Budget Travel - Ryanair no tax+fee deal

I am planning my first ever 100% pleasure trip to Europe for March!

I have noticed that Ryanair has quite a few no tax, no fee deals. Do they happen regularly? or is it just this year because of the economy?

Any way to avoid the credit card payment fee! I live in US and HK. But I cant seem to find a way to get visa electron in either place. :(

Anyways, I am excited.
Just hope to learn more ways to save in this trip.
(I plan to do one trip a year to Europe from now on!)

Is it difficult to get to SXF (in Berlin) for 8:30 flight? How about 8:30 to BCN?
Guidebook says that there are buses available at 5ish, but if i dont stay in downtown, it may be hard?

You might just have to bite the bullet and pay your credit card fees. Be aware that you will be VERY restricted as to the luggage you can bring, and also because you are not an EU passport holder, you will not be able to check in online so will have to pay a fee to check in at each airport; SORRY! Ryanair are not as cheap as they would like you to think they are!!

If you're planning to bring more than 10kg in luggage, you're not european and you don't have a Visa Electron (of course you don't if you're not in Europe), you may reconsider flying RyanAir and actually flying some real airlines or more decent LCC's! For Germany, AirBerlin works quite well, while for Spain ClickAir and Vueling are quite good too! So, compare the final price you'll have to pay in both options (don't forget to add the transportation cost to the far-away airports RyanAir fly into), and most of the times, the other carriers are cheaper (except if you get a 0.99€ RT + no taxes deal with RyanAir, that beats almost everything).

Notice that this deals in RyanAir come and go from time to time, but always for a limited period of time, so don't expect to get these fares 5 days after you saw them for the first time.

And, by the way, you can actually ask for a refund of the airport check-in fees if you don't have an european passport. Is kind of a trick they do, but in extremely small caps in some place of their website they say that you can ask for that refund, so what you have to do is pay the fees and then send a fax with your booking confirmation, a copy of your passport and a letter asking for the refund, and they'll return the money to the CC you used for the reservations!

Leaving aside the anti-Ryanair prejudice, it is possible to benefit from the 'free' flights offer. The Ryanair website needs a price so 'free' becomes £0.01 or €0.01.

For a few days until yesterday it was possible to book £0.02 (2 pence) roundtrips to several destinations using the wellknown diversion tactics (online checkin, up to 10 kg hand baggage, no checked baggage, payment by Visa Electron card).

Today's offer is from £15 per one-way flight to many destinations, so less attractive. Check back in a day or three and there will be a different offer.

Not all of Ryanair's destinations are out of the way. Their Irish and UK destinations for example are established airports - no LHR, thank heavens. They also service 'normal' airports at TRN, BSL, TMP, ALC, BIQ, BLQ, BTS, BRE, BRQ, SZG, TFS, VLC etc etc.

It looks as though the OP will have to cough up the payment surcharges as well as airport checkin, claiming back checkin surcharges retrospectively.

Today's offer is from £15 per one-way flight to many destinations, so less attractive. Check back in a day or three and there will be a different offer.And so it came to pass - today's offer is £3.75 'all-in' to certain destinations on certain dates. Better than yesterday, not so good as 2 days ago. I wonder what the next offer will be?

Non-EU passport holders who satisfy other online check-in requirements should choose online check-in. They will check you in at the airport free of charge.

I have been told this by FR staff, and it worked for my wife at BGY/RIX/TMP without issues.

LH747FTL

Please check my reply (#9) in the Thread
RyanAir airport check-in fees

to avoid unpleasant surprises at some of the airports. Its easy and doesn't hurt to do it that way and might avoid some frustrations in the future.

Leaving aside the anti-Ryanair prejudice,

Rubbish.

I was quoting the facts as they apply to all passengers as regards luggage restrictions and facts that apply to non-EU passport holders as regards OLCI which involve the payment of fees that can SUBSEQUENTLY be claimed back from Ryanair.

A person travelling from either the US or HK might find problems in travelling so light as to conform to their ONE BAG (TOTAL!!!) under 10 kg and with certain size restrictions for their whole trip.

Rubbish.Oh, dear. :rolleyes:A person travelling from either the US or HK might find problems in travelling so light as to conform to their ONE BAG (TOTAL!!!) under 10 kg and with certain size restrictions for their whole trip.Sorry to debunk your theory, most of Ryanair's passengers are EU/EEA citizens. Many (most?) of them can cope with the conditions needed to escape FR's surcharges, with just non-Electron payment surcharges remaining a contentious point for some.

Oh, dear. :rolleyes:Sorry to debunk your theory, most of Ryanair's passengers are EU/EEA citizens. Many (most?) of them can cope with the conditions needed to escape FR's surcharges, with just non-Electron payment surcharges remaining a contentious point for some.

You are so right!!

I travelled with my parents (both almost 80 years old) for one! week and they were able to fit all of their needs in one bag (10 kg) each. They would not believe it either until they tried. (they did have a change for each and every day, 7 days, with them). After return, my mother was amazed, that for once, she actually did not overpack and did not bring unused clothes items home again. Now perhaps one week is pushing it with 10 kg limit, escpecially in winter, but travelling fewer days with a 10 kg bag is quite possible. And most people, if honest, will admit that again they have have packed too many items for their travels. (Let's admit it; that ladies evening gown and stiletto shoes and the gents black suit only gets packed, so we can use it, if we happen to run into a situation where we might need it, and how many times have we actually been in situations where we would need them?).

As for people from US or HK, I had some visit me as well, and if they were using Ryanair during their vacations, especially the €0.01 flights, would than deposit their suitcases at a luggage depot and re-pack for i.e. 6 days trip to Budapest, and on return to UK, summon their luggage and continue their trip or re-pack again. I know, that sound complicated, but if you want to take advantage of those low prices, use your imagination to comply, or pay higher prices and use other airlines.

A person travelling from either the US or HK might find problems in travelling so light as to conform to their ONE BAG (TOTAL!!!) under 10 kg and with certain size restrictions for their whole trip.

I'm from the US and not usually a light packer but traveled around Europe for 10 days on Ryanair with a 10kg backpack. Never had to wear something twice and even had a bit of spare room to buy something to bring home. Of course back then there was no check-in fee if you didn't check-in online, but I was able to get my tickets for a total of £0.05. 5 flights, £0.01 each including credit card fees (Ryanair picked up all the taxes and fees). My credit card was billed for $0.11 (£1 = $1.90 + exchange fee).

Perhaps you are all great budget travellers, but what about toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo .................... let alone medication in liquid form ..

And there are some of us who need to take medical equipment such as CPAP machines ........................ or laptops/DVD players .........................

I am glad that so many of you seem to be able to carry all your needs in less than 10kg holdalls, that fit into the overhead bins on Ryanair. Perhaps someone could suggest what items can be left behind other than the kitchen sink ..................... I'm never too old to learn and benefit from other people's advice.:)

Perhaps you are all great budget travellers, but what about toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo .................... let alone medication in liquid form

They are available in less than 100ml packs fortunately! If I am travelling, I dont want to carry big ones anyway.

Ofcourse ryanair is cheap as long as you don't have to check a bag. But then I believe most LCC, not just Ryanair charge for checked baggage. I understand that Ryanair is strict and has a lower limit of 15Kg. But then 15 + 10 Kg, should be sufficient for most travellers.

Besides, most LCC also charge for credit card transactions, checked baggage; Vueling, clickair, easyjet, skyeurope etc. just to name a few.

In the end its the traveller's decision whether he wants to take Ryanair or any other LCC or not!