Company attributes
Other attributes
Irish Budget Airline. One of the largest in Europe in its class. Founded in 1985 and named after his founder, the Irish businessman Tony Ryan. Everything began with a small company that operated regular flights Waterford-London.
Ryanair, headquartered in Ireland's capital city, was founded in 1984 as a small airline with the aim of breaking the duopoly on London-Ireland flights by British Airways and Aer Lingus Ryanair. Since then, it has become Europe’s biggest budget airline with beyond 13,000 people working for the company. The airline operates more than 2,000 flights per days from over 215 airports in 37 countries. Ryanair gives its customers the lowest fare guarantee, which means that if there is a cheaper fare on the same connection with another airline, then Ryanair will pay double the difference.
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Hand baggage
The only baggage allowed on board free of charge is one small personal bag that must fit under the seat in front of the passenger. It may not exceed the maximum dimensions, included in the Ryanair’s cabin baggage policy, which is 40cm x 20cm x 25cm. If one piece of baggage is not enough, the passenger can bring another one for €25 or purchase the priority & two cabin bags, which is cheaper but needs to be added while booking a flight. With this option, passengers can avoid queues and bring additional item of baggage of 10kg that will be stored in the overhead locker. The same baggage allowance applies to Plus / Flexi / Family or connecting flight passengers. Liquids must be in a container of up to 100ml and carried in a transparent, re-sealable plastic 20cm x 20cm bag with a total capacity of up to 1 litre. Devices using lithium batteries are allowed in the cabin if the battery does not exceed 160 watt hours. Ashes are accepted for carriage as cabin baggage provided that a copy of the death certificate and the cremation certificate is held by the passenger.
Registered baggage
Each Ryanair’s customer can purchase up to 3 bags of 20kg. It is always much cheaper to add baggage when making the initial flight booking – it is €25 then, whereas it costs €40 after the booking is made. Passengers should make sure that the weight of a single bag does not exceed the 20kg limit, as the excess baggage fee is €11 per kilo. For health and safety reasons any individual item weighing more than 32kg is not permitted. The prohibited items, which cannot be placed in a checked bag, include: electronic cigarettes, explosives, lithium-ion battery operated vehicles, lithium-ion powered personal electronic devices, firearms including replica or toy guns, gases including propane and butane, flammable liquids, oxidizers and organic peroxides, toxic or infectious substances, corrosives, edible oil exceeding 1 litre in volume. Any sharp objects must be securely wrapped.
Online check-in
Passengers travelling on Ryanair can carry out the check-in process on the carrier's website or using the Ryanair mobile application. Downloading the app before the flight is a good idea not only as it saves all user's personal information, so that there is no need to enter it every time, but it also makes it possible to check-in without access to a computer, e.g. abroad, or on a busy day between the meetings, thus avoiding the £50 airport check-in fee. Online check-in is completely free and is available from 48 hours to 2 hours before the scheduled departure time, and from 60 days for the reserved seats. After logging into myRyanair account, there is the Check-in button next to the trip information. The process consists of three steps: adding ID document, checking-in extras (baggage, insurance, reserved seats), printing off the boarding pass which will be required at the airport. If travelling as a group, the reserved seat option gives passengers peace of mind that they will not be separated on board or they just can have their favourite seats. The rows 1, 2 (D,E,F) and 16-17 have extra legroom, and front seats (rows 2(A, B, C)-5) ensure faster exit. Travellers can also choose between standard aisle and window seats.
Ryanair travel classes
Ryanair's aircraft operating scheduled routes have all-economy class design to keep standard fares as low as possible. There are, however, several ticket options that can satisfy different customers. Plus tariff tickets, which start at £40.99, include a 20kg check-in bag, priority & 2 cabin bags as well as a reserved standard seat. Family Plus get all of the above along with one additional 20kg bag, which gives a total of two 20kg bags. Parents travelling with children can carry a baby bag up to 5kg in addition to their own cabin bag. Flexi Plus customers can carry out check-in at a dedicated desk at the airport free of charge, select the preferred seat make changes to the reservation at no additional cost. They are allowed to carry two cabin bags on board and check-in two 20kg pieces of baggage and also have priority boarding and disembarking the airplane. If there is no need to use all the extras, they can be added separately to a standard ticket for a fee.
Fleet
Ryanair claims to operate the newest, greenest and quietest fleet of aircraft in Europe. Ryanair owns only Boeing 737-800 aircraft, being the largest Boeing 737-800 operator, with 210 Boeing 737 MAX 200s on order. The 737 MAX 200 planes can seat up to 200 passengers. By 2024 the carrier plans to have over 520 planes in operation. In addition, Ryanair uses three Learjet 45 for the purpose of maintenance personnel and plane parts transportation.
Dublin airport
Dublin airport, opened on January 19, 1940, has handled more than 400 million passengers since its inception. It now serves 180 destinations in 42 countries on four continents. A total of 44 scheduled airlines operate flights from the airport. Its most popular international destination is London. In 2018 it welcomed a record number of 31.5 million passengers. The airport operates 24 hours a day, 364 days a year (it is closed only on Christmas Day). There are also a number of places to go before taking off – the airport features 30 restaurants as well as a variety of shops. Before or between the flights passengers can enjoy free, unlimited, fast WiFi and charge their devices at any of the free charging stations throughout the terminal. Dublin airport offers various long-term and short-term parking options to suit all travelers and budgets. Passengers can also make use of any of 18 water stations available.
Refreshments
Passengers can either bring their own food on board the aircraft, or they can choose to pre-order a hot meal. Alternatively, they can use the offer of Ryanair’s onboard Getaway Café selling an assortment of share bags, sweet and savoury snacks or pastries as well as hot, cold, and alcoholic drinks. Hot meals include options such as a vegan or classic lasagne, Maccheroni alla Bolognese, chicken tikka masala and ratatouille. Currently, meals can be pre-ordered only when checking in on the website, no later than 48 hours before the scheduled departure time, on flights from selected airports. Passengers departing from Dublin before 7am can enjoy the early Irish breakfast that includes sausages, bacon, tomato, white pudding, hash brown, brown bread, butter, orange juice and a coffee. Other departure airports with available pre-order meal option include: Birmingham, Bournemouth, East Midlands, Glasgow Prestwick, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, London Stansted, Cork, Shannon, Belfast, Porto, Faro, Malaga, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South and all German bases except Frankfurt Hahn and Nuremberg; this includes Baden-Baden, Berlin Schönefeld, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf Weeze, Frankfurt International, Hamburg, Leipzig, Memmingen, and Stuttgart. The above applies to the flights before 8:00am.
Additional services
Ryanair has its inflight magazine Runway Retail which is distributed by cabin crew but it serves as an onboard sales catalogue. It is available online as well and may be useful prior to the flight when planning a meal or gift purchase.
Ryanair offers its customers a selection of luggage from Samsonite and American Tourister available with a discount. The choice includes kids’ bags and travel suitcases for family travels or sun or city trips as well as business bags.