Ryanair - Connecting Flights

In the past if you wanted to connect between two Ryanair flights - you had to make two separate bookings and hope your first flight wasn't delayed.  But sometimes it was the best option, and as long as you left enough time between flights, you could be reasonably sure of making your second flight!

Back in October 2010, I flew on Ryanair's first flight from Nador to Beauvais - and whilst I travelled on to London by Eurostar, my sister flew on to Dublin with Ryanair a few hours later.

Then in April 2017, Ryanair announced that they would start offering a limited number of connecting flights - but I'm not sure if it actually happened at the time.

Now though you definitely can book some through tickets on Ryanair - where the risk of missing the connection passes to the airline - with some big caveats.

Ryanair will only sell you connecting flights if the transfer time is between 2.5 hours and 6 hours, and only at certain airports.  They will only transfer your hold luggage for you at Rome Fiumicino, otherwise you need to collect it and check it back in again (or possibly Bergamo and Oporto as well - depending on which Ryanair webpage you read).  Although if you're waiting around for hours at the airport, you may be happy for something to do!

What we don't know is what will happen when things (inevitably) go wrong for a small number of passengers whose first flight is delayed.  Will Ryanair put you up in a hotel if you need to wait 24 hours (or more) for the next flight to your final destination?  Will Ryanair put you on a different airline's flight if the next Ryanair flight is more than 24 hours away?  There aren't many examples in the chatrooms yet about how Ryanair performs when it comes to irregular operations for connecting passengers.

The restriction is not just on the connecting airport, it's also on the departing airport.  Ryanair doesn't currently offer any connecting flights from any London airport (presumably because of concerns about delays arriving into any connecting airport).  From the UK, only departing passengers from Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh are offered connecting flights.

Many of the destinations that Ryanair offer as connecting flights are in Italy, with the second sector being a domestic flight from Bergamo or Fiumicino airport - and yes, I know that Athens isn't in Italy!

If you are offered a connecting flight, it's made quite clear on the booking screen

And once you click on 1 Stop you see the details of the two flights, including how long you will be sitting around the airport

So whilst the connecting options that Ryanair offer are extremely limited, and I wouldn't be totally sure about how they will treat passengers if things go wrong, with the limited number of flights currently available this may be an attractive option for some passengers.

Ryanair Boeing 737 Max 8200 - first revenue flight

Over two years ago I wrote about seating on Ryanair's Boeing 737 Max, as it was due to operate various routes later that Summer

After the tragic accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the first Ryanair plane finally arrived last month - seen here poking out of a hangar at Dublin Airport

Today the second aircraft operates its first revenue flights - a round trip from London Stansted to Dublin

Surprisingly the plane isn't showing as operating the same flights in the coming week - so Ryanair may just substitute it in at the last moment.  With the Max having an extra 8 seats over the standard Ryanair Boeing 737-800 it should be easy enough to swap it in with minimal passenger seating changes.

Whilst Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary said recently that passengers can avoid the Max and take the next flight (at least for the first 4 to 6 months of operation), that promise isn't the same as before the pandemic.  If you turned up at Stansted for this morning's 6.30am flight and decided not to fly on the Max, you will be waiting until 10.15pm this evening for the airline's next flight to Dublin.

If you do find yourself on a Ryanair Max aeroplane, it's worth looking at my full post on the seat plan, as you could get yourself a (slightly) better seat for the same price as a standard seat.

Pre Departure Covid-19 testing

Even for people who are fully vaccinated, some countries still require a negative PCR covid-19 test performed within 72 hours of arrival.

Thankfully the £160 prices that were normal for the past year are finally coming down.

And airlines are now arranging discounts for customers in a bid to increase passenger numbers.

British Airways for example has a list of 11 companies that will provide you with various different tests, and packages.

I'm particularly interested in pre departure PCR tests - so I went through the 10 companies comparing prices for this particular test (ignoring Chronomics who don't offer this test)

First in the BA list is CityDoc who charge £125 for a central London in person test

Then there's Collinson who charge £82.50 for in person tests - available at multiple airport locations and a site at The O2 Arena in London

Eurofins offer a home testing kit for a very attractive £40.42 - and they have a number of drop off points around the country, which would remove Royal Mail from the equation. They promise to give you a result with 24 hours of them receiving your sample.

Update 6th June 2021: Eurofins currently does NOT have any tests in stock

Update 12th June 2021: Eurofins failed to despatch my order on time - I do not recommend using them

Express Test charge £59 for various airport testing sites, and have higher fees for some city centre locations

Halo's home test kit is £74.76

LetsGetChecked also provide a home test kit for a slightly cheaper £69.30

Medicspot have a higher £84.15 fee for a home test kit

It looks like Qured charge the same £84.15 for a home test kit, but the final price is only available if you go through the full registration process (which I didn't)

Randox have recently reduced the price of their home test kit (previously £60) down to a more competitive £43 net of BA discount  Updated 12th June

BA have added Wren Healthcare which offers £139 tests at 10 clinic sites and £169 tests in your own home  Updated 3rd June 2021

These prices are specifically for British Airways customers - but I'm not sure how much validation they all do.

I like the sound of Eurofins £40.42 fee, and being able to deliver my sample directly into their own drop box.

Using a British Airways 2-4-1 voucher on a one way redemption

British Airways & American Express recently announced changes to their 2-4-1 vouchers triggered after the 1st September 2021.  Full details are on the Head for Points site for both the free Amex card and the paid for Amex card.

One aspect of the changes that I want to look at is the new option of starting a redemption outside the UK (currently all 2-4-1 redemptions must start in the UK).  And specifically using a voucher for a single redemption flight from a low fees point of departure (e.g. Brazil or Hong Kong) back to London.

Firstly let's look at a standard return redemption from London to Brazil during August (using peak redemption calculations)

LHR - GRU return

Economy  80,000 avios plus £200 per person

Premium Economy  120,000 avios plus £483 per person

Business  180,000 avios plus £586 per person

So a pair of Business class redemptions saves you 180,000 avios with a spend of £1,171 for taxes and FEES

Now let's assume you book a cash ticket from the UK to Brazil, and let's look at a single redemption flight from GRU to LHR

Economy  40,000 avios plus £8 per person

Premium Economy  60,000 avios plus £8 per person

Business  90,000 avios plus £8 per person

So a pair of Business class redemptions saves you 90,000 avios with a spend of £15 plus the cash fare from the UK to Brazil

To try and compare these options, let's assume you buy a one way cash ticket for £300 per person (and that you're happy to fly Economy on a day flight to Brazil)

So it's a choice between saving 180,000 avios and spending £1,171 on a return redemption or saving 90,000 avios and spending something like £615 on a single redemption

If you value avios at 1p, then a return redemption is generating a saving of £1,800 less £1,171 in fees - so a net saving of £629

A single redemption is generating a saving of £900 less £600 for the cash tickets and just £15 in fees - so a net saving of £285

Whilst the single redemption will have limited use (Brazil and Hong Kong routes only, and those willing to book single cash tickets), it may appeal to flyers who don't have 180,000 avios available for a return Business class redemption.  It may also be attractive to those who don't want to spend nearly £1,200 on a pair of return redemptions, when they could spend around half that on Economy outbound seats and Business class inbound seats.

  

Car Hire from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland

With foreign travel this summer likely to be subject to restrictions, many of us will end up spending more holiday time than usual nearer to home.

In preparation for things opening up, I thought it would be useful to see what the rules/fees are with hiring a car in Northern Ireland, and driving it across the border in the Republic of Ireland.

Disclaimer: This is correct at time of writing, April 2021, check that the rules / fees haven't changed if you're about to hire a vehicle!

The UGLY

Europcar have the highest fees of the big rental firms. Their website makes it clear that you need their "Europdrive Pack" - which starts at £90 for a 1 day hire, and costs £130 for a week's rental.

With SixT it's also clear - you need to pay a daily fee to take a car you've hired in Northern Ireland across the border.  For the smallest cars that I looked at, the fee is £8 a day.

Budget charge a one off fee of £23 to take a car to the Republic of Ireland - irrespective of the duration of your rental period.

The UNCLEAR

I'm not really sure about Enterprise.  There's clearly a charge of £125 to take a car hired in "mainland" UK over to the Republic of Ireland, but the wording is unclear whether this also applies to cars hired in Northern Ireland.

The GOOD

With Avis their extra "continental cover" is NOT required when taking a car from Northern Ireland over the border to the south.

Hertz also make it clear that there are no extra fees for taking cars from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland.

Final Hurdle

One extra complication is if you hire your car through an agency or as part of a package, for example with airline tickets.  The agency may impose their own terms and conditions, and whilst the car hire company's terms may take precedence, it's probably best to avoid any doubt, and hire directly from the rental firm.

So if you see a good headline rate with Europcar, SixT or Budget ... stop, think, what are the fees!

British Airways Avios Peak calendar 2022 analysis

Like many frequent flyer programmes, Avios charges you different number of points to fly on different days - unpopular parts of the year less points, school holidays more points.

Head for Points recently published the Peak / Off Peak dates for 2022, so I thought it would be interesting to see how things have changed over the last few years.

This analysis is just based on the British Airways Peak / Off Peak calendar - there are different calendars for Iberia and Aer Lingus

Firstly the total number of Peak days in each of the three years

2020  137

2021  138

2022  140

Only a small increase in the number of Peak days each year - but as always, the devil is in the detail.

If you’re able to fly midweek, the number of peak days has reduced (2020, 2021, 2022)

Tuesday  12, 13, 11

Wednesday  15, 15, 5

Thursday  17, 15, 17

If you’re looking to have a long weekend, then Fridays and Mondays are pretty similar too

Friday  22, 24, 23

Monday  21, 23, 19

The big change is on weekends with a jump in the number of Peak days

64% of Saturdays and 60% of Sundays in 2022 counted as Peak

Saturday  25, 23, 34

Sunday  25, 25, 31

The other way the changes can impact you is if you like to use your Avios in particular months.  As Easter changes date each year, there’s often a shift between March and April, but this is how the whole year pans out across 2020, 2021, 2022

January  5, 6, 11

February  8, 8, 10

March  5, 6, 6

April  18, 18, 13

May  10, 5, 5

June  0, 3, 13

July  27, 27, 20

August  29, 29, 19

September  6, 6, 12

October  10, 11, 11

November  0, 0, 0

December  19, 19, 20

The months with the big increase in Peak dates are June (from 0 to 13), September (from 6 to 12) and January (from 5 to 11)

The big winners are July (from 27 to 20) and August (from 29 to 19)

CORRECTION: November has ZERO peak dates.  "Nov" is actually December in this table!  Apologies.

So if you can fly midweek in the Summer, you should be happy with the 2022 British Airways Avios calendar

But if you like weekend flights, or getting away in June, then you need to budget for some extra Avios in 2022.