How to Hack Ryanair in 5 Easy Steps

Last updated: 28 June 2023

Travelling with Ryanair can be a challenging and confusing experience. 

With the airline changing their carry on baggage rules twice in one year, it’s entirely understandable that a lot of people are confused about flying with this low-cost carrier. 

As regular passengers on Ryanair we’ve flown with them more times than I care to count, so we’re here to help you peek behind the curtain and understand the rules so your flight can be as hassle-free as possible. 

This paragraph should be hidden – [AD]– This post was commissioned by Flightright to give my thoughts on Ryanair and may contain affiliate links.

We all know Ryanair has a reputation for not always being the most reliable when it comes to delays and cancellations. Essentially, your best bet is to be prepared for the worst, after that, the only way is up!  With a quick Google search, you can quickly see that EU Regulation 261/04 gives passengers the right to compensation, care and assistance and information in case of cancellation, involuntary denied boarding, or delay. 

Understanding Ryanair’s rules of carriage will ensure your experience is a (relatively) good one.  You’ll still be prompted to buy their heavily promoted ‘Scratch cards’ which are seemingly always on sale, blinded by the abrasive yellow interior of the cabin advertising other destinations and everything from selecting a seat, a drink of water and bags will set you back some of your hard earned dollars.  But let’s be realistic, with flights for as low as £1, what do you expect? They’re hardly going to roll out the red carpet for you now, are they? These days, you generally get what you pay for and when a flight to Germany is cheaper than a Starbucks latte you’ve got to accept the terms it comes with. 

Our £1 Ryanair Flight to Denmark 

Ryanair Hack 1: Understanding Ryanair’s Confusing Carry-on Bag Rules

The Previous Carry-On Baggage Policy

In January 2018, travelling on a standard ticket, a large cabin bag (aka wheelie bag) plus a small carry-on could be brought on board free of charge.  The catch was that the wheelie bag would be checked into the aircraft hold for free at the gate upon boarding. Your small cabin bag (handbag, laptop bag or personal item) would travel with you and go under the seat in front or in the overhead bin.

Ryanair’s Current Carry-On Baggage Policy

As at December 2020, Ryanair’s website states you can carry on board for free:

1. one cabin bag per paying passenger (max 10kg) with maximum dimensions 40 x 20 x 25cms
   1. N.B. no baggage allowance for infants travelling on their parent’s lap
   2. Duty free bags are also permitted in the cabin along with your cabin baggage – A sneaky way to add more luggage covertly

If you choose to just take the aforementioned free small bag option and it doesn’t fit in the bag sizer, then you will pay a fee of €/£25 at the gate and your bag will be tagged and placed in the aircraft hold.

That means that any passengers also travelling with a wheelie bag will have to either pay for Priority Boarding to bring it on board, or pay to check it. There is no longer a free option for wheelie bags. 

Checking In Your Bag

Like everything in life, checking a bag has pluses and minuses. The plus side of checking a bag is that you won’t have to worry about liquids being <100ml and security should be a breeze. The downside is that you will have to suffer the torture of queuing at the check-in desks at the airport, and waiting for your bag at the luggage carousel at your destination.

I Want My Bag with Me in the Cabin

If you choose not to check a bag, the only way you can bring a wheelie bag on board is to, in typical Ryanair fashion, pay more. This is called Priority Boarding for both ‘Regular’ and ‘Flexi Plus’ ticket types. By adding Priority Boarding (~£6 each way) to your booking, you are permitted to take two bags, one small and one cabin-size onboard with you.

Priority Boarding Permits:

1. 1 x small cabin bag – which technically must fit under the seat in front (40cm x 20cm x 25cm)
2. 1 x cabin size bag (like a wheelie bag) which must fit into the baggage sizer with dimensions 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. It’ll be stored in the overhead locker and should not weigh more than 10kg – although I’ve never had my bag weighed with Ryanair.

An important note is that the airline will only allow a maximum of 95 (roughly half of the number of potential passengers) to buy Priority Boarding each flight. Once this has sold out, customers will have to check in their bag and incur a cost of £10-£25. (Price varies depending on time of adding bag, i.e. at the time of booking vs at the bag-drop desk and at the boarding gate and also the time of year you’re travelling, with peak periods costing more).

Why the Changes? 

There simply isn’t enough room in the overhead bins to accommodate one cabin size wheelie bag per person so Priority Boarding numbers are restricted which effectively guarantees enough overhead bins for the number of wheelie bags. 

Checking Bags

In addition to the changes to carry on luggage, Ryanair has also made changes to their checked bag allowances. Ryanair has lowered the fee for adding a checked bag from £35 to £25 and increased the weight limit from an industry low 15kg to a more acceptable 20kg. As mentioned above, 10kg option is also available or those wishing to, or needing to, check their cabin bag.

If you have Priority Boarding and decide you want to check a bag, it will cost you somewhere in the realm of £10-£25. The price fluctuates according to destination and season. 

Checking a bag does add time. From queuing to check it, and again waiting at the carousel for it to be returned at your destination. However, most of the time, by the time you make your way through immigration the bags have already arrived on the carousel.  The only exception is likely to be very small airports with no immigration queues.

Ultimately, if you’re short on time, pack light and pay the extra for Priority Boarding. 

Ryanair Hack 2: What to do if Your Flight is Delayed or Cancelled  

Ryanair has a bit of a reputation for its distinct lack of customer service and hasn’t won any praise from the public when it cancels flights and takes six days to rebook passengers like these guys.

If your flight is delayed or cancelled, you may be entitled to compensation from the airline under EU law. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament established a common set of rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding, for long flight delays and flight cancellation. 

If you’ve been delayed or had your flight cancelled there is a complicated criteria to take into account when determining whether the inconvenience entitles you to receive compensation from the airline. Passengers only have the right to compensation in some circumstances. Namely, how severely you have been inconvenienced, when you were notified and the cause of the delay.  

There’s always a loophole under “exceptional circumstances” which many airlines use to weasel out of rightfully compensating passengers. It’s not an exhaustive list of excuses but some include: bad weather, political circumstances, natural disasters, passenger illness or collision with foreign objects like birds. Be sure to get the reason(s) for the delay/cancellation in writing from the airline if you can.

You can familiarise yourself with EC 261/2004 and appeal to the airline for compensation if you’ve been delayed and meet the criteria for compensation. Expect that they may just fob you off as one particular airline did for me when our weekend away was derailed by a delay of over eight hours. 

I have two pieces of advice for you. Be Persistent and Get Everything in Writing.

Ryanair Hack 3: Travelling with Ryanair on a Non-EU Passport

Are you from Australia, NZ or USA? Or actually from any country that’s NOT in the EU? Then keep reading…

Ryanair and several other European budget airlines require passengers travelling on a passport from a non-European Union country to undergo a visa check verification before every flight.

Listed in their Conditions of Carriage, (6.4), all non-EU/EEA citizens must have their travel documents checked and stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Travel Document Check Desk before going through airport security.

You Must Print Your Boarding Pass

Unlike EU passengers, travelling on a non-EU passport with Ryanair requires you to print your boarding pass so it can be stamped. You cannot use the Ryanair app or e-boarding pass.

How to Get a Visa Check?

Regardless of how many times you fly with Ryanair, before every flight, you’re required to present at the check in desk with your printed boarding pass and your passport. Depending on the airport, you may have to queue and you may get your boarding pass physically stamped, or simply scribbled on by one of the check in staff.  

You can see from the real examples below how much this can vary. It’s important to note the bright yellow band across the top that clearly states Visa Check. 

It’s worth noting that if you forget to print your boarding pass, you can get it printed by the airline at the airport however, it will set you back ~£20, assuming you’ve already checked in online. (Not checking in, you will incur the airport check-in fee of £55!).  Failing to get your boarding pass stamped via the Visa Check may see you denied boarding or sent sprinting back through the airport to get one – neither of which is an ideal option.  

I have noticed some airports offer a Visa Check past security or near your gate.  I have spotted it at some gates in London Stansted but not all. Do not rely on this as there is no consistency where this is and isn’t offered, just get it done before security and you are sorted.

If you’re flying with Ryanair, print your boarding pass in advance and allow extra time for the visa-check. My experience with this, it can take anywhere between 2 to 62 minutes depending on a number of factors include staff numbers, the airport set up and the number of passengers checking in. If you are not checking a bag, sometimes you can skip to the front of the queue. However I cannot state this clearer, do not rely on this. Allow extra time for the bureaucracy.

Keep reading for info about seat selection, however you should know that if you book and pay for a seat, you can check in for free up to 60 days before flying. A handy tip for those of us that need to print our boarding passes and don’t have easy access to a printer! 

Ryanair Hack 4: Save Money Flying Ryanair

Like many airlines nowadays, Ryanair charges for everything, seats, luggage, food and even water. These ancillary charges account for so much of the budget airline’s profits, but did you know you can avoid some of these costs? 

Food & Drinks

One way to save money flying a Low Cost Carrier is to take your own food on board. I’ve been on a flight where numerous passengers brought Burger King or McDonald’s on board. I don’t endorse bringing hot or fetid food on board as the smell never seems to go away! But there’s nothing stopping you from picking up an inoffensive sandwich or snacks like nuts, muesli/protein bars or even carrot sticks and hummus for your flight.   

Drinks are a trickier issue ever since the implementation of restrictions on liquids since 9/11. The way around this is to simply carry a water bottle. I carry my water bottle in my cabin bag and ensure it’s empty before I go through airport security and fill it on the other side.  This means I have no need to splash out for a £3 Evian water and it’s better for the environment by reducing plastic waste.  Many airports have water fountains, Stansted, (Ryanair’s hub airport in London) has just one and it’s hard to find. Don’t hesitate to ask restaurants in the terminal, most will happily refill your water bottle without hassle, just ask! 

Bags

Unless you’re an incredibly light traveller, baggage will cost you one way or another.  A tip to minimising this cost is to always add luggage to your booking before you fly, preferably at the time of booking. As previously outlined, adding a bag at the airport will cost you significantly more. 

Seats

Seats, yes you need one. But do you need to PAY for one? If you’re travelling as anything more than a solo traveller and do not wish to pay for a specific seat there’s a high probability that you and your party will be split up. 

We have seen a lot of vocal Ryanair passengers who’ve accused the airline of deliberately allocating groups of travellers seats in different rows in a bid to force them to pay to sit together. The airline disputes the claim and says seats are randomly allocated. Wherever you sit on the conspiracy spectrum, it’s probably easiest if you chat amongst your party before booking to decide if it’s worth upwards of £4 per person each way to sit together or if you can sit on your own for the duration of your flight.  

Travelling as a Family? 

Children under 12 are required to be seated next to an adult they are travelling with. Ryanair requires the adult to purchase a seat which triggers a free allocated seat for the child, up to a maximum of four children per one adult.

If a child is travelling with both parents, under Ryanair rules, only one needs to sit with the child. If all three wish to sit together, you need to pay for both adult seats. 

Rows 18-33 offer reserved seating prices for adults, with free seats for children. Choose a seat outside these rows and both adult and child will be charged the full price of these seats.

Seat Swapping

It is quite common on board Ryanair for passengers to play musical chairs once they’re on board with fellow passengers asking others to swap seats. Some will oblige, some won’t.  If you must sit with your travel companion, then your best bet is to cough up the cash to ensure you sit together.  

If you don’t pay for a seat, you will be allocated one and can check in for free between two hours and two days prior to departure.

Checking In

The golden rule with air travel is always to check in as soon as you can. You don’t want to be the last one to check in and potentially get bumped from an oversold flight. It happens! 

Also, in typical Ryanair fashion, customers that do not check-in before arriving at the airport will be charged the airport check-in fee of £55! That’s per person, not per booking. So if there’s two of you, that’s more than £100, and likely more than your flight! 

Assuming you’re EU/EEA national, the simplest way to check in is via the Ryanair app (iOS or Android). Non-EU passengers can still check in via the app or online but as previously stated, you must print your boarding pass. 

For EU/EEA passengers, mobile boarding passes are stored within the app and accepted at most destinations. The following airports cannot accept mobile boarding passes yet, and require passengers to check in online and print out a paper boarding pass. These airports are located in Morocco, and Greece:

Morocco

• Agadir 
• Essaouira
• Fez
• Nador 
• Oujda
• Marrakesh
• Rabat 
• Tangier 

Greece

• Kefalonia
• Volos

If in doubt, the safest option is to check in online and print your boarding pass. 

Ryanair Hack 5: Noise

After spending years being subjected to ridiculously loud non-safety announcements, I was delighted to realise that Ryanair has Quiet Flights. Sadly it’s limited to flights operating up to 7am and after 10pm, but still, it’s a welcome reprieve to know that there will be no announcements over the PA other than the required safety announcements. The lights will also be dimmed on these flights to allow passengers to get some rest amid the bright daffodil-coloured cabin. 

If you want to avoid the excessively loud and invasive announcements of the Scratch Card game, duty free, trash parade, food and beverage orders and subsequent delivery, the inflight “magazine”, then you should opt for a Quiet Flight. Otherwise, pack your noise cancelling headphones and prepare for the onslaught. 

TL;DR

This post isn’t meant to discourage you from flying with Ryanair or any other low cost carriers. It’s simply to prepare and help you to fly as far and as wide as you choose for a low-cost and with fewer headaches and unnecessary drama as possible. 

We frequently fly with Ryanair because the location of their hub in London is very convenient for us and cost, they’re often significantly cheaper than other airlines, and we like to allocate that money on other things during our adventures. Be prepared, and your flight with Ryanair should be an uneventful affair of blue and yellow.