Should I fear booking on Ryanair?

I've never had a problem with them and used them several times. Arrive waaay before your flight to check-in and read the fine print on the website so you know exactly what you will be charged for (baggaage, etc.) Everything should be fine as long as you're not the type of person who books a non-refundable plane ticket and then complains when the airline charges you $200 to change it. :)

While I've also seen many people complain about them on websites, neither myself nor my relatives that live in Europe permanently have ever had a bad experience with Ryanair. They just fly in/out of a lot of secondary airports, so do the math before booking any flight with them and find out how much it will cost you to get to/from the airport.

Ryanair is just fine as long as you understand that they don't fly from Paris and they don't fly into Venice although their website does say Paris and Venice. They fly from airports located in cities near Paris and Venice. A bit misleading.

The website does say Paris-Beauvais and Venice-Treviso. Beauvais is actually outside of, and north of Paris. There are shuttles from Paris to this airport. Next, Treviso is a 40-minute train ride from Venice.

True Vueling is a bit more expensive but they do truly fly from Paris CDG to Venice Marco Polo.

I successfully completed a Ryanair trip (Hahn to Kerry and return) a few weeks ago. The flights were on time, baggage handling was as described on their website, check-in was efficient, on board service is good (you've got to pay for everything but that's OK given the low fares). Without any doubts I can highly recommend flying Rynair to anybody who's aware that check-in closes EXACTLY 40mins prior to departure and there's absolutely now way you can get on the flight if you're too late! It was my 8th or so roundtrip on Ryanair and on not one of them did I ever have any problems or unpleasant experiences.

As Ceidleh noted, be aware of extra time and charges. Ryanair flies out of the misnamed "Paris Beauvais" airport, which is actually in the small town of Beauvais northwest of Paris. A bus service from Porte Maillot in northwestern Paris leaves 3 1/4 hours before your flight time and takes about 90 minutes to make the run at a cost of 13 Euro. Then a bus in from the "Venice Treviso" airport (actually in the city of Treviso, north of Venice) will cost you another 6 Euro. With all that taken into account, easyjet's cheapest flight, including transportation to/from CDG and Marco Polo airports, works out to be 1 Euro less...their next cheapest flight, only 6 Euro more...that Ryanair.

I've never had a problem with Ryanair, either. I think many of the people who complain are people who didn't quite follow their rules, which are detailed. If you stay within their requirements, you shouldn't have a problem.

Hi everyone :) i have a few questions about RyanAir too:

1. Does anyone know what the deal is with their requirement to "Please confirm you will present a valid EEA/EU passport or valid EU/EEA Government issued National Identity Card at the airport? (Driving Licence not accepted"?

I only have my US passport and have read that we will have to pay extra. How much extra will this be?

1. Does anyone know what exactly the baggage weight limit is for say a flight from London to Rome?

2. Lastly, is it better to fly from Luton on Stansted?

Thank you :)

Susan....The message re: EU passport shows up only when you select "Zero baggage, on-line check-in," so as a non European, you cannot select that option....don't know why, but I believe it has to do with security requirements concerning non-EU passengers checking in via the Internet. That means you will pay more, because you'll have to select airport check-in, which is an extra 3 GBP per person. You can ask the check-in agent for a form to seek a refund from Ryanair. As for weight, it's the same wherever you travel ion Ryanair. For checked baggage, there's a limit of three pieces of luggage weighing a TOTAL of 15 kg (33 pounds), and payment of 3 GBP each checked luggage fee. One piece of carry-on luggage is allowed, with a max. weight of 10 kg (22 pounds) and no more than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. That's ONE PIECE of carry-on, NOT one piece plus a personal item like a purse. As for Luton versus Stansted....whichever airport is easiest for you to get to from (I presume) London.

Maybe someone with more recent experience can elaborate, but my experience was that one "carry on" item is not the standard rolling carry on bag, that they want you to check. Your "carry on" is your purse, daypack, or briefcase.

Paul, your carry-on CAN be a rolling bag as long as it fits within their guidelines and it is the ONLY item you carry on. Their weight limit is very strict, though, and it costs more to check a bag at the last minute than if you plan ahead to check it.

Probably the worst of Ryanair's misrepresentations is Hahn, which they call Frankfurt Hahn, but which is in reality 126km (80 miles, 1-3/4 hrs by bus) from the city of Frankfurt.

Hahn is actually closer to Luxembourg and France than it is to Frankfurt.

For the scoop on Ryanair, click here. Note Ryan is one of the only non-third-world airlines with less then a *** ("Industry average") rating.

Of the sixteen most used airports in Europe, Ryan uses exactly none of them.

Bit of trap that your purse/handbag is deemed to be 'carry on' luggage. We encountered this rule a couple of weeks ago when flying from Belfast to Edingburgh with Easy Jet. Strictly ONE piece of carry-on luggage per person. Got around the problem by stuffing my purse in my carry on bag???? Must say Easy Jet were more generous with baggage allowance this time around than when I travlled with them in 2004.

Great! Thanks, Norm! Looks like i should be okay now that i know what to expect.

I have never had a problem with them either...apart from chronic late departures. Plan on being squished like a sardine, but you should be fine! Have a nice trip!

Has anyone here had experience flying into/out of Paris- Beauvais or Barcelona- Girona? If so, can someone please message me with their advice as far as navigating these airports and how to get into the actual city (train, bus, etc.) upon landing? Thank you for the help. Also, the clarification on the EU passport really helped since I was wondering the same thing!

I made that exact trip on Ryan air last year and boy did i pay for it! They are extreamly strict on their weight requirements as stated but the most important fact as was said is that Beauve is far. If you have an early flight which we did and since we wanted to make sure we wouldn't be late we took a taxi which cost us 130 euro. Please don't repeat my mistake. Easyjets airports in this instance are much easier and will cost you less in the long run.