Ryanair lower ticket prices buying seat and bag separately

by Ric Garrido
April 9, 2019
8 Comments
4566 Views

inside an airplane with people sitting in the seats

Ryanair cabin

Ryanair is cheap and I like flying the airline around Europe. This article goes through a step-by-step process showing the ticket types and fees offered at each step of a round trip ticket from Krakow, Poland to Lviv, Ukraine. This is a trip I am hoping to take this summer.

I have flown Ryanair many times over the past five years for as little as $1.99 in 2017 for a Ryanair ticket to fly Warsaw to Gdansk, Poland. Generally I fly with one carry-on bag and my backpack I keep under the seat. While the bag rules have changed in the past year for Ryanair, I still find Ryanair to be a great deal and inexpensive for flights around Europe with two cabin bags.

screens screenshot of a flight schedule — Ryanair $46.58 round trip Krakow, Poland-Lviv, Ukraine June 30-July 8

Ryanair Standard Fare vs. Plus Fare

The next screen after seeing the low fares above shows three different fare types.

Lowest ticket price is Standard fare $46.58 round trip for Krakow, Poland KRK to Lviv, Ukraine LWO June 30-July 8.

Standard fare ticket price allows one carry-on bag weighing up to 10kg/22lb.

Krakow to Lviv round trip ticket prices

Standard Fare = $46.58 round trip (includes one 10kg cabin bag)
Plus Fare = $142.10 round trip (includes one 10kg cabin bag, personal under seat bag, seat selection and 20kg checked bag).

On a one hour flight I don’t care what seat I have and I don’t need a 20kg checked bag since I can fly with a 10kg cabin bag. However, I do need to have a second cabin bag or at least a 10kg checked bag. Ryanair has other options that will accommodate my travel needs for a ticket price far less than the $142.10 Plus ticket.

Add-on Bag Fees

Two choices to add bags

Priority + 2 cabin bags ($7.50)
10kg Check-in bag + 1 small bag ($12.50)

The option I usually select is Priority + 2 cabin bags. This option allows a 10kg cabin bag and a small under seat bag with priority boarding in the first group to board the plane. This generally means access to cabin bins before they fill up.

While the 10kg checked bag option is $12.50, that option does not include priority boarding meaning a longer wait at the gate to board the plane.

Basically, Krakow to Lviv is $15 round trip in fees for Priority Boarding and 2 Cabin Bags and meets my needs since I do not travel with a bag heavier than 10kg.

Ryanair Krakow – Lviv round trip + Priority Boarding + 2 Cabin Bags

Ryanair Seat Fees KRK-LWO

Extra Legroom Seats $16.00 (exit rows in middle) – $22.80 (front row)

Front Seat $15.00 (Rows 2, 3) – $16.00 (Rows 4, 5) this is correct that front rows in yellow lower price than back rows in yellow.

Standard Seats $5.00 to $12.00

Rows 6, 7 = $10.00

Rows 8, 9, 10 = $11.00

Rows 11-15 = $9.00

Rows 18-20 = $10.00

Rows 21-23 = $7.50

Rows 24-28 = $5.00

Rows 29-30 = $7.50

Rows 31-33 = $9.00

Price is based on seat row with no differentiation between aisle, middle and window seat price.

Another aspect to remember about Ryanair flights is usually boarding and deplaning happens from both front and rear doors of aircraft. Being in the back of the plane is not necessarily a longer wait to deplane.

On a one hour Krakow to Lviv flight I don’t really care if I have a middle seat. I like to take photos from the plane so I would probably opt for a window seat when paying for a seat.

Ryanair Krakow, Poland – Lviv, Ukraine $71.58 round trip

$71.58 ticket includes Priority Boarding + 2 Cabin Bags + prepaid window seatÂ Â

a screenshot of a phone — Final ticket price $71.58

This final $71.58 Ryanair Standard Ticket price ($46.58) with additional fees for Priority boarding and 2 Cabin Bags ($15.00) and window seat selection ($10.00) saves $70.52 compared to the Ryanair Plus ticket price of $142.10 round trip with the primary additional benefit of a 20kg checked bag allowance.The other benefit of the $142.10 PLUS round trip fare for this itinerary is a free standard seat or a $10 per flight reduced price for Extra Legroom seat or $5.00 reduced price for yellow Front Seat.

a screenshot of a computer — Plus fare ticket reduces Extra Legroom front seat fee from $22.80 to $12.80 each way.

Ryanair offers some great travel deals on short flights around Europe. My strategy is buy Priority and 2 Cabin Bags for my bags need and if I think there will be photo opportunities, then I might pay for a window seat. Otherwise, I play seat roulette and let Ryanair assign my seat at check-in. I seldom regret my decision. 3 out of 4 flights I end up in a aisle or window seat. And when I land in the middle, usually my seat mates are skinny European women.

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8 Comments

Greg April 9, 2019

I have been flying Easyjet, Laudamotion, and other LCC’s more regularly as I agree with your post, on a 1-2 hour flight around Europe, the price for what you get is excellent.

One topic that you haven’t mentioned, which I find has made me worried about Ryanair is the passport check. I have heard stories of denied boarding because you check in online, but you don’t get your online boarding pass stamped by a Ryanair agent to check that your passport is valid for their flight. Do you have any details on this process and how to best find and validate your boarding pass.
Ric Garrido April 9, 2019

@Greg – Never had a passport issue with Ryanair. They check passport at gate.

I had an issue one time showing up without a boarding pass due to a problem with my phone and they were going to charge me 50 EUR to print a boarding pass, unless I could show my mobile boarding pass. I ended up getting my mobile boarding pass to show in time for the flight.

And I did get hit for 35 EUR on Wizz Oct 2018 in Romania when their website would not let me print a boarding pass for my flight and I had to get a boarding pass printed at the airport.
Bobo April 9, 2019

“round trip ticket from Krakow, Poland to Lviv, Poland. ”
Not for a while now, though the Poles may wish it so.
Larry April 10, 2019

Regarding Greg’s question: Ric, when was the last time you’ve flown Ryanair? Here’s my experience as an American (from Sacramento) living in Dublin: For all non-EU passport holders, you cannot use a mobile boarding pass. You also MUST have your passport verified — as Greg indicates — and your printed boarding pass stamped by a Ryanair agent BEFORE going through security. Yes, that means you need to go to a check-in desk or their ticket purchase booth or just grab any random Ryanair agent you can, most of whom I’ve found are happy to do it, since it only takes a minute. But you know what Ryanair lines can be like. You must factor in the time to do it before going to security — and yes, it is a pain in the you-know-what. This has happened to me with a U.S. passport without exception on many Ryanair flights in the past year.
Ric Garrido April 10, 2019

@Bobo – Thanks for the heads up. Fixed to Ukraine.
Ric Garrido April 10, 2019

@Larry – Five weeks ago I flew Ryanair Barcelona to Warsaw. Gate agent did not see my boarding pass and passport until I walked on aircraft at gate.

https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2019/03/03/trip-report-ryanair-barcelona-to-warsaw-modlin-wmi-52/

The mobile boarding pass issue was Feb 2017. I do not use mobile boarding pass in most cases, and I can’t remember if I have tried to use Ryanair mobile pass since Feb 2017.
Larry April 10, 2019

@Ric – Wow, so interesting to hear that because every single time I’ve flown Ryanair between Ireland and Germany over the last few years on many flights, I have had to get my boarding pass stamped before security — and you didn’t on your itinerary. I got this from their website:

“Irrespective of a passenger’s visa requirements, all non-EU/EEA citizens must have their travel documents checked and stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Document Check Desk before going through airport security. Your boarding pass will display this information for routes that you must comply with this Visa/Document checks requirement. Non-EU/EEA passengers must do this in order to ensure compliance with immigration authorities. We reserve the right to refuse travel, if there is a failure to comply with this requirement.”

I guess the key phrase in there is “…for routes that you must comply…” Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I was flying from a non-Schengen zone country (Ireland) to a Schengen country (Germany). Your flight was entirely within the Schengen zone. Maybe that’s the difference… but who knows? All I know is that for all my many flights between Ireland and Germany on Ryanair — in both directions — I always need to get the stamp while they check my U.S. Passport. No other airline has required that of me. Keep up the good work!
Ric Garrido April 11, 2019

Thinking back it seems that I regularly fly Ryanair between airports in the Schengen zone. I flew Ryanair Amsterdam to Sofia, Bulgaria once and also don’t recall going to a check-in counter. But I flew Aegean out of Bulgaria.

Thinking back to all my Ryanair flights from London, I think I always flew with my wife who had a checked bag and we went to the check-in counter before security. That is probably why I am not familiar with the boarding pass stamp issue.

My solo flights from London over the past several years were Wizz Air as I recall to places like Slovakia and Romania.