Is RyanAir for real?

There are lots of hidden fees with RyanAir. It still might be a good deal, but it won't be 26€.

The planes are pretty basic too. Don't expect cushy seats (they aren't uncomfortable), and they don't recline, but the flights are short and the savings are usually big. Read all the terms - assume they will be strict about baggage limits. Since it's a red-eye, take into account the added costs getting to/from the airport if buses/trains aren't running in the wee hours.

I flew with them once, it was fine.

Ryan have an FAQ page that should help you to keep out of trouble as it pretty clearly explains the key things to be aware of. As well as being zealous about enforcing baggage limits dont think about not checking in and printing your boarding pass at home - you will pay a fortune for them to print it at the airport. Despite everything people say about them at times they carry more international passengers than any other airline in the world and the one time I used them they were fine (my main aversion to them is they often use secondary airports that are big distances from major centres).

I have used Ryanair before.. and am using it again in a few months. Yes.. price likely will be a bit more then that.. but mostly that is up to you.

The fees are NOT hidden.

I do pay upfront for a checked bag.. but if you are[ 100 percent certain your bag fits their guidelines for carry on then you may avoid that extra fee.

I do not pay for pre boarding or seat assignment.. these inter europeon flights are so short I do not think there is any value in that.. I imagine Pisa to Paris is an hour and half or less . ..so I can sit on any old bus seat that long.. a flight wont kill me if the seat is not too cushy etc.. I understand we all would need more comfort for long flights.. but as I said.. so many of the flights are less then 2-3 hours.. survivable.

I do not buy their extra insurance either. ( I am not sure if its Easyjet or Ryanair.. but if you read about the insurance.. it doesn't apply to non EU nationals anyways)

I bring my own snack and sometimes splurge for a drink on the plane.

Bet your flight will come in under 50 euros ,, even if you check a bag.

oops..forgot I think they charge a couple euros service fee for paying with credit card.

The airline gets a lot of flack.. but if one simply READS the website its pretty open about all charges .. and even with a bunch of add ons its way cheaper to fly around in Europe then it is where I live in Canada.. geesh .. I can pay 150 bucks to fly for TWENTY minutes ( Victoria to Vancouver ) .. so to fly for a couple hours for that.. yee haw.. lol

recently did a couple of 4.5 hour flights with Ryanair and can confirm their seats are not the most comfortable,.As other have said the have clearly marked add ons, so check very carefully what you need to pay for as it can all add up.But certainly they are efficient , my flight out was about 15 minutes late but on the return leg arrived 30 minutes early.They are strict on baggage allowance and sizes particularly for cabin bags so double check your allowance, you will have to pay for any hold luggage.

We use ryanair all the time out of Bratislava. They are great about displaying potential fees. We never have added fees as we take small bags and print out our boarding passes. The only cost to us is getting from Vienna to Bratislava.

Perfect, everybody. Thank you. I'm a details guy so I'll figure out the actual costs and bags. Thx, again.

There are lots of hidden fees with RyanAir

No there aren't. They are all on display, and not hard to find.

What you will find is that the airport they call Paris isn't. Not even close. I seem to remember once calculating that is closer to Belgium and the English Channel than it is to Paris.

It is called Beauvais.

Nigel is correct, since large city centers are often served by multiple airports its always important to check which airport any of these cheapo airlines use..since as is in the case for Paris.. Ryanair does not use a convenient one at all.. but that's just a bit of research.

I should have said " extra fees ( for everything)" rather than hidden fees. I have never used them, but have seen lots of complaints on Tripadvisor from people who did not read ALL the terms and conditions. They had a bag maybe 1# over the limit or forgot to print their boarding pass at home and got hit with extra fees.

So make sure you will have access to a printer at the time you need to print your boarding pass. The one time I needed to do this ( different airline) it cost 7€ at an Internet cafe in Madrid.

Try not to get suckered in Ryan Air's base price. When you add-up all of their nickel and diming. It's often the same fare as as one of the national carriers like Air France or Alitalia. With the added benefit of more convenient airports, and less strict about check-in times/pre-printed boarding passes/baggage limits/in-flight beverages-snack/more comfortable seats and leg-room. Also be aware that the base fare automatically goes up and the plane fills up. So if a school group of 20 kids purchases tickets right now that 26 euro fare could double or triple in seconds.

I find RyanAir to be a flying torture chamber, and avoid them at all costs (pun intended).

https://youtu.be/ZAg0lUYHHFc

not sure how a flight from Pisa to Paris can be a red-eye . . it can't take all night to fly from there to here. a couple of hours at most!!!

anyway, in addition to the fees that RyanAir charges for bags and whatever else, you need to add in the cost (and time) of getting the bus in from Beauvais to Paris.

I call this flight a Redeye because it departs at 6am. Thanks for the suggestion on adding trams costs from Beauvais. to Paris.

I use this website to research European budget flights: www.skyscanner.com There are others. It includes cheap one-way flights offered by the traditional carriers competing with the low-cost lines.

The thread asks if Ryanair is "for real" and another poster used the verb "sucker". Ryanair is the largest carrier in Europe by passenger volume and it didn't get that way by torturing passengers or suckering shoppers. It gets plenty of repeat trade.
Yes, it is important to read the website rules carefully and know that there will possibly/probably be extra fees as you go along, but you can decline those services. Ditto easyJet and most of the other airlines that have made Europe a smaller place by carrying travellers at very low ticket prices.

Ryanair acknowledged its tough-talking reputation some time ago and launched a charm-school initiative which helped substantially raise its profits last year.

We flew Ryan Air and had no complaints. It was nicer than some flights I've taken. I'd happily fly RA again.

"are there hidden fees?"
Here's a hidden fee. RyanError does not disclose that Beauvais is not in Paris. There is a shuttle bus service from Paris. Cost: 17€, Time: 1h15 or more depending on traffic.

"Red Eye"? According to RyanError it's about a 2 hr flight.

Be sure as noted to add in the cost and time of landing in "Paris" Beauvais. In fact, it may not work out for you at all and a train might be preferable.

buy,

I've flown with RyanAir in the past and based on that, I won't use them unless absolutely necessary and there are no other options. While you can read all their rules carefully, if you make even the slightest mistake (ie: 1 gram over in luggage weight), you'll get nicked with huge extra charges. I also agree with Lee and others in that you'll need to check their airport details carefully. Especially on flights into Paris, RA is not a particularly good option as Beauvais-Tille is a long way from Paris. I believe it's actually somewhat closer to Amiens than Paris. The airport location will add both time and cost to the (supposedly) cheap RA prices.

With flights from Pisa to Paris, you might also consider easyJet, which has direct flights to Paris / ORY. In that case, ORY is close to Paris, and located at the opposite end of the RER "B" from CDG, so it's easy to get into the city. If using the RER, you'll first have to get to Antony station using the OrlyVal automated people mover.

Yes, that is a real fare. There are NO hidden fees with Ryanair, but you might have to add some cost to your ticket, depending on what you need. I never pay to choose my seat, or get priority boarding. They also try to sell you travel insurance, and you have to pay to check a bag if you want (pay for that during booking if you think there is even a chance, since it costs more to do so after you get to the airport). Make sure you understand and follow their rules and regulations and you will be fine. I have used them several times with no problem. They have been basic, but clean and on time, and they have one of the best safety records in the industry.

I just bought two tickets from Frankfurt to Jerez for June for $270 on Ryanair using their Business Plus fare. That includes seat assignment plus a checked bag and other features. The base fare plus baggage and seat assignment would have been higher than that. I have flown Ryanair before and was satisfied with the experience.

Stephen,

As I'm sure you're aware, RyanAir uses Frankfurt-Hahn which is some distance outside Frankfurt. You'll have to allow time and cost to get there.

My kids play the violin. The violins are small. They are so small that both violins fit under one airplane seat. Because it is an instrument I would have to pay the rediculous fee for instruments. They could not be counted as a regular carry on even though they are super lightweight and small.

You can say RyanAir's fees are not hidden. But the company is definitely deceptive. It is very difficult to figure out all the possible fees one will incur. And even if you are very careful there is still a good chance that they will get you.

We eventually decided to fly with British Airways. As it turned out the prices were the same when we factored in travel to and from RyanAir airports that were 90minutes outside the city, checking our carry on, etc.

I like the guy who beat RyanAir at their own game--Google:
"How I beat RyanAir-and a cheat sheet for how you can too"

Business Plus is a good option to keep in mind, Stephen. Thanks for the tip.

Jehb2, everything in that article is what we already tell people here. It's interesting that, in order to keep from giving Ryanair any additional money for checking a bag, he chose to purchase a $79 vest to stash some of his stuff in. That purchase was over double the cost of his ticket, so where was the savings?

So I'm a little late to this...but figured I might be able to help anyhow. My husband and I live in Ireland and fly RyanAir all the time. Before we moved we bought Rick Steve's roller carry-on which has the dimensions for European travel. You can fit so much and we've never had an issue with it. If it looks big to them (and this is only if the flight is full) they will have you test it in their baggage fit thing. It fits! Also about Beauvais Paris airport...it's not even close to Paris. That said, I've heard other travelers that live in Europe and fly to Paris all the time and they still choose Beauvais. It's a small airport, you are out in less than 10 mins, including customs. And they have a bus right there whose times correspond to the arrival of flights. We were in Paris in around an hour. I think we paid €25 for a round trip? So, in that respect, you might be paying the same, Charles de Gaulle is quite large and the queues for customs can be quite long.
I don't buy anything on the plane nor do I do assigned seating.
Ok, hope this helps!

We have found Ryanair just fine. No tricks or hidden fees, very cheap, perfectly fine for short hops.

It's Ryanair, not RyanAir, and the abbreviation is FR ("RA" is Nepal Airlines. Getting on an RA flight will take you a bit out of your way ;) )

FR and its counterparts Easyjet, Wizzair, and Norwegian fill the same niche that Spirit does in the US. Definitely can be unpleasant, esp. if you're traveling with a lot of stuff, but if you want to make a European trip that includes out-of-the-way places like Cyprus or Madeira or northern Norway or eastern Poland for just a few bucks, it's worth it.

Thanks Ken! I have a hotel reserved there the night before our 7 AM flight. We will be in Cochem prior to that.

Ryanair is trying to be a little more customer friendly than in their formative years. EasyJet, Norwegian Air and others are vying for their customers, and they're tough competition..

We find mixing train travel up to 3 hours and budget European air carriers has brought a new dimension to our European travel. We now might travel in a specific vicinity, and go to a completely different country or place on the way home. We also budget carriers to supplement flying into an expensive location through an inexpensive location--coming or going.