Pay Least - Experience Most : Flying with Ryanair

Experience flying with Ryanair

To sum it all up, during my trip to Europe, I was flying Ryanair for about 20 trips, the most terrifying of which was the flight of seven Ryanair flights on Easter holidays.

I had Ryanair flights from Barcelona to Rome, Roma to Athens, Athens to Santorini , Santorini back to Athens, Athens to Milano, Torino to Ibiza, Ibiza to Barcelona.

The total cost I spend is

€ 30 (BCN-Rome),

€ 20 (Rome - Athens),

€ 20 (Athen - Santorini),

€ 20 (Santorini - Athen),

€ 35 (Athen - Milan),

€ 25 (Torino - Ibiza),

€ 15 euro (Ibiza - BCN).

The total amount for the airfare is 165 euros / 7 flights.

So my friends called me ”the god of Ryanair because during those 7 flights I did not have a problem, while my friends had two luggage that were too big, 1 person having problem with boarding pass.

Anyway, for most Erasmus students, everyone knows cheap Ryanair, which is so well known in the low-cost segment.

I find the usual fare for a Ryanair domestic European route is around € 35, but there are also plenty of tickets for just € 15 or € 20, including tax, super cheap. Tickets available at any time are available at a discount of € 15-30 per trip, either long or short.

Ryanair is cheap, but it has a lot to offer and strict conditions that if you do not comply will be subject to high charges. However, I mean "There is no free lunch" if you want to get cheap airfare, then you have to get upset when flying with Ryanair, if you adhere to, then no matter what happens to be gone. Tickets are too cheap. There is no denying that Ryanair is well known and Europe-wide.

Here, I will list some of the nasty points when flying with Ryanair, not pleasant but enough to bear the cheap service.

First of all, you can see that on my itinerary to Santorini, I have to fly as many flights as Ryanair does not have connections between flights: they are only responsible for taking you to your destination and if your connecting Ryanair’s flight is delayed, they would not care about that, there is delay also you try to bear it! Of course I have deftly used to fly multiple flights to visit different cities.

For example, in flight from Barcelona to Santorini, the airfare is quite expensive, so I choose to fly many small trips, from Barcelona to Rome, then I stayed to visit in Rome for a few days, waiting for cheap fight tickets, then I continued to fly from Rome to Athens, I stayed in Athens for just on eday only, then I f went back to the airport flying to Santorini, the travel is sometimes a little tired but in return, I and my friends, we could go on a long trip with many beautiful stops moreover, whenever we finished one stop that we feel closer to the final destination which is the island paradise of Santorini. Therefore I find it worth our effort.

The fact that my experience with Ryanair’s departure has not been delayed yet! Of course, I also do not have expectations in customer service that will be satisfied as the cheapest airline I have ever known.

Secondly, I have to mention that Ryanair will often fly to suburban and distant airports: Ryanair favorite airport is usually located in some suburbs in the city, sometimes out of the city centre but if you compare it to the extra little cost to go to another company is close to having to pay extra bus travel costs, I think it will be much better. It can be mentioned here as Venice, Beauvais airport in Paris (80km), Vienna is not, and in Barcelona before Ryanair is as obscure as the airport of Girona as they tried to make bookers misunderstand the airline at the Barcelona centre airport. They only flew in Barcelona's suburbs but an airport which is a hundred kilometers far away from the city. Thankfully they are now flying to Barcelona El Prat.

Many kinds of fees: from check-in fees, priority charges, plane food and where they are going to add toilet fees in the future too! The fees are also divided by Low-season and High-season, you remember to check this, all frequencies can be seen on their websites.

Free seat selection: This is great although most European carriers are the same (this is just sad for some Southeast Asian carriers like Vietjetair or Airasia), you check-in early choose a seat. Soon, sit where you sit at no additional charge!

Note about check-in

Usually, I find tickets at any given time to be very good value except for Christmas and Easter holidays, Ryanair has all of their flights up to the sky, waiting for me to wait for the cheap tickets. For example when the ticket was above 50 euros, I decided to go to hunt a few more days to come back with good price.

There is a note that I find everyone should be concerned about online check-in: Ryanair requires you to check-in online and before 4 am before departure. The penalty for late check-in is € 15 and if you plan to check-in at the airport, the fee is € 40.

Check-in luggage: Be sure to arrive earlier if you have checked in baggage, 40-minute check-in counter and 20 'door exit.

Always print a boarding pass: Remember to print your boarding pass at home or hostel after you check in if you do not want to be fined € 40. In this case, I know that I have email notification, when I can check in Boarding pass free, I remember is 48 hours before the flight, I will have a notification on the phone, I just checked in and sent the ticket to the hostel through email. So before checking out from the hostel, I will check out and get boarding pass always.

Time checkin - Boarding Pass Notification on Email.

Note on luggage

Ryanair is very strict about the size and weight of luggage:

Hand luggage: Maximum weight 10kg and maximum size 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. A lot of bad jokes when we got to the airport had to get rid of the luggage in the bag (I used to be like that, put on my clothes and stuffed in my bag!). You are allowed to carry a small bag (this rule is loosened) maximum size 35cm x 20cm x 20cm.

Checked baggage: max. 2 bags per person, max size 81cm x 119cm x 119cm, cost € 20 / kg overweight (do not know why the size of the deposit!

Maximum baggage size

Epilogue

I am happy to say I thank Ryanair for sponsoring my santorini trip, with only 165 euros for which I can fly 7 flights of Ryanair, Ryanair really helped me save a lot of money..

Although there are many inconveniences, and you have to be wary of the high fines of Ryanair, I am proud to be a difficult Ryanair customer, Ryanair has never fined me just a little bit of my money !