Budget Travel - Ryanair Free Seats Sale (NO tax)

Ryanair are doing another one of their sales where you don't have to pay tax.

Routes on offer are pretty limited and plenty of weekend blackouts.
Nevertheless it might turn out to be useful for someone...

Not even the credit card fees have to be paid.

Availability:
http://www.ryanair.com/site/notices/FREESEATSGRID070516-EU.pdf
http://www.ryanair.com/site/notices/FREESEATSGRID070516.pdf

but ryanair has a bad reputation (http://www.ryanaircampaign.org)

On the other hand, millions of people have used Ryanair and gotten from Point A to Point B quite successfully.

I've been hearing a lot about Ryanair nowadays... new service routes from Barcelona; a lot of "new" things going-on.. maybe they're trying to make things right this time...:cool: trying to save whatever is there left to save..:p

trying to save whatever is there left to save..:p

You're having a laugh?

Ryanair is, I think, the most profitable airline in the world in terms of profit margin.

The current stock market valuation of Euro 8.3bn is equal to that of British Airways (£5.5bn).

This is not a joke airline in any sense.

Thanks. I never realized they did this.

MisterNice

Ryanair is, I think, the most profitable airline in the world in terms of profit margin.Actually, the Mafia has a much better profit margin (pre-tax income = XXX$; after-tax income = XXX$).

Just because Shrek III will make millions of dollars, that doesn't make it a good movie.

While there is quite obviously no question whatsoever of Ryanair being in any kind of financial trouble, it has to be noted that the reason for the give-away is a recent fall in passenger loads... and there is now some speculation that the whole thing could backfire:

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2082615,00.html

Time will tell...

I'm surprised that Ryanair has not adopted a fee for failing to fly - but that's probably next as well.

I'm surprised that Ryanair has not adopted a fee for failing to fly - but that's probably next as well.

They are already charging some fairly bizarre fees...:

For example, you pay extra for OLCI.... but if you check in online and are then unable to print a boarding pass then you have to pay extra AGAIN to check in at a check-in desk (which would have been free if you hadn't checked in online in the first place).

Maybe all those bizarre and illogical fees are one of the reasons why fewer people now choose to fly with them.

Not a Ryanair fan but snapped up a couple of return tickets from PIK-DUB for the grand total of £0.04. ^

Looks like it's gone. Did you have to do anything special to find them?

Looks like it's gone. Did you have to do anything special to find them?

Yes it finished on Monday - I had no problem finding availability but it was only for certain routes and days.

Yes it finished on Monday - I had no problem finding availability but it was only for certain routes and days.
It was limited to certain routes, e.g. from Germany:NRN-Sardinien
NRN-Stansted

Hahn-Bratislava
Hahn-Breslau
Hahn-Mailand Orio
Hahn-Verona

Hamburg-Stansted
Hamburg-Mailand Orio

Bremen-Dublin
Bremen-Stansted
Bremen-Oslo Torp
Bremen-Pisa
Bremen-Venedig
Bremen-Verona
and certain dates:
Munday-Thursday: 02.06.07 - 27.10.07
NOT: 16.07.07 - 31.08.07

Now they have 10 million tickets on sale for 10 EUR/GBP. Again, only certain routes and dates, check for details on the website of your country:
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/?culture=GB
Booking Period: Tue 22nd May 07 - Thu 31st May 07
Travel Period: Tue 05th Jun 07 - Sat 27th Oct 07
Applicable Days: Mon – Thurs & Sat (Tues/Wed only in July & Aug)
Subject To Availability
Flight must be purchased: 14 Days in advance
Blackout Period: Subject to Availability
Notes on this fare: All Holidays, School Breaks and Major Sporting Events are excluded from this offer

Wouldn't surprise me if FR decide to cancel a lot of these flights as there won't be enough paying pax on them and refund you your 2p or whatever.

I will never set foot on this airline.

Wouldn't surprise me if FR decide to cancel a lot of these flights as there won't be enough paying pax on them and refund you your 2p or whatever.

I will never set foot on this airline.

EU regulations are set to prevent cancellations on the day of travel due to low loadfactors. So if FR canx any of my flights without good warning (tech or otherwise) its hello mr compensation please.

Will you not fly this airline because you feel 'upper class' to everybody else?

Will you not fly this airline because you feel 'upper class' to everybody else?

Not sure what you mean by that TBH. I just don't like their practices and the horror stories I have read about them.

I am a regular EasyJet traveller (going EDI-MAD on them soon) flying EDI-LTN and EDI-STN regularly.

For 2p you cannot complain to be honest. Had a great daytrip to Dublin yesterday, flights all on time and even a visit to the flight deck for a brief chat to the captain.

The funny thing is people are more likely to say something about a bad experience than a good one, so I would say that FR have many many more good experiences than bad...keep your expectations low and you might get a surprise :). I have heard horror stories about most of the major players in the scheduled airline world, BA, SQ and CX included, doesn’t mean I will never fly them at all or try them out.

It all depends on expectations. With FR you cannot expect lounges, priority CKI, goodwill, fast lane, airports near to the city, good CS in case of problems, the "usual" compensations, ... However, in most of the cases you will have an ontime-flight from A to B for a good price.

For me personally, the location of the FR-airport is a knock-out-criterion. My two homes are next to the hubs of "better" low-cost-carriers such as germanwings and hlx (now tuifly), while it take me 3 hours and 30 Euro oneway to the next bigger FR-airport... Then adding the convinience of LH-lounge access, fast lane etc. even when flying germanwings and hlx makes me not flying ryanair!

However, I already did it once (before the times of germanwings and hlx and before I was used to *G and business class), it was cheap, the airport was ugly, the FA were rude, I arrived nearly ontime... all in all it was a very good value for a very low amount of money :)

EU regulations are set to prevent cancellations on the day of travel due to low loadfactors. So if FR canx any of my flights without good warning (tech or otherwise) its hello mr compensation please.

Will you not fly this airline because you feel 'upper class' to everybody else?

Sorry for the pointed question but have you actually ever seen how FR cancels flights? Has anyone ever received any compensation from FR for canx?
Any cancellation on FR is a tech one. And they normally do not give any details. They just say it's a tech one and off you go.

I still wary of trying Ryanair, but it seems their new promotion includes one of the destinations I'm heading to in August, so I might give them a shot. They work out slightly cheaper than some of the other LCCs with the discount and once you've checked a bag.

Nice to hear some positive stories about Ryanair on this thread.

EU regulations are set to prevent cancellations on the day of travel due to low loadfactors. So if FR canx any of my flights without good warning (tech or otherwise) its hello mr compensation please.
...Will you not fly this airline because you feel 'upper class' to everybody else?
Not really. It is a trivial matter for them to find a "technical fault" with your plane.

But on other reasons why one might not want to fly RottenAir:
- the cost of getting to and from two obscure (and deliberately misnamed airports) will more than eat up any cost savings you thought you were making
- what sort of airline charges you a penalty for actually bringing bags with you when flying to another country? What next? A penatly fee for actually turning up for your flight? A fee for having two legs. Really...

Those guys make my skin crawl. I flew then once and that was it. No respect for customers, more like contempt. And they screw their own staff too.

Its just bad news all round. I cannot support this kind of business, no matter how "cheap" they claim it to be - and it isnt.

Not really. It is a trivial matter for them to find a "technical fault" with your plane.

But on other reasons why one might not want to fly RottenAir:
- the cost of getting to and from two obscure (and deliberately misnamed airports) will more than eat up any cost savings you thought you were making
Depends on where you're going. Stansted is a lot closer to where I want to be (Cambridge) than any of the other London airports. MAD, EDI, DUB, SVQ, BHX, and MRS are as close to those cities as you're going to get. Obviously if one is flying Ryanair to reach a major city one should check the cost of ground transport to the city centre first, but frequently it still works out cheaper than EasyJet and other alternatives (especially with sales like this £0.01 one).

- what sort of airline charges you a penalty for actually bringing bags with you when flying to another country? What next? A penatly fee for actually turning up for your flight? A fee for having two legs. Really...

How much stuff do you have? I don't understand why people feel the need to bring half their possessions with them when going somewhere for a week. It's easy enough to fit four or five sets of clothes and a laptop or couple books in a large backpack, and I have never seen Ryanair's restrictions on the size of hand luggage enforced. If you do for some reason want air freight service bundled with your flight, €6 to ship a 15kg bag is hardly extortionate.
Those guys make my skin crawl. I flew then once and that was it. No respect for customers, more like contempt.
Money in my pocket is all the respect I ask. The purpose of an airline is not to interact with you, smile at you, and tell you to have a nice day; it's to transport you. I'm happy not to have to pay for the rest.

This thread is fantastic

Who would have thought discussing penny fares would create such emotional extremes?

I suppose I'm not that bothered about it all, but then I haven't been at the rough end of Rottenair's messing around - the nearest was waiting for a return to Stansted from Treviso and seeing the poor buggers who's flight had not arrived for 2300 departure previous evening, with some poor nan with a bandaged bloody head. They'd all spent the night at the airport, but I believe the local policeman at the terminal took a few people in, personally to his house I believe. Really extraordinary.

As for myself, last week got 2X returns to Bremen for 0.04p. Great. Germany for lunch & beers.

ps What on earth did we do for information before chatboards?

No question that Ryan Air does have some excellent deals. However, you get what you pay for. The service is beyond bad. The only airline that actually loathes its own customers. Need customer service, go scrXX yourself. If there is a problem even their own, tuff luck They don’t want your complaint. Don’t like it, fly another airline. So, as long as you make no mistakes, you can get a deal. It makes Greyhound Bus service in the USA, seem like chauffer service. I live in Dublin, so I am basically forced to fly them sometimes, but I will always pay a bit more, to take any other airline. Ryan Air, is the poster child for bad service.

As for myself, last week got 2X returns to Bremen for 0.04p. Great. Germany for lunch & beers.

Amen to that, got to Lubeck for the day this week, had some time to relax in the warm sun (25 degrees and clear compared to the UK's grey clouds and rain!) and have a few beers and a great meal.

I bought a good few of these 1p flights in the 2 recent sales

LONDON -
Aarhus
Berlin (1 friend)
Brussels (5 trips)
Dublin (2 Trips / 5 mates)
Milan
Marseille ( 2 trips / 8 friends)
Stockholm
Turin

But what I wondered is what if I miss the outbound flight...
I have made multiple reservations for some places, to give myself some options !

So what does ryanair do if you miss the outbound ?

So what does ryanair do if you miss the outbound ?

They don't care! Even if you miss the outbound, you will still be able to use the inbound flight. No worries at all!

I bought a good few of these 1p flights in the 2 recent sales


I just saw my Credit card statement !!! £0.38 :)

How does Ryanair do this? They actually pay all the taxes for you?

Because I dont think that ryanair makes like $80 of me just for baggage food and drinks! Probably they'll just make this 1 cent hehe

How does Ryanair do this? They actually pay all the taxes for you?

Because I dont think that ryanair makes like $80 of me just for baggage food and drinks! Probably they'll just make this 1 cent hehe

It was really just a stunt to get in the news... and get people talking about them... in the hope of selling some more seats (at normal fares) as a result. A bit like paying for advertising.

From what I heard the whole thing backfired a bit... apparently lots of people booked these free flights with no intention of ever taking more than one or two of them; there was a story in the paper about some guy who booked something like 30 day returns to the same destination so as to keep his options open... he only actually intended to go once. Of course his 30 free seats were preventing Ryanair from selling these seats to other passengers at higher fares.

I booked 30 people on STN-DUB for a daytrip/Xmas party, with these tickets.

Actually now that I actually step back and look at what I have done, I have booked 24 seperate trips for myself and others.

On 1 occasion I have booked myself, my SO, and 7 mates to Dublin, and another 30 of my work colleagues also to Dublin.

I have been a tad nasty to Ryanair as on a few occasions I booked 2 seats for myself ! On seperate PNR's !!

Actually now that I actually step back and look at what I have done, I have booked 24 seperate trips for myself and others.

You may want to go and check that these bookings are still intact...

Some friends of mine booked themselves on a daytrip to LBC for December to visit the Christmas market - departing STN at 6-something in the morning, returning the same evening.

Another friend was going to join them but found that the morning flight from STN to LBC was no longer showing any availability (it didn't say "flight full" - it just wasn't there).

Some of the other members of the group then went and checked their own reservations... only to find (wait for this!) that they had been rebooked onto the evening flight, giving them 25 minutes on the ground before returning to STN!

None of them have been notified about this change by Ryanair... and they all suspect that if they hadn't noticed this themselves they would probably have been kept in the dark until a week or so before departure.

I have received emails from FR advising me that the times have changed.

Departure time the same, but arrives 5 mins later !

I also received a link so that I could clike to agree the change or make alternative arrangements, all this for a 5 minute later arrival !