ryanair.com > Reviews (56)

I have just booked a long weekend away in Berlin with 7 friends for next year (May 2007). I have never flown with Ryanair before and only booked on this occassion because it was the cheapest option (£49.09 return including airport taxes etc).

The website, whilst garish and full of flashing banners is fairly infomrative and realtively easy to use. However when it came round to actually booking i realised why Ryanair claim to have the cheapest fares - they can afford to slash the fares by charging for everything else. Most of you savvy travellers will not be surprised at this and will scoff at the need for my to write a review over such an obvious airline ploy to squeeze the pennies out of every traveller, however I thought i should say something for those of you who, like me, have never used Ryanair before.

For every passenger, I had to choose whether i wanted a) airport check-in (a further £4.00 per person), b) to check in baggage (a further £14.00 per bag) and c) travel insurance (a further £7.00 per person). On this occassion I was given the option of online check-in and opted for carry on luggage for all of us so there was no additional charge, however please be aware that there is a long list of passengers who will not qualify for online check -in services. I have to say that i flew to Amsterdam with Easyjet earlier this year and there were no extra charges for airport check-in's and they allowed the standard carry-on and 1 item of checked-in baggage free of charge.

Finally, when it came to paying up, there is an additional £4.00 charge for using a credit card to pay and not just for the one booking, but per passenger so that the charge alone added a further £32 to my overall bill.

Overall, Ryanair make it easy to book and do have affordable fares, however as a traveller making the necessary price comparisons, make sure you add on the hidden costs that are only divulged upon booking as these may end up doubling the cost what you originally thought was a fairly priced ticket!