In article ,
(Joe) writes:
I am from the United States, and my wife, child and myself, plan to
travel to Europe in June. I have most of my trip planned, except for
the travel from Rome to Frankfurt. I have looked at the ryanair's very
appealing price structure. However, I have also read that ryanair is
not very dependable, which could be very troublesome for us. I seek
advice, should I perhaps travel by train, consuming considerable
amount of vacation time or should I consider the scenery I would miss.
Certainly, I would like to balance cost, time spent traveling while
enjoying the scenery and local culture. Could someone please give me
pros and cons. Thank you.

Joe

I flown with Ryanair several times (6) to and from "Frankfurt". (Once
to Rome.) I've never had any problems with them, but as others have
said, they allow no changes on any tickets, do not guarantee
connections, and don't provide any "extras" (like snack, drinks, or
assigned seats). I did have a problem in Gothenborg when the plan
couldn't land due to fog, but they bussed us to another airport
further inland where the incoming plane had landed. Other than a long
delay, everything was fine. One thing to be wary of is that they have
a small baggage allowance (1 piece checked, 15 kgs and 1 piece
carry-on, 7 kgs). They also don't fly to the "normal" Rome or
Frankfurt airports. In the case of Rome, they fly to Ciampino, which
is a ~30 min bus ride to Termini. The bus is timed to coincide with
flights and costs (IIRC, Feb 2003) EUR 8. In Frankfurt, they fly to
Hahn which is a 1 hour, 45 minute, EUR 12 ride from the main
station. (Hence the quotes around Frankfurt above.) Keeping these in
mind, my wife and I did elect to fly them as it's a long (14+ hours)
and expensive (EUR 175) train ride. Also, check into Volareweb
(http://www.volareweb.com) which flies Rome-Berlin, Milan-Berlin, or
Venice-Frankfurt (also Hahn).

Whatever you decide, enjoy your trip,
Paul
--
++ A random selection of quotes ++
Science has to suffer when the know-nothings come traipsing through
the laboratories, infecting the research with their religious beliefs
and political ideologies.
++ Bob Hebert, NY Times Columnist on the
targetting of peer-reviewed science by the
Traditional Values Coalition ++
Paul Sanschagrin
http://staff.uni-marburg.de/~sanschag
sanschag@ COMBINE
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