Budget airline Ryanair is renowned for their budget-friendly flight offering, jetting customers off to destinations throughout Europe and beyond for a cut of the price. However, they also infamously boost the cost of tickets with additional extras such as seat selection, taking luggage or opting for priority boarding.
While prices may seem favourable, even with these add-ons, Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis revealed there is a special trick customers can put into action when booking which could save them an incredible 60 percent.
Appearing on Good morning Britain the finance expert explained: “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 60percent less with Ryanair by booking its ‘value’ fares rather than its more prominently featured ‘regular’ fares.”
Ryanair offers three different ticket levels- ‘regular’, ‘value’ and ‘plus’.
The airline frequently advertises its value fare package.
The Money Saving Expert and his team tried a number of different booking methods to find the best deal for Ryanair passengers.
He continued: “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.
“On four of the 20 bookings, it was cheaper to book the regular fare rather than value.”
Using this method families of four could save up to £100 when booking seat reservations, cabin bags and priority boarding.
With the half-term holidays just around the corner, many families are gearing up for a little bit of sun.
Martin offered some extra advice for travellers jetting off with children under 12.
He said: “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 4 kids with one adult), and as it costs parents ‘from £4’ to reserve this seat.”
However, in order to avoid unexpected fees at the airport, it is vital travellers are aware of the airline’s baggage policy.
Ryanair enforces strict weight and size restrictions for both their hand luggage and checked bags.
Passengers with bags found to be in excess of these guidelines can face charges of up to £50 at the airport.
In terms of cabin bags, non-priority passengers are allowed one 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.
