Taking an extended Ciao break till my finals are over,see ya mid-June
Taking an extended Ciao break till my finals are over,see ya mid-June
Member since:10.02.2005
Reviews:18
Members who trust:9
Last August I nipped over to Ireland with Ryan Air to do five weeks of fieldwork for my degree. I'm on a tight budget so when I started looking for an airline the one thought going round my head was 'cheap flights'. I wasn't looking for a first class service with all the bells and whistles, just something that could get me from A to B, cheaply! RyanAir certainly performed in this department and I would recommend it to anyone in a similar situation.
Now, when your studying for a Geology degree like me you get to choose from a wide range of exotic destinations to do your fieldwork such as Spain and Cyprus. But alas, money constraints meant that for us a trip to Ireland was in order. We looked around for a budget airline that would fly us to Dublin and we decided to try RyanAir on the recommendations of a friend. He had flown to Dublin with them previously and happened to mention their generous prices.
~~~~~~~ PRICES ~~~~~~~
I popped onto their website http://www.ryanair.com to check out their flights and prices. I found this very easy to do as there is a large box for checking flight details on the left-hand side of the site. You simply enter your return and destination airports, the departure/ return dates of your trip and the number of passengers. Click on 'search for flights' and you will be
presented with a list of incoming and outgoing flights on your specified days.
The prices of the flights will also be listed, with many flights having special discounted 'web fares'. BEWARE however as there are restrictions on the changes that can be made to 'webfare' flights and they can only be made online (read the terms and conditions, accessed from the front page). My tickets cost £64 Return from Cardiff to Dublin - Economy Class(including taxes and charges). Prices have dropped further since and at the time of writing this review the same tickets cost £52. Its also worth noting that the earlier you book, the cheaper your flights will be. If you book within two weeks of your flight expect to pay more!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ONLINE BOOKING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IMPORTANT: the online booking service is a 'ticketless' service. You will not get sent tickets in the conventional way. You are required to print out a copy of your receipt once you have booked your tickets online. You must then hand this in with a relevant form of ID (Passport) at check in.
Once you have searched for your flights (as described above) select them and click on 'confirm flights'. You then enter your credit or debit card details over a secure connection and confirm your payment. You will be prompted to print out your booking 'receipt', to hand in at check-in.
Another important point - You will not be allocated any seats when you book your flight. RyanAir operates an open seating policy on its planes, so seating is on a first come, first served basis.
Carry on baggage is limited to one item per person weighing 10kg, while the checked baggage allowance is 15kg per person. I must admit that this wasn't enough for me as I was carrying luggage for a five week stay, and I had some heavy specialist equipment (hammers!!). In the end my checked luggage was 2kg over its limit and excess is charged at £4.50kg. Pretty expensive!
~~~~~~~~~ CHECK-IN ~~~~~~~~~
The standard check-in time is 2 hours before flight departure and check-in closes 40 minutes before departure. The flight I was on was not very busy so I checked in easily, without having to wait in line. However if you're on a busier route it might be worth turning up earlier. Check in was easy enough, I showed my online receipt and passport at the check-in desk and received my boarding pass. The check in staff were polite and helpful for both the outward and return journeys. When they weighed my baggage they warned me that it was overweight but they were very lenient and let me off, without charging for excess. Thankfully this also happened on the way back so I managed to dodge all charges! I must stress that this could have been a one-off situation as I have heard stories from other people who have been charged excess flying with them.
~~~~~~~~~ THE FLIGHT ~~~~~~~~~
RyanAir operates a fleet of Boeing 737s which each have a capacity of 190 people. We boarded the plane from outside steps and I needn't have worried about the open-seating arrangement as the plane was half-empty. I ended up with a whole row of seats to myself. However if I had travelled on a busier route I could easily imagine myself having to jostle for a seat. I found that the economy class seats were very cramped for my legs (I'm 5ft 11) but as there was no-one sitting next to me and it was a short flight this wasn't too much of a problem. On a longer, more crowded flight I could see myself having big problems with the cramped conditions. The seat in front of you is also very close so pray that someone doesn't recline onto you!
The in-flight entertainment was basic, as you would expect from a short flight, a radio was available and there was an in-flight magazine tucked into the front pocket. A refreshments cart made its way round during the flight, selling drinks and snacks. The prices were very expensive though and I had brought my own, so I didn't bother with it. The flight attendants spoke good English and were courteous and helpful when spoken to.
The flight was approximately 50 minutes long and was very smooth. On the way out we were delayed at take-off for half an hour with the plane sitting on the runway, but this was no fault of RyanAirs. Traffic Control in Ireland was having its computers upgraded which meant that all incoming flights were running behind schedule. The flight home was very smooth and without delay.
On both journeys baggage reclamation at the airports was very efficient. I had picked up my baggage within 10-15 minutes at the carousel on both journeys so had no qualms there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RyanAir was a good choice for such a short journey because of its low prices. I found it really easy to book my flights on-line and their website was very helpful for flight information. The only real qualms I had about the flights were the terrible legroom and the food and drink prices - my advice, bring your own. Their baggage allowance is a bit on the lean side, which can pose problems and the open-seat policy could become a bother on busy flights. As far as customer service goes I found their staff to be helpful at all times and I had no major problems.
As well as Ireland RyanAir fly to a range of destinations in Europe including Stockholm, Oslo, Paris and Brussels.
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Apr 9th, 2005
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (89%):
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