Ryanair Transatlantic Flights on Horizon: Bargain or Nightmare?

According to multiple news sources, Ryanair transatlantic flights are on the distant horizon -- 3 to 4 years away -- with an unbeatable price tag of 10 euros. At current exchange rates, 10 euros is equivalent to $12.70. This cheap transatlantic airfare on Ryanair undoubtedly has many bargain airfare hunters drooling in anticipation, while others are already spoofing the offer. This is Ryanair we are talking about after all.

Ryanair has been a bargain airfare provider in Europe since 1985. It offers flights on 800 low fare routes between 26 European countries. Within 10 years, Ryanair had surpassed Aer Lingus and British Airways as the preferred carrier on the Dublin-London route, the premiere international route in Europe. By the end of 2008, Ryanair expects its annual Europe passenger count to top 50 million.

Ryanair's transatlantic flight plans include entry into the New York, Florida, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston markets with flights from London's Stansted and Dublin airports.

Readers not familiar with Ryanair are probably torn between suspicion (a $12.70 transatlantic flight can't be for real, must be a gimmick) and analytical conundrum (no one is going to be in business very long offering prices this low). But Ryanair has a track record going back more than 20 years of consistently offering cheap, international flights to European travelers. Before planning its transatlantic debut, Ryanair spent two decades perfecting its game, offering European travelers flights that cost a fraction of what other carriers on the same routes charged.

So why do some seasoned travelers make fun of Ryanair, like the Daily Mash writer who proclaimed "RYANAIR is to become the first budget carrier to fly passengers to New York in utter misery for less than a tenner"? The article went on to explain that the new Ryanair service promised to deliver "all the [expletive] hallmarks of a typically soul-destroying Ryanair experience."

As someone who scheduled 3 Ryanair transEurope flights in 2004 and actually flew 2 of them, accompanied by my husband and 3 children, I have some insight into the pros and cons of Ryanair and what advantages and disadvantages it may offer to the transatlantic flyer.

Ryanair may well sell you a transatlantic ticket for $12.87 once it initiates its new flights, but taxes and fees will increase that amount considerably. Still, the total is likely to be an incredible bargain on its face. If you are a bargain basement, fund-deprived young person with stamina and determination, Ryanair transatlantic flights may prove to be your best or only option for summering in Europe. But Ryanair's cheap transatlantic fare will no doubt come with the same disadvantages of its unbelievably low international fares across Europe.

Luggage

Ryanair transatlantic travelers who fail to pay heed to luggage restrictions will likely find their bargain airfare to be anything but a bargain. Strict limits on bag numbers, sizes and weights are usually enforced, with hefty fees for extra baggage or outsize baggage.

When we flew from Girona to Paris in 2004, there were numerous overwrought students pulled out of line with luggage tagged for extra charges due to its size and weight. We grimaced, knowing that our own luggage exceeded required bag numbers and weight limits and fearing the ecomonic hit, but our luggage made it through check-in. I suspected that this was due in part to our being family travelers rather than youth travelers and also due to the distribution of the luggage among 5 family members and the constant distraction the 3 young family members created. The poor Ryanair folk probably just wanted to get us checked in as soon as possible no matter the lost income.

Location

Ryanair operates out of airports so inconvenient, a traveler would almost think the airports were created just for Ryanair with inconvenience in mind. It's easy to start out thinking that a little inconvenience is worth the savings but the fact is, the inconvenience is not only time-consuming, its costly. Travelers needing to transfer between two airports in the same city may find as we did that there is no direct transfer option. This means paying hefty taxi fares for a long distance ride or traveling into the city and out again. If your time is precious, this is a problem for the hassle alone. Even if you can spare the time, the cost adds up fast.

If you rent a car, you may not be able to drop it off at the airport from which you are flying. That happened to us in Girona, when we learned that airport drop off referred exclusively to "the other airport."

Refunds and Changes

We bought airfare on Ryanair for one flight we weren't sure we would make, knowing that if we chose to change our plans, the fare was not refundable. Any changes carry a charge that exceeds the cost of the original ticket in many cases and are subject to availablity.

We did change our plans, cancelling a flight from Bologne to Marseilles. For us, this was not a significant financial loss, something like $100 for the 5 of us combined, but for ambitious young travelers hoping to criss-cross a continent, losses associated with abandoned flights could get costly, especially if their scheduling was overly exuberant.

Will Ryanair transatlantic prove to be a viable travel option for bargain airfare seekers? Undoubtedly, it will. Those who want a barebones point to point flight and are accustomed to light packing will probably be thrilled to see Ryanair crack the transatlantic route. For the average traveler, however, the Daily Mash satirical commentary is more typical of the reaction to this new transatlantic flight option.

Source: http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/about.php; http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/ryanair-to-offer-%A38-transatlantic-shitfest-200811031370/; http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/02/business/EU-Britain-Ryanair.php; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27508594/; http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1wT_EsuJkHE&refer=home.