Any doc checks recently?
 

So I was successful in grabbing a ticket between Belgium and Israel for EUR 10 each way, I wanted to check with you about their doc check policy with non eu passport holders. Amazingly, the fare is still active since last week, Ryanair must be having a hard time selling off.

Op recommends to check in as late as possible to get a free priority q, but as a Canadian passport holder, there are some posts instructing to get paper BP.

I read their policy, it doesn't say anything that needs to be stamped on bp. That leads to me think that stamp can be placed on anything: on my passport or even on a piece of paper.

Any recent experience on stampings?

I have a feeling that I may well have an entire row to myself, but I thought I would like to check in as late as possible as recommend.
>Irrespective of a passenger's visa requirements, all non EU/EEA citizens must have their travel documents checked and stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Document Check Desk before going through airport security.

The Ryanair app will not display a mobile boarding pass to a non-EU/EEA citizen. You will be forced to use the online check in and print the document.

I recall entering my address including country, but not passport info. Their system assumes that I m a citizen of country which address was entered? It must be a pita for EU citizens living outside EU.

Anyway, I won't take a chance and check in early and print my BP. Thanks.

BTW, is there still any benefit for me to install the Ryanair app on my mobile devices? Like free streaming entertainment like Southwest, United, etc?

There is no onboard entertainment on Ryanair. There is no point whatsoever in downloading the app, as you will not be able to use mobile boarding passes.

As a non-EU/EEA passport holder, you must print your boarding pass on paper [having it issued at a check-in desk at the airport attracts a fee, unless you are a Flexi Plus customer, and similarly having a boarding pass reissued at the airport attracts a fee for all customers] and the Doc Check desk will only stamp your printed boarding pass (A4, one-sided print only).

Your suggestion above that the "stamp" could be placed in your passport or on an otherwise blank piece of paper makes no sense. The idea of the stamp is to show the gate agent boarding your flight that you have been cleared by Ryanair to fly the sector for which you offer the boarding pass, and every time you fly you must obtain a new doc check stamp for each new boarding pass. If you show a boarding pass without the stamp physically on it, then showing them a Ryanair Doc Check stamp on any other piece of paper means that you have not followed procedure and have not had your boarding pass for that sector checked. Ryanair staff should never place the stamp on anything other than a valid Ryanair boarding pass, so being able to show a stamp on any other piece of paper will mark you out as suspicious. You will not be boarded and will be unlikely to go landside to have your boarding pass stamped and get back airside in time to take your flight.

When you check in online (or on the app), you must provide your passport or ID card details, including nationality. This is common practice in Europe, as many countries (including the UK and Schengen zone) all required advance passenger information.

Ha ha ha! You've clearly never flown Ryanair. Your at-seat entertainment system is a safety card glued onto the back of the seat in front. In terms of audio entertainment, you can escape with adverts for the "Getaway Cafe" or "exciting scratchcard game". Occasionally you'll be treated to a "extra special offer available on this flight only", typically BOGOF scratchcards or 10% off perfumes. And then the fanfare (or whatever they've replaced it with this month) when you land on-time.

In case you're interested, this is your entertainment: http://c8.alamy.com/comp/CYDW88/ryan...ack-CYDW88.jpg. That's the old version, which they have now updated to include the infant flotation devices.

(I clearly fly with Ryanair too much)

It's my first time flying Ryanair in 10 years, yes, I recall that instruction on back of seat. It wasn't yet the era of smartphones and I don't think they charged issuing boarding passes that time, so it'll be my first time with this new (to me) process. There was certainly no 'doc check desk', I assume check in agents did it. Back then, seats were unassigned, 2 doors open front and rear. I don't remember priority boarding existed. No online or self check in.

I tried to check in today, I see I can enter my passport info there. But Ryanair wants EUR4 further than 4 days prior? No, thanks, I'll print it at my hotel, I really doubt they even charge EUR4.

Southwest is a no frill airline, and they've been having free streaming entertainment for years. I can imagine it uses a lot of bandwidth, but it should be cheaper than installing IFE monitors, and I have a feeling that the provider (Netflix? Gogo?) is footing the bill, not Southwest. So if Ryanair could find some partner who pays it (possibly with a lot of ads), it'll be a win-win. I've heard FAs love IFE, so pax get destructed and make their job easier.

I'm surprised Ryanair doesn't charge carryon, though. Wow, Spirit, Frontier, they all do.

Not going to happen. The days of seatback screens are limited, and these days, any passenger that needs entertainment is probably carrying their own device and therefore won't need whatever is offered by the airline, particularly if it is charged. There is little demand in Europe for onboard entertainment - I'm struggling to think of any European airline that offers it on shorthaul, other than Norwegian- and even onboard wifi has been slow to take off with European airlines. Ryanair also would not like the distraction of the IFE or of customers seeking assistance from the staff with the inflight IFE - their staff have targets to reach as regards sales on every flight.

You don't get priority q. If you check in late you may get one of the more expensive seats (i.e. exit row, first row or front rows) that haven't sold yet.

remember they now allocate middle seats first (to those not paying for a seat).

a couple of weeks ago it was only 12 hours before departure that the final middle seat disappeared ... and i was able to check in !

Is there still a fixed order of seat allocation? Previously, it was very predictable. But now I don't fly with Ryanair so much, I haven't been able to observe anything properly.

i haven't found any website that has worked it out. the old order was listed on this site - but they haven't come up with a new order yet. let me know if you work it out !

By way of a report.

Stamps: on two intra-Schengen Ryanair flights there was no stamping of boarding passes for non-EU citizens. I specifically inquired at check in and both times CS agents told me that there is nothing that needs to be done, and that if stamps and passport checks were required, there would be a note to that effect on the boarding pass.

Carry on - did no see any carry on size checks at the gate or anywhere else. Our carry ons were the "usual size" (accepted on any major carrier but a bit out of spec for Ryanair) - no issue bringing them aboard. We did have "priority boarding". Those who did not have priority boarding, simply left their carryons in a cart parked next to the aircraft, and got them back at the baggage belt. Again, no carryon size checks for that group was evident and a few were clearly too large.

Overall, Ryanair was not bad (again) - except for that gawdawful trumpet music after landing.

YMMV

new hand luggage policy
 

since Ryanair launched their revised hand baggage policy in mid january ...

do FTers have experience as to whether the "only priority boarding passengers can bring wheelies into the cabin" policy is being strictly enforced ?

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful...ge-can-I-carry

As far as I can tell, only passengers with priority boarding can bring larger bags on board.

It is enforced - in a sense that passengers with larger bags are not allowed to go through during priority boarding, and passengers that enter after priority boarding has ended must have yellow tags attached to their bags. Those tags signify that the bag needs to be placed in the cart.

I did not see anyone try to bring a bag with that tag on board. Every flight had flight manager standing by the door checking things, so I am guessing tagged bags would not be allowed on board.

I suppose one could try to rip the tag off between getting on and off the bus, but the tag is not easily removed so it'd be pretty obvious, and they do check boarding passes at boarding time as well (and priority boarding is clearly marked on BP).

thanks. i'm surprised this is being so strictly enforced. presumably it means that the overhead lockers are now half empty ?

Overhead lockers on our flights were pretty full.

First, it looks like plenty of people buy the priority boarding option - subjectively about 1/4.

Aside from that, everyone is still permitted a "small bag" which, practically speaking, was not all that small - many were decent size backpacks/bags. As long as it was not obviously too large and had no wheels, it could be brought on board. Since those also go into the overhead bins, there was not a lot of space on a full flight.

ah, so they aren't strictly enforcing it against all non handbags/laptop-bags !

new hand luggage policy
 

any further "data points" / experiences on the new policy ?

i'm flying Ryanair on Thursday, and i suspect the flight isn't that full (tickets still selling for 20 quid) ... so i'm trying to work out if they will bother taking my hand luggage (wheelie) into the hold ?!

Is there a way to make RyanAir shows EURO fare instead of the DCCed USD?

I remember seeing it shows Euro just a day before on an FCO to CTA oneway ticket. Now all it gives me is the 5% padded USD price even I have deleted all cookies in the firefox browser.

At the payment screen its question of "are you sure you dont want to use RyanAir guaranteed currency conversion rate" is meaningless because the fare is already converted from Euro to USD! I think I need to make it show Euro in order to avoid being scammed.

Can't seem to check in online through both the Ryanair app as well as online. Have tried different web browsers but just can't get to boarding pass printing page.

Contacted Ryanair through online chat as well but no joy.

Just saw the news: Ryanair is closing its Glasgow Airport base, leaving only three routes still operating from November 2018: Dublin, Warsaw and Wroclaw.

Try this.
On the payment screen, where it states

Your debit/credit card will now be charged £ xxx.xx (€ 125.44) Click here for more information on our guaranteed exchange rate.

Select "Click here for more information" then untick the check box at the bottom. Price should revert to EUR amount which will be charged to your card.

That works when you are on a non-US Ryanair site - it always offers the option of changing to the correct currency. However, on the US website, it offers fares in USD right from the beginning, so there is no DCC involved (since the fare is in USD to start with). The only way of removing the latter is to switch to a non-US website.

I assume Ryanair have thought that US based customers are more likely to purchase if they can pay in their own currency.

new hand luggage policy
 

i decided that i should try it out myself !

most of my fellow (non priority) passengers had their wheelies tagged for the hold. but a few of us managed to avoid it.

the gate agent who scanned my boarding pass was distracted by another member of staff, and might not have seen my wheely, which was on the other side !

the overhead lockers did seem relatively empty for a packed flight.

Do you receive a claim tag when luggage is gate checked using the yellow tags? How would the bag be traced if there's no record of the tag number that was attached?

I've only experienced it twice: once at Athens where they used normal white bag tags that had been pre-printed, which came with the normal claim tag; and a second time where my luggage was taken off me by the cabin crew once on the plane as there was no space left anyone, I didn't receive a claim tag and had a very nervous wait at the carousel on arrival. No experience of the yellow type of tags.

I know you also don't get a tag when using the self-service luggage check-in, but I'm told the system records the tag number against your booking details electronically. This doesn't happen with the gate checking system.

gate checked baggage
 

At Luton they had green (i think) pre printed labels - and yes, they detached the end section and handed it to the passengers.

you'd hope that with the bags left on the tarmac beside the plane as passengers boarded - the chance of them getting lost is fairly low !

I was thinking more about getting mishandled at the destination end. At Palma airport a few months ago, our airside bus was following a luggage cart. Two items fell off onto the road. Driver saw them but didn't stop, he just left them there. Our bus had to swerve to avoid them, again not stopping to pick them up. I'm sure these sorts of events happen rarely, but nice to have a claim tag just in case.

Any chance to get a full refund of a flight which operated?
 

snow storm Emma prevented us from flying to BCN on Fri, with Vueling. No problem getting that refunded. the inbound flight was booked for tonight with Ryanair, and it’s opertional. would Ryanair care enough to refund fully as we never made it to BCN on another ticket? I can’t use the Ryanair refund option as that’s only working for non Op flights.

Highly unlikely. It's worth asking anyway.

Do you have insurance in place?

No, why on earth would they? The flight is operational and you're not on it, as far as they're concerned, out of choice.

Claim on your insurance.

new hand luggage policy
 

i tested a different hand luggage type on Saturday - a reasonably large rucksack (but definitely within hand luggage size limits).

i had planned to have it on my shoulder whilst getting my boarding pass checked at the gate, but the gate agent came forward to us last few passenger (the gate area was packed out for our full flight) - and tagged the final passenger's wheely, and walked past my bag (which was almost the same size) sitting on the floor.

looking at the baggage trolley of hand luggage waiting to be loaded into the hold - there were a few non wheelies, although maybe they had been offered up by the passengers.

it does appear (at least with Luton departures) - that if you don't have a wheelie, you have a very good chance of getting your hand baggage into the cabin.

new hand luggage policy
 

it seems that FR staff at Stansted are operating the same policy - wheelies get tagged for the hold, but as long as your hand luggage is vaguely sensible size, and not a wheely, then you get away with bringing it into the cabin.

at least that was my experience departing from STN on Friday.

I have a 48hr trip to Budapest from Stansted next month, and I plan to carry a normal backpack well within the carry-on dimension limits of other non-budget airlines.

It looks like the small-only policy wasn't followed as strictly per the posts above, but the last message above is more than 3 months old, so just wondering if anyone has recent experience of how strict they are with normal backpacks which aren't exactly the official allowable tiny size?

Admittedly I expect my normal backpack to be only half full, but good to know nevertheless.

my last FR flights were in mid June and they only seemed interested in wheelies. so you should be fine ex STN, but other people have had different experiences at smaller FR airports, so your backpack might get more attention at BUD, but probably not! good luck, and let us know what happens.

So I have my Ryanair flight on Wednesday evening, but was invited to and able to check-in today (Monday) morning.

Unless this is a glitch, it looks like their new rule may actually be "2 days prior to departure date" rather than "48 hours before departure date and time"

Got a middle seat with a lot of emphasis throughout the check-in process that it was a middle seat :) ........... some things never change!

Not sure why you want to checkin "so early". :confused: I always checkin as late as possible. Get's me either an aisle seat at the front/ rear or an exit row seat.

late checkin
 

i normally do the same ... apart from last time i flew FR i missed the 2 hour deadline (first time ever), and ended up paying 55 quid at the airport ... which hurt !

Happy to report that my medium+ rucksack was fine to carry-on both ways, and whilst I had the middle seat booked both ways, on the return leg the window seat next to me was empty so I moved over and it worked out ok!