On this page we attempt to make available the experience of individual bicycle tourists who have travelled with Ryanair (you can share your experiences here).
Table of Contents
Ryanair
Flew ryanair fromEast Midlands this sept to Carcassonne with 2 bikes. Bikes were in plastic bags and Only problem at East Midlands was they would not pass through Xray scanner so in the end handler just took them through as own baggage! Bikes appeared unharmed at Carcassonne. took return flight from bergerac and again bikes would not fit through Xray machine and so handle bars had to be unclipped to fit. French security were very officious. Couldnt fault Ryanair!
Andrew Szwed, October 25, 2007Ryanair
A fantastic open-jaw trip out to Grenoble, over the Alps and home from Turin. Not possible with a bike box, and depended on Ryanair accepting the bare bike. They did, no damage either way, though I was told they were going to stop this - bad news. Hiccup coming back - the bike didn't go on the plane, but they did send it to my home 2 days later.
Harry Longman, September 15, 2006Ryanair
Successful flights Aug / Sept 2003 Stansted - St Malo and return to Stansted from Tours.
Bikes booked and paid for in advance for outward flight. Hoped to get return trip free for bikes - but no luck.
Roger
Ryanair experience
Flew with Ryanair in May 2002 from London Stansted to Treviso (Italy). No charge for the bike on the way out (they forgot). Bike tubes protected by pipe lagging, pedals off, handlebars turned, spacer in front forks, front wheel strapped to main triangle. No damage.
Flew back from Salzburg (Austria) to Stansted. Charge was 22 euros for the bike. Same packing, no damage again.
Ryanair
July 2002 flights.
Stansted to Biarritz and Perpignan to Stansted. Two bikes both ways. £15 charges paid in advance. handlebars turned, pedals removed, tyres deflated. Gears wrapped in bubble wrap on outward journey (not on return).
Very satisfied customers. Biarritz was excellent , bikes brought out before any other luggage. Stansted - no problems.
Will explore other destinations with Ryan to take bikes on a trip.
RYANAIR
RyanAir have now removed the remark from their website that they don't encourage bikes. It was after all, a pretty dumb thing to say: they either take them or they don't.
RyanAir now accepts bookings and payment for bikes over the phone, which I would recommend.But still a good idea to check in early.
No problems on a recent Stansted-Dinard flight.
Ryanair ok
Flew Ryanair Nimes to Stansted 17 June 2002. Paid £15 for bike to go.
Turn handlebars and deflate tyres was all they wanted when I booked by phone, but I removed pedals as well. No probs either end (except Stansted handler grumbled I was one of the people who gave them extra work).
Others with bikes at Nimes said you could avoid £15 by turning up and sweettalking, but didn't get a guaranteed slot. Also that putting bike in bag avoided charge. There were at least five bikes on my flight.
RyanAir
I flew with Ryanair in September 2001 from Stansted to Carcassonne with my bike wrapped up in a VK bike box. No problems at either end, though the French airport wanted a peek inside as part of thier Sept 11 checks on the way home. £15 each way as others have said.
I'd definitely use Ryanair again - up the oirish!
RyanAir
Found on: rec.bicycles.rides
RyanaAir now says it discourages bikes and requires them to be wrapped. I flew with them a couple of years ago without problems, other than the 15 Pounds charge.. Has anyone any recent experience?
Wrapping would be a problem for us as we'll ride to Liverpool Street to get the train to Stansted. We're planning to fly RyanAir outbound to Dinard and Buzz on the way back. Buzz does not seem to have any problems with bikes, according to their website.
George: there is nothing very new on your site, so far as I can tell.
RyanAir
RyanAir charges £15 per bike - per leg.
But as they do not transfer luggage we ended up paying not only both ways - but also for each leg of the trip.
The two bicycles suddenly cost 2 x 2 x 2 x £15 = £120) pounds (going Esbjerg-Stansted, Stansted-Shannon and return Dublin-Stansted, Stansted-Esbjerg).
Seems my rear shifter may have been bent some where en route, but they make you sign, that they are not responsible for you luggage.
I wonder if this would ever hold up in court?
EasyJet v. Ryanair
Excellent service from easyJet at London Luton when I arrived with a folded Brompton for their Belfast flight. They agreed that I could have it treated in the same way as child's pushchair (aka 'babybuggy') - just wheel it up to the aircarft steps and hand it over at the last minute - which I did. The bike was handed back to me - with a smile - as I went down the steps at the other end of the flight, in Belfast. No charge, of course.
Contrast this with the return jounrey I made from City of Derry airport to London Stansted with the surly Ryanair. They did reluctantly agree to the child's pushchair option - but when I got off at the other end refused to let me have the bike back. I watched helpless as the groundstaff hurled it into a luggage truck.
London Stanstead to Carcassonne with Ryanair
We drove (horrors!) to Stanstead, Ryanair charged us £15 each way for the privelige of taking our bikes, but weren't too concerended with the weight. The routine was the usual 'turn handlebars, remove pedals' sort of thing; no boxes required. After the return journey, we were informed that some of the bikes had been damaged, but all there appeared to be was a damaged mudguard (fender) which I can live with.
Carcassonne airport is marked as an 'aerodrome' on the map, and that would seem accurate, no worries about taking your bike out onto eight lanes of thundering traffic here; instead, we wheeled our way out to a relatively minor road and set off towards the Pyrenees...
Ryanair
George: A few on notes from our latest trip you might use.
Ryanair. This is an Ireland-based discount airline. They charge 15 Ireland pounds per bicycle but as the fares are low, it is a good deal. Usual requirements: turn handlebars, remove pedals, let air out of tyres. At Kerry airport we handed our bikes over to the porter and asked him to take special care. I'll treat them like me own he said. And did.
Stansted Express This is the train from London Stansted airport to Liverpool Street station. The ticket seller and the platform guard both said bikes are only allowed on the non express, which takes 50 rather than 40 minutes.We asked the on train host (aka ticket collector) and pointed out that at 3 PM the train was not crowded. He found an area around the middle of the train where seats were removed for bikes and wheel chairs. So it pays to ask, politely. From the baggage area at the airport to the platform is easy. One change of level and there is an elevator. All in all, as convenient as Gatwick.
First Great Western. This is the train operator from London West. We took it from Paddington to Bath. There are six places for bikes immediately behind the engine. It is suggested that you book. There is a charge of 2 pounds a bike. We got seats in car C so we could be close to the bikes and make sure they stayed on board at intermediate stops.You also need to take them off the train pretty quickly at your stop, so a full train length run is not recommended. We left panniers on the bikes.
Bike Bags
Previously we had taken our bikes to the LBS for boxing. This time we bought bags from a New Zealnd company Ground Effect www.groundeffect.com They did an excellent job. Not as rigid as boxes so we added some cardboard but there is a strap and handles so the bags are easier to lug around than boxes. cheers
Ken Nielsen Sydney Australia
PO Box 1017
Fax: 61 2 99084769
Home: 61 2 99081962
Stansted-St.Etienne
My mate, Paul, and I flew with Ryanair from London-Stansted to St.Etienne, France, in July 1998, for a tour of the Cevennes. (In retrospect, Montpelier is closer to the high Cevennes. But the ride south was superb.)
Access to Stansted is by rail from Liverpool St. Station. At the Travel Centre on the Upper Level, show your Ryanair ticket to be eligible for vastly reduced return rail ticket (from about 24 pounds down to 8.) For visitors from France, Ryanair flight attendants sell return rail tickets during the flight (for 9 pounds).
We thought bikes were banned from the Express train (half-hourly) so waited for the slow train (hourly). But on the return leg, very late on a wet Sunday night, we took the Express. The Ticket inspectors on the train were welcoming. (What are rail staff coming to?)
St.Etienne airport is several miles north of the city suburbs. So once you navigate the network of new roads (some fast), you're in the hills and away.
Regards,
Clyde Ingram