Ryan Air

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Aw man, some discount airlines just plain suck. As a side note, I've plain out refused to book with RyanAir, mainly because I hear that they are shit, but mainly because they recently decided to have an online vote to determine where their newly imposed extra fee should lay - and the savvy internet users decided to add that extra fee for plus-size passengers (ie. those whose hips touch both armrests). Now, I am on the heavier side, but certainly not enough to impede the comfort of my fellow airplane riders, and I would refuse to be embarassed by paying an extra fee.

I understand that horribly obese people cause a major problem for those around them, as they sort of, spill onto their seat-mates.

Okay, back to the point. My friends who were visiting were out in Edinburgh touristing and on their way to Belfast. They were flying with... ta-da!... RyanAir. No problem, dirt cheap flight, and they both have tiny hips. :)

However, they weren't aware of the baggage restrictions on RyanAir (and I wasn't either), and unfortunately they were (combined) over 10kgs over the 15kg per person limit. The damage? A whopping £150 fee for the baggage. That's right, RyanAir charges a whopping (yes, I know I've said whopping twice now - it's that, well, whopping!) £15 per kilo that a piece of luggage is overweight. Splitting it up won't work either, because while you can have up to 3 pieces, the combined weight has to be less than 15kg.

They paid it, begrudgingly (not sure about the spelling on that one). I think, if I had no time constraints, I might have just walked over to another counter to see if I could book a flight with another company for less than £150. Either way, that's rough.

Plus, now they've got to figure out what to do for the flight from Belfast back to London to see me. They'll obviously be overweight again, and if they paid another £150, that's just plain rediculous. That's over $600 Canadian dollars! Man alive. I suggested that they pack and mail a box to me in London, as it would probably get here before they left on July 16th, but again, they could just pack and mail a box back home. It's rough. Funny how some of these things that are meant to save money end up costing more and more with each fine print.

So really. Book with RyanAir, but for the love of god (and your pocketbook!), read the fine print. It might save you a whole lot of cash! Have you ever used RyanAir or something comparable?

6 comments:

Laura said...

I flew on RyanAir from London to Latvia last summer. It was okay for a short flight, but it was a tiny cramped plane (and I have tiny hips). There were three babies bawling on the entire flight. When we flew back, I thought I was allowed a little bit more weight (they give allowance for souveniers I thought), but I could be wrong as I confused pounds and Kilos before I left and packed based on 20lbs. :) That's crazy expensive though...$600 Canadian dollars just for extra stuff. YOWZA!

Webgrrl74 said...

I have flown with RyanAir and it is definitely a basic flight. However, beacuse I was generally in the air for 90mins or less, it was perfect(and much faster/cheaper than the train). I was shocked by the "fat tax" thing. I mean I am on the heavier side, but thinking that I may have to a. be measured b.practice sitting in a seat to determine if I am an extra charge kinda gal or c. step on a scale at check in would definitely throw me into an anxiety attack. I hate anything that puts me on the spot.

I have no problem sitting in an airline seat (and I generally take a window seat where I can manuever my way a bit toward the window..mainly to keep away from the people beside me..who are either nodding off and leaning in my direction,)..but I would like to impose a tax on people finding the need to go to the bathroom on a 45 minute flight and keep having to step over me (if I'm in the aisle), or people who INSIST on keeping their seat back in a sardine can of a plane.

I've checked the fat tax thing..RyanAir decided against it because it would slow down boarding and there would be no way to police it. :)

Leanna said...

Arual - YOWZA indeed! 600 bucks isn't exactly the way I'd want to end a vacation - and I'm sure my friends feel the same way.

Webgrrl - Glad to hear that RyanAir decided against the fat tax. I was a bit peeved at them. And I agree about people putting their seats back - on a 45 minute flight! That's just plain mean. People did it to me on a 2 hour National Express BUS ride. In the middle of the day. Fortunately it was an empty bus so I just got up and sat elsewhere. Some people!

Jerry said...

We had the same trouble here in Europe with WizzAir. We were given insurance by the gate agent that the overweight fee would be 1 Euro per kilogram on our return flight. We were going to be bringing back a lot of extra bags, but that seemed reasonable. NOPE. It ended up costing us over $1000 US to get our bags from London- Luton to Sofia, Bulgaria. We had no recourse, despite the quoted price from the WizzAir gate agent, because it wasn't in writing... it basically leads us to pay a stupid tax for not verifying the quote independently. It was brutal, but we will not fly with them again. There are other cheap carriers, and they handled the situation horribly.
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com

Chelsea Talks Smack said...

I've heard mixed things, but I dont know if I want to take the risk.

Bouncing Back said...

I've flown Ryan air a few times while in the UK. I got a round trip flight to Milan for $35 USD. I did make sure I traveled really light with my one checked bag and anything "heavy" went into my carry on that they did not check. ALWAYS read the fine print! That is how they make their money!