ryan air, aer lingus

Hi all,

two questions:

1) regarding these two airlines - ryan air and aer lingus. I've been told that you should arrive 3 hours before flight, otherwise there might not be any place left in the plane, and you may miss your flight. Is that true also for aer lingus?

2) we have been checking London-Dublin tickets via ryan air, and the price always stayed the same - about 5 to 15 euro, no tax. Yesterday we opened their website and saw that all August flights have a 50 euro (!) tax. Does that make any sense? Would they add something like this out of the blue?

Thanks in advance

1) If you got a ticket you'll get on. Sure, ryanair overbooks just like any other airline, but this isn't a big problem.

What is a big problem is missing your flight: You have to be at the check-in around 2 1/2 hours before departure. Like all budget airlines they close the check-in a certain amount of time before the flight (look on the website and on the flight info that you'll get), if you arrive 30 seconds later: tough luck. This is the reason why most people who fly with them have only carry-on luggage and use online check in.

2) In order to find out the real prices with ryanair you always have to simulate a booking: the 5-15 EUR are always in addition to the taxes, the check-in fees, ... . So I am not surprised at the 50 EUR tax, it is pretty standard for ryanair.

t_maia, thank you for the prompt response, we'll go by aer lingus then, I think.

Ryanair offers cheap upfront prices then piles all the taxes and charges on. When booking look for the reference to boarding passes and tick that you will print your own off. O'Leary has it hidden away and if you do not have them when you get to the airport, like so many others you will have to pay £40 or 40 euros for his staff to simply print off one. They send an email with the information on, so make sure you have them with you. I did not even need to check in with them.

There are no reserved seats with Ryanair (though you can pay to get on board early) so it is a bit of a free for all. You are allowed 10kg in a smallish bag. More luggage and you have to pay per item. It is not a joke that O'Leary recently considered making people pay to use the toilets on his planes.

Hello there. Perhaps you are mis-reading the flight prices on on Ryanairs website. There are many flights on there from London to Dublin that are still available in August for £10 with no tax or charges. They do not all have a 50 euro tax as you state they do.
Ryanair is so much cheaper than Aer Lingus and Ryanair has a much better timekeeping record too. I would go with Ryanair. Ive used both airlines many times and although Ryanair is a much more basic service, it is also usually many times cheaper and gets there on time much more often. As an example a flight from London to Dublin on 18th August with Ryanair is £10. With Aer Lingus Its £20. Both cheap flights but a perfect example of A/L being 100% more expensive.

Hi BedouinLeo,

perhaps we are misreading the prices, but the thing is we need a specific date to go from London to Dublin - August, 2nd, and it has a 25 Euro tax on it, probably because the date is so close...

Thanx!

By law the tax should not increase. In fact the departure tax is refundable by law if you miss the flight. Interesting that only about 6% of people apply for a refund. I wonder happens to all that revenue that isnt officially the airlines to keep.
The departure tax should stay the same whether you book a flight a day or a year in advance. The only change would be by the government. Its the fees that Ryanair chop and change all the time. You are right that the reason the fare is quoted higher is because the flight is in just over a weeks time. All the bucketshop airlines tend to increase the price the nearer to the departure date.
There are flights to Dublin from Both Luton and Stansted for just over £30 on August 2nd. I'd grab them at that price while they are still there. The Aer Lingus flights on the same day are much more expensive.

Hi BedouinLeo,

I looked just now on the ryan air website, this is what is says (these are the fares for two persons, London-Dublin, August 2nd):

This is very strange, but that's what the website gives us, as far as I understand it includes everything (except luggage, probably) - online check-in etc. Maybe we got it wrong? Any ideas?

Fare: 43.98 GBP
Online Check-In: 10.00 GBP
Taxes / Fees: 56.10 GBP
Total Price: 110.08 GBP

Thanks a lot!

All check-ins for Ryanair are done online now. You just turn up at the airport and go straight through customs with your printed boarding pass and passport - that's it. You'll need to print the boarding pass between 15 days and 4 hours before your flight. If you don't, it's £40 at the airport for a re-issue. In fact, Ryanair sends emails in very good time that state VERY CLEARLY that you are required to print your boarding pass. There are no 'hidden charges', just silly people who don't read what's required before they press the final confirmation button and then go on to complain about it.

A few tips for Ryanair.
1. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. (or get 'overcharged' by the evil Mr O'Leary)
2. Book ahead for cheap flights. (be aware that each flight may have different prices on different days, so be flexible. You can book a few if you're not sure when you're able to go, though only if they are about a £1 each. There's no requirement to cancel, so no expensive phone calls)
3. Book ahead for no tax and free check-in. (at least two weeks)
4. Take carry-on luggage only. (checked luggage costs £10)
5. Use an 'Electron' card. (no process charge)
6. Don't buy 'priority boarding'. (there is no 'free for all', just use rear door)
7. Don't buy Ryanair insurance. (you should have some anyway)

Happy travels! I've had no problems yet.

edit: would just like to add that Ryanair has the best reliability record over all other airlines - though there was a 10 minute delay before flying out of Marrakesh on my £5 ticket - but I got over it.

[ Edit: Edited on 26-Jul-2009, at 09:57 by fabyomama ]

Ryanair August 2nd 2009.
Departing London (STN) to Dublin (DUB) at 06:30
Arriving Dublin (DUB) - 07:45
Two adults all fees taxes check-in fees etc = £86.52p. There will be a small card fee on top. Still only just around £90 for two people. Excellent value, don't you think?