Only have flown Ryanair once, and the flight was fine...I did come in with very low expectations, but found them to be no problem.
From what I have read, this is what I believe to be the case:

Price wise, there are a lot of nickle and dime type fees. But they are fairly clear about the fees, its not like you show up at the airport and they say "oh you want an actual seat rather than standing in the back, thats another 10 euros." The fees seem to be something that you can figure out in advance, so that you don't compare one airlines fare to Ryanair's fare, you compare the total package.

Operationally, it seems like 9 out of 10 times they are fine. The one (or maybe less) out of 10 that they screw up, though, they will screw you bad. Customer service does not exist. They don't care about your satisfaction or being what we might think is reasonable in the situation, and they will screw you in ways other airlines wouldn't even consider (delaying you two days, flying you to a different airport and saying too bad).

My synopsis would be that if you're flexible, than they're great. They're especially good if you want to take a trip that otherwise just wouldn't be in your price range. However, if you have children, absolutely must be in a certain place at a certain time, or have a complicated itinerary, you might want to look elsewhere.

My guess would be that the check-in staff at Genoa were contract staff - they were employed by some ground-services operator that Ryanair hired, not by Ryanair itself - and they just couldn't be arsed to do the extra work of processing the excess luggage charges.

I agree with your statement though - usually Ryanair doesn't show an inch of flexibility on this subject. If the luggage scale says 15.1 instead of 15.0kg, you're paying!

It's notable that when the UK recently relaxed the 'one-bag' hand baggage rule that EasyJet and Ryanair declared that they would keep it.

Not surprising - a significant percentage of their revenues comes from hold baggage charges. Although EasyJet is more generous than Ryanair in its allowance you must observe the rules scrupulously or be prepared to pay mega-$$$ in excess charges

I wonder how this is actually going to work in practice...

In the last 15 months the drill for UK depatures has been to put one's handbag/camera bag/laptop bag inside one bigger bag for the security check and then take it out again. Once one was past the security check nobody cared about that extra bag any more.

So - I presume from now on it's going to be the opposite way round, i.e., one can keep one's handbag/camera bag/laptop bag out for the security check and will THEN put it inside the bigger bag before boarding?

Or will security personnel be instructed to identify Ryanair/Easyjet passengers, and tell them to merge their two bags into one?

It's not surprising because one bag has always been their policy - even before August 2006

Probably in exactly the same way it happens everywhere in the world - at checkin & at the gate. After all not every airline has exactly the same rules for hand luggage so why should security know what the rule is for a particular airline

Question: I need to take two Ryanair flights to get to my final destination. I also will need to check in a bag. I know I will be charged for airport check in and a bag fee but will I be charged twice, since I am taking two of their flights? Will they check me in for both flights or must I go through their check in process again, instead of being considered a transit passenger?

Pretty sure it will be you check in twice

Ryanair operate point to point and like most of their fees, the fees for check-in & bags are per flight - so 4 flights = 4 sets of fees,

They do not allow you to check-in for a 2nd flight at the 1st airport nor will they check luggage through.

You will have to pass through immigration (if applicable), collect luggage and recheck-in. If you aren't checked-in in time then its your problem and Ryanair will do nothing to help you - except sell you a rather expensive ticket

Thanks for the quick replies. Looks like I'll be flying on SAS instead of Ryanair. By the time you add up all those extra fees and having to go through check in again....not worth whatever savings I might have gotten on Ryanair.

I agree completely, they just have to many rules and double check in is miserable.

Ryan Air is a point to poiunt airline. So you will have to check in each time you fly. So when booking your flight you will have to pay the fee's.

With Ryan Air you have to realise that you are on a bus with wings. If you are familliar with the service and it is a penny flight then its worth it. However if you are doing a trek round Europe then I would say pay more are use either legacy airlines or other LCC such as EasyJet, Air Berlin etc.

EasyJet are much more flexible about the rules. Including if you miss your flight. They will let youbook a second flight for a small fee, but with Ryan Air you have to buy a whole new ticket. Which undoubtedly will be very expensive.

If time is not at a premium then the DB NachtZug service is pretty cheap and easy to use. http://www.bahn.de The night train network is extensive and quite cheap. Otherwise there is the traditional coach service that is operated by Eurolines. http://www.eurolines.com

yes the check-in staff were contracted then