Ryan Air: If you can read, the skies can be cheap!

Today – and my today, I mean two days ago as I’m writing this, we got up at the rare hour of 3:30 a.m. in order to make the 45 minute journey to Frankfurt Hahn Airport, not Frankfurt Main as I originally thought. The airport was small and housed all the European discount airlines like Ryan Air, Wizzair, and Easy Jet. Our one way trip to Rome was a steal at a base price of 59 euro. Even with add-ons like checking two bags (20E each) and priority boarding (4E each), the flight was about a $110. That’s a bit better than the price of the train, and certainly a faster ride.

When you look up Ryan Air online, you’ll see some spiteful reviews. Here’s a good review, with some tips. First off, the airline was very comfortable, and the flight was smooth. The check in procedure involved a couple extra steps, but nothing too drastic. If you play your cards right, there’s no hidden fees, as everything is written out in their terms and conditions.

If you’d rather not spend an hour like I did slowly marching down the scroll bar and checking correlations and analyzing meanings of a dull legal document, let me give you my Santos Notes version.

1.      Figure out where you’re going. Some of the destinations are not the main airports in the city. We took off from Frankfurt Hahn instead of Main, and we landed in Roma Ciampino, not da Vinci.

2.      Let the website guide you to check out. They will try selling you more merchandise than a Parisian street vendor. Take what you want and get to the checkout screen. Don’t forget you’ll need passport numbers and names and DoBs EXACTLY as they appear on the passport. Even if your passport is wrong, the information has to match it. Of course, you’ll sleep better with an accurate traveling document.

3.      Before paying for the trip, you may need to contact your credit card bank and let them know to approve the purchase. B of A was very kind to suspect divergent activity when they denied an international charge while they thought I was still in America. While I appreciated the card security, that little ordeal cost me a little bit of time, which in the air ticket purchasing world could mean the difference between a 40E airfare and a 60E airfare. Once you’ve done that, hit submit and make sure the screen shows that your purchase is CONFIRMED.

4.      After you’ve confirmed your trip, you must check in online and print your boarding passes. You have from 15 days before your flight to four hours prior. Forgot to check in online? It’ll cost ya.

5.      You’ve checked in online, you’ve printed your boarding pass. Now you’re packing. You are allowed ONE carry on item. Not a stowed item and an under the seat item. One bag to carry on, in which all other loose appendages must fit. Calculate that when you pack. For your checked bags, you have a 20 kg limit. I’m an American thank you very much, and I don’t pay attention to inferior forms of measurement. So I just packed to my heart’s content and was ready to whip out my wallet just in case I went over the limit. But then the cheapskate kicked in and I started measuring, in pounds, mind you, after looking up the conversion rate, and put extra weighty stuff in my sub-55cm carry-on bag. In summary, calculate and strategically distribute your luggage.

6.      Now you’re at the airport with passport and boarding pass in hand. If you’re a proud American like I am, then you get to jump through another hoop. Begin your check in at the visa/passport check (the same place where you check your bags). After getting approval, go through security, then to your gate, where you should have your carry on bag approved. Size is more important than weight, though if you’re lugging your bag like you’ve got four bowling balls in it, you may have a problem.

7.      By now you know I’m not a European, so I’m not about to get my hands dirty in the skirmish to get to the front of the boarding line. I paid four Euros to be the only person on this flight with priority boarding. Not only did we get first choice of seat on the middle section of the plane, but I made me and my girlfriend look like VIPs. Make that acronym what you will.

And that’s how it’s done on Ryan Air. Stay tuned for our next episode of Cheapo Traveler, when we take an intimate look at the Terravision airport bus from Ciampino Airport. Mind the broken seats tied in place with seatbelt segments and back of headrests stuffed with bubble gum.