Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert, has revealed a clever booking tip which could save Ryanair passengers up to 60 percent on additional extras to boost the flight experience. While Ryanair boasts impressive deals on tickets, the price can often be ramped up when adding on luggage, priority boarding and seat selection.
Luckily Martin Lewis and his Money Saving Expert team have been hard at work to identify new ways passengers can save on their next journey.
Appearing on This Morning he explained how passengers can slash the price of their holiday in half.
“New research done by my team this week has found that there’s a way you can get seat reservations and cabin bags for up to 60 percent less with Ryanair by booking its ‘value’ fares rather than its more prominently featured ‘regular’ fares,” said Martin.
Ryanair offers three different ticket types, regular. value and plus.
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While the airline frequently pushes its “regular” tickets through advertising, many passengers may miss out on the value option.
“When you chose your flights, its most prominent option is the ‘Regular’ fare which costs typically £21 per person per flight and includes ‘Priority boarding and two Cabin Bags’ (one additional wheelie bag as well as the small carry-on – everyone can take for free) and a reserved seat in rows 18-33.
“Yet there are two other options too, Value and Plus.
“Choose the ‘Value’ fare, then add the extras separately – if you added all three extras it’s roughly £9-£25 extra per person per flight.
“Choose a select seat (around £3-£11 each way for rows 18-33) and ‘Priority & 2 Cabin Bags’ (£6-£14 each way).
“We checked 20 bookings and the average saving was 30 percent doing it this way, but in one case a family of four could save £99 on return flights from Luton to Bologna – a whopping 59 percent saving on the regular fare.
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“On four of the 20 bookings, it was cheaper to book the regular fare rather than value.”
Not only will priority boarding allow for extra luggage and seat selection, but it also allows passengers early boarding.
Furthermore, it could speed up the airport process at your destination too.
According to the Ryanair website: “This will mean you won’t need to wait for your bag at the terminal at the destination.”
With the half-term holidays right around the corner, Martin pointed that booking with Ryanair can benefit families heading on a break.
Martin continued: “Even better, if travelling with kids under 12 this trick works best as they already get ‘free’ reserved seating as long as one adult reserves a seat (up to four kids with one adult), and as it costs parents ‘from £4’ to reserve this seat.”
However, although this booking tip will help passengers cut costs on the addition of bags, if travellers do not pack within Ryanair’s regulations they could face unexpected fees at the airport.
Passenger bags found to be in excess of the weight and size restrictions laid out by Ryanair will face charges of up to £50 per bag at the airport.
non-priority passengers are allowed one cabin bag with measurements 24cmx40cmx20cm.
Meanwhile, only priority boarding passengers are permitted to take one small bag (40cm x 20cm x 25cm), plus a larger cabin bag (55 x 40 x 20cm) with a maximum weight allowance of 10kg into the cabin free of charge.
Hold luggage can weigh a maximum of 20kg, and each passenger can check up to three suitcases each.
