First of all is the issue of choice. EasyJet used to fly out of East Midlands Airport (EMA) but now the "choice" is straight out of the options manual from Henry Ford: any airline you want as long as it's Ryanair.
So, it's on to the Ryanair website to get those cheap flights. The site itself is very easy to navigate around and I was soon nearing the check-out. Then comes the minefield that is Ryanair's check in and baggage options. We've already arrived at a sub-total of £420.00 for two adults and two children to get to and from Rome, which isn't too bad all things considered, but then you have a summary page which automatically includes travel insurance for every passenger.
You have to go through each person's details and manually de-select the travel insurance option, but I imagine many simply leave it in as it could easily be assumed that you must have travel insurance. If you pay with a credit card then you are automatically insured; you don't need to pay their rip-off rates.
On the baggage options I clicked the one case option and there appeared another cost of £28.00. OK, one bag and I'll check in at the airport despite fuming that there was another unexpected cost to add on.
For my wife and two boys we don't need further baggage so they're left as zero; then we can check-in online for free or for £9 at the airport. I select the free option and then go to check-out; but I can't proceed as one person (me) has to check in the bag at the airport, even though there are no other bags to check in.
The option is that I must do two separate booking; one for me with a bag and another one for my wife and children without baggage, which means they can check in online.
We decide that as we can all take hand luggage we won't have any luggage in the hold, which means that we can all check in online and for free.
I finally arrive at the payment section and have my credit card at the ready. But, another catch: if you pay by credit card there's a booking fee. A what? Another tax!
The rate works out at a 9% surcharge taking our total to £460.00.
At IKEA they charge just 70p to pay by credit card and that's enough. We know that the card companies charge around 1% to their customers so Ryanair is making up to 8% for nothing. Disgusting. The only card that escapes a fee is if you have an Electron card; if you're a regular Ryanair flyer I would get yourself one and quick.
So far, so unrelaxing and we haven't even set foot in the airport yet. However, without checking in baggage and nothing to collect when we land in Rome we should at least be out of the airport in minutes.
Compare this to travelling by ferry or Eurotunnel; a few clicks and you're at the check out and no issue about how much baggage. You just select the size of car and include how many passengers. On the day of travel you drive to the ferry terminal, wait until you embark and then you sit back and enjoy the ride.
There's no fighting through Customs and check in, there's no fear of your luggage ending up in Timbuktu and there's no worry about the cost of parking.
For me it's the ferry everytime.
