Ryan Air

[brynithel3]

Hi All

Latest news from our favourite carrier.

Ryanair to abolish check-in desks
BBC NEWS | Business | Ryanair to abolish check-in desks

They eventually want people to fly without bags. A spokesman from Ryanair says 'travelling with bags is a dinosaur'.......???

I expect we will have to wear everything we need. We will all look like michelin men or women.

Ciao

John

[Doug]

Hey John,
Thanks for attaching that BBC link. For months I assumed the extremely cheap fares you all were getting on Ryanair were because they were flying old Lysanders (sp) and the passengers sat on the floor, but the article shows an Airbus liner. WOW!!

Seems they'd always be willing to take your bags if you paid an extra 20 pounds per bag eh? Still quite a deal. I just cannot figure how they pay for the fuel, let alone pilot salaries with the fares they charge. Do you know for sure that they use pilots on-board? HA

Doug

[billy]

Hi Doug and John,
The Ryanair planes hit the runway with such a thump sometimes, I often wonder if they use pilots or have just forgotten to show their L-Plates. Still, I can't complain about the price---I've managed to book 7 return flights from Edinburgh to Rome for a grand total of £370----2 flights in April, 3 in June and a further 2 in September. The price includes 1 suitcase each time which is sufficient for our needs.
The online check in would be ok I guess if Ryanair increased the hand luggage allowance to 15Kg which is the suitcase allowance at the moment.
Cheers, Billy.

[brynithel3]

Hi Billy

You have really got a bargain with those flights.

I only wish these companies would use the provincial airports a little more. Driving from South Wales to Stansted for that early morning flight to Lamezia is a pain. Recently I have been flying Bristol - Rome with Easyjet. No airport parking and better flight times. The only draw back is having to hire a car and the 4 hour drive to Scalea. (One arrives too late to catch the last train south.)

Ciao

John

[billy]

I see that Hertz are giving 20% off if car hire is booked through the Ryanair site. This makes car hire cheaper than with other companies at the moment. The car has to be booked and prepaid more than a month in advance. I don't know ,however, if money would be refunded if,for any reason,the hire had to be cancelled. It seems to me to be a genuine offer all the same.
Regards, Billy.

[brynithel3]

Hi Billy

Hertz seem to be more competitive with their prices this year. For my next trip, I did a price comparison for a hire car, expecting the lowest option to be some local rental company with their base being a few tin shacks situated well away from the airport. To my surprise I found that Hertz quoted the cheapest price. Needless to say I have booked with them.

Ciao

John

[cool]

Hi Gang,,The same story again this year,, hunting for the bargains in car rental. No ryanair flights into Naples and Rome is Five hours from Scalea,if I fly to Lamesia then I have to leave from Stanstead ,,,more expence as I live in Ireland.Car hire in Naples is 800 euros for 4 weeks .I should buy a car over there if I could get around the insurance.Something just to get me around . Any help paid for in beer .Cool

[bella_ciao]

Hi folks,
At the risk of repeating myself too many times about car hire, and not to put too fine a point on it, if you are going to book your car hire through Hertz in conjunction with Ryanair, you'd be well-advised to check out the website Car Hire Excess Insurance | Car Rental Excess Insurance to cover for your excess (it's really reasonable, especially for Europe), as Hertz will sting you for it once you get to Lamezia or your destination airport if you don't make provision for it yourself. You could end up paying more for the excess than you do for the car hire otherwise. Combined with the excess cover from Insurance4carhire, which lasts for a full year, the Hertz offer sounds like a brilliant deal. We've used it on three visits to Calabria and it was brilliant, especially as we had a slight bump last time. No complaints here.
Hope this helps.
Ciao,
Frances.

[brynithel3]

Hi Frances

Yes, thanks for reminding us. It is a good point.

I know we have an annual cover with Worldwide Travel Insurance.
Their website is Cheap worldwide Travel Insurance. Holiday Travel Insurance.

Thanks also for the link, its always a good idea to have an alternative.

Ciao

John

[bella_ciao]

You are welcome. Travel safely!
Buona notte,
Frances.

[Doug]

Hi Frances and John,

The company recommended by Frances quotes 75 USD for the annual policy and John's company is at 58 USD (they both do business with stranieri like us). Do you have experience with your firm John? Sounds like Frances' family liked service from her's. We need to look into this and stop paying a fortune for extra coverage from the rental companies.

We got gouged last trip by Eurocar, but it was my fault for being groggy after the drive and not paying attention to what the young lady receiving the car told me (in Italian). An additional $250 was added to the credit card for an extra day (that we didn't use) and fuel. Moral of the story is take time to understand what they are telling you at the time so you don't have to fight long distance later! At FCO, language is not a problem at the car hire counter, but the people in the garage are not the same. Ciao, Doug

[brynithel3]

Hi Doug

I am fortunate because I have not had to use their service yet. Other than that incident I had last summer, which I resolved without having to use them, I have had trouble free motoring in Italy.

Frances seems to have had a good experience with her company and the extra price minimal. This type of cover certainly prevents those excessive charges that are quoted at the car hire counters.

Just remember, that on collection, ( they know you want to get away quickly and get on with your holiday) to inspect the car thoroughly and take photographs of any abnormalities found on the car make sure they record it on your paperwork and that these amendments are officially stamped and signed. Just a precaution once bitten twice (or thrice) shy. ( I use the old English as it seems more poetical)

Ciao

John

[bella_ciao]

The company recommended by Frances quotes 75 USD for the annual policy and John's company is at 58 USD (they both do business with stranieri like us). Do you have experience with your firm John? Sounds like Frances' family liked service from her's. We need to look into this and stop paying a fortune for extra coverage from the rental companies.

Hi Doug,
I just did a quick comparison of what was available on each of these websites to see what was available to couple in our position, travelling within Europe, and the quote on both sites was exactly the same (£49 GBP, or under $100 USD), with the same conditions given on each website. The Worldwide Cover, however, was slightly cheaper on the Insurance4carhire site at £65 GBP, compared to £69 GBP quoted on the other site. The Insurance4carhire covers up to 7 additional drivers on the worldwide policy, with £2,000 GBP excess cover on damage to the rental vehical, theft and damage to windows and tyres. There doesn't seem to be much to choose between the two policies but I guess it's a matter of "horses for courses", as they say. It's nice to know that there's a bit of competition out there and hopefully this will continue to keep the price of car hire excess insurance down for those of us who need to use it regularly.
Yes, Doug, we learned the hard way, too. The first time we used Hertz with Ryanair, I carefully explained that we had already paid for the excess when we reached the car hire desk at Lamezia, showing them the certificate and info. (which I believe they copied) but, while I was momentarily distracted while explaining the situation in Italian to our waiting relatives, my husband had inadvertently signed for the excess (not his fault, as I had already gone to great lengths to make the situation clear). Consequently, we came home to a large credit card bill and had the inconvienience of having to go through the usual channels to claim in back again. So it's alway wise to make sure that everything is "tutto posto" when completing the transaction at the desk, before signing, even if it does mean repeating yourself several times.
One thing's for sure, this Scalea Info website is becoming very informative to regular travellers to the area, in more ways than one!
I expect that's an ideal cue for us to thank everyone for their valuable input.
Must get on with some work now!
Ciao a tutti,
Frances.

[maisy]

Just listening on the radio and they are saying that our good old chums Ryan Air
may now start charging passengers for using the toilet. £1 a go. Well there is not
more they can charge for now is there of course there still is the oxygen.

Cheers Maisy

[Margaret]

Have you seen the latest joke (black humour?)? Wife says to husband - "Do you realise that Fred the Shred would be able to use a Ryanair loo 13000 times in a week?" Think this says something deep about the economy - not sure what!

[annetigano]

Hi to all members
Just thought we would share a money saving offer on car hire insurance. The standard price for this with Insurance4Carhire is £49. You can actually get this for £39.20. This is how you do it.

Go to the money back site Quidco - The web's cashback cooperative - this is a site where you get cash back for using internet sites. You have to register a bank account for the money to get paid into (we have registered a bank account with little money in it just to be on the safe side but friends have used this site on a regular basis with no problems).

Look through the merchants for insurance4carhire and it says you get 20% discount. Buy your insurance in the usual way and once it is all completed you will receive the discount in your bank account - time it takes to reach your account varies but every little helps.

We have also used the Opodo site (through Quidco) to book car hire. Their prices are generally much cheaper than Hertz and others and you get 10% back on the car hire price. We have got 5 weeks car hire for £541 in April which is £15.46 a day and it turns out that we will be getting a Hertz car anyway.

There are hundreds of other companies offering money back through Quidco and it is really worth taking a look.

Hope this is of interest.

Anne & Tony

[bella_ciao]

Hi Anne & Tony,
Thank you very much for this extra information and the helpful tip to save money on car hire - as you say, every little helps! Will check this out later when I get the time as this sounds like a very good idea. Have any other forum users used this website I wonder? If so, let us know how you got on with it. I expect you would need to use caution with registering a bank account - some might not be happy to do that - but so long as you check it out properly (there should be some reviews online) and are satisfied that everything is OK and secure it will be a great help to frequent travellers in particular. You certainly seem to have benefitted from the discounts on offer, anyway. If anyone has anymore feedback to offer about this I'm sure there are many on this forum who would be interested to hear about it.
It is always good to hear about other people's experiences as we can all learn from it and it can make the business of travelling to a foreign country much less expensive as well as being less hassle.
Thanks again.
Ciao a tutti,
Frances.