Tucked away on the Ryanair page is a price guarantee similar to the 
Easyjet one; you can find the terms here:
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/notices.php?notice=070508_EN_doubledifference
A cursory examination reveals that they are much the same, although with there are some key differences. Some are good, some are bad.
Bad:
- Although the qualifying flights have to be within two hours of each other, the comparison sits with the cheapest Ryanair flight that day. Therefore a high-frequency route is unlikely to qualify, ever.
- Shorter time-limit for submission of screen-grab: 1 hour
Good:
- Price refund potential is bigger: 200 euro
- No requirement for return journey; singles are ok
- Doesn’t need to be exactly the same airport: city designation by IATA is used.
The guarantee was introduced in 2008 but since then, a widely expanded network has seen frequencies drop across the network as a higher number of destinations have to be serviced. The opportunities for claiming under this scheme therefore increase. Ryanair has a reputation for low fares – but with an average fare of c.30 euros, with many people paying promotional fares of anyway between zero and 10 euros, there are clearly passengers who are paying much above the average.
For possibilities of a win under the guarantee, it would be more prudent to look for these type of flights first:
- Weekends. Many promotional fares on these dates are snapped up quickly forcing the fare up to the next price bracket. Friday and Sunday are particularly premium days which are charged accordingly. Of course the same pricing strategy is broadly used by other airlines but there may be a temporary discrepancy.
- Upcoming departures: particularly less than 14 days and in the week coming up to the flight, fares increase at a fast-rate. Promotional fares are likely to stretch well into the horizon – generally the earlier you book, the better the chance of a good fare. Imminent departures are not subject to this and it’s not unusual to see fares over the £100 mark – often just as expensive as a legacy carrier.
- Routes with frequency mis-match: Ideally, you would like a route that only is only served once on Ryanair and numerous times on Easyjet, increasing the probability of a flight falling into the 2-hour time bracket. Remember that for comparison you must use the cheapest fare each day.
- IATA Cities: Probably the biggest factor here, opening up many, many flights to comparison (as opposed to Easyjet which used a very narrow number of routes). Therefore Stansted is directly comparable to any London airport, for example Gatwick or Luton. However, this does not mean every city can be used. For example, Barcelona Reus and Girona is excluded.
- Sales on other airlines: Loss-leaders (ie.. selling below cost) is now becoming more common on other airlines such as Aer Lingus, Flybe and BmiBaby, who may offer seats from as little as £2.99. Keep an eye on these sales as they may give you the opportunity.
To post up an entire list of flights is impossible as there would be too many. However, what I can do is clear up the IATA codes so you can see what is OK. Flights not to an IATA city would be permitted unless there was a flight to the same airport by another carrier.
For the most part, Ryanair flies to standard airports, or to new airports to stimulate local demands. The confusion arises with secondary airports outside the major hubs, which is generally the case if the name of airport is double-barrelled or in brackets such as these:
Belfast City: Can be compared with Belfast International
Brussels (Charleroi): No association
Dusseldorf (Weeze): No association
Frankfurt-Hahn: No association
Girona-Barcelona: No assocation
Glasgow Prestwick: Comparable with Glasgow International
Hamburg-Lubeck: No association
London-Stansted: Comparable with Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, City
Memmingen (Munich West): No association
Milan (Bergamo): Can be compared with Malpensa and Linate
Oslo (Torp): Can be compared with Oslo International
Oslo (Rygge): No association
Paris-Beauvais: No association
Reus (Barcelona): No association
Rome (Ciampino): Can be compared with Fuimicino
St Etienne (Lyon): No association
Stockholm (Skavsta): No association
Stockholm (Vasteras): No association
Verona (Brescia): Can be compared with Verona.
Good luck in finding those flights and post your findings here!
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