Ryanair Review

If booking ca 1 month before departure, tickets are frequently EUR 6-10 all inclusive of special fees or taxes that Ryanair may have invented. Airplanes are all brand new, and the airline has become Europe's biggest with 70 mill. annual passenger volume and also has major profits. So people obviously like Ryanair, despite all critics. For such low prices, obviously you don't get first class service with ""free"" meals and other perks of high cost airlines. The price of the tickets are less than a normal coach bus fare, so you should expect about the same service as on a normal coach bus as well. For the basic service of air travel, Ryanair does what they should do - they land on time and with no problems, so far for most of my flights. But I've only had about 100 flights with Ryanair, mostly from Stanstead and Frankfurt-Hahn. There was once a problem with an airplane, so we got a second airplane and had to wait 2 hours. This meant I had to pay double for my rental car, which was a pain for me and the only outright negative experience with Ryanair. The other negative experience was that it was snowing one day, and the airport closed - not really Ryanair's fault. FEES The only way to avoid card fee of EUR5 per passenger, is Mastercard prepaid. So get a 100% free Neteller card, or Wirecard (EUR1 instant issue) or Ecocard (EUR 0.40 per transaction), unlike Wizzair where you're forced to pay payment fees. Handluggage 10kg is free and sufficient for my needs for short airtravel in Europe. However, if you don't preprint your boardpass 4 hours to 14 days before departure, or you bring check-in luggage - you have to pay steep fees. They have several optional features like SMS and insurance while booking, so just be careful what you select while booking to avoid such extra costs. So far, I've not been tricked. If you make a wrong booking, like wrong date - your money is lost if you have already paid. SERVICE Don't expect to get paid for problems caused by Ryanair, like a rental car fee jump due to replaced airplane. Food in flight appears not so great, and cost a fortune like any airport food. There are no seat reservation, and I wouldn't bother with the priority boarding feature they offer - unless getting quickly into the plane for a special seat is important for you. You may have to listen to annoying commercials for some lotto tickets and similar stuff during the flight. On some flights, you may use your mobile - likely at high roaming costs. I arrived once after the gate was closed, and the gate called the airplane and they let me in. So this service, I was happy with. LOCATION They often select airports 100-200km away from the city you're going to. This means you often have to take a train or bus that cost more than the airplane tickets, which cost often below EUR10. CONCLUSION Ryanair has brought choice and competition to the airline industry - fantastic. Even if you do prefer paying extra for a more expensive airline, at least prices have also come down at major airlines due to competition from Ryanair. If you're willing to fly low budget, Ryanair seems great for the price. No ""free"" food included in the EUR10 ticket price for 1-2hr flights is also acceptable for some passengers.

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