There was a time when they did charge for online check-in - which is probably where the confusion comes from. They went from charging for online check-in (but not for airport check-in) to charging for airport check-in (but not for online check-in) from one day to the next some time last year.

I have flown all the discount "evils"...
Interestingly enough, the only airline to strand me on a regular basis this year was AF, and each time I was "on my own" and ended up flying Myair to Orly from Venezia. After three times, I moved over to Myair for my Paris flights, which is discussed on this thread.
Now, between EasyJet ad RyanAir- I much prefer EasyJet- it seems to be a more professional operation, and less chaotic than the good ol Ryan. This being said, for me last year and this year the Ryanair "Paris" basis at Beauvais was very convenient for me as I was working about 75 k from Beauvais with a client. Ryan never stranded me, but I was always a bit traumatized by their shocking and distressing blue and yellow interiors which are completely painful. EasyJet for me has been very good for service to LGW, although frequently their pricing is almost as high or higher than BA- depends on sched what is more convenient I guess unless you Upgrade to ClubEurope.
Cheers and Happy Flying- stick with EasyJet before moving to the nasty Ryan...

There are stories of this happening, but it is probably less frequent than some would have you believe.

On a practical level, I would never fly Ryanair without an 'exit strategy' - make sure you know the other carriers which fly the route (including nearby airports) and how to get to and from the airport. Obviously, a route with one flight a week to a remote airport requires a different strategy to LON-DUB.

I just read the entire thread and didn't see an answer to this question.
Does Ryanair cancel flights arbitrarily, in other words, if the load factor doesn't match their profit goals will they cancel a flight?
I need to fly from one of the northern UK airports (Luton or Stansted) directly to Kaunas, Lithuania and Ryanair has a flight that leaves a near-perfect time for me....I'm willing to pay the baggage fees, suffer a groaty cabin, etc. but wouldn't like to be dumped by a carrier that flies when it's convenient (i.e. profitable).

I flew Ryanair on Thursday, had no choice. On landing awful triumphant music started playing, Ryanair congratulated themselves on another ontime landing, 90% of Ryanair flights arrive ontime, I don't disagree. The reason for 90% ontime is if there is a possibility of a delay Ryanair will just cancel the flight, leaving people stranded for days and days if there is no flight with available seats. When I heard the triumphant music I thought they were congratulating themselves on landing safely.

Go with Easyjet, it is much better.

Unfortunately Easyjet doesn't fly to Lithuania

Yes.

I have it on relatively good authority that, for example, the second-last DUB-ORK flight of the day has a very good chance of being cut and all passengers shuffled to the next flight in 2 hours, just because the plane isn't terribly full. Apparently, do not book that flight.

On the other hand, this is likely also a bit motivated by the fact that it's a short flight with high frequency, and a cut like that will not force people to stay extra days.

Not to say they won't arbitrarily cancel a flight or six (and I've seen it happen multiple times) but there's usually more than "it's not cost-effective". There's not a high chance they'll cancel it on the day because there aren't enough people booked. I've been on FR flights with 33 people, so it's not that they won't do a money-losing run.

But the return flight might have been full

Good advice - always have an exit strategy, I always do the same when flying FR. I've been left for dead twice by FR - they closed the airport at Vasteras in the freezing snow and I was on my own (but found a hotel eventually). I read in Business Traveller or some such publication that whenever Ryanair has to hotel a plane load of passengers, "someone gets fired", such is their vehement denial of any rights under EU law EU261/2004 'Duty of Care'. Whether or not you agree Ryanair should look after passengers at times of bad weather etc., the law is the law - FR just choose to ignore it.

That was the last flight of the night, so I suspect it also had something to do with repositioning the plane, and it was a short one anyway.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7607633.stm
But it's not Ryanair's fault, you get that?

Easyjet are probably the best of the european low cost carriers, with a much better reputaion for reliability and and service than Ryanair.

Having used Easyjet many times without problems I would use them again.

Ryanair are in my opinion very much an airline of 'last resort' to be used only if there is no viable alternative. Other people may have different opinions.

I've flown both airlines once. Ryanair from Manchester to Dublin and back and Easyjet from Paris to Liverpool. Both were fine experiences. Easyjet was more civilized. Both got me to my destination fine and cheaply. The flight on Ryanair cost I think 16 pounds for me and my girlfriend and it would have been cheaper had I not had to pay an extra 3 each way to check in at the airport. Then not having to check bags was great too. If you're going for a short trip with not much luggage I think these airlines can be extremely cheap.

I haven't had a bad experience so I'd say yes to them.

You've flown with them once and nothing went wrong so you think they're fine?

I used to fly with Ryanair quite a lot (for convenience, they're the only airline that flies to LBC), but gave up flying with them after too much had gone wrong - and some of those issues were safety issues.

Like cabin crew who don't share a common language with their passengers (you can read "would you like a scratchcard?" from a script, but what if you need to actually COMMUNICATE with passengers, especially in an emergency?). Like their cost-cutting policy of always trying to use the runway that is most closely aligned to where they are going to/coming from, as opposed to the one that is more closely into wind (landing with a tailwind on 1800m of wet tarmac and nearly running off at the end was the last straw for me)

I had quite a few Ryanair flights where nothing went wrong - but I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole now.

Avoid Ryanair.

There are plenty of other European low-cost airlines which offer reasonable fares, yet manage remain decent, civilized and unlike Raynair don't treat their passengers (and employees) like sh*t.
EasyJet, Germanwings, SkyEurope, Air Berlin...