Ryanair question
 

went to their website. fares are dirt cheap. it this legit? Do you get a seat or do you stand on these flights. 60$ to fly round trip to paris from London-Glasgow, 38$ to go to Rome... Anyone fly this airline. Is this right? How can it be sooooo cheap?

It is legit...in fact, before and then again after Christmas, they were literally giving tickets away...though I think you had to pay 1 cent or so to make it legal!

I used Ryan Air in December to fly to Rome and it was fine, my mother and cousins uses them all the time to fly to Dublin from Stanstead....
BUT and this is a big but...you should know that Ryan Air will not put you on another airlines flight even if the flight on which you have a ticket is cancelled. If there is some problem with the plane or a delay you are just stuck till they sort it out. I saw Micheal Ryan on a British Consumer Reports style show a few years ago, and he actually defended stranding passengers in Spain for several days and said well people know that's the deal when they buy such a cheap ticket!
The second thing that you should pay attention to is where exactly is the airport they fly you into. Like Southwest they tend to use smaller regional airports. This can be great. For example in Rome we flew into Campiano and it was a breeze...a small efficient airport and a quick transfer into town. Far preferable to the endless walking at Heathrow. However, this is not true with all their airports and you should be aware that Stanstead is much more of a bother to get to than Gatwick or Heathrow.
Having said all of that I bought the ticket and took the chance at Christmas because it was so cheap. I flew back from Rome on the 22nd, perhaps if I'd been flying BA I would have confidently flown back on Christmas Eve but in my opinion that was too much of a risk with Ryan Air.

Finally you should also know that Ryan Air is a point to point airline. They will not route your bags through from one flight to another and they will not be responsible if you miss a second flight with them even if the first was on their airline.

I would use them again, especially for a cheap price or to an regional area that is otherwise difficult to get to eg Perignan. They are a great deal as long as nothing goes wrong!

PS You might also try some of the other low cost airline that have slightly better service records Easyjet and BMI baby. British airways also has more competitive web fare because of Ryan Air.

Haven't flown them myself, but many people I know have, and it's exactly as the message above; fine if it works, but if there's a problem you're on your own. There's no problem with planes and maintenance. They save by flying to cheaper airports, having only one type of plane, and offering absolutely no frills. Remember taxes are added to the quoted fares.

I agree with previous posters. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for and must adjust your expectations accordingly.

I would add:
There are usually long queues at check in at popular times as they have less check in desks than full service airlines. (all airlines hae queues at certain times- but Ryanair save money on these type of costs).

You choose your own seat.

When you board the aircraft they board the first 60 people, then everyone else (based on the number you were when you checked in). This sounds ok but in practise because there are so many people in the first wave of boarding they corral everyone behind ropes at the gate while waiting. So even if you checked in really early, you would still not be guaranteed your choice of seat (or sit with a group oftravelling companions). So in practise- you might end up sitting on the floor of the airport in the queue waiting for the gate to open- often longer than you expected...

In the air- it's absolutely fine.

Secondary airports- if you are considering going to Paris , better check where Ryanair's Paris airport is. It's actually at Beauvais- not CDG or Orly.

Best thing is to check the terms and conditions on the website.

I think welltravellebrit meant Michael O'Leary- the 'hard nosed' CEO. The Ryan family own the airline but aren't the public face of it.

Ryanair started in 1985 with a turbo-prop plane flying from Waterford to London.It is now the most highly valued airline company in Europe in terms of market capitalisation,makes big profits and is also quoted on Nasdaq where it makes up 0.27% of the Nasdaq-100 index.Slightly under half the shares are owned by American investors.Its headquarters is at Dublin Airport.It has under 2000 employees but is very efficent and keeps its costs the lowest of any European airline.It is worthwhile looking at its site at www.ryanair.com but important to remember the facts quoted in the threads above.

The 'budget' airlines are a big financial success story in Europe, but you pay for the reduced fare in reduced or minimal ancillary/customer service. It's a bus service. And for what it's worth, one UK newspaper's diarist regularly calls Ryanair "Eire O'Flot".

I agree Ryanair is great when nothing goes wrong. I travelled on the airline from London to Italy and back. No connections to worry about, so it was a great deal. While Stansted is farther from London than Gatwick or Heathrow, I found it easy to get to. Stansted Express trains out of Liverpool Station work just as the Gatwick Express out of Victoria. You just ride an extra 20 minutes or so. Our trains going to & from Stansted were newer & much nicer than those we took to & from Gatwick. If for any reason these trains aren't running, you do have a tougher job getting to Stansted.

Caveats: There are strict baggage size and weight restrictions. Be SURE to read the fine print on the Ryanair site regarding baggage. They make some of their money from overweight and oversize surcharges. These are NOT nominal!

Also, they make money hawking their wares (duty free stuff & food & drink, including water) during the flight. So, brace yourself for intercom noise and take your own food & water aboard if you don't want to pay high prices for prefab stuff they call food.

Seating is pretty much first come, first served. Period.

All of this is worth it, or was to me, just to have the incredible fare savings. And, my flights were only about 1 1/2 hours. Small price to pay....