortable, safe, cheap, and on time. Easier to get to central Paris from Orly, too.

alanRow

Ryanair flies to "Paris" Beauvais - which is half way to the English Channel so you also need to factor in the cost & time of the bus to take you to Paris

As for Ryanair in general, when they work they work but when they don't you are more or less on your own and generally the only way to solve the problem is throw lots of money at it

Pvoyageuse

Plus Ryanair flies out of Treviso and not Venice.

scdreamer

I did check MyAir and the fares were very high - on par with major airlines.

Sandylan

Ryanair carries about a million passengers every week so it is bound to have problems with some flights. It uses only relatively new Boeing planes and is one of Boeings major customers.Its service level is basic but I use them a lot because the price is right if you book well in advance.See www.ryanair.com

ira

Hi SC,

I also suggest myair.com

They show 3 flights for 57E total for VCE/ORY on Oct 29.

Ryanair.com has a 10E flight leaving at 20:45.

Ninkette

We took Ryan Air from Paris to Venice. I think you get what you pay for. The airports are terrible and there is little customer service, but who really cares when you are flying for that cheap? I think its just a matter of knowing what to expect. You can catch a shuttle out to Treviso for a few euros. We took a private car out to Beauvais (which wasn't much more expensive than a cab from CDG), but you can get a shuttle back to Paris for 13 euro a person.

Vimsen

You get what you pay for... Beware that Ryan Air often uses more remote airports than the ones usually associated with a destination, so check out which airports you will actually be flying in and out of and the cost of getting to/from airport to destination. Could end up being a very expensive airfare indeed when adding it all together. Just be aware. The planes are safe enough, but customer service is dismal.

Sarvowinner

We took a late flight into Beauvais which ended up being even later. We missed the last bus to Beauvais and the airport closed around us.

Our thinking was stay in Beauvais at the FOrmulae 1, get up early and catch the train into PAris (Less than an hour) as the shuttle didn't get into Paris until well after midnight.

The shuttle does wait for the last flight. Ended up getting a lift from a tres gentile baggage handler and all worked well in the end, but it was a bit of a worry as the airport shut down and the car park emptied.

The tickets were very cheap, and the F1 cost 23 E for three of us which beats paying 100E plus for a hotel and arriving close to one am.

scdreamer

Great information ... I checked MyAir and did find the fare mentioned above. My main concern at this point is in trying to keep to the baggage allowance of 15kg. We are going to be traveling for nearly a month - from warm weather in Greece to colder temps in Paris, and I am finding it a challenge to figure out how to pack lightly enough to fly the cheap airlines. I guess I could just layer on all the heavy stuff - that's what my daughter did on a flight from Rome to Frankfurt a couple summers ago on her round-about travels back to the USA. She had been living and working in Rome for six months over the winter, so had coats and sweaters with her ... she wore three of them and said she nearly died from heat exhaustion, but she didn't have to pay for excess baggage.

Ninkette

I just paid the extra for my heavy suitcase, even with the extra cost it was still cheap (I think the charge was like 7 or 8 euro per kilo you are over). The guy at the ticket counter also offered to let me repack my carry on with more stuff, but I just decided to pay the extra.