Note that this review is only of Ryanair's website.
- All fees are listed on a single page
- Insurance and baggage are not added automatically
- You usually end up with a flight at the end of the booking.
- Prices are not listed with taxes and fees included | Site often crashes
- 'Barcelona' airports are not in Barcelona.
- 40 euro airport check-in fee | Multiple credit card fees for single transaction
- Lowest checked luggage allowance in Europe
- Compulsory web check-in fee | No contact email address
- Ryanair does not publish all prices with the taxes and fees included. You are forced to select the flight first.
- The website is prone to crashing and times out quickly, making it difficult to compare prices on other sites while you book.
- Ryanair calls Reus and Girona "Reus (Barcelona)" and "Girona (Barcelona)", despite the fact they're 100km from Barcelona.
- Ryanar has quadrupled its airport check-in fee to 40 euros, renaming it a 'boarding card re-print fee'.
- Ryanair charges a credit card fee of 5€ per person, per flight, meaning a family of six will pay 60€ in these fees
- Ryanair has the lowest checked baggage allowance in Europe - just 15kg. Most medium sized cases take much more than that.
- Ryanair has a compulsory online check-in fee of 5€.
- Ryanair has no contact email address, which is against UK e-commerce regulations.
- Ryanair's route map requires Microsoft Skylight, which many computers do not have (and public PCs will not let you install)
- Ryanair is unique in budget arlines in providing a full list of its fees and charges: Ryanair Fees and Charges
But where the website falls down is in its interpretation of what it forces you, or nearly forces you, to pay for. Web check-in is compulsary and costs 5€ per person. Credit card fees are not charged per transaction, but per person and per flight.
A number of obstacles are places in your way, making it difficult to book easily. Fees and taxes are not included in the main fare, but added later. Many airports are listed differently from their official name. Ryanair has actually improved on this front - some of their destinations were not even in the country they said they were. This practice has stopped, but Ryanair still labels Reus and Girona incorrectly (saying they are in Barcelona), and fails to mention in the destination guide how far they are from Barcelona (they are both 100km from the city).
Still, Ryanair's fares are among the lowest in Europe - but always shop around. Get all the way to the 'pay' button before noting down the price and then compare with other airlines. You may be surprised to find Ryanair isn't as cheap as they look.
