Thanks very much Dazbo. What a fast response, cheers.

stella,

Being someone with a 'healthy' waistline I always found the seats in row 1 giving good legroom but a little narrower than seats towards the middle of the plane, so when we have a 4hr flight we head for rows 17/18.

However, if someone has too big a waistline and find they cannot do the seatbelt up they will not be able to have a seatbelt extension in the emergency exit seats and will have to move to others seats where they can sit a little more relaxed with the seatbelt done up - but obviously with less legroom.

With priority boarding you still have to make sure you are towards the very front of the priority line, remember that up to 1/2 the plane could have booked priority boarding so potentially your folks could be number 90'ish in the line - so maybe not much chance of getting the emergency exits seats if they are that far back.

If they are not at the front of the prioroty line perhaps they could consider boarding from the rear steps - people tend to be very sheep like and follow the ones to the front plane steps until some break away and use the rear steps.

Remember, this is a all a bit if a game and you have to make sure you get what you want - even if it means starting the priority line - someone has to so why not your folks !

further to my post of 31 Oct regarding advance checkin.

I have just checked in and printed boarding passes for our next flight outbound on 1 December and the return on 8 December. 8 December being more than 15 days in advance, so maybe Ryanair have provided a little flexibility in their online checkin process and not told anybody !

Chris

Ryanair passengers miss flight in airport mix-up... click here for full story.

David

Visa Electron cards to be phased out

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8384034.stm

Bang goes the cheap/free way of paying for low cost flights such as Rynair

luci

I have just applied for a HBOS EasyCash account which still offers the Electron Card - but for how long?

Interesting comment regarding the impact on the removal of the Abbey Visa Electron card - if the airlines ie Ryanair/ Easyjet etc didn't have this 'free offer' then they would have to reduce their booking fee rates. We will see !!!!

Chris

They won't reduce the rate, they'll just find another specific method they won't charge for. If there was no free method they would have to include the minimum charge in the bold prices in their adverts which would make them look dearer. When I looked at Lufthansa a couple of weeks ago they said Paypal was their free method but that's probablt too widely used to suit Ryanair.

Ryanair switches free card payment method

MasterCard Prepaid is to become the only free from of payment for Ryanair flights.

The Visa Electron payment card will attract a €5 administration charge from January 1.

The no frills carrier will only continue to accept both MasterCard Prepaid and Visa Electron as free forms of payment for bookings during December.

The airline claims that the MasterCard Prepaid card is more widely available than Visa Electron.

A spokesman said: "We are pleased to announce our new partnership with MasterCard which will enable consumers to save even more when travelling on Ryanair's unbeatable low fares.

"MasterCard Prepaid Cards are widely available across Europe from financial institutions and online.

"Passengers can use their MasterCard Prepaid Cards to pay for Ryanair flights from 1st December, while our Visa Electron promotion comes to an end on 31st December.

"Bookings made with Visa Electron from 1st January will be subject to a €5 administration charge."

The airline is releasing 250,000 seats from midnight tonight for €5 each for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in late December which must be booked before midnight on Thursday.

With permission from Travelmole

Off to Money Savong Expert to see which is the best Prepaid Mastercard.........

John.

Most pre-paid cards will cost one way or another, they sometimes have an application fee usually around £10, and usually a fee when "loading" the card , typically around £3 , some charge a fee when purchasing and when using them at an ATM.
Tuxedo is a popular card and 02 offer a card but you have to be a an 02 customer.

i see ryanair has plucked a figure of 5 euros for using an an electron card now as an administration cost, i know the banks are struggling and trying to recoup their losses but are they charging anything near that price for a debit transaction?

I used to use Entropay, a "virtual" Electon card to avoid the £5 Ryanair fee. They also offer a pre-pay Mastercard, there is a £4.99 application fee and a 4.95% loading fee, which sounds bad but works out at 50p for a tenner and for those bargain 1p flights is a lot cheaper than Ryanairs £5 per person card fees. Not sure if this is the best deal but no mention of monthly fees etc.

'Escape MasterCard prepaid' also get a recommendation and no monthly fees.

Regards, Chris

Online check in - Hello i have a question regarding online check in with Ryanair. I have found some reasonable flights to Tenerife for middle of Jan, works out at 80pounds per person, but we need to check in online.

I have always travelled with airlines like thomascook, so we have never done this before.

Am i right in thinking that we need to do the online check in more than 4 hours before departure, and its available 14 days before departure?

What happens when we get to the airport? do we still need to be there 3 hours before take off, and do we use the drop bag facility at Liverpool airport, or do we need to go to a desk?

Thanks very much

Nicola

Hi Nicola

You need to check in online AND print your boarding cards before your flight. It's easier if you leave it until you can check in for both outbound and inbound flights at the same time - so 15 days before your return flight. Don't forget to do this or you will be charged £40 per ticket to have them printed there
They will also gather your API information at this point so have all your passport info to hand.

The bag drop (just a normal check in desk) opens around 2 hours before your flight - there have been quite big queues for it so it's your choice if you want to arrive early and wait around for them to open. It's really no different to checking in before any other flight - certainly can't call it a fast bag drop. Be aware that they might also check your size and weight of hand luggage at this point.

HTH

John

thanks very much John for your detailed reply
Now the hardest part is deciding where to go. I want to go to any of the canary islands, and i had my heart set on Lanzarote, as this place seemed to offer the cheapest flights, but a couple of days ago i found Ryanair are actually charging the same to go to Tenerife, Gran Canaria, or Lanzarote. Lanzarote seems to be windy, so i might go to Tenerife or GC.

Now i need to see if i can 'borrow' a friends visa electron card to pay for the flights, as if i pay with my visa debit Ryanair will charge me £40

You could always go out and get one of the PrePaid mastercards that are shortly going to be the only 'Free' method of paying. Don't forget that Electron will not be free after the end of December if you decide to leave booking until later.

John

Ah right, i am going to book a week on Friday, so less than 2 weeks. But im not sure if anyone i know has a visa electron, so it looks like i will take your advice and get a prepaid mastercard.
Don't you have to pay to get one of those?

I have been looking over on Moneysavingexpert.com and there are a couple of cards that they suggest as the 'best buy'

Here's a link to the page concerned http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/beat-budget-airline-charges#avoid

The cheapest charges 2% of what you load onto it but I think the minimum initial load is £100 then there are no further charges.

John.

ps Not named any cards jsut in case I incur the wrath of the Mods

Dont forget flight costs normally go up as you get nearer the departure date. £80 now but who knows what they will be in 2 weeks !