Are flights really just £1?

Yes indeed. Ryanair can offer these amazing prices because it provides no-frills, cheap-as-chips flights (inc. some taxes and charges). But make no mistake, Ryanair recoups its money by charging for 'extras' such as checking in baggage or even just checking in yourself!

Yet only take hand-luggage, check-in online and pay via Visa Electron, and these promotional flights can be had for tiny prices. For everyone else, expect to pay more, though it's still possible to get to Europe and back for around £50 per person all-in.

Ryanair's 'extra' charges

Here are the standard charges you'll face, but by no means the only ones (see the Beat Budget Airlines' Charges guide for a full list).

Taking checked-in baggage.

Pre-book your baggage and it's £15 for the first suitcase and £35 for a second. Turn up without pre-booking and it's £35 for the first piece, and a massive £70 if you want to take another. This is per flight. Each suitcase (you can take a maximum of two per person) has a 15kg weight limit.

Excess weight is charged at an outrageous £20/kg. Though you do get a free hand luggage allowance of 10kg, so make the most of that.

Checking-in.

You're charged for the luxury of checking in, which can only be done online, between 15 days and four hours before each flight leaves.

It costs £5 per person per journey, and if you don't do it - or forget to bring your printed boarding pass to the airport - you'll be slapped with a £40 'boarding card re-issue' fee, per person (forget on your way home and you'll be hit by this charge again too).

However, if you book a flight during one of these special 'free/1p', '£1', '£2.99', '£3', '£5' or '£8' flight promotions, the online check-in fee is often waived. But always double check the wording.

Paying!

Ryanair charges £5 per person each way for debit and credit card transactions. Rather disingenuously it can still claim this is an ‘extra’, as if you pay by the less common ‘Visa Electron’ card it's free.

Yet Ryanair isn't the only budget airline to charge for these extras; annoyingly it's now become standard across the board. Ensure you read the Beat Budget Airlines' Charges guide, which has full details on how to avoid the usual pitfalls and save £100s.

A nifty trick to avoid booking fees

As it's free to pay using an Electron card, that's what you need in your purse. While they use to be tough to obtain, there are three easy ways to get one now.

You can simply get a Travelex Cash Passport* prepaid card (there are three versions), open a Halifax Easycash Basic Bank Account or use the Entropay system. For a full guide to these, with all pros and cons see the Beat Budget Airline Fees guide.

Don’t be inactive with the Cash Passport!

All incarnations of the Cash Passport have a potential sting in the tail, but it's easily avoided. If the card goes unused for 12 months (or 15 for the Thomas Cook version), and you have a positive balance, you'll get charged a £2 monthly inactivity fee. Combat this by either cancelling the card for free before you're inactive this long or by paying for something with it every few months.

There are other ways to get your hands on an Electron card; for full details and pros & cons of each, read the Beat Budget Airlines' Charges guide.

Speedily find the cheap flights

This is simple to do as it's exactly what the FlightChecker tool is designed for. Simply tell it where you want to go, what your date range is and the maximum you're willing to pay and it'll find every available flight for you. So to find these flights, do the following:

Step 1: Go to the Budget Airline FlightChecker, tell it your departure airport, and enter where you want to go. Either check that this destination is included in the promotion (see below) or just click 'I'll go anywhere' to find all routes. Now choose your dates.

Step 2: Choose maximum price £1 inc. taxes and charges. This ensures only the special flights will appear.

Step 3: Book at Ryanair. Once you've found your flights, go straight to Ryanair to check they're still available and book them. These flights disappear at speed, so don't delay.

Step 4: Check out cheap hotels or B&Bs. If you need somewhere to stay the Cheap Hotels & Hostels guide and the Hotel Sales deals note will show you how to find it cheapest.

Alternatively via selecting the right options in comparison site Skyscanner some similar functionality is available too.

Warning Note. The FlightChecker's not perfect.

Due to a change in Ryanair’s policy last year, we were unable to have it in the FlightChecker for a long time. We're still trialling a new system, so the information isn't quite as up to the minute and comprehensive as we’d like.

The FlightChecker should work, but if you don't get want you want using it, do also try manually searching Ryanair (though of course that way takes longer).

When and where are the flights?

Ryanair is clever with its promotions. As the flights aren't for all dates the likelihood is, for anyone without huge flexibility, you may find a £1 for one leg of your journey but pay more for the other leg. However using the FlightChecker you should still be able to do it all cheaply. Here are the terms:

Want other cheap flights?

If you're looking for other flights not included in this promotion, or further afield, read the main Cheap Flights guide, which will show you how to get the cheapest flights anywhere in the world. And if you do nab a cheap flight, why not help the environment by Carbon Offsetting?

Deal discussion

Cheap Ryanair Flights