There used to be something called a (wait for it....) "Flight Uncheck Fee" for unchecking in from a flight! I can't see any mention of this on the website anymore.

In the worst scenario, you can always pay for checked luggage at the airport, albeit at a higher fee.

Remember Ryanair now allows two carry on bags (although the second is quite small) and they are far more relaxed about the maximum size than previously. Nowadays, the measuring "cage" gets wheeled out before some flights but they rarely ask anyone to actually put their luggage into it.

tips from MSE
 

some of these are generic (to LCCs) ... but a useful summary ...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/ryanair-tricks

Only holders of EU/EEA passports can use the mobile boarding pass.

All non-EU/EEA passport holders need a paper boarding pass, as they must present a pass with the Flight Documentation Desk stamp on it to be accepted for travel.

Ryanair - what to expect; OLCI or not?
 

Hi,

I'm with a group on a Ryanair flight later this month, two quick questions:

1. We're probably around 10-15 people, mostly teens with a couple of adults. All the kids will be in the middle of a month-long stay in Europe, they'll each also have a bag of fencing equipment (think golf bag). We're flying from Rome, nobody speaks Italian, we're on separate reservations, and I'd be surprised if any of us has flown Ryanair before. How much of a sh*t show is this going to be and how can we minimize it?
   
2. I've paid for seat selection, sports equipment, and probably one more checked bag than I need, just out of an abundance of caution. Will OLCI make any difference for me? Should I just do it now even though I assume I'll have to deal with a person for the checked stuff?

As for the rest of it, I'm prepared to suck it up for a couple of hours, so no worries there.

Thanks!

Unless you have paid for the Business Plus fare, you need to OLCI - otherwise you will be charged a fee. FR is an OK airline (better seat pitch than BA on some aircraft, huh) as long as you understand and accept the limitations (e.g. 2 pieces of hand baggage per person, but only the first 80 wheeles are accepted on board, the rest are sent to the belly of the aircraft for free, this is why people queue up early).

You haven't specified the route or what nationality(it's) of your party. If not EU passports, you may need to go through an airport documentation check before you can go to bag-drop. If this applies to your party it's essential you understand what's required and allow sufficient time.

If you or anyone in your party does not hold a passport/national identity card issued by a European Union or European Economic Area member state, then those passengers must print their boarding pass on A4 paper, one sided [i.e. each person must hold their own individual boarding pass, do not print a second boarding pass on the reverse side of the page], and present this to the document check desk at the airport of departure prior to going through security. Passengers without an EU/EEA passport who present a boarding pass at the boarding gate without the document check stamp will be refused travel. At that stage, it may be too late to go back landside to obtain the stamp; so make sure those passengers who need it get their boarding passes stamped landside before going through security.

This holds true for every Ryanair flight that these passengers take. It is not acceptable to show an "old" boarding pass from a previous Ryanair flight with the document check stamp.

All passengers must check in online (except if you opted for the very expensive Business Plus fare) but people who do not hold an EU/EEA passport cannot use the mobile app to checkin and instead must print out their boarding pass as advised above.

You can check in online well in advance. Note that checking in at the airport (fee: £50/€50 per passenger), or having a replacement boarding pass issued at the airport (fee: £15/€15 per boarding pass), is subject to additional fees. They are not as high as they once were - but they are quite high.

Ensure that you are familiar with Ryanair's baggage policies, and that everyone has bought a sufficient luggage allowance in advance. Buying luggage or paying excess baggage fees at the airport on the day of departure is always far more expensive than buying the requisite allowances in advance.

Also note that if your group wants to sit together, you would be highly recommended to buy advance seat selections.

Ryanair's fees.

Yow, I had no idea about that. Flight is Rome-Prague, most or all US passports, maybe an Australian or Chinese in the mix. So even for intra-Schengen we have the extra hoops to jump through? The A4 is a nice touch for those coming from the US.

We're a group, but not organized. Everybody has to buy their own tickets and hope they got the right flight. Considering that before the flight we have to get from Pisa to Rome and after we have a bus ride to Poland, I'll take it as a minor miracle if everything and everybody ends in the right place. Especially since it's mostly minors travelling.

Yes, unfortunately so, just make sure that everyone has a printout and all line up for the document check desk. You'll need to line up for baggage drop anyway.

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful...ent-visa-check

It might not be so critical that it is A4 - US "Letter" size should be OK - just make sure that you print the boarding pass at actual size (if the barcode is compressed or expanded by printing to vastly different paper sizes, it may not scan correctly).

For future reference, you can request a group booking quote, which should work out cheaper than buying individual tickets, and which is easier to co-ordinate.

That would require a level of organization beyond us, but would certainly be less stressful.

​​​I printed the boarding passes, but will don't again in Italy just in case. Don't want to get hit a non-standard paper size fee.

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.