Up, Up and Away! (Ryanair)

Member Name: fluff-buff

Product:	Ryanair
Date:	20/05/03 (701 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of Destinations, Cheap Flights

Disadvantages: Stansted Airport

Before you read, please let me say that there appears to be some problems with the Capital Letters on Dooyoo! Many thanks and onto the review ...

Ryanair have to be one of the cheapest airlines around. They have now expanded their bases around the UK and you can get to destinations (mainly Dublin I have to say) from an airport fairly local to you.

Stansted is still the main airport but there is a fair range of destinations to be chosen from this airport. Choose from airports in:

· France
· Spain
· Italy
· Sweden
· Germany
· Belgium
· Sardinia
· Ireland

And others are available.

OUR EXPERIENCE

I had never travelled with Ryanair until we went to Italy last year. We went onto the website which is fairly user friendly and entered some dates for travel. We were not too bothered about where we were going and just chose the cheapest flight.

We managed to find a flight on August Bank Holiday for 5.00 outwards and 18.00 return. It came to a total of 78.00 including airport taxes for the two of us to get to Ancona, which is on the Adriatic coast, not far from Rimini.

So, off we travelled to Stansted. I have to say that I am not a fan of Stansted Airport. It is just a large hanger with not a lot to do in the early hours of the morning. It could be a problem if you have younger children, as most of the cheapest flights do seem to be at "ridiculous o'clock" in the morning.

We waited around until our flight was boarding, and had no problems getting checked in and onto the plane. The flight left on time.

There was very little legroom, not enough to stretch out in. You would probably get very uncomfortable if you are on the tall side, although, you were not allocated seats on boarding the plane so you could pretty much sit where you wanted. If you are tall I would suggest getting to the front of the queue so you can sit where the doors are for more

legroom.

There was the usual amount of baggage space above the seats.

We had the usual "trolley dollies" coming around asking us if we wanted any food
or duty-free. I had not expected this at all, as I believed that you would not get the opportunity of a meal on the flight, but you did. OK, so you had to pay for it, but you got a ham and cheese baguette for around 4.00.

The pilot gave the usual spiel about what height you were flying at and which countries you were crossing, and warned of any turbulance we may encounter.

The cabin crew were friendly and helpful and it took us around 2 hours to get to Ancona.

The airplane was not as luxurious as perhaps a British Airways flight, but then you are only paying a pittance to get to your location.

We got to our destination with no problems whatsoever and although we didn't particularly have the best holiday ever, it was nothing to do with any problems we encountered with Ryanair.

TERMS & CONDITIONS OF RYANAIR

· Book in is generally 2 hours prior to departure. The check-in desk at Stansted closes 40 minutes prior to departure and at other airports 30 minutes prior to departure. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BOOK IN AFTER THESE TIMES AND YOU WILL BE DENIED BOARDING WITHOUT A REFUND.

· You can change your flight time and/or passenger details up to 3 hours before departure but you must pay a fee of 15.00 and it is only subject to availability.

· If Ryanair cancel a flight and no alternative flight is available they will refund all monies paid in respect of that flight. Ryanair do not however provide you with meal vouchers or hotel accommodation for any delayed flights.

· Baggage is limited to 15kg (which is not a lot!) and any excess is charged at 4.00 per kilo. Your luggage should be name tagged with your name and address, contact number and flight details.

· Hand luggage should not weigh any more
than 7kg.

There are various other terms and conditions on the website, but I have narrowed it down to the one's that I felt were most important.

I have to say that we struggled on the baggage allowance, as 22kg for a week's holiday is soon used up once you have packed your clothing, towels, shoes and sun lotion.

MY OPINION

All in all, my experience of Ryanair was quite good. If you are looking to have a cheap holiday then their website is definitely checking out as you can pick up a real bargain.

Do not expect luxury as you will be disappointed. It is more a means of getting from "A" to "B". Where you stay afterwards is entirely up to you, but make sure you check out the location of the airport and your final destination before travelling, as you could be in for a long ride.

AND FINALLY ...

Although Ryanair do fly to some of the main airports, their destinations are usually some of the smaller airports (and I mean tiny!) which is probably how they keep the cost so low. Some of these airports can be miles away from where you would eventually like to end up, so please be aware of this or you will spend most of your holiday in a car or on a train.

Another tip is to keep an eye on the prices for months before you travel. Weekend flights are generally more expensive than a weekday flight.

As I mentioned earlier, we picked up our tickets for 5.00 pounds outwards and 18.00 pounds return about 4 months before we travelled. Two weeks before we left to go on holiday we checked the price again and it had risen to 289.00 outwards and about 48.00 return, which is a huge, huge difference. We have recently seen flights to France for as little as 99p, but remember that the airport taxes can add quite a large amount onto this.

There is a credit card charge of 4.00 or 1.00 for a debit card when reserving your flights.

You will receive an e-mail from Ryanair
confirming your booking. PLEASE ENSURE YOU KEEP THESE DETAILS SAFE AS THEY ARE YOUR TICKET!


For further information please see:

www.ryanair.com

As always, thanks for reading.

Fluff
xx

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