Ryanair...can this be real?
 

I'm looking for flights Paris to Rome roundtrip in October this year. I've seen the "Ryanair" name several times on this site. Their website is giving me 133 euros roundrip non-stop for 2 of us (not each!) Can this be right? It's quoting me like under 5 euros for the return leg (the outbound is weekend, that is why I figure it is 4x as much as the weekday fare). Anyway, can this be right? Is there a consolidated spot on here that lists pluses/minuses of Ryanair? (We live in Texas and fly Southwest all the time [read: no reserved seats], and we're fine with that. We would purchase the pre-boarding option for another 6 euros each.) Anyone? thanks!

Yes, it's real. Personally, I love RyanAir for their prices. Things to be VERY aware of:

- You're flying out of Beauvais, NOT Paris. Beauvais is an hour north.
- Luggage restrictions are absolute: follow the guidelines on their website.
- They reserve the right to change flight times. Last year, one of mine was changed by a couple of hours. Even though I had plenty of notice, it was somewhat annoying.

I'm sure there are posts all about RyanAir, but these are my observations after using them on 5 flights last summer.

cody, thanks for info. Is there somewhere I can find out what their safety record is? (I presume that European authorities have as much concern re air safety as the NTSB, yes?)

We flew Ryan Air from Rome to London for a similar deal. We couldn't weigh our bags before-hand, and had to re-pack our bags on the airport floor. When they give their weight limits, they really mean it.

If you do have to check something, it costs you ($8usd/bag I think)

Seat pitch was the worst I've ever experienced.

Totally worth it for $ saved, though!

Ryanair has never had a fatality in its history.

..or a serious injury, although, it's only been about a 20 year history.

The only critism I've heard about their safety is that they make their pilots fly close to the maximum hours-per-year allowed.

I forgot to mention earlier...don't forget to get a quote with taxes that can add another $40-$60 per trip. Also, you need to be CHECKED-IN 40 minutes prior to flight or you have to buy another ticket!

<<< Their website is giving me 133 euros roundrip non-stop for 2 of us >>>

Does that taxes & Ryanair charges (per passenger per flight), CC fees (per passenger per flight), baggage fees (they are per flight per bag), did they try to add on optional insurance / check-in / priority boarding fees (per passenger per flight) and do you know how much it's going to cost - in time & money - to get from Port Maillot in Paris to Beauvais?

Also do you know their luggage regs - 15kg checked, 10kg cabin and that you have to be checked in 40 minutes before flight otherwise you don't fly, don't get a refund and have to pay top price ($220 for the flight alone today) if you have to rebook for a later flight

Have you checked out Vueling & Air Berlin from CDG or Easyjet from Orly?

Does that INCLUDE taxes & Ryanair charges, etc etc

Sarge:

if you'd rather fly to Rome from closer-in Orly airport, check out www.easyjet.com/en

I think they may also allow a few extra pounds of checked luggage than Ryanair, also.

the only thing i would not pay extra for on ryanair or easyjet is the priority boarding rights.

all said, i much prefer easyjet and vueling, iberia, air france to ryanair at same prices..
but when there is a big savings.. i fly them and have not had any problems with them.

pay heed to the observations given here, especially the access to the "other" paris airport.

Ryan Air is less than Southwest in everyway including price. We have flown on them 6 times since November and will probable do so again.

However, never ever plan to make a connecting flight. Once we scheduled to change planes in London (Stanstead). Well, to do so you must clear immigration, baggage, customs, and recheck-in, go through security, and get to the next gate. We just made it, running bare foot through the terminal. Ryan Air is a point to point destination airline (They will tell you this.)

Also, nothing is free. You can buy food and drinks on the plane or bring your own. You can also buy bus tickets and get a lottery ticket to win a future free flight. And of course duty free stuff.

Seats are uncomfortable but the flights are short.

Luggage is a problem just like stated above. Lots of repacking is done in the airports. Be sure to adhere to what it says on the Web site. In all respects, Ryan Air has no mercy.

The flights are typically out of minor airports near major cities. They seem to have done a good job scheduling buses from the main train stations or other central points. Check their Web site for the bus details; however, they may be out of date. Nevertheless, you should be able to catch a bus in time.

About the only thing budget airlines never cut corners on is safety. They are also pretty good about keeping to schedule, because their profit margins require them to do so.

Show up on time for check-in, travel light, bring your own snack if you need one, and don't mind that the airport (eg Paris Beauvais, Frankfurt Hahn) is nowhere near the destination city, and you will be fine with Ryanair. If they cancel a flight or anything goes wrong, don't expect compensation from Ryanair, though. All they guarantee is to get you from point A to point B.

<<< All they guarantee is to get you from point A to point B. >>>

All they guarantee is to get you EVENTUALLY from point A to point B.

It could be several days or weeks after your flight as they will only book you on their next flight with space. And on a heavily used route that could be several days

Do any of the experts on this thread know how many people Ryanair flies every day without incident or is that an elephant in the corner?

Turn up early for checkin to avoid getting bumped.
Otherwise they're OK.

We fly Ryanair a lot because it's so cheap. Sounds like most passengers have the same experience.

*Make sure you've gone through all the pages on the website to add in all the costs (including checked luggage).

*Make sure your bags are within weight.

*They really do cut off check-in 40 min. before.

*Bring your own food/drink.

*Don't bother with priority boarding. At many (most?) airports, they bus you to the plane so you'd still have to race the herd to be the first up the steps to the plane.

I would never fly Ryanair - I've read too many reports in the newspapers here about people being stranded abroad when their return flight was cancelled. Unlike a normal airline they won't put you on a competitor's flight or pay for accommodation. Your choices are a) accept a refund - probably not much use to buy another flight at short notice, if you paid peanuts to start with; b) wait for the next Ryanair flight with a seat - which as Alan said could be weeks; or c) make your own arrangements - we often read here of people having to pay hundreds of pounds to do this, e.g. hiring a car to drive home from Paris or flying from Brussels via Rome.

I'd rather pay more to fly with any other airline.

Last time I went to the site you had to provide a lot of personal data before you could see the final price.

Is this still the case as I personally resent having to type in copious information just in order to find a price?

Stick to their rules... the scramble for the non assigned seats is the worst thing that I've encountered (2 trips) so overall Ryanair is great value.

What does Dukey mean by incident?

If "crash, or something like one" the answer's all of them. Hardly a near miss or a burst tyre, in spite of the media's near obsession with finding simething they can tar the airline with.


If "occasion on which a passenger has physically assaulted a member of staff or would have done if they'd had their way", the answer is virtually none. Flying Ryanair, however good for your wallet and physical safety, is seriously contra-indicated if you've got high blood pressure.

Easy Jet out of Orly would be more convenient and probably about the same price. They fly into Rome CIA. There is a shuttle into the city center for about 8E. www.terravision.it

Thank you so much to all who replied! Some great ideas. I will check out the other airlines and prices. We are pretty flexible with our dates. And we are not making a connecting flight until the next day. If all else fails, I would consider an overnight train. We will make sure we are very early for the flight, if we decide to go with Ryanair. And for those of you that asked, yes the 133euros included everything on fees and taxes. (Because the actual flight costs were 20 euros each going to Rome and approximately 5 euros each coming back. So it was 50 euros without taxes and fees. Nuts! What an amazing price. For that, I kinda wish I lived in Europe! I've been thinking about transferring to our London subsidiary so that I can "discover Europe" on my weekends and holidays. Sounds quite doable with these cheap rates! (But, I don't know that I want to do this now, as I have three young granddaughters that I don't seem to be able to live without for longer than a week!)hhahaha THanks again, all. Keep the comments coming and please feel free to email me direct with anything else that might be of assistance! Y'all rock!!!

ONE MORE QUESTION, if I may? Is it too early to book these seats? I think we'll take the Easyjet option. It is only a couple dollars more and sounds more convenient. But since we are not going until October, is it too early to book? Will these seats not be available to book later? (I did ask for a return from ROme to Paris on a Sunday and it gave me NO options, it defaulted to the Saturday before. Do they not fly on Sundays?)

Ryan air airports are out of the way, but they provide a great bus for like 10 euros to take you to town center and from the town center to their airports.

I love Ryan Air. We had a very professional flight. I wish we had lots of $5 fares in the US. We'd be gone every weekend.

if its showing on their website then its available to book. if you are sure you want the flights book them, those prices or seats could be gone!!

The closer you get to the departure date, the higher the price. If Ryanair fits your needs, book the flight. Be aware of one more issue with luggage: You cannot combine two persons with one suitcase that would exceed the individual luggage allowance but be below the total allowance for two. In other words, if two of you use a single suitcae, it must still weigh 15 kg or less, or you will be charged for the extra weight.

Ryanair is OK as long as your are flexible and willing to adapt. Bear in mind that they do not always land in the airport they advertise for.
Flights to Barcelona land in Girona (an hour drive).
Flight to Hamburg land in Lübeck (70 km away)
Flight to Stansted imply paying an atrocious high price for the Stansted Express.
Flights to Milan land in Bergamo.
Flights to Venice land in Treviso.
Flights to Brussels land in Charleroi.
Flights to Paris land in Beauvais, and so on.

You have to add the cost of transportation from the airport to the city you want to visit.
IMO (and I live in Europe) Ryanair is fine as long as you fly to a small city with a small airport - let's say Girona to Alghero for instance - but no so cheap otherwise.

I love both easyjet and ryanair. The prices are just fantastic and the seat pitch doesn't really matter that much on a short flight. We flew to Rome with Ryanair - lovely plane, great flight. I have flown a lot with easyjet, including into Venice and Athens. I have never had a problem with ewither airline.

Carolena

If Easyjet is only a couple of dollars more then take it. It's far easier to get to Orly than it is to get to Beauvais.

It's very hard to see the final Ryanair price until the stage immediately before saying "book this flight" so that couple of dollars less could turn out to be a lot more

Here's a few pointers about Ryanair:

- Book ASAP. Not all seats are cheap. Once they're gone, they're gone, and the regular full fare is far from "budget"

- Besides the ticket price and tax, they'll charge you for a credit card processing fee. Not like you have any options.

- They charge you for checked luggage. Cheaper if you pay when you book your ticket; double if you wait until you're at airport.

- If you're not checked-in at the cut off time, you're so out of luck. Not arrived at the airport, not waiting in line, but actually checked-in. There's limited online check-in. But not if you have luggage, and many other restrictions.

- Like others have said, check the airports they use. Hahn is many miles from Frankfurt, for example.

- There's no seat assignments, so if you want choice seats, you need to get to gate ASAP and stand in-line. Or pay extra to get ahead of the line. There's no "ABC" boarding cards like Southwest, so early check-in won't help.

- At most airports, they don't use jetways, but two staircases. So, you walk down from terminal to apron, and then up the plane. Oh, if you walk slow, others can definitely pass you, so you wasted time standing in line earlier.

- The seats on the plane has 29-30" pitch (31"+ on US airlines), and have no recline. There's no audio/video system. There's no inflight magazine. The seat doesn't have a pouch, and the safety instruction is stamped on the seatback in front of you.

- You better like lemon-yellow color.

- You pay for drinks and snacks and everything.

- The flight attendants are basically salespersons who happen to be trained for safety. Throughout the flight, you'll see them going up and down the aisle selling stuff. The British passengers love buying stuff on the plane, it seems.

- They may give out a free ticket to someone on your flight. Lucky draw for the shoppers. The more you buy, the better chance you get to win. [Probably still have to pay tax, though.]

- Basically all announcement onboard will be about shopping. Buy buy buy.

- My last flight from London to Palermo was an evening flight, 2.5 hours. But no dimming of lights, because how can you sell stuff in darkness?

- As for Stansted, the Express train is 15GBP. But there are cheaper buses from Victoria and Liverpool Street. Still 8GBP, or almost $16.

"There's no seat assignments, so if you want choice seats, you need to get to gate ASAP and stand in-line. Or pay extra to get ahead of the line. There's no "ABC" boarding cards like Southwest, so early check-in won't help".

Last time I flew Ryanair (last October) it was on a first come, first served basis. People with numbers 1 to 90 boarded first.

I flew in December from Stansted.

There are two lines at gate- one for those who paid, and one for everybody else. No 1-90, no 90+. Passengers were all lining up - not just our gate, but others too - 30-40 minutes before boarding time.

<<< There's limited online check-in >>>

Limited to people with cabin luggage only AND a passport issued by an EU country

As for paying extra to get to the head of the line - it doesn't work if you have to take a bus to the flight

<<< Besides the ticket price and tax, they'll charge you for a credit card processing fee. Not like you have any options. >>>

"tax" in this case means government taxes & what Ryanair charges extra in order to have shiny happy 1p headline prices in order to pull in the mugs

"There's no seat assignments, so if you want choice seats, you need to get to gate ASAP and stand in-line. Or pay extra to get ahead of the line. There's no "ABC" boarding cards like Southwest, so early check-in won't help".

Never heard that you had to pay extra. Is this new?

Priority boarding:

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs....p;pos=MYFLIGHT

rkkwan

Thank you ! Amazing !
I expect they will soon charge extra for choosing Ryanair over other airlines :-))))

Ryanair's "theory" is that people should only pay for the things they need. In reality it's what Ryanair thinks you need but they do give an option (generally not obvious at first glance) to remove things.

Personally I'm just waiting for Ryanair to start having charges for using the loo (extra if you need to sit down or use some toilet paper)

In October we paid 156 euros for four of us to travel Frankfurt to Rome return. I've made five trips with Ryanair and love them. As long as you keep all of their restrictions in mind and have a back-up plan in case something happens to delay or cancel the flight, they're great!

A word to the wise about paying for priority seating....you cannot pay for it at the time you check-in. You need to first check-in and then go stand as the ticketing counter to buy and pay for the priority seating. When we tried this on our way to Dublin in January they told us that the plane was only half full and it probably wasn't worth it. On the way home we did pay the extra though and it was well worth it. There were only seven of us who boarded first (mind you, we were only about a minute in front of the crowd), but the plane was full and we were so glad we had.

Sarge56, if you have the option to book now and you're happy with the fare, book it. The fares change really quickly. While there's still a lot of time before you travel (fares could bounce a lot still), it'll get more expensive when it gets close.

And if I had to pick between Easyjet and Ryanair for only a few dollars/euros/pounds difference, I'd go with Easyjet.