Ryan Air experiences

It's easy as long as you download the app so you can get an electronic boarding pass, and check the size and weight of your luggage. They weigh and measure. Overall we have found them as reliable as other airlines.

RyanAir is very popular among many! I personally avoid them but then I am a bit of a cranky pants when it comes to airlines who are notorious for finding new and creative ways to add surcharges. If you know the rules, they can be a great deal! My only direct experiences were fine.

Happy travels!

We haven't yet flown with RyanAir but have flights booked in late December and early January--Barcelona to Fez and Marrakech to Barcelona. We have the app which is very easy and effective. We did pay to check 20k bags. That puts us into a certain class (Plus?) which also means that we can obtain a paper boarding pass at no charge if we want. We have our boarding passes on my phone, instead. Getting the boarding passes on their app was quite easy. We also were able to get them at least two weeks before our flight. Fingers crossed that we have a good experience, but so far, so good. I am hopeful that things work out well for you, too.

Our experience flying on RyanAir was perfect. There were no problems at all. We chose to fly with them as they offered a non stop on the route we wanted to take.

I've flown them a couple of times. As others have said, as long as you know and follow their rules about checking in, boarding passes, size and weight of bags, it's fine. Barring events out of their control (weather, for example) you will arrive in a timely fashion. My only complaint is their seats. They are about as comfortable as sitting on a metal folding chair. Oh, and their constant advertisements while in the air. So bring headphones and listen to something nice.

Ive flown them about a half dozen times ... maybe 8 times actually. Good Website and as easy to use as any other airline website. Reminds you more often than most of what you are buying and what you are not buying. So maybe more transparent than some.

There are no surcharges, or no more than any other airline. But I am not sure of the definition of a surcharge. There are upgrades with more services and conveniences. They are very well spelled out and detailed in big text. No tricks. Yes, that $28 BASIC flight from Budapest with nothing but an underseat bag, to Malta will cost you $60 if you upgarde to REGULAR which lets you pick your seat and bring a carry-on bag, or will cost you $75 if you upgrade to PLUS so you can check a bag. Now some folks freak out over this. Like Lufthansa doesnt have BASIC, ECONOMY and PREMIUM ECONOMY to choose from?

Remember most of their customer base are Europeans running off to a Black Sea resort for the weekend for 25 euro a ticket. They love the system. I do too, living in Europe.

As for service and quality, as you might expect from the rant above, I fly them from time to time. They have as good an on time record as a few of the big carriers. The flight attendants are polite human beings as one would expect. The process of boarding is more orderly than a lot of airlines and worse than Southwest. But most importantly the flight will get you from A to B as advertised and for the price advertised.

Is it my favorite airline? Heck no, that would be Turkish Air, but sometimes it is the one the provides the most service for the dollar.

I seem to have one flight with them every trip it seems. The app is easy to use, just make sure you check in ahead of time and have your boarding pass.

but my main advice is don't be cheap. Too many people look at the baggage restrictions and think they can slide by. Realistically, when I travel for several weeks with just a carry-on size bag and a personal item, I know that my US sized carry-on pushes the size limits, especially once packed, and I tip the scales at just over 10 kilos usually. So I find it easiest to take the "Plus" option, getting a 20 kilo checked bag, an assigned seat, and if I need it, airport check-in. Checking a bag is no issue on point to point flights, and especially since most of the airports they use are smaller. The total cost with the flight and add-ons is still way less than other options.

Look out for the boarding pass rules for Morocco. I recall reading recently that they still require paper boarding passes.

Here is the definitive Ryanair thread on the forum:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/ryanair-going-to-all-digital-bording-passes-nov-12

Content guaranteed to be sometimes informative!

Ho ho ho!

Happy holidays and happy travels!

I fly RyanAir regularly and they are absolutely fine. It's not fancy but Budapest to Edinburgh is only a few hours anyway. As others have said, just be careful with the rules about baggage, check-in, etc. Something else to look out for is they don't always fly to the most direct airport- e.g. they will fly to Bergamo airport and call it Milan, or Bratislava and call it Vienna. But for Budapest and Edinburgh they fly to the main airports.

The one thing I will say is that the ticket categories are not intuitive. You have got to read them and pay attention. Nothing misleading and they put the rules and what you get and don’t get up in big print every couple of screens you book so if you can read, you can’t possibly make a mistake. For instance:
BASIC on your flight can be as low as $82 (but as high as over $200 because they do dynamic pricing, so buy asap) and is an under-seat bag only and you will pay for a seat selection (or let them do it for free).
REGULAR class for the $82 Basic Flight is $127 and adds a 10kg carry-on plus a reserved seat plus priority boarding (which is nice).
PLUS which for about $10 more a ticket than REGULAR gets you a checked bag, your reserved seat, but you lose the carryon bag and your lose the priority boarding.

I don’t really see this as any different than the ticket class categories on Lufthansa or any other carrier, just different menu names and different ingredients. What makes Ryanair and Wizzair work is that, one, they do routes that no one else does, and two, they offer a service category for short weekend trips like those that are popular for Europeans (the 25 euro under-seat bag ticket).

Your trip from Budapest to Edinburg begins at the airport that has been named the best airport in Europe in the category of airports with 15-25 million passengers for the second time in two years by Airports Council International, based on direct feedback from passengers; and it really is easy to navigate. You are leaving Schengen so you will go through passport control. If that takes 5 minutes I would be surprised. Security is usually about 5 minutes as well.

Take the 100E bus to the airport, be on it about 2.5 to 2.75 hours prior to boarding time if you are doing carry on only, maybe 2.75 to 3 hours early if you are checking a bag. The bus is free if you are over 65 otherwise it’s about $7. Or take a taxi if your accommodation is not close to the 100E stop. I like CityTaxi and they have a good phone App so you don’t have to worry about language. It will cost you about $35. I would leave at the same times as for the bus.

Ryanair's punctuality is quite good and the times I have flown them I haven't really experienced any problems with the exception of my flight from Riga to Gdansk. I had seat 1A and it was the most uncomfortable and tightest seat I have ever experienced on a flight. I don't scrimp on a ticket as I can't be bothered to be worried about whether my bag fits the required dimensions etc so I check my bag and I pay for seat selection. I also can't be doing with the hard sell during the flight so I agree with bringing head/earphones to listen to something else.

The other thing to be aware of is to note where your destination airport is. Some of the airports they fly to are quite some distance from the city you actually want to visit. For example, you might purchase a ticket to Paris or Munich only to find that the airports they actually fly to are Paris-Beauvais (82 km from the city of Paris) or Munich Memmingen (117 km from the city of Munich). As it is, if you're flying to Edinburgh then you'll arrive at Edinburgh proper.

They are the best option for edi to budapest. cost wise anyway and wouldnt have any issues using them
Ive flown a lot with them - they arent my favourate airline but they are cheap and cheerful, and admittedly pretty reliable.
i view flights like a bus trip that i dont really want to be on though but a means to an end
app wise its good - never really had any issues with it.
If you dont pay the extra for a seat though they will definately split you up but its not a long flight anyway so not end of world if you want to save a bit

Thank you all for these very informative responses! I now feel much better informed and comfortable with using this airline. Thanks Mr E for all the specific info on Budapest’s airport and getting there. It is all very helpful to know!

You need to post over in the Hungarian forum for the rest of the trip ..... we just scratched the surface with the airport.

Ohh, under 65, the airport is also where you buy your public transportation card (although it doesnt work on the 100E express but into town from the airport).

We've now had our first RyanAir experience: Barcelona to Fes, Marrakech to Barcelona. For the first leg, our boarding passes had to be on their app. It was quite easy. For the second leg, it had to be a printed boarding pass. Again, easy. No one had an issue with our carry-on because we followed protocol. There was a bag measurement device if we wanted to use it, but no one had us do so. From Marrakech, we did want to purchase the extra carry-on possibility, but it was sold out three days before our flight, so purchase it well in advance.

They "push". For a lot of people their low prices and convenience is worth it.

Italy seems to have fined them for one "push".

https://www.deceptive.design/cases/ryanair-s-investigation-by-italian-competition-authority

[snip]
Ryanair was held liable for not providing adequate information or giving misleading information to consumers acquiring the insurance policy covering the risk of travel cancellation.

Perhaps they were talking about the below link where they show how Ryanair hid the "don't insure me" in the middle of a drop down list of Country Names. Perhaps it was just an error.

https://darkpatterns.uxp2.com/pattern/ryanair-travel-insurance/

From first link:

[snip]
Ryanair Ltd was found guilty of unfair commercial practices violating articles 20, 21, b) and d), 22, 24 and 25 of the Consumer Code. They were fined €850,000 and ordered to cease the prohibited practices.

Lindy, as you discovered, Ryanair gets you where you want to go in a manner consistent with industry norms. Nothing to celebrate, nothing to condemn. There are two points of view on the airline. There is the point of view of customers and the point of view of those that believe in every internet fabricated cause for justice.

What I find amazing is that one of the few businesses that levels the playing field for the working stiff comes under so much fire from those who profess to care about the proletariat. It makes me wonder who is funding it.

I suspect tens of thousands of Europeans, if not hundreds of thousands of Europeans, have had the opportunity to lie on the same beach as the elite thanks to those 45-euro, personal item only flights. Why would someone want to tell them that they don’t deserve that opportunity?

Robert, thanks for pointing yet another reason that many decent folks select other airlines with more ethical business practices! Ah, in the US, Southwest is both low cost and ethical! They really should branch out to Europe to show those Ryanair folks how to do things!

Of course many folks love Ryanair! And by “many” I really mean very few folks! (I fly them too!)

Happy travels!