Originally Posted by Tr3p3
I'm going to be in Europe this summer. First time visitor. So I'm unfamiliar with the whole Ryan Air thing. What are these "rules" that everyone keeps speaking of? Is there a site that you can direct me to that explains them or something?
Most of them can be found on ryanair.com... but things have actually changed since we were discussing Ryanair last.
Baggage used to be strictly 15 kg hold baggage and 10 kg carry-on, with extortionate excess baggage fees if you exceeded your limit. As of last week you pay for all checked baggage, but it's a modest fee for checked baggage up to 20 kg, so you no longer have to be careful to remain below 15 kg.
The other rule is the one about check-in deadlines. It's usually 40 minutes before departure, and the desk will close on the dot - even if they're half-way through checking in a family group and one half have their boarding passes and the other half don't.
The other thing to be aware of is to make sure you know exactly where you are flying to/from - they often fly to Little Town A but call it Big City B, and A and B can be miles apart. They claim to fly to Hamburg but actually fly to Lübeck (nice town, but a fair way from Hamburg). They claim to fly to Oslo but actually fly to Sandefjord (which I understand is also a nice little place in its own right).
Also, if you absolutely NEED to be somewhere don't rely on Ryanair to get you there. If things go to plan - no problem, they are usually on time. But if things go wrong then you will be really really stuck because they make no efforts whatsoever to get passengers to their destination if (for example) an aircraft goes tech. The choice is between a refund, or a seat on the next available Ryanair flight... which in the peak season, when flights are fully booked, could mean a wait of up to a week (I'm NOT joking)
Apart from all that, and all the other things mentioned in this thread... I guess they're not too bad!
