US residents can buy tickets from the Ryan air website without a problem. FR uses only electronic tickets, so just print out the email confirmation and bring it to the airport, along with the credit card you used to pay for the booking (the passenger MUST have the card with them when they check in).

Ryanair are generally fine - they operate much like Southwest (no complimentary food or beverages, no preassigned seating), and will generally use smaller airports rather than the main airport in a city (the Ryanair website has detailed information about airport locations which you should read before booking). While these airports can be 50 miles or more from the city, buses and other public transportation is generally provided (make sure you get a timetable for the return bus/train trip to the airport)

One thing to note is that most European airlines are far less flexible than US carriers on things like same-day standbys and changes to bookings. If you book a 6am departure from London Stansted to Milan, do not expect to be able to change this to a flight later the same day.

Ryanair take this approach to the extreme - allow LOTS of time to get to the airport as, if you miss the check-in deadline by even 1 minute, you will forfeit your ticket, even if the flight is delayed. Also note that Ryanair do not compensate for delays (though these are rarely more than a couple of hours).

Finally, beware of booking early morning departures, especially from London Stansted. The airport is a 90 to 120 minute journey from central London and early morning transport options in London can be patchy. You need to aim to be at Stansted 2 hours before the flight in order to compensate for any delays en route.

Good luck and enjoy your trip to Europe!

P.S. Don't forget to try out Ryanair's competitors to see if your flights might be cheaper. Main UK competitor is Easyjet (www.easyjet.com), whose hub is at Luton, near London (easily accessible in 45 minutes by train from central London). Other competitors exist in Germany (www.germanwings.com, www.airberlin.de, www.flyhlx.com), Scandinavia (www.flysnowflake.com), Belgum (www.virgin-express.com) and elsewhere. None of these sell tickets on Expedia/Travelocity etc so you must visit their individual sites to see what's on offer.



[This message has been edited by House (edited 08-28-2003).]