Ryanair Air and connections

Discount airlines like Ryan Air don't transfer luggage to other airlines or their own flights. You have to do it yourself by collecting it off the carousel and then heading to check-in again for the boarding pass to your second flight. Be advised that there is also a risk involved, in that if your first flight arrives late and you miss the second flight (even though it's the same airline) you are out of luck. They won't put you on a later flight of free; like a traditional airline will. This is one of the downsides to using the discounts.

It shouldn't be. Just make sure that it's the same London airport (Ryanair flies to Gatwick, Stansted and Luton) in both cases and that you have at least 2 hours.

Shipping everything him will almost certainly cost more, although Ryanair does charge a lot for checked bags over 10kg in weight I believe.

I broke down and paid the extra moola for an individual bag for each of us. Thanks to your comments I made the lay over 3 hours. Hopefully this will give us enough time to get our bags and check in.

Maryalice

If you did as David suggested and made sure your incoming and outgoing flights are from the same airport, you should have plenty of time to collect your bags and recheck them for the next leg. Keep in mind that check-in closes 40 minutes before the flight, so don't dawdle in getting to the desk once you get your bags.