Flying Ryanair and Wizz Priority cheap tickets with two carryon bags

Kelley and I travel with four bags. She has one bag that must be checked due to her extensive cosmetics and liquids. That checked bag ends up costing more than the airline ticket price for many of our intra-Europe airline tickets on low cost carriers like Ryanair and Wizz.

Last month we flew Ryanair from Copenhagen to Kaunas, Lithuania on a short one hour $11.88 flight. I paid $29.99 for one checked bag. I had one carry-on bag that Ryanair checked for free and we both had one carry-on bag for the cabin. We did not pay for seats and both ended up in middle seats for the one hour flight. Total price for two one-way tickets on Ryanair from Denmark to Lithuania was $53.84usd.

Ryanair 2 tickets Copenahgen, Denmark – Kaunas, Lithuania = $23.85

1 checked bag = $29.99.

Total price = $53.84 for two passengers.

Wizz Air Vilnius, Lithuania to Gdansk, Poland

an airplane wing in the sky — Wizz Air over the Vistula Spit Poland-Russia.

Wizz Priority Boarding Upgrade for cheaper cabin bag

Wizz Air from Vilnius, Lithuania to Gdansk, Poland cost 22.49eur/$26.44usd one way. The deal with Wizz Air is a passenger is only allowed one carryon bag. The checked bag cost 26eur/$30.56usd.

Wizz Air only allows one carryon bag for passengers flying on a basic economy ticket. Rather than pay 26eur for a second checked bag on Wizz, there is an alternative way to get two bags on board by upgrading a Wizz ticket with Wizz PriorityÂ at a far lower cost of 6.00eur/$7.05usd each for our tickets.

Wizz Priority allows earlier boarding, one small handbag under the seat and one carryon bag allowed in the cabin.

a screenshot of a computer — Wizz Priority is a cheaper way to travel with two bags than paying checked bag fee.

Kelley travels with a standard size roller bag and a Longchamps handbag that can be filled lightly or stuffed. I travel with an Eddie Bauer backpack and one small roller bag. This was my first trip traveling with this Ciao bag my parents gave me when we went to Florida on Frontier Airlines in January. I won’t travel with this bag again due to the carry straps frequently coming undone and then dragging along the ground getting dirty when I wheeled the bag around city streets and airports.

two black luggage on a wood floor — My two bags for 2 weeks in Europe.

I have a Jansport roller bag I bought at Ross for $25 and I have traveled successfully with that as my second cabin bag for several years now.

My backpack is usually stuffed with electronics and almost always heavier than my roller bag. I have never been asked to weigh my backpack. I have always been able to fit my backpack under the airplane seat. Ryanair has lots of underseat space. Wizz had space too.

a backpack on the floor — Wizz Air backpack under seat

I did not pay for seats on Wizz Air and ended up with a middle seat, while Kelley had a window seat for the one hour flight. To my amazement the 3-3 row I was seated in was filled with 6 passengers, yet the row in front of us had no passengers. I asked the teenage girl seated in the aisle to let me out and I moved to the empty row. Nobody else changed seats during the flight to occupy the other side of the aisle.

a row of seats on an airplane — Wizz Air empty row in packed flight to Gdansk.

Wizz Air Vilnius, Lithuania to Gdansk, Poland 2 tickets = 44.98eur/$52.87

Wizz Air one checked bag = 26eur/$30.56usd

Wizz Priority x 2 = 12eur/$14.10usd

Wizz Total ticket price = 82.98eur/$97.54usd for 2 passengers.

Ryanair Krakow, Poland to Rome Ciampino CIA

Ryanair standard ticket price $53.92usd one way per ticket.

Ryanair Plus ticket $88.95usd each.

Kelley likes to shop in Poland and I thought we might accumulate enough stuff that an extra bag might be necessary by the time we traveled to Rome. Rather than risk needing to add a Ryanair bag fee close to our flight date, I paid to upgrade to Ryanair Plus Fare for added benefits:

20kg checked bag
Priority and 2 cabin bags
Reserved seat

We had 9a and 9c seats and a petite woman was seated between us.

Basically I paid about $30 more than necessary since we did not need the second checked bag. At least the self-selected seat placed me in a window for photography.

I enjoyed the views of forests in Slovenia and islands of Croatia as we arrived over the Adriatic Sea near Rijeka, Croatia and passed over the Istria Peninsula. Here are my $30 of window seat photos.

an aerial view of a city and water — Rijeka, Croatia photo taken over Ilirska Bsitrica, Slovenia 40 km away from Rijeka.

an aerial view of land and water — Malinska, Croatia on island of Krk and Cres, Croatia bottom island.

an airplane window with a view of land and water — Southern tip of Istria Peninsula, Croatia

Ryanair and Wizz offer great flight deals all across Europe. My travels around Europe are often dictated by where I find the best hotel deals during our dates of travel. We traveled to Lithuania for a week in Radisson Rewards hotels at prices equivalent to $60 and $90 per night to buy points for 15,000 and 22,500 points reward nights. Then we flew to Gdansk to redeem a Marriott MegaBonus free night certificate at the 25,000 points Sopot Marriott Resort with Cash & Points stay at SPG category 4 Sheraton Sopot. Krakow ended up in the itinerary due to the ticket price being less to fly Gdansk-Krakow-Rome with LOT Polish and Ryanair than a ticket from Gdansk to Rome.

Since I do not travel solo with a checked bag, my intra-Europe flights are very inexpensive.

Wizz Airlines Tip: If you are traveling as a couple or you think you will fly 2 or more flights on Wizz in 12 months, then Wizz Discount Club pays back its 30eur membership fee in one or two flights. We saved 25eur on Vilnius to Gdansk tickets and even more on Rome to Vienna 20eur tickets later this summer.