I will back up what most posters are saying here.

FR will nickel-and-dime you (as we say here in the States) for having the audacity to carry more than a couple days' clothing, check-in at the airport, or (gasp) pay with a credit card.

In 2004, we spent 3 weeks "over there" - arriving London, touring there, flying STN-TXL on Air Berlin (very nice!), spending two weeks on the continent, ending in Salzburg. To connect with BA's LHR-JFK, I booked us on FR SZG-STN, with car rental STN-LHR. Our bags were 2-3x overweight, and I'm sure what we paid to bring our dirty laundry with us, plus the car rental and fuel and overnight hotel required, far outweighed the "extra" we would have paid for a through-ticket SZG-JFK.

Don't do it.

I have to add to the last poster's description of FR.
I travelled with FR 3 times. The first two were bearable but the last one was a disaster which made me swear that I would never fly with them again and warn anyone who will listen to do likewise.

The best way that I can find to describe FR service is that it is like a hitch-hiking experience but instead of automobiles they use airplanes.
Just like with the automotive kind, most of the times it will get you (ultimately) to where you want to be. I would say about 90% of the times. However, just like with the typical hitch-hiking, sometimes you will not be able to get a ride or you will be dumped somewhere that you had no intention of being and then you will have to fend for yourself. No explanations or reasons will be given. No assistance will be offered.

My advice is this: before you decide to commit yourself to a 'ride' with Ryanair, ask yourself this: what will happen if my planned flight does not depart for a few hours or for a few days? What will happen if I am delivered to a different destination than the one where I wanted to be, sometimes several hundred kilometers away and maybe even in a different country? Do I have enough flexibility that I can work around it somehow? If you can then go ahead and take advantage of the sometimes low fares (as long as you don't check in too much luggage, can check on-line, etc. etc. etc.) This is especially true in winter when the probabilities of having some sort of adverse weather conditions that prevent FR planes from landing or taking off are much higher. Keep in mind, FR uses secondary, out-of-the-way airports because they are cheaper. Why are they cheaper? Because they do not offer the same level of service as the major airports. For example, very few of them have Category III landing systems that allow airplanes to land even if the visibility is minimal. Most only have Cat I or Cat II landing systems which require much better weather conditions to be useable. When you're talking about towns like Treviso or Hahn or Ciampino which are prone to fogging, you're asking for trouble.

If you know you travel plans long enough in advance, it's amazing how inexpensive air travel can be with airlines that actually care about their reputation, be they low fare or legacy carriers.

That's a good tip about the Cat. I-III systems, which I will remember next time I am taking budget airlines in the winter.

I was diverted to from Treviso to Milan because of fog, in fairness Marco Polo was also shut and they have the full kit and kabudle I understand. But was not a nice experience though and worth bearing in mind.

I recently flew Ryanair, and had a decent experience. I was flying from Pisa to Stanstead on a completely packed flight and was worried that I wouldn't be able to take my rollaboard and small daypack on the plane... I was not met with any incredulity by the ticket counter rep when I said I had no bags to check, and had no problem passing through security. I was a bit worried that the gate agent would reject my two bags, but smiled, handed her my boarding pass, and proceeded onto the jet without any problem whatsoever. My small backpack fit under the seat and the overheads were practically empty, so had no problem whatsoever. The only hitch was on the return flight from Stanstead to Pisa, b/c the London airport system is privately owned and security absolutely will not allow any more than one bag to go through... So I ended up having to shell out extra $ for checking my bag, but all in all, you get what you pay for! Considering I got the ticket for $120 when Alitalia was charging $330 with layovers, I was overall a pleased customer...

This is a rule that was imposed by the UK government over a year ago

...and SHOULD be enforced Europe wide.

Abebix was lucky in Pisa but it's likely the one bag rule will be relaxed in 2008

I'm going to visit my girlfriend in Manchester in two weeks, we booked a day trip to Dublin with Ryanair. Cost 1p for the flight, 10 pounds each with taxes. We could have gotten away with only 20 pounds total but instead because I am not an European Area passport holder, I have to check in at the airport and as a result so does she. An extra 8 pounds. Plus credit card fee, in the end it came to 31 pounds for the both of us. Certainly not expensive. ($30 for me, though it could have been $22) to fly 50 minutes. Both airports are extremely convenient as well. We'll be sure to arrive in time and are not bringing much luggage, just a backpack with a change of clothes and toiletries. I'll reserve final judgments until the flight.

My father just recently sold 150 shares of Ryanair taking a $1000 loss, with these sentiments it makes me think that was the right move, but I still think for cases like mine, they seem to be a good option. So long as you are smart about avoiding the charges.

Yeah- I don't think RyanAir's baggage allowance is that much more stringent than other LCC's, wherever they are operating. I will reserve my judgment until I return from a trip to Asia in which I will be flying 7 segments on 3 LCC's (Tiger, Air Asia, JetStar Asia)! I'll let you know how they compare to RyanAir

Ryanair - hand luggage 10kg, checked luggage 15kg plus �5 fee per bag
Easyjet - hand luggage unlimited weight, checked luggage 20kg plus �3.99 per bag

Plus Ryanair charge you for not checking in online, but if you have checked luggage you have no option of cheking in online. a bit naughty in my opinion

Ryanair WILL rip you off. If they don't get you with booking, card charges etc, they'll make it up with baggage. You will have to join a queue to pay excess baggage and if you don't leave enough time for this you'll miss your flight, then have to join the queue again to pay the fee to transfer to another flight. You couldn't make it up!

This is a real problem at Stansted. You queue for 30 minutes to check in then, once your bags are weighed, you are sent to another desk - with another queue - to pay, then you need to rejoin the check-in queue (unless the agent lets you push in at the front).

Be clear - they will NOT let you off. There is zero leeway on baggage weight, at least at airports where the staff are direct Ryanair employees.

2 of us flew FR from genoa to stansted 2006 with 3 large cases well over weight (just off a cruise) and we were expecting a hefty excess fee but not a mention of being overweight, on a brand new plane for �20 each, and i would rather pay for brand name coffee than have the free undrinkable stuff of other airlines
cheers cal

How on earth did you manage to get away with that? That's normally unheard of.