A video for fans of Ryanair everywhere

I don’t normally venture into consumer travel issues, but I couldn’t resist this video about the low-cost European carrier Ryanair. For those of us in the UK and Europe who’ve experienced the joys of booking and travelling with Ryanair, you’ll know instantly what they’re singing about.

For those of you on the other side of the Atlantic, who perhaps haven’t had that pleasure, this video will enlighten you.

I’m neutral on Ryanair – I’ve only travelled with them once and the experience was fine (except for the bit when the website kept freezing when I needed to print out my boarding cards in a hurry). There, you see, almost everyone who flies with Ryanair has a tale to tell! Safe to say that they pride themselves on low prices and flights that arrive on time, but their reputation for Customer Service isn’t the greatest and they add extra charges at every and any opportunity. You see, even flying cheaply has a price!

Some tips to take advantage of Ryanair’s low prices

1. Book well ahead to get the best deals and don’t change anything after you’ve booked or you’ll pay for it. (£100-150 for a name change, £25-55 for a flight change)

2. Look out for the promotional offers with really cheap deals and you will then avoid the infamous on-line check-in charge of £5 per person per flight. This is one charge that had plenty of protest as it’s an add-on that you can’t avoid and yet not published as part of the basic fare.

3. Order your Electron card now, and avoid the extra credit card charges (£5 per person per one way flight). The electron card is a basic bank account which you can’t go overdrawn on, for example the Halifax Easycash account, or the Co-op Cashminder account.

4. Travel light – hand baggage only and stick to the rules carefully. You can take only ONE piece of hand baggage (no extra handbags or laptops) and it must be no more than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm and weigh no more than 10kg.

5. If you do pay extra for hold luggage (£15 per bag per flight extra booked online or £35 at the airport)  don’t go over the 15kg allowance or you’ll be charged for it (£20 per kilo)

6. From 21 May 2009 you MUST check-in on-line and bring your printed boarding passes to the airport, or you will pay £40 extra per person for a 1 way journey.

7. Do everything on-line. You don’t get a whole lot of choice with this anyway but the charges are always higher if you incurr them at the airport.

8. Read the small print – for instance if a group of people is booked on the same ticket, but some have hold luggage and other’s don’t you will all have to pay an additional check-in fee.

With all these add-on’s I’d be amazed if anyone ever pays the published price. If you have any more Ryanair tips, please add them in the comments.

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