Ryanair - A low fare runaway success

Ryanair was started in 1985, flying with one small aircraft from Waterford
in Ireland to London Gatwick. Based in Dublin, it is now
Europe's largest low-cost carrier.
In 2007, the Irish airline handled
nearly 50 million passengers and
numbers are still growing.
A policy of relentless cost-cutting and lucrative revenues from many other travel services has allowed them to offer free flight fares to many passengers. Apart from the flight ticket price everything else is charged extra, but this in no way seems to slow down this very successful airline.

Ryanair Routes and Destinations

Ryanair has many hundreds of low fare flight routes across about 25 European countries. The number of routes varies as new destinations are opened up and unprofitable ones discontinued. The majority of Ryanair flights depart from London Stansted, followed by Liverpool, East Midlands, Glasgow Prestwick and London Luton airports. Some flights also go to southern Europe from a few other regional airports. In Ireland, Ryanair flies mostly from Dublin, Shannon and Cork.
The airline mainly flies to smaller regional airports which are cheaper to fly into, but can be a long way away from cities or towns. Special bus services often meet Ryanair flight arrivals to transfer passengers onwards to their destination.
Ryanair also plans to begin flying low cost to secondary airports in the US.

For some of the cheapest airfares return including taxes see...

Fly to Dublin from £45 from all 17 of their UK departure airports.

They have some really low fares to Eastern Europe from £42.

Perhaps the best value with Ryanair is to Italy, check prices to the lovely Pisa fr. £40.

France has always been popular with Ryanair passengers, fares from £50 to Limoges.

Useful Information

Below is our comprehensive and independent guide to flying with Ryanair. Reading the information below could save you time and money.

Booking	Booking flights is mainly done online and prices can change daily or hourly. If you wish to travel during popular times, book well in advance for the best fares. During booking, expect to see various extra charges* appear on top of the flight price such as credit/debit card charge, insurance fee, check-in baggage fees. You must change the insurance default setting whilst booking if you do not wish to pay for the Ryanair travel insurance, or you will be charged automatically. *For the latest Ryanair fees see: Ryanair charges and fees.
Check in	Ryanair really wants travellers to check-in online and take only hand luggage, to keep costs down. Otherwise allow plenty of time and expect a separate airport check-in fee (see link above). Checking-in online is free if you only have hand baggage. Online check-in can be done from 2 days - 4 hours before scheduled flight departure. Airport check-in desks open 2 hours and close 40 minutes before scheduled time of departure, boarding gates close 10 minutes before take-off.
Seats	Specific seats cannot be pre-booked or booked together. Choose your own seat during boarding, or buy a £4 Priority Boarding Pass at the airport if you want to avoid a scrum. Only disabled passengers who have notified Ryanair in advance will be boarded last and get shown reserved seats (call 0871 2460003 - Calls cost 10p/min from UK landline). Ryanair seat pitch (legroom) is a small 30". The roomiest seats are next to the emergency exit rows, or use an aisle seat for longer flights. Large persons are allowed to reserve and pay for an additional seat.
Baggage	Only cabin hand baggage is carried free: one single item up to 10kg, maximum dimensions 55x40x20cm and nothing else. Ryanair does not offer a free check-in baggage allowance and fees go up regularly. The checked-in baggage weight allowance per person is just 15 kg, remember this weight cannot be pooled or shared with anyone else. No baggage allowance for infants, but pram or buggy is carried free. Ryanair baggage allowance restrictions are strictly enforced at airports, be prepared to remove things from bags to meet these rules or pay the excess baggage charges. For the latest Ryanair baggage fees see: Ryanair charges and fees.
Flight Changes	Flights can only be changed for a large fee: online up to 12 hours before, by telephone up to 4 hours before flight, all fares are non-refundable. A name change now costs £80. Cancelled or delayed flights are only notified by email, so check before travel. There is no compensation for delays or cancelled flights for 'reasons beyond Ryanair's control',(travel insurance is recommended). Unfortunately, the only way to contact Ryanair is through a premium rate phone number, or send complaints or claims to the Ryanair Head Office at Dublin Airport. It can often be cheaper and quicker to discard your old ticket and buy a new one in cases of dispute.
Food	Pricey small snacks and various drinks can be bought on board, or bring your own food.
Review	Many people travel regularly on Ryanair flights with no problems. Passengers vote with their feet because they like the many very low fares, the average basic return ticket lies just under £60 (but excluding tax and other charges). Most flights are fine - unless something goes wrong, after which travel could turn out to be very expensive. Skytrax passenger surveys indicate severe criticism for lack of customer care. Airline research company Skytrax ranks Ryanair as a 2 star low cost airline. In October 2006 Ryanair was voted the world's most disliked airline in a TripAdvisor website poll.
Fleet	Ryanair has a large and growing fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft with up to 189 seats capacity. Average age of fleet is just under 3 years.

News

May 2008 New Ryanair flights to start from Manchester to Frankfurt Hahn from late October.
February 2008 Ryanair will launch 17 new routes from Edinburgh soon.

Back to Airlines Guides