BUDGET AIRLINES RATED: WHAT YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY ON RYANAIR, EASYJET AND THE REST
Carry-on baggage: 55cm x 40cm x 20cm (10kg weight limit), plus one small bag up to 35cm x 20cm x 20cm
Checked baggage: a 15kg bag costs £25 each way, 20kg is £35
Food: sandwiches, snacks and hot food including flatbreads and chips; lasagne costs €6
????Seats: non-reclining, with 76cm pitch, 43cm width; choosing a seat costs from £4
Online check-in: available 30 days to four hours before departure for those who buy seats (up to seven days in advance for those who don't);
airport check-in costs £45 on the day of departure - check-in rules have
changed since the time of publication, see the new rules here
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What we say: “Ah, Ryanair, the airline we all love to hate - but perhaps that’s
because it’s the airline that loves to hate you, too. Probably the most
irritating element of the Ryanair experience is how the baggage fees
push the majority of passengers to bring carry-on, when the overhead
lockers have absolutely no hope of accommodating it all. This results in
passengers being forced to check luggage anyway, without charge, which
might be a bonus it weren’t presented by staff as some sort of public
shaming ritual, and it didn’t hold up the boarding process. But, on
reflection, the most irritating thing about Ryanair is this: despite the
company’s flagrant disdain for its customers, we take it like the
globe-trotting masochists we are, because few can beat the big
blue-and-yellow bus in the sky on price.” Laura Chubb
