Ryanair - Our Experience, with Tips

Ah..Ryanair...Is it our favorite airline? Do we hate it? Is it worth all that hassle to be stressed from the beginning to the end of the flight?

Irrespective of what the answer to the above questions are, the one thing which is true is that they provide some of the cheapest fares to most destinations, which is what we love!

Ryanair usually do provide cheap fares which undercut the other competitors by quite a bit. Also we have observed that they can be booked with even a month left which is quite good. This is because most others like easyJet are cheaper months in advance, but the closer one gets to the flying date the fares go higher.

So what should one be careful about while flying with them:

• Booking on their site is the first issue which you will face. They have changed the look of their site as we speak - so this has drastically improved. The one option which is a pain is after selecting your flight they still ask you to select an insurance. On the drop down select 'Do not insure' and you should be fine. Also if you have an international card they automatically select a conversion rate which may not be the best. Verify that you are paying in the currency which was shown and not any other currency and you should be good to go.
• Ryanair allows you to check in about 2-3 weeks in advance. They mention 15 days but we have been able to check in before that also. Why is this important? Ryanair charges passengers for not printing their boarding pass at home and showing up at the check-in counter. This costs 70GBP which is very very expensive. They will be changing this in early 2014 to 15GBP but this is still an amount which can be avoided by printing your boarding pass online.
• For non Euro citizens, when checking-in you need to go to the counter first to get your visa checked. Unlike other airlines where you go past security if you have no checked luggage, and show you pass at the counter, Ryanair works differently. At the check in counter they will verify your passport and visa and then stamp your printed boarding pass. If you do not have this at the gate they will at best ask you to go to a nearby counter and get it stamped. At worst we have heard that they could ask you to go back to the check-in counter which will in all probability make you miss your flight.
• 10 kgs of luggage is the limit they allow for your carry on. The weight gets checked that the check in counter, which happens quite rarely. Only once at Bremen airport did they weight all luggage before going to security - so the assumption is that airports which are built around Ryanair, usually smaller airports may have this check. Anything above 10 kgs incurs a fine. This is quite high, but again it may be halved in 2014.
• Also remember that the carry on size is lesser than most airline. This is checked more often than the weight. They have a box at all airports where they ask you to drop your luggage to see if it fits. We have had ours checked quite frequently. So this is very important to verify on their site regarding the allowed size. As of the last flight we have flown they allow only one piece of luggage and again strictly enforced. So all handbags and accessories on you should go into this one bag which may increase the size.
• Seats used not to be allocated which used to us trying to run to stand in queue first. This is to be stopped from Feb 2014 and will be one of the biggest improvements which will provide relief to us. Running to stand at the gate an hour before the flight is quite stressful.
• Food and drinks (including water) are for purchase, seats are non reclining and lots of announcements on the flight (which again should decrease with new rules in 2014). Get food from home to eat on the flight and you should be fine.

Our flights have been so far on time with very less delays and we may have flown about 10+ times with Ryanair. The only time we had difficulty was flying from London Stansted to Derry, and because of poor visibility they diverted us to Belfast. The only times you should worry is when such things happen as Ryanair is not very good at providing alternatives or arrangements. 

Ryanair is a bus in the air and unlike what has been written is safe to fly with. The crew on board seem to know what they are doing and the pilots/officers have seemed very capable. So if you are looking for a cheap flight Ryanair is a very good option.

Also with them improving their website, reducing fees and allocating seats Ryanair looks like an even better option in 2014.

Happy flying!