Ryanair baggage question?

Stinicker

With all the ongoing wildcat strikes and cancellations at Aer Lingus I have a question I am not too sure of!. I am flying to Thailand next month with Etihad from Heathrow and making my way independently to Heathrow with Aer Lingus.

As I have a morning flight with Aer Lingus and an evening flight with Etihad, I was thinking of booking a backup Ryanair flight in the event that my Aer Lingus flight was cancelled.

It would probably only cost €10-€30 so my question is if I was to make the Ryanair booking with only a carryon (saving the €15 baggage fee) and then if I really had to use the flight could I add on the checked luggage at the airport?

I know it would be more expensive than just paying the €15 at the time of booking but I may never need to use the flight if Aer Lingus sorts themselves out, and as I have several hours between flights in Heathrow I could fly to Stansted or Luton and make my way separately to Heathrow in plenty time for my Etihad flight.

Its just a contingency plan! and if I had to book the Ryanair flight on the day, I'd need the vaseline and probably about €300 one way!

mikedragon32

Seems like a reasonable plan. I would hope that EI would give you reasonable notice of the cancellation and that might give you time to add your bags to your FR booking, provided you leave it til the last minute (read four hours) to do your online check-in so you don't get the full hit of the baggage charge in the airport.

Lastly, just be aware that there may be consequences if the Aer Lingus and Etihad flights are on a single booking, if you don't show for the Aer Lingus flight. (as in they may cancel your Etihad flight as a no-show)

ghosttown

Do British Midland not cover the LHR route, would try them before Ryanair.

Stinicker

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Seems like a reasonable plan. I would hope that EI would give you reasonable notice of the cancellation and that might give you time to add your bags to your FR booking, provided you leave it til the last minute (read four hours) to do your online check-in so you don't get the full hit of the baggage charge in the airport.

Lastly, just be aware that there may be consequences if the Aer Lingus and Etihad flights are on a single booking, if you don't show for the Aer Lingus flight. (as in they may cancel your Etihad flight as a no-show)

Great I forgot about the four hour window. I'm booked with Etihad separately after finding a super cheap deal from Heathrow with them, so they are two separate flight bookings.

The only thing I'd have to worry about in that line would be if I didn't utilise my outward flight with Aer Lingus due to cancellation or strike, would my return leg be valid? Presumably they'd have to honour it even if I didn't use the outward flight.

ghosttown wrote: »

Do British Midland not cover the LHR route, would try them before Ryanair.

They do indeed from Dublin but not from Cork Airport, I have 7.5hours between flights so would have plenty time to transit from Gatwick or Stansted over to Heathrow in the worst case scenario.

What sort of notice have they been giving affected passengers so far I wonder? As Cork only has a few flights a day and if I was to turn up at Cork and be told my flight was cancelled I would have to get up to Dublin pronto to catch an afternoon flight to London to make my Etihad flight in time!

mikedragon32

They've already announced tomorrows cancellations here, so I'd imagine you'd get plenty of notice.

As for connecting between the other London airports and LHR, Gatwick is definitely the better option. AFAIK there's a bus service between the two.

I'm not entirely certain about the return flight being honoured on EI if you're a noshow for the outbound, but I think you're okay. No harm to give their reservation center a call to be sure. I can't see anything on their site.

undo

Aer Lingus, like Ryanair, sell you two individual flights and not a return one IMHO. But since it does not state that on the confirmation in big, bold letters, it may be better to check with them just to be extra sure. If it really is two individual flights, you can skip the first one and still fly the second. Even better, if the first one is canceled, you can get a full refund for it under EU rules.

With Ryanair, as mentioned above, you have to check in four hours before the flight. If you know by that time that your Aer Lingus flight is not going, add the luggage online before checking in. If you are not sure and want to gamble, check in without luggage and add it at the airport if required.

Best of luck with your flights.