Ryan Air

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?