does ryanair REALLY weigh the your carry on luggage?

They will weigh it, particularly if it looks like it might be too large.

Just to give you an idea, if Ryanair could charge you to use the rest room on the plane, they would (it's illegal to do so in the EU). They will definately try and weigh your luggage if it appears at all close. Ryanair is a fine and safe (they don't skimp on that at all) carrier, you just have to be prepared that they will nickel and dime you to make up for the low fares you pay.

So I guess we'll be packing VERY lightly for that part of the trip!

Don't they charge something like $10.00/checked bag? If so, then our flight would still be very cheap - we got the flight for 1p - plus tax, etc. for a total of $50.00. :) And my dear husband almost booked himself a $250.00 flight - I'm so glad I told him "NO!!!! Don't do it!!!" I knew there'd be a cheaper flight available! :)

The charge on Ryanair for checked bags is 5 GBP if you book online, 10 GBP if you have to check something at the desk at the last minute, so it's worth making sure you won't have to check.

Ryanair's maximum dimensions for carry-on luggage are 55cm x 40cm x 20cm (21.6" x15.7" x 7.9"). The dimensions of Rick's rolling bag are 21" x 14" x 9". I assume you are referring to the height of Rick's bag when you say it is one inch too big. Actually, you may no no problem carrying it on since the TOTAL dimensions of the bag are well with Ryanair's limits. I've read recent posts on either this or other boards from people saying they were able to carry on similarly-sized bags when flying Ryanair.

yes, you're right - that's what I was referring to. How can I find out for sure? I guess I could contact Ryanair, eh? I'd hate to get there thinking it will be okay only to find out that it's not.

Thanks!

I read somewhere (BBC?) recently that Ryan Air is - in the near future - going to start charging PER PERSON for checking in at a desk. If you check in online it's free. The catch is that you must check in at the desk if you are checking any luggage.

To be honest, the way RyanAir is adding on charges, I think it's probably cheaper to use other airlines who charge more for tickets, but don't have all the add ons.

The other thing to be careful of with Ryanair is that their airports are often nowhere near the cities they say they serve.

Three examples, Frankurt (Hahn) is 75 miles from Frankurt, Paris (Beauvais) is 55 miles from Paris and Brussels (Charleoi) is 30 miles from Brussels.

You might want to check the RyanAir website, but I believe that they only allow online checking for those with EU passports, so most of us would have to pay 10GBP or $20 for each checked bag.

Also, check out what people who have flownn RyanAir have to say on www.airlinequality.com. RyanAir has this tendency to cancel flights and just refund your money - no attempt to put you on other flights. Of course you are free to book again with them, at top, last minute prices. Then getting to you destination becomes very expensive.

Oh, my! Let's hope THAT doesn't happen!!!

Lee, I flew Ryanair from London to Spain in May and I chose to check my bag. I registered for this when I purchased my ticket online, and I was only charged the 5 GBP. I had absolutely no problem with their service, flight, or getting my luggage there.

You can get a cool little luggage scale for $10 at radioshak or other travel stores. It looks like a fish-scale 50 or 75lb limit. I used it vs running to the post office 3 times in the past with my RS-Bag! I was a bit paranoid about the 8kg limit too! But just go lighter if you can. Take a pair of Cargo pants for the flight and put your tour book or other heavy item in there. Wear your jacket/camera if you cant take an extra small personal daypack/purse like bag. Or bring 1 less shirt, 1 less socks, and leave the shampoos. (just take toothbrush and smaple-size paste!) Use a kitchen scale to measure items lik epants/sweaters and take the lighter ones. Its amazing how an extra shirt or belt or sweater adds 1-2 lbs fast!

I'd love to tell the whole story of Ryan Air, but I will say that we checked our bags and had the fish scale (Target) to make sure we distributed the weight between 6 of us. We noticed that almost all the EU people were traveling with only one carry-on and since I spent a lot of time shopping bags and measuring things they were longer than "allowed" and no one questioned them at the gate. Having said that, I believe you do have to be on an EU passport to check in at the gate and the people at the front counter are probably more observant as that is what they do. The people at the gate are usually the flight attendants and they have other things to worry about. As a bonus, on the flight to Stockholm (another airport far from the city) we were the only 6 on board with "non-EU" passports which made our going through customs quick.

Flight Attendant, you misread David's message -- he said "it's ILlegal in the EU"

It is illegal to charge to use a lavatory on board an aircraft ANYWHERE in the world and not just in the EU as specified.

He was trying to make a point that Ryanair tries to charge you for every little thing. I'm sure he thought that if he just said "if they could charge you to use the rest room" and let it go at that, someone would have thought they COULD do that. So he clarified in the parentheses that it is illegal. It was just an example regarding Ryanair's economic practices, not an insinuation that there is anywhere that you are charged for using the restroom on a plane.

I understood all that but thanks just the same. Perhaps the point could have been "Illegal" rather than just "Illegal in the EU" as he specified only the EU. Some people may not be aware that this is illegal anywhere in the world, and not just illegal in the EU as was specified.

This isn't making as much sense as it used to...what happened to Fl. Att.'s post with the incorrect quote???

I deleted my post. I was asking David why he specified that charging money to use the washroom onboard on aircraft is illegal in the EU. In fact, it is not only illegal in the EU, but illiegal in all parts of the world. I just wanted to clarify that.

And yes, I do know that he was trying to make a joke...
No harm done.

Huh. I didn't know we could delete our posts.

I am amused by how much people mis-read into my post. For the record, I didn't know it was illegal everywhere, I just knew for a fact that it was in the US/Canada/Mexico/EU and didn't want to make a global claim if I didn't know it was right.