Ryanair Or Aer Lingus

[smurfchops]

Ryanair is half the price of Aer Lingus. London to Cork. But a bit dubious about flying with them, seems too good to be true. What would I have to do e.g. how do I do the airport checkin at home and do I print my boarding card. Otherwise these things are extras. Not bothered about booking two seats together unless I have to. What are the fors and against flying with Ryanair please?

[Buenchico]

I love Ryanair!

Points in Ryanair's favour:
1. They're cheap.

2. They've got the best reliability record (and the lowest number of lost bags) of any airline in Europe.

3. They've got an excellent safety record (as, indeed, has Aer Lingus).

4. If you're flying with only hand luggage (as over 90% of travellers on their UK-Ireland routes do) you needn't worry about their baggage charges that some people like to moan about.


Points against Ryanair:
1. You can't check in at the airport (but why the hell anyone would want to is beyond me anyway - doing it online is so much simpler). Actually, you can now check in at the airport but you'll get charged £70/€70 for doing so!

2. You can only check in online free of charge up to 7 days before a flight, which can cause difficulties for people going to places where they'll have no internet access (complete with a printer) to check in for their return flight. Ryanair's online check-in facility is available up to 30 days before a flight only for people who are prepared to pay £5 (or €5), per person per flight at low season rates, to reserve their seats. (Aer Lingus offers free online check-in, to all passengers, up to 30 days before a flight).

3. Ryanair's baggage fees can sometimes be higher. Scroll down here to see their fees:
http://www.ryanair.com/en/fees/
and see here for the charges levied by Aer Lingus:
http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/baggageinformation/checkedbaggage/#checkedbaggagefeestable

[smurfchops]

Sorry to be a dummy but when I get to airport, do I check in the same way with my luggage clutching my boarding card in my hot sweaty hand ?

[Buenchico]

If you've got no bags to go into the hold you simply walk straight past the check-in area and proceed to the security gates.

If you've got hold baggage you drop it off at the bag drop desk (which opens 2 hours before the flight is due to leave and closes 40 minutes before the scheduled departure time) and then go to the security gates.

[DTCwordfan]

One of the worst flights that I have had in Europe, only 5 hours late with Ryan, having flown AMS to Stansted and then on to Cork. The only thing was our hotel out on the coast above Whitegate Refinery (very nice) had left us two soda, smoked salmon and salad plates and we got some fresh Guinness; it was gone 10.30pm when we arrived, not 5.30-6pm. Business trip it was and never again on the Pope's airline.

[DTCwordfan]

the return was Aer Lingus to Dublin, meeting there, and then the next day with them back to AMS - perfectly okay.

One of the tricks to entering the States by the way is to transit through Dublin and use Lingus or one of the others (Delta) as they have an Irish-US frontier there, so one flies 'domestic' trans-Atlantic, having cleared formalities and customs. Canada does this too and you avoid the long queues of major entry points in the States.

[jourdain2]

Ryanair has become a lot friendlier since its shares began to drop. I counsel against buying anything onboard (prices are huge) if you can manage not to (take your own sandwich and don't be pressured). It's quite straightforward to check-in on line (and I am a computer dunce, triple G, but have managed it several times) but you need to read the instructions and terms carefully. When you have checked in on line you can print your boarding card very simply by pressing 'print' - sometimes I print a lot of unnecessary pages as well!
The tricky bit is avoiding buying their travel insurance if you don't want it - the 'no' box is buried in the list of
countries to which they fly. It used to be around Yugoslavia, but had moved up to nearer Germany last time I booked. I think I will have to use them again in about a month and I quail a bit - but it is do-able and saves a lot of cash. So, gird loins etc. and have a go - I've done it lots of times. It works, that's OK.

[Buenchico]

>>>The tricky bit is avoiding buying their travel insurance if you don't want it

While the Ryanair website will undoubtedly try to sell you lots of 'extras', such as travel insurance, It's probably easier to avoid them now than it used to be. That's because, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations (which came into effect three months ago) a supplier can't charge for anything that is 'pre-ticked' when you book on their website.

[jourdain2]

Thanks Buenchico, I didn't know that it had changed. Phew, another pressure point removed.

[jno]

I wonder if the lowest number of lost bags in Europe is anything to do with the fact that they hardly carry any? They discourage people from taking anything but carry-ons.

[DTCwordfan]

The hotel was the Bayview in Ballycotton