ryan air

No problems but just know that the advertised price IS NOT what you will pay! There are MANY add-on charges and taxes. In addition, they tend to fly out of smaller, out-of-the-way airports such as Beauvais in Paris. I often fly Vueling or Easyjet just because they either allow more luggage, have better airport connections, or are just cheaper!!!

Ciao,
Ron

We flew Ryanair from Paris to Rome a month ago and everything went just fine. From reading posts on this website, I knew I would have to check my bag, even though it is considered a carry on for AA and I knew I would have to pay to check it. It was still a lot cheaper and quicker than any other flight or train.

You will pay less for checking your bags if you pay for it online when you make your reservation. I never could figure out a way to go back and pay it so I had to pay for it at the airport.

If flying from Paris, you will have to take an hour long bus ride to the airport but it is a nice ride through the French country side. The airport is small which makes it much easier and quicker to get around in. In Rome, we flew into a small airport and once again, it was much easier to find our way around.

In Paris (Beauvais) to do that, when you get off the bus and go in the building, go all the way to the right end of the building (with back to door), pay and get a receipt. You will show that receipt when you check in. If you don't already have that, when you check in, you will have to go down to that desk, pay and then go back to the check out counter.

You get what you pay for (except that Ryan Air is a safe airline, so don't worry about that). As noted, don't expect convenient airports and read the add ons for your ticket very closely. To give you an idea, the following charges are certainly possible on an average flight:

Check-in at the airport-5 euros.
Checked bag-10 euros if booked online, 20 if not.
Excess weight on a bag-15 euros PER KILO.
Soda onboard-1.6 euros.
Sandwich onboard-5 euros.

Patrick, from where to where would you want to fly Ryanair?

Patrick, if you have your travel plans locked in and you know your future travel plans AND, you are aware of the rules and added fees, RyanAir can really be a bargain. For this airline, the earlier you book, the cheaper the fare. The fare increases as the flight date approaches. Watch out for weight and size on your backpack. Could be extra dollars there plus it will most likely have to be checked.

i'm from canada and am going to europe to backpack around. i will be over ther in about 6 weeks and i plan on going to as many countries as i can and i noticed there are really good deals on flights with ryan air

Patrick,

As noted just be aware that there are often additional fees and the airports they serve are quite a distance from the cities they say they serve at times.

Patrick....you can find many different discount airlines ranging across Europe at www.whichbudget.com and www.flylc.com. As noted, most now have pretty tight restrictions on check-in times, luggage weights, etc. And, as noted, watch Ryanair and it's airports. Paris "Beavais," Frankfurt "Hahn," Venice "Treviso," Barcelona "Gerona" and "Reus," Bratislava "Vienna," Brussels "Charleroi," etc. are all quite some distance from the cities they say they serve, so there will be an extra cost taking a bus to the city itself.

I used Ryan Air a few times, and never had any problems with it becuase I knew exactly what I was getting into. Yes for example Beauvais is about over an hour outside of Paris and you have to pay 13 euros for the bus, however it takes about 40 minutes on the RER to get from CDG to Paris and that costs about 8.50 euros or so, so is spending the saving 4 euros on the ride into Paris and maybe a half hour worth the extra cost for flying into a real airport?

Although I flew RyanAir a few times, I tried to fly with Easy Jet if I could. They often flew out of more convinient airports. Good Ryan Air airports include Edinburugh, Dublin and Krakow, the airports Ryanair fly into there are the real, central airports. There could me more, do some research on where you want to go.

Hi Patrick--We flew Ryan in 2005 from Treviso (Venice) to Beauvais (Paris) to save time. We actually arrived at our hotel one hour earlier than if we'd taken the more relaxing train! It's a good idea to make comparisons in travel time, convenience as well as price.