cheap flights?

How cheap are cheap airlines?

We went up North for a wedding this weekend, Thursday to Saturday really. And, against all my “beliefs” we decided to go with Ryanair. But, is it really cheaper?

It started with the stress beforehand – will the hand luggage fit, will we have only 15 kg in our bag? More than any other airline they sent so many reminders, that I was panicking about my luggage.

We qued for a long time until check in. However, I forgot to pay for 2 bags and we had to pay 16 GBP for 1 extra bag each way, e.g. adding 32 GBP to our total bill.

So, what did we pay?

*********0.00 GBP Total Fare – that is cheap!

********19.96 GBP Taxes, Fees & Charges

********16.00 GBP Passenger Fee: BAG

********16.00 GBP Passenger Fee: Airport Check in

*********4.80 GBP Passenger Fee: Debit Card Fee

*********7.38 GBP Insurance

********64.14 GBP Total Paid

Now, adding the 32 and 48 for extra train travel from the centre of London, we are at a total of: 144.14 GBP. For 2 people flying up North for a short trip, that is actually not too bad. Less than I would have expected it to be but not as cheap as I would have expected either.

For me, the travel “stress” with the luggage restrictions, the long journey to Stansted Airport and the stress created at the airport – they announced “gates closing” whilst they did not even open the gates or started boarding – make it not worthwhile to do it again. With other airlines you get better or at least similar deals PLUS less luggage restrictions and a free drink on board 🙂

For the destination, e.g. Prestwick, it was great as we were only 10 minutes away from the wedding venue – however, if we had wanted to go to Glasgow, this would have added another 30-40 GBP for two to our travel expenses. Plus the time.

Btw time – ironically they announced us landing 10 minutes early. Only problem was that we had to wait almost 45 minutes for our luggage – so no great time savings there 🙂

Yours,

Volker