You're getting the picture 😁

Ryanair really is OK. But only if you get yourself through the hoops!

US 'legal' and A4 is not much of a distortion and won't be made a fuss about. You can force the pdf to print in real A4 size on a US legal size though, just pick the right setting in the printing dialog.

I have no problem with the cheap ticket + pay for features and services as you need them. I thinks it's totally reasonable and that much of the complaining probably comes from people who didn't really understand what they were getting into.

In our case, once you factor in that everybody is going to have to pay a sporting equipment fee and possibly an extra bag or two, the cost difference to a legacy carrier is much less. Throw in the time cost of four additional hours on busses (and the charter cost), and I'd have rather skipped the LCC option.

Thanks for the help, everybody!

[Deleted]

Whoops, wrote a whole reply to p_man's query without somehow noticing it had been thoroughly answered already!

Buying Ryanair ticket at the airport
 

I will be flying to Dublin on Wow at the end of January, I have no interest staying in Dublin, and plan to fly on to Amsterdam (couldn't pass up a 150 USD ticket over the Atlantic) I have played around with Skyscanner, and have found that at 4AM Dublin time today, I could buy a ticket for a same day flight to Amsterdam for 80 USD, arriving in the middle of winter, in the middle of the week, I can't imagine the tickets will be much more expensive. There are early flights with reasonably short, but possible layovers if my flight from Iceland is on time, and I wouldn't think twice about these layovers with a guarenteed connection.

My question is, if I buy a ticket at the airport, what type of fees should I expect? I will arrive on Wow with just a backpack that meets their free carry on requirement, so I shouldn't need to worry about their bag fees. If I buy a last minute ticket at the airport do I still have to pay a fee to check in at the airport? Do they charge extra fees on top of that to buy a last minute ticket at the airport?

If I am facing exhorbinent fees, I will just buy the cheap flight I see now on Aer Lingus and deal with the safe 9 hour layover.

At a minimum, expect the following fees:
Airport Booking Fee €20.00
Airport Check In Fee €50.00

The website lets you book tickets for up to 2.5 hours ahead, so you could avoid these by booking online then using either the mobile app to check in or finding a printer. If you check in online, but cannot print the boarding pass, the re-issue fee is €15.00, which is obviously cheaper than the airport check-in fee.

Actually, Dublin is more than worth a brief stopover. Why not factor in a night there, and buy the Ryanair ticket in advance online, thereby getting a good deal by booking early? It might not be such a bad idea, given that as we move into the winter season now weather can play a role in the dependability of trans Atlantic flights.

Or, when you arrive, buy the ticket on your smartphone and check in online. The price might be more than an overnight stop, though. Or check what another carrier has to offer, for a later flight that day (e.g. KL, EI), leaving enough time for potential delays.

I've been to Dublin before, it is a lovely city. But, I want to make the most of the final days of the Rotterdam Film Festival. There is a 5PM flight on Aer Lingus that is selling for like 40 EUR right now, I'll probably just book that. I am traveling Eastbound around the world starting and ending in China and I booked the Trans Atlantic ticket when I saw the price, and now I am building an itinerary around it.

Thanks for the information!

Have Ryanair dropped their experiment with splitting groups up? [allocating the middles first, I think?]

Hard to tell from the seat map for my flight Sunday, though I do see one middle taken on it's own. I have a strong preference for not giving O'Leary any extra cash, but I think I may have to shell out for seats if we want to sit together this time.

Not as of this morning.

Nuts - they've weathered the storm of bad PR now so I doubt it'll be going back.

Thanks for the update.

Thanks for the info. Really interesting itinerary idea. Oddly, I was also looking at flights into RTM, but Transavia (HV) only have flights to MUC and ORY. I had also seen the Aer Lingus (EI) fares when I had a look on a random day in late January. I would go for that option because, even though EI has adopted the LCC service concept, it is a very nice airline. And their inflight BoB offering is one of the best that exists.

Ryanair is an airline I try to avoid because of garbage like intentionally splitting up groups, paying for boarding passes, paying for airport check in. I avoid Spirit as well because they are not upfront about fees.

While I prefer to earn Skyteam miles, I have no problem booking LCCs when they offer a vastly superior price and reasonable schedule.

Flew LIS-PDL for 60€ return each way with priority boarding and a seat reservation. I'd be hard-pressed to find this price on a legacy.

For intra Europe flights, I will book Easyjet, Norwegian, Wow, Wizz, or Vueling without thinking twice. I have flown several segments on Air Asia as well. They are all very upfront and honest about what you do and don't get with your ticket. The passengers who complain about unexpected airport fees did not do their homework when they bought their ticket. Ryanair and Spirit are not as clear, especially Ryanair who charges for a boarding pass. I haven't flown as many LCC flights in the U.S., but I lived in Cincinnati, which until 2014, did not really have LCC service.

dublin airport has free wifi - you should be able to book a ticket on your smartphone once you arrive, and check in online straight away, so avoiding fees.

but have a look over the next few days at the price of same day tickets - i think they're usually quite high.

Easyjet and Wizz do not allow you to check in at the airport, period. Ryanair is better than many of the above due to larger hand baggage allowance (1+1). Not sure where you're getting the idea that FR is different.

It is worth noting with Ryanair that non-EEA passport holders must print their boarding pass (instead of showing it on a mobile phone), then have it stamped at the "document check" or one of the bag drops desk.

The current cost of RYR ticket is like 20-30EUR...

Isn't it better to buy both Ryanair and Aer Lingus, and just simply taking the Ryanair if you're on time, and Aer Lingus (or one of the other three Ryanair flights) if late?

I mean, it's probably cheaper to buy all the FR flights now just in case, than it would be to buy a same day ticket when you arrive.

edit: OK, so WOW arrives to DUB at 9 AM. You're thinking of buying a same day ticket, I'm guessing for 11AM Ryanair, if you can make it. For like, 80 euros?
Assuming you fly on 30th of January, you can get 11am, 3:10pm and 6:35pm all for 60EUR. Most of the days within 80. If you just book 2 of them, you can get them for 40-60.

Around 10 years ago, there were Transavia flights between Rotterdam and Dublin. I miss that option!

Looking at flying Ryan for the first time next year from OPO to CPH. However, both DH and I are not petite flowers either in length or width so we thought about buying three seats but just realized that unless we pay to have a seat reservation that buying the third seat isn't going to help us out. We looked at paying for the first or exit row for extra legroom but until we fly them and make sure we don't need a seatbelt extension (we don't on US airlines) we are afraid to do that.

Any of you experienced Ryan flyers have any thoughts on how we can make our flights as comfortable as possible? I looked to see if Ryan had any info on Customers of Size or Two Fat Ladies or anything like that but came up empty. So any help is most appreciated!
(Funny to think we are doing this flight only to immediately board a TAP plane to fly back to Portugal to transit to a flight to MIA - ah what we do for biz class sale fares! LOL)

Clay

Here are details on their seat dimensions and "comfort seats": https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/faq-overview/Special-assistance/Can-I-purchase-an-extra-seat-for-a-large-person

Thanks so much! I swear I looked for it but didn't look in the right place. I presume that when I check in with my seat and my comfort seat that the system will automatically assign us two seats together...so does that mean that if we make our reservation for the two of us plus the one comfort seat that we can check in all three at once and thereby make sure we get to share the comfort seat?

This is Ryanair ... you cannot assume anything!

Two passengers on the same booking are now never seated together unless either they pay or there are no other seats left. Which one of you (if any) gets seated next to the comfort seat would be anyone's guess. That assumes they do a check on the name before allocating seats. Probably worth checking with them.

Thanks for the clarification, I guess we will pay for a seat reservation for at least the two of us....and while not presuming, I think we won't pay for the comfort seat. Fingerscrossed that works.

I have been trying to access the "Complaint tracker" link on Ryanair's website for the last few days to monitor the status of a claim for compensation under Regulation 261/2004 but the site seems down. Does anyone have any other insights?

From the 15th January you can no longer take a "large" cabin bag for free. So while W6 are relaxing this and allowing a large cabin bag from being the old stingy small handbag only, FR are following W6's old policy and you will need to pay for priority boarding to take the larger standard cabin bag on the aircraft.

So W6 since October: small handbag now extra, but large cabin bag for free.
FR from January: large cabin bag for extra, small handbag for free (no change)

Amazingly, the policy applies to bookings made before the announcement date (surprised thats even legal...) I think, back in October around the same time W6 improved their policy.

Slightly misleading... large bag is still free of charge however it will be placed into the hold if you do not have priority boarding.
With W6 if you turned up with large cabin bag (and haven't paid for it), they charged you no matter what, FR won't charge you

I flew FR last week, and on the BP it said it was changing. It just shows my interpretation is probably the same as many others and the way most of the press have picked it up eg they're not saying that Ryanair basically now have a free hold bags policy...

They obviously want it to be interpreted the way I have. To get your bag you need to pay for this priority.

In practice, there is no way they will want to manage 100+ cabin bags into the hold just before departure and thats a lot of bags to carry down to the aircraft, those LHR T1 style bag shoots are long gone at airports!!! I would imagine they will continue with the 90 bags, counting priority first and tag the rest as they do now.

You are aware that (except in Aena airports in Spain), Ryanair do not routinely use airbridges? They have steps from the tarmac and the "drop-off" for gate dropped bags is at the bottom of the steps. So no more work for the staff than if they had been delivered there on a baggage cart.

In the past, Ryanair has actually reduced service to or even dropped airports that force them to use airbridges.

Let me try this in a more recent thread.

I would appreciate input from anyone with recent experience on Ryanair (after all the recent more-strict-less-strict changes wrt carryons). What have you see wrt. carryon sizes?

I have several US-carrier sized carryons that are close but slightly oversized (perhaps by 1cm on thickness or 1-2cm on height if including wheels). Nothing egregious, but we have 3 people and buying 3 carryon bags (that will be discarded after the trip) isn't really appealing.

Note: we do have priority boarding.

Is this at all airports or only some? What's a "document check" and where do I find it?

All Ryanair flights from all airports.

If the airport does not have a dedicated "document check" desk, you must get the boarding pass stamped at a check-in desk.

The "document check" is where they will check if you are admissible to the destination country with your passport and whether you need a visa (and check you have it, if you do).

Thanks for the information!

Now hopefully someone says something about carryons :)

Nobody can be definitive. If yours are too big and you take them then you run the risk of them being taken from you and being charged to put them in the hold. Anecdotal stories of others getting away with it won't help you. If you have to buy suitable bags, there would be no reason to discard them after the trip.

If Ryanair are famous for one thing, it's that they stick to their rules, down to the last millimetre. You might get away with bags that are a fraction too big, but if the gate check person stops you, you'll be hit with a painful charge to put them in the hold.

Ryanair sized bags would be too small for US carriers (and also, technically, too wide in one dimension - although no one checks here). Since the trip is for 3 people, that means 3 bags that are too small to be useful for most of our travel, while tripling the price of the tickets (that and my bag collection is getting pretty extensive, something will need to be discarded).

FWIW our carryons traveled on Ryanair last year, but it was just one flight and I am not sure how representative that was.

They are more lax than previously, but you do occasionally see them checking.

I have a rucksack specifically for Ryanair travel. It measures 50x40x20 when full and only cost around £15. Main advantage is that it can be folded down when no longer needed. I'm sure you can get something similar in the US at a similar price?

This is a side trip to a longer trip, so the 3 of us have to bring a (US)-standard-sized carry on plus a second smaller bag (backpack, no issue on size with those, should be within Ryanair second bag dimensions).

I guess we may have to risk it. Will report here on how it went.