1) Use the correct payment card – Find out which payment method incurs the least fees. For Ryanair this would be a prepaid Mastercard (Entropay do a good one) – Easyjet and Wizz would be Visa Electron. You can get a good one here.
Payment ‘fees’ are a major source of profit for the airline and a way of catching out the unwary and lazy. It quickly adds up if you are travelling more than once. Travelling on the very cheapest flights on Ryanair is impossible if you do not have such card. If you have not got one, apply for one now.
2) Online check-in charges? (Ryanair only) – with the advent of a new £5.00 online check-in charge, this is also something you will have to consider. It’s per sector, so this adds £10 to a return journey. The bad news is that this charge is unavoidable – after all, online is the only way for Ryanair – but they have only got around it (just, in my own opinion) but making promotional fares exempt from the charge.
How to tell? When selecting a fare, ‘FREE ONLINE-CHECK-IN’ should appear to the left of the flight number. If it does not, cross-reference that with the charges breakdown; you’ll see if it is there or not. Do not be scared to take things straight through to checkout (but don’t enter card details) to check if it is included or not.
There appears to be a shift in the pricing strategy of Ryanair, with more and more ‘No Taxes’ fares – basically, these are just all-inclusive prices more comparable with Easyjet, as opposed to the ‘Regular Fare’. But do check the breakdown to see what is what.
3) Luggage allowances – Luggage allowances another thing that the airlines make cash on. If you need to take a luggage, then fine, make sure you use good use of it. If you don’t, then make sure your hand luggage adheres to the maximum dimensions and weight allowed as the penalties for not doing so (like the boarding pass) are large. As the airlines feel the pinch more, policing of baggages are likely to increase. There is a cost trade off between the costs of employing someone to check bags, and the revenues realised. Many passengers have seen random checks increasing.
A tip for anyone wanting to take oversized luggage but not wishing to pay for it (which is only effective on cheap/free flights) is to book a seat for a musical instrument, and use a guitar case as your luggage. Of course, you would have to be a bit unlucky to be caught, but to save cash, I have seen people do this before.
4) Insurance - Like in blackjack, you should always decline the insurance. It may be the case that it’s added already, so you will need to find this section and select ‘Insurance Not Required’. If you need insurance, arrange your own, as it often works out to be cheaper. In any case, many of the insurance policies will not cover you in the most likely scenarios you would like to have it.
5) Other services: – Such as SMS confirmations, priority boarding – often are a waste of time, although I can accept that some may need it more than others. Generally none of these services offer any great benefits.
6) Do not forget anything! Cheap fares often assume a transfer of responsibility from the airline to yourself, although this is unwritten. Some may complain at this, but look at it like this: you are willing to accept the reduced cost for less frills, so be willing to put in a little work to make up for this. Of course, I don’t mean manual labour or anything like that, but any slip-up will cost you money. To be more succinct: expect no frills, get no frills. This way you cannot be disappointed. I could give you the following tips for travel that fall under your responsibility (where they would not with a legacy carrier):
- Do not forget to check in online and do not forget the print out boarding pass. If it says it wants it in black and white on A4 paper, then obey that. You need your passport and ticket to travel. When people forget their passports, they blame themselves. Yet, when people forget their tickets, they blame the airline. You need to get into the habit of giving more importance to your print out. Check and double check that you have it. If disposing of a used one, make sure you are not inadvertently binning the returns.
- Do not be late. Always budget a good amount of time to get to the airport. Remember there are some queues at security. There are always people giving the excuse that they need to go in front because they are going to miss their flight – don’t be one of these people. If you miss a flight, the penalties can be huge – if it’s a place that Ryanair only serve once a week, then this could quickly eclipse the rest of your holiday.
- Weigh your luggage before you go. We often are poor judges of weight, and this is a schoolboy error. Electronic scales at home are a good rough guide. If you don’t have them, buy some – it’s good for your general health to keep tabs on your own weight as well.
Need a pre-paid card to dodge Ryanair fees? We’ve teamed up with FairFX to offer you their anywhere card – get one for FREE (usually £9.95 for loading under £500). Any currency – anywhere – it’s ideal for everyone.
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