Moreover, EasyJet doesn't fly to ANY airport in Sweden... :cool:

Ditto here. The one and only time I flew on Ryanair (it was via their "Frankfurt" aiport, BTW) I was asked to weigh my handluggage and then discard items in it. Meanwhile my fellow passengers took their bags though and then stocked up on several kiligrams worth of duty free bottles, when they carried on the same plane. Go figure...

In any case, I was disgusted by the whole Ryanair experience and that was my last time ever flying with them. I have no idea what people are thinking flying them time after time. They dont even have respect for their customers. No amount of fake savings is worth that. And it is fake savings, because they simply load on YOU the cost of:
- stress
- travel cost to and from to distant airports
- time asted doing the above
- weasely hidden fees, even a "fee" for checking in at the airport. (yep)

It is just NOT worth it. Simple as that. I have had far more pleasant experiences taking the bus than I have had on Ryanair. Let's put it that way. Hell, if you are travelling that far in advance, just take a train even. Anything but Ryanair, which IMO makes EasyJet and Monarch feel like luxury carriers!

True, they can be awful, hide charges weigh your bags etc but if you are going on a shortish break and can take hand baggage, book in online pay be debit card they can be unbelievably cheap. Recently Belfast City (closer airport to Belfast than the International) 2p all in return, Rome £16 return all in, Dublin £20.

The only payment card for which there aren't additional charges is the Visa Electron which is the type of card supplied with the most basic of bank accounts in the UK designed for people who shouldn't get into debt

So whilst they can produce a price that doesn't have a card charge, in reality very few people manage to avoid the charge

I assume these prices are from "London" Stansted? Granted, they may be dirt-cheap, but as other posters have mentioned, flying Ryanair is a deeply unpleasant experience. I wouldn't pay 20GBP for a Ryanair flight - for 1p, I'll take it, but otherwise I would rather not go at all than go with Ryanair.

Will Ryanair rip you off? I'll stand by the majority of the posters here. Yes.

We waited too long to book our Mystery Weekend trip and ended up on Ryanair (just missed a nice connection with LX to ZRH, but that's another story). To answer your "taxes" question:

Published RT Fare: €29.98
"Taxes, Fees, & Charges": €42.27
Aviation / WCHR Levy: €11.58

This does NOT include the €5 charge for booking with a credit card, and was done after deselecting anything like "priority boarding" (spending more time in that ad-filled-tube is not where I want to be) or baggage (only a weekend, it's okay). Sure, there are some fantastic deals to be had with FR (in fact, they're most often how I get to DUB and back) but that's when booked far in advance and when absolutely no other option exists.

Book the SK flight if it's still available. It's likely worth it. Or, if not, try something like Air Berlin. They're apparently fairly nice, much more so than FR from what I've heard.

Air Berlin
 

What an excellent idea - why didn't anyone think of it before? They fly from Frankfurt (not Hahn), and one-way fares start at EUR 50 (including taxes etc). There is only one flight a day, and the journey takes a bit longer as it involves a change at TXL... but still better than the long trek to Hahn (and having to endure Ryanscare)

2 from Stansted 1 from Luton. Again I agree that Ryanair is not pleasant, but, but, in certain circumstances, as I have alluded to above it makes sense if you are on a budget.

If you travel with Ryanair - do so with your eyes wide open to all the potential additional charges - credit card, priority boarding, travel insurance boxes ticked and difficult to work out how to untick them, baggages charges, etc, etc., etc.
However having said that you can travel with them and arrive on time or at least on time more often than some of the larger carriers.

I travel with Ryanair regularly and am careful not to get caught for more charges than are absolutely necessary.
You have to realise that with Ryanair you are simply paying for a bum on a seat and no more.

ps. Bring your own food and drink to avoid getting ripped off further.

I echo all of the above

With Ryanair all you WANT is to pay for a bum on a seat BUT Ryanair will do their best to make you pay for other things - some of which are extremely difficult to avoid

I'd take a cheap LH fare too. You won't have to spend a couple of days in FRA unless you want to, and it's much more convenient/reliable.

Another one booked £20, return to Berlin, hand luggage only and priority boarding.

Nearest comparable fare BA £115.80 including flight times etc?

You decide

When Ryanair works, it works fine. It has, for example, opened up many towns like Carcassone and Biarritz to British tourists who previously had no way of getting there, and has also been a massive boom to the British 'French second home' market. We use them to fly to Lubeck because my partners parents live near it.

However .... you need to look at the pros and cons each time. The original poster in this thread was flying from Frankfurt to Stockholm. These are possibly the two most out-of-the-way airports used by Ryanair, and the fare quoted was not far off what LH wanted for a direct flight. It would have been a ludicrous decision to choose FR in these circumstances.

In general, I would want a Ryanair flight to be at least £100 return cheaper than an equally well timed flight on a scheduled carrier. £100, in general, offsets the lack of lounge facilities I'd have with BA, the cost of inflight food and drink, the lack of priority check-in, the lack of any FF miles and the generally unpleasant FR in-flight experience ("no, I do NOT want to buy a scratchcard, thank you").

Or the calendars and the ridiculous music they play when they arrive on time