Ryan air experience?

[John Bull]

Quite apart from the difficulty of returning a week before you set off, which I assume is a typo ;), I think you've missed the point about optional extras. If Ryanair offers you a flight for £20, it isn't fair to complain that a flight plus a suitcase plus a credit card payment costs £50. How much for the flight without the optional extras? If they say £19.85 and charge £23.99, then you have a legitimate complaint, but only £4.14's worth of complaint. Not £30+.

 

No, dsr, the dates are nothing to do with with my typing ability.

More to do with impending senility :rolleyes: :D

 

Yes, your points taken on-board.

 

Credit card charge now is only pennies, but that's only due to legislation - just a few years back he was charging something like £10 per person per flight for using a debit or credit card - that's £40 for return flights for a couple, all or virtually all of which was pure profit.

Since Ryanair could only be booked remotely and a card was the only possible way to pay, the govt. rapped his knuckles & threatened legal action. So he withdrew the charge, but only for those who held some obscure Germany-based debit card. I remember that, cos by coincidence my brother had that obscure card and reckoned that it saved him a lot of money on Ryanair.

It's primarily because of Ryanair's antics that legislation was then eventually introduced for all card transactions, requiring that charges for using a debit card (usually nil) or credit card (usually around 2%) be limited to recovery of any charges imposed by the card supplier.

 

Yes, I added luggage. Most leisure air travellers go away for a week or more so need to take luggage, and 20kg or more of checked luggage - sufficient for several weeks - is included in mainstream airlines fares so it's reasonable to take luggage into consideration when comparing fares. Mainstream airlines are equally-guilty of over-charging for excess luggage - but any luggage is charged at excess-luggage rates by Ryanair & other no-frills, in order to advertise unrealistic base fares.

 

The end-result is still perfectly good service & value, I just have to put aside my personal dislike of the man's dubious tactics when Ryanair is the only option.

 

Insanemagnet - have you found any of those £10 flights for me? ;)

 

JB :)

[Bob++]

I am no lover of "no frills" airlines, but one search and one click found four £9.99 flights - two for Germany and two for France.

 

https://www.ryanair.com/en/cheap-flights/?price=250&limit=15&offset=0&from=STN&to=&out-date-start=2015-07-15&out-date-end=2015-09-15&in-date-start=2015-07-15&in-date-end=2015-09-15&roundtrip=0&min-trip=3&max-trip=7&view=list

[wowzz]

Can you actually get on the plane for £9.99 ? ie no other additional but unavoidable charges, such as debit card fees.

[John Bull]

I am no lover of "no frills" airlines, but one search and one click found four £9.99 flights - two for Germany and two for France.

 

https://www.ryanair.com/en/cheap-flights/?price=250&limit=15&offset=0&from=STN&to=&out-date-start=2015-07-15&out-date-end=2015-09-15&in-date-start=2015-07-15&in-date-end=2015-09-15&roundtrip=0&min-trip=3&max-trip=7&view=list

 

Thanks, Bob.

I tried one, Stansted to Cologne on 15 Aug, return 23 Aug

I don't know if this link will work

https://www.bookryanair.com/SkySales/Booking.aspx?culture=en-GB&lc=en-GB&ist=Histogram&price=17.15#Select

but it quoted £9.99 out, and only £7.16 for the return flight.

 

When I clicked on "book" the prices went up to £23.99 and £9.99 = £33.98.

A matter of about a 70% increase. That's before any add-ons.

I checked it twice.

 

:confused::confused::confused:

 

JB :)

Edited July 15, 2015 by John Bull

[Bob++]

With a little date juggling I got Stansted to Bonn on Sunday 16th August and return on Tuesday 18th at a total of £19.98 (debit card payment).

 

I guess that this is all live information and will change as bookings are made. It does seem that the £9.99 fare is still alive and well though.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Bob++

[LondonTowner]

Well, that is still very cheap. Yes, I know it isn't £9.99 but I would be happy to pay that for a return flight to Cologne in August.

[John Bull]

With a little date juggling I got Stansted to Bonn on Sunday 16th August and return on Tuesday 18th at a total of £19.98 (debit card payment).

 

I guess that this is all live information and will change as bookings are made. It does seem that the £9.99 fare is still alive and well though.

 

Yep, sat & sun are both quoted at £9.99.

By going to "book" sat goes up to £23.99 but sun stays at £9.99

 

Yes, cheap.:)

But doesn't inspire confidence. ;)

 

JB :)

[insanemagnet]

Yes, I added luggage. Most leisure air travellers go away for a week or more so need to take luggage, and 20kg or more of checked luggage - sufficient for several weeks - is included in mainstream airlines fares so it's reasonable to take luggage into consideration when comparing fares.

 

Lots of short haul BA flights now have hand luggage only prices.

 

As for needing to book a suitcase and take 20kg for a week away, you just need more practice.

 

With the right bag it is easy to take enough stuff for a week in Ryanair size 10kg hand luggage bag, let alone the weekend or midweek trips that take up a good chunk of Ryanair business.

Edited July 15, 2015 by insanemagnet

[insanemagnet]

Insanemagnet - have you found any of those £10 flights for me? ;)

 

Luton to Copenhagen 25/08/2015 17.05 flight - £9.99

Stansted to Dusseldorg 01/09/2015 07.30 flight - £9.99

Stansted to Deauville 07/09/2015 08.15 flight - £9.99

Stansted to Strasbourg 29/09/2015 19.00 flight £9.99

Stansted to Gottenburg 15/09/2015 14.15 flight £9.99

Birmingham to Dubline 26/08/2015 20.25 flight £9.99

East Midlands to Dublin 19/08/2015 07.40 flight £9.99

Glasgow to Dublin 04/08/2015 08.40 flight £9.99

Leeds Bradford to Dublin 11/08/2015 flight 07.35 £9.99

Manchester to Shannon 02/09/2015 flight 06.40 £9.99

Manchester to Dublin 05/08/2015 flight 20.30 £9.99

[UKBayern]

More and more media articles have been written demonstrating how it wasn't cheaper for a normal person to fly Ryanair on a normal trip, because by the time you've paid all of the extras you could have got a cheaper flight from a conventional network airline.

 

Not just on Ryanair, but on most "budget" airlines. I priced a one-way flight from Munich to Las Palmas in November, and all websites (including ITA Matrix) came up with Norwegian as being the cheapest. After I added all the extras on, Iberia was not only much cheaper, but had better flight times, up to 5 possibilities to get us to our destination that day if the flights somehow got cancelled or delayed (Norwegian's next flight was 4 days later :D), and the IB-ticket was not miserably non-refundable, non-reroutable, non-changeable like the Norwegian one.

 

OK, IB is not my favorite airline, but their service was unexpectably great. After booking MUC-MAD-LPA with a time-wise legal connection in Madrid, they sent me an email that, due to high demand on the route MAD-LPA, they put in an extra flight, and since they were concerned that the original connection was a bit short they put us on that new flight, raising the connection time to 2 hours. Great! Cannot imagine budget airlines going that extra mile.

[John Bull]

Luton to Copenhagen 25/08/2015 17.05 flight - £9.99

Stansted to Dusseldorg 01/09/2015 07.30 flight - £9.99

Stansted to Deauville 07/09/2015 08.15 flight - £9.99

Stansted to Strasbourg 29/09/2015 19.00 flight £9.99

Stansted to Gottenburg 15/09/2015 14.15 flight £9.99

Birmingham to Dubline 26/08/2015 20.25 flight £9.99

East Midlands to Dublin 19/08/2015 07.40 flight £9.99

Glasgow to Dublin 04/08/2015 08.40 flight £9.99

Leeds Bradford to Dublin 11/08/2015 flight 07.35 £9.99

Manchester to Shannon 02/09/2015 flight 06.40 £9.99

Manchester to Dublin 05/08/2015 flight 20.30 £9.99

 

Ok, OK,

You win.:D

Some without suitable return dates for the same money, again one that jumped in price after hitting "book", and Weeze (love that name ;)) airport is 50 miles from Dusseldorf. :rolleyes:

But yes, it's possible.

Insane Magnet 1 - 0 John Bull :o

 

JB :)

[John Bull]

I know this thread ran its course a few days back, but when I saw this BBC web-page I just couldn't resist posting it.

Sorry ;)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22659822

 

JB :)

[Bob++]

We all know what they say about lies and statistics.

[insanemagnet]

All I can go from is experience. 75% of BA flights I have taken over the last couple of years have been late, 100% of Ryanair flights have been on time.

 

I recall sitting in a departure lounge waiting for a late evening Ryanair flight 15 minutes to go before departure, and thinking that there was no chance we would leave on time.

 

At that moment the gate staff turned up, got everyone on and the plane pulled away from the stand with a full load of passengers five minutes early.

 

Ryanair is a Marmite company, you either love them or hate them.

Edited July 20, 2015 by insanemagnet

[newgrange]

They generally leave Dublin late, but arrive before their scheduled time at the destination, since they allow ludicrous times for the flight. 85 minutes Dublin to Stansted for example - silly times.

 

The best way to travel Ryanair is with light hand luggage.

Do not get tempted to leap up and queue when they announce 'This flight wil be boarding shortly' - it won't. What will happen is hundreds of loons will all stand up and queue for 20-30 minutes.

 

Once this queue starts moving, it does not (as you would expect) mean people are boarding the plane, they are simply going through the gate and queueing elsewhere.

 

As the last of the queue start to go through the gate, then the smart flyer joins it. Roughly about the same time, people actually start boarding the plane, including those eejits who have paid extra money for priority boarding, which is code for paying to stand even longer in the queue, sometimes in the rain.

 

You get on the plane, pushing past the goons who cannot read the front or rear steps instruction on their boarding pass, slip your normal sized hand luggage under the seat in front of you and off you go.

 

Stress-free.

[LondonTowner]

I have flown many times with Ryanair and they have almost always been on time. Often the people who cuticles them have never even taken a Ryanair flight.

[Globaliser]

... 100% of Ryanair flights have been on time.

Based on landing/touchdown or on actual arrival?

 

RYR has conditioned its passengers to believe that if the wheels touch down on the runway at or before the scheduled arrival time, that flight has therefore arrived on time. It's not true, although small airports make one more likely to follow the other.

 

You see this sophistry even in the quote in the BBC article, in which the airline says:-

Ryanair's published monthly punctuality is calculated as the percentage of all (approx 42,000 on average) Ryanair flights in any month, at all 180 airports, which land ahead of, on, or within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time.

Comparing landing time to scheduled arrival time is not comparing like with like. Edited July 20, 2015 by Globaliser

[wowzz]

Also, to compare some of the out of the way airports that Ryanair use, to the major hubs that BA use, is comparing apples and pairs. You are very unlikely to be kept in the 'hold' for Stansted compared to Heathrow.

[Pavovsky]

No problems with Ryanair either and the new customer service is much better. Priority boarding makes life a lot easier.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pavovsky]

Considering booking Ryan Air between Brussels and Venice. Anyone used them? How were they?

 

 

If Brussels Zaventum then yes it is a feasible option. Brussels airlines who are also on that route do not give free bags not free food unless you buy an enhanced ticket. Yes Ryanair now fly from the main airport in Brussels. I agree that Charloi is not a great airport and is a no no for me.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 24, 2015 by Pavovsky

[rlkubi]

Can someone in the US please recommend a rolling tote that is Ryanair compliant? I'm having problems with the 20cm wide!

[insanemagnet]

This is one of the best Ryanair compliant bags, as it is the maximum size that fits the dimensions, no wasted space with four wheel spinners, and a weight of only 1.6 KG.

 

http://www.samsonite.co.uk/short-lite-upright-55cm-40-x-20-x-55-cm--/57241.html?dwvar_57241_color=1686&cgid=SAMS312#start=33

 

As it is a Samsonite you might be able to find it in the US, but Samsonite also sell it under their other brands, such as Revelation, so you might also want to check their American Tourister brand.

[LondonTowner]

I saw American Tourister cabin luggage compliant to Ryanair sizes in France this weekend, so they do probably have them in the States. I think it cost about 35 Euros, but could be wrong. It was one with 4 wheels.