Ryanair's stated aim is to go from a low cost to a "no cost" airline. That is, the actual fare will be zero and ALL their money will be made on the extras. This makes it a great choice for people who are nipping somewhere for a weekend with no luggage but a non-starter for someone trying to book a two week holiday for a family of four! Assuming you have one hold bag each and book with a credit card you will be charged a quite astonishing extra £38.50 on each ticket! (£4.75 to use checkin, £9.75 for the bag, £4.75 CC charge, all per person per flight).
Woe betide you if you try to take two cases each, even if they have a total weight within the allowance!

I really do think it's a case of 'horses for courses'.

If, as ColinWWW says, you need to take luggage (thus incurring the check-in fee), then look at other airlines.
If you can get a flight that's more convenient (departures times, local airport, landing where you want to be etc) but cheaper than Ryanair then book it.

If you (as I do) are looking for a weekend away without taking the kitchen sink and have a Visa Electron card, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with Ryanair.
Exactly what Colin says:

This makes it a great choice for people who are nipping somewhere for a weekend with no luggage

I think some people try to make RyanAir into a company that suits THEM with THEIR ideas of how prices should be structured, when in effect, it's a low cost carrier which sometimes land at airports that may not be convenient and who charge for things that cost them (loading/unloading luggage - which also adds onto the ground time and therefore cost to RyanAir, having to staff check-in desks etc).

As for the credit/debit card charge, it's currently free to pay with Visa Electron - thus saving £38 for 4 people on return flights.

Ryanair plunges into the red as fuel costs soar

Ryanair has been hit with a third quarter loss of €102 million, compared to a profit of €35 million in the same period a year earlier.

Average fares fell by 9% to €34, while fuel costs rose by 71% to €328 million.

Revenues in the three months to the end of December rose by 6% to €604.5 million, as traffic grew 13% to 14 million passengers.

Ancillery revenues rose by 19% to €132 million, and now account for 22% of revenues - up from 19% a year earlier.

The budget carrier expects to make a profit at the year end due to falling fuel costs.

CEO Michael O'Leary said: "Our Q3 loss of €102 million was disappointing, but in line with expectations, and was almost entirely due to a €136 million increase in fuel costs.

"Average fares, due to recession and weaker sterling, fell by 9% to €34, but this decline was largely funded by a 3% reduction in non fuel operating costs."

He added: "The general economic environment remains extremely difficult, as the recession saps consumer confidence, but this is proving to be good for Ryanair's traffic growth, as more and more passengers switch to Ryanair's lowest fare lowest cost model.

"Many of our competitors have in recent months reported short-haul traffic falls, while Ryanair continues to grow. We will continue to lower fares to maintain our traffic growth and high load factors."

O'Leary revealed that it is start a six month trail of the use of n board mobile phones at the end of the month on 20 Dublin-based aircraft. This should be extended to some 40 aircraft by the end of the summer.

"We expect initial revenues to be small, but believe that in-flight communication will be a strong source of ancillary revenue growth in future years," he added.

With permission from Travelmole

That man sure knows how to turn bad news to his advantage!!!

Personally I'd be delighted if the mobile phone scheme fails ..................... with all that noise from Ryanair 'adverts' mid-flight, any user will have to shout to be heard, and I prefer a bit of quiet. Perhaps Ryanair might consider 'loaning' noise cancelling headphones (wireless) to cover the excess racket!!!

wonder how much "the loaning" would cost........

Ryanair are now to insist that duty free bags must also be included in the one bag rule. This could make that bottle or bag of crisps very expensive.

Guardian today

If I book a Ryanair flight with no baggage and on-line check-in, can I change it later to add baggage?

And if I do, will I have to pay the credit card charge again?

louise225,

You can ammend your booking online at a later date and add checked in baggage. However, if you decide to take hold baggage with you, you can't use online check-in and have to use airport check-in with the appropriate charges.

Darren

I have just booked hold baggage for my mother and daughter.Having only done on line check in before I'm not quite sure of the procedure for airport check in.Do they only require the booking number and passports at the check in desk or should I expect further details from Ryanair.
Thanks in advance.

dav,

All your booking details are help electronically so you just need the booking reference and your passport (or photo id if it's an internal flight). I normally take a printout of the booking confirmation just in case you need it.

Darren

Thanks again Darren.

Ryanair cuts Dublin capacity

Ryanair is to reduce flights by its Dublin base this summer with the loss of 200 jobs.

The number of aircraft based at the airport will be cut from 22 to 18 resulting in an 18% reduction in weekly flight rotations.

Flights to Manchester, Leeds/Bradford and Barcelona will be affected this summer.

Further cuts have been threatened for next winter as the carrier protests against airport charges and a planned €10 Irish government tourist tax.

Ryanair estimates the actions will result in a 20% drop in its Dublin traffic from 10.8 million to 8.7 million passengers in 2009/10.

CEO Michael O'Leary said: "The decision by the Irish government to introduce a flat rate €10 tourist tax from April is nothing less than "tourism suicide".

"This travel tax when introduced (appropriately on April Fools Day) will exacerbate the traffic decline at Dublin, as price sensitive visitors will avoid Ireland and choose other lower cost destinations.

"Ryanair has repeatedly called for this tax to be made fairer by making it a percentage of the air fare paid, or alternatively why not scrap the tax altogether and generate equivalent savings by closing quangos like Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland which spend over €150m p.a., but deliver few if any visitors.

"This travel tax has already failed in the UK and Dutch markets, where they caused traffic declines and sadly the Irish government's tourist tax is doomed to a similar failure.

"This government must realise you can only promote tourism by welcoming visitors, not taxing them."

With permission from Travelmole

The updated appearance of their website looks a bit better than before, not quite as tacky looking as it was but I'm sure Ryanair will remain the same as always. Having said that, I've always been lucky with them.

Ryanair slashes Liverpool flights

Ryanair has blamed Air Passenger Duty and the slump in the value for sterling for cutbacks this summer at Liverpool airport.

Ten destinations are being cut from the airline's network from the Merseyside airport with the loss of 50 pilot, cabin crew and engineering jobs.

Ryanair is pulling one aircraft out of Liverpool to leave six, resulting in an anticipated eight per cent drop in passengers from 2.7 million last year to 2.5 million in 2009.

Further cuts in the winter schedule at Liverpool will be announced later, the carrier warned.

Destinations to go include Paris, Budapest, Valencia, Faro and Lodz.

With permission from Travelmole

Does anybody know when the 'New' Ibiza route was announced from Liverpool ? - sure it wasn't there a few weeks ago when I last looked for Ibiza flights fron 'The North'.

John

Ryanair To Stop Are To Stop Using Check In Desks At Airports,
More On Link Below

Ryanair Abolish Check In Desks (BBC)

I read this in the press today and it made me cringe.

Firstly the excess baggage charge will be £14 per kilo for hold baggage.

Secondly, how will you know how much you owe if you drop your bag and have done the admin on line ... ie will you have to pay up at the gate once your excess baggage has been calculated.

Thirdly, even fewer Ryanair staff to help out LANDSIDE where the problems of flight cancellation or being stranded are likely to be encountered ................. (and even if you've got AIRSIDE by the time the bad news arrives, they'll make you go back to LANDSIDE to the pay desk!!)

Fourthly, redundancies amongst the staff contracted to Ryanair to provide ground 'support' services.

And finally, perhaps fewer miserable and jobsworthy ground staff employees (every cloud has a silver lining!).

Alsacienne wrote:

Firstly the excess baggage charge will be £14 per kilo for hold baggage.

That's not too bad when you consider many of the big scheduled carriers charge £35 a kg! They don't want people to take hold luggage if they can help it and certainly not over the current limits to keep costs down and speed up turn-arounds. It's their way of encouraging it.

I would imagine there'll be a representative at the bag drop off desk to sort things out. Bags will still need tagging and weighing.

Darren

But a lot of airlines allow much more than 15kg checked baggage before you have to pay any excess.