Ryanair - RYR > Reviews > Ryanair get's you there!

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Satisfactory
Customer Service	Nothing special
Punctuality	Good
Space	Comfortable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Cheap, simple and easy .
Disadvantages:	Basic, other passenger and unavoidable extra costs .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have read a few reviews on Dooyoo and Ciao about the budget airline Ryan Air and it always surprises me how people seem to forget that you get what you pay for in this world. Because of this I have decided to write my own review as I fly regularly with Ryan Air.
*Background*

Ryan air has been in operation from Dublin for just over 20 years now and offers a real alternative to more expensive flights to many many destinations around the world by doing away with the frills and breaking down the pricing to allow people who want a walk on walk off cheap flight to get that without tedious check ins and for those that need bags checking in etc they offer this at an additional charge. I have been using the Ryan air to Ireland service for several years now as my wife in Irish and we live in the east midlands.

*Booking your flights*

First off Ryan air offers the customer several ways to book their flights. The best and easiest way for the Net savvy flying is to use their descent website www.ryanair.com. Flights can be searched for quickly and easily using the drop down fields or by using the destination map if you are not sure which airports you want to use. Once you have set departure and destination along with dates either one way or return, you can quickly view flights and prices day by day and scroll the days in either direction if you are able to be flexible. Once you have chosen your flights you will then be given a price with the various airport taxes added on. This is not Ryan airs fault! The government taxes air travel just like everything else and as with all taxes they aren't always fair and equitable, some airports attract higher charges than others and certain days also, i.e. Fridays and Mondays are often more expensive to catch business flyers. On a flight advertised for 1p you can expect to pay at least 4.99 in tax one way and up to about £10 in some cases. I just booked a flight from East Midlands to Belfast City for a penny each way and paid 4.99 tax going out and 9.99 tax coming back, go figure??

OK, so tax added you can then choose from 0 bags with airport check in or web check in, (great for those travelling light), there is a small charge of about £2 per flight/person for airport check in to cover staffing costs etc. Web check in is free and is frankly the best way to travel Ryan air for me as you get 10kg of hand luggage for free and you don't need to queue for anything other than security and you get on the plane first so you can settle into a seat and avoid the crush as the check in cattle cram on after you. If you need to take bags then book them in ahead of getting to airport as you will pay twice as much at the check in desk, usually about £10 per bag per flight and you are allow 15kgs per person and this can be spread across up to 5 bags but one small case is about 15kg's so not much danger of having more than one bag. The best advice I can give you is weigh them before you go and use a spare check in desk to weigh them again before you queue up as you will either have to pay the extortionate excess fees, up to £12 per kilo! or take you bags away and lost some weight and queue up again, ok if the car is near by and no they won't let you have 30kg's for 2 people with one bag at 20 and one at 10 you get 15 each and that's final. Those with sports equipment can book this in online to but it's not cheap.

Ok so baggage dealt with, you can also expect to incur fees for insurance, Ryan airs own, not cheap, sort this out before hand and remember to uncheck this when booking at its added automatically. Also if you want to pay by credit card then expect further fees which vary on card type, I paid by debit card and this usually incurs an extra £1 per flight!!

Ok so as an example of a typical flight, I booked a return flight about 3 weeks in advance for East Midlands to Belfast City as a walk on hand luggage passenger with online check in, (this means you will need to get online and be able to print your boarding card out prior to going to the airport, don't forget you will need to do this on the way back to and this can be done up to 2 days prior to the flight). I paid for my flights by debit card and without their insurance they cost me just £17 per adult, although I have managed to find £12 returns in the past. Not bad as this is half the price it costs me to get to and from the airport in the first place.

Ok I rambled a bit there but going back to booking flights it's the same story online, by phone or at one of the desks in the airports although you are going to pay full prices there. Online is by far the cheapest and as long as you can plan for about 2 to 3 weeks prior to the flight you will usually get cheap prices.

*Pricing*

A word or two of warning about Ryan air prices; they go up nearer to flight day, not down. They can often go up in the middle of the day, (think about all those workers looking for flights during their lunchtimes) and then go down again in the late afternoon, I have been caught out by this so be warned. Every time you look up a flight you computer stores the website info on your computer and it has been reported that the Ryan air site amongst others uses the cookie info to know that you have come back for the same thing and puts the price up so clear the cookies before going back again. (I actually don't believe this but many people have claimed its true but I tested it and prices didn't change so make of it what you will). If you can avoid flying at the peak times such as Friday, Sunday and Monday as well as midday flights which are probably the most convenient, you are more likely to benefit from the cheap fares.

It should go without saying that you need to budget for the taxes, booking fees, check in fees, baggage fees and debit/credit card fees. Wow that's quite a list when you look at it but how else do you think Ryan Air can run all those half empty planes with cheap tickets, they've got to make their money somewhere.

*My Experience*

If you need to check in with bags which I have done a few times, be prepared to be bundled into one line for several flights at the check in desk, this obviously means check in can be a bit of queue so get there in good time. From the business side of this, it means they need less check in staff which in turn keeps costs down and your ticket cost but don't be surprised if the body on the desk is a little harassed, remember they are human and if your nice to them and don't moan about the queue then you can expect a nice service when its your turn at the desk. Also please don't moan about your bag weight if you are a kilo or two over as it's clear in your booking confirmation what the limits are. If you're really fussed you could weigh it your self at home or at Boots or even on a spare luggage belt before you queue up. It is more than irritating to be behind the person who argues about the rules they knew about when they booked the flight, read the print!

For those able to web check in, the process is simple, only hand luggage up to 10kg and you must have a relevant passport, photo ID is not acceptable as form of ID for any web check in. When you log in to the site you just click on the link on the home page, confirm that you conform to the rules listed, (read them), and then print out your confirmation slip which is also your boarding card so keep it safe. It can be reprinted if you lose it which is useful. When you get to the airport pretty much at the last minute but allow enough time to get through security. Simply go straight to security, they will scan you printout before you go through the detectors etc, remember you are limited as to liquids you can carry through in hand luggage. Once in the departure lounge most Ryan Air flights are called with half an hour to go and as a web check in you are a priority passenger so you get called first. Ryan don't use a allocated seating system so getting in the queue early is good as you don't have to scrabble for seats when you get on, listen to the staff, they often limit the seating by putting the trays down on the first few rows if the plane isn't full, presumably because they need to balance the load so to speak. I always try and sit in the first available row as you can be the first off at the other end. In flight the planes are the usual fare with in flight magazines and even on short flights there are drinks etc available but they are expensive. They will also try and sell you scratch cards and one person will win a free flight by the time you land so you takes your chances, a further draw is often made for car at a later date and some money from the proceeds go to charity. The staff are smartly dressed unlike BMI which tend to go for a more casual look and I have once or twice seen slightly surly attitudes but in the majority they have been great. I think if I worked under the time pressures that they do I would occasionally be a bit stressed out. For example they have to turn a plane around in about 25 minutes on most domestic flights, that's all change passengers and luggage and clean/refuel the plane, wow. They will ask you for your rubbish before landing to help with this and it depresses me to see that people still dump stuff, give them a break. The more efficient they are the cheaper your flights.

I have had a couple of delayed flights and a couple of bumpy flights but those who complain about this should remember that every airline suffers from these problems and Ryan Air is no different.

*In Conclusion*

I know I have rambled on about this but I hope you find it useful. I believe that you get what you pay for in this world, if you buy cheap you get cheap and Ryan Air offer cheap flights with no frills and because of all of the booking extras you can just pay for what you need which is great albeit a little complicated at times. I have used their service a lot and will continue to do so, just heed the advice and book early, read the small print and remember that their staff work under a lot of pressure and time constraints and we are all human. Give them a smile and appreciate their hard work, we all see shoddy work occasionally but in main people are trying to do their best. Ryan air is a good if cheap service, don't expect luxury.

Thought of the day: It's a very British thing to want gold for the price of tin.

This is relisted review as it was in the wrong category originally.