Ryanair fluctuating fares, when to book?

I don't think anyone really knows what the algorithm is when it comes to knowing when exactly is the best time to book but I've found generally 6 - 4 weeks before tends to be a sweet point, granted this was more applicable pre-covid, I find it's a bit more random now.

I would say a general rule of thumb is if you're booking a very popular resort type place during high season (summer and when kids are off school), you're probably not going to get much cheaper the closer to the flight and it's probably riskier to wait it out. The more flexible you are with dates helps massively as well, but if you're going for an event and you have fixed dates, I'd probably tend to just get it booked unless its a destination with loads of daily flights and competition from other airlines.

I find if you are pretty much 100% flexible in dates and also destination and are open to going anywhere really and off season, you'll find some brilliant deals, particularly if you're happy to travel light as the priority addon can also vary wildly for both legs of the flight and can really increase the overall cost. Last week I was looking at flights for the last weekend in February for example for a potential trip for me and some friends and there were tonnes of places on the continent for €30 to €60 return. Google Flights is very handy for price tracking also if your dates and destination are fairly fixed, you can get email updates any time the price changes for your selected dates.

I think really you just have to buy at a price you're comfortable with and hope for the best. Ryanair are probably the most random with it but it happens with all the airlines, I booked a trip to NYC with Aer Lingus for April recently and thought I did well at €360 return but about 2 weeks later it came down to €280 return 😕 You win some, you lose some!

we've been having the same issue and talking to family and friends they are the same....

OR, the flight out is cheap and coming back its a rip off, of else vise versa, this seems to be quite common.. Ryanairs flights are defo getting more pricey.

in Dec i looked at one destination airport italy, for one person going out only it was 347 euro !!!!!!!!!! FFS ! Obviously didnt book. in saying that now the prices have dropped by around 140 euro on this same outing, but still not cheap enough for me one way.

We dont have kids so we can fly at our leisure re dates / locations etc, and just use 10kg bags always, and check them in - cant be dealing with the carry on of bags in the cabin, i seriously dont know why ppl bother. on shorter haul flights 2/3hrs now we dont book seats either. Sounds tight, maybe, but i wouldnt give them the money and it doesnt really phase us.

ppl who are finding the low flights are getting lucky, we cant seem to get them. must keep trying.

but as said above, only pay what you are comfortable with.

ive no problem not going if i think its too dear. maybe i will start looking at aer lingus again.

we use ryanair a lot, but theyre starting to milk it, paying 450/500 pe person to italy return is a rip for example. its not like they aint making money !

As someone who has over 200 Ryanair flights, my general experience is from Ireland.

Two distinct markets - UK and further afield.

UK: Once on sale. High price, gets the worriers booking 10 years in advance for a bus ride to Leeds. Say €40-€60. Then they drop to cheap about 2 months out, and this is the cheapest they will be. BOOK BOOK BOOK. Then they start the upward journey and increase continuously. Sometimes a week out, they have a quiet drop to mega cheap during the week. Then in the days before sky rocket to €200+ to screw last minute bookers who have to travel.

Further afield: This is like a wave. As above, once on sale high price. Then they go down. People start saying ohh I'll go to Spain in June. Have a look and see that the flights are cheap. Then in the classic 5-2 months out, they increase rapidly. They then drop again, increase again. Drop one last time often a few days out on some routes. These are like a few seats left on a random flight to say Malta or Split, where the return is massive numbers or vice versa. It will be cheap one way out of Ireland to get you on and you justify the return being silly prices.

Finally, if you see a price and you know it is very cheap (like I did twice this week) book book book. If you can sort out the other things in life after like annual leave or dog kennels or hotels etc. then that's the way to go.

If you can be flexible, you will win big time.

Re their profits - they actually announced the other day a 93% drop in profits for Q4 2023, to a relatively measly €15 million. Surprised it didn't make more waves.

Going to Malaga from Cork in April. Aer Lingus a good bit cheaper and 10kg included on top of that. A friend was telling it is the same for Cork Faro in September. Best deals with Ryanair tend to be in January and November.

The same

Created an alert on AirHint for a flight, didnt receive any notification that my request has been registered, I presume they will just email me when the flight price changes?

Thanks

Have had Etihad change DAYS of flights (DUB-BKK), nevermind times! We were flying J and not sure if that made a difference but they either offered alternatives, or full refund. We worked with it (actually made our holiday longer!), but the dose was that we like a few hours in the lounge, whereas on the way back we only had a 2 hour layover so only managed a quick drink in the lounge (4 hour layover is ideal for us to have a bit of craic in the lounges)

Not sure if it suits you, but we saved fair bit travelling from Belfast International airport.

Very interesting, will have a look there too, thank you for replying 👍️

Ryanair is a mixed bag - going to Malaga in a few weeks, booked the flight going over about a month ago as it was around 50 euro so fine by me but the return flight was 120 so held off on that. Was checking every 3 or 4 days or so and last week was still a 100 euro for a crappy time. Come last Wed and a mid day flight just over 50 euro so snapped it up

Find 3-4 weeks out to be a sweet spot (not counting peak season) - can even get a bargain at 2 weeks but you are chancing your arm it hasn't shot up in price.

Also if you are booking flights check the single person price, can save a few euro rather than checking the price of 2 or more people where you might not get a deal on "last seat at this price"

Thank you acequion, very interesting. I've set up an Airhint alert for now. It's still rising, we don't have to go but would like to however not at those prices (near €1,000). It'll be interesting to see how things pan out 😏

Having been put off by the horrendous prices late last year I did finally book for Barcelona recently for the last 2 weeks in June. I see now there's an afternoon flight from Dublin on June 15th for €28. Return 2 weeks later on an early evening flight for little over €100 in total. An excellent price even by pre-covid standards.

I wouldn’t call Ryanair planes tiny and uncomfortable

decent amount of space and don’t have to deal with small people reclining their seats. Why is it always the smallest person who puts their seat back ?

Ryanair don’t do night flights so no need to recline