Carrying my wedding dress on Ryanair?

Hi all,

We're getting married abroad in September and I will have to carry my wedding dress over on Ryanair which is a very unpleasant thought as the cabin staff are generally rather unhelpful from past experience and I would doubt there would be anywhere to hang it up.

There is no way I would check it in with my luggage and am hoping I will be sitting beside an empty seat and can just put my dress there. Otherwise, I suppose i'll carry it on my lap.

Has anyone had any experience doing this?

Thanks

M

There are a couple of comments on www.weddingsonline.ie in the forums on the same topic. If you use the search facility you should find them.

hi marie

yeah, am reading that as well - just wanted to see if anyone over here had any advice...

thanks anyway.

M

Would you consider buying a seat for it?

Yes, as Ceepee said, buy a seat. That way you can just claim two seats straight off and you don't need to worry.

But would you need photo ID for your dress?

Now there's a thought - if more than one person is travelling, would it be cheaper to buy an extra seat (esp. during special offers) rather than paying for checking in bags. They can't complain about weight as an average passenger would weigh (say) 9 stone anyway.....

Remember you can't book a seat with Ryanair and the cabin crew may insist the seat next to you is occupied by another passenger. They usually seat passengers toward the back of the plane if it's not full.

Why not use Fedex, DHL or another international delivery company?

Because there is no way I am letting my wedding dress out of my sight for that length of time...

I reckon I'm just going to have to get a suit bag big enough for it and carry it on as hand luggage and hope that they may hang it up for me.

thanks for the suggestions

M

I got married last year in Scotland, and a whole group of us flew with Ryanair from Dublin to Edinburgh while carrying luggage, suits and the dress of course.
I'm no great fan of Ryanair (especially the check-in staff and the excess baggage desk staff) but the cabin crew couldn't have been more helpful.
We made sure we were one of the first on the plane (carrying a wedding dress naturally makes people sympathetic!) and the cabin crew reserved a few seats for our baggage and shooed the other passengers away.
Of course, it can't have been a full flight, but the attitude of the cabin crew was fantastic anyway.

Hi Padandmad

that's great to hear, I'm really surprised actually.

How did you carry your dress - was it obvious that it was a wedding dress? Did you say it at check-in? Did they actually hang up your dress for you?

Must remember to try and be one of the first on so...

M

It was very obvious we were a wedding party - everyone carrying suit carriers and her carrying the dress in a cover that said 'The Wedding Dress Shop'!
We took it all on as hand luggage, way over the usual limits but we smiled a lot at people and nothing was said.
Don't think it was hung up, but it was put over the back of the (empty) seat in front, and the stewardess watched over it.
I'm thinking that everyone who's watched Bridezillas knows better than to get in the way of a bride on the way to her wedding!

Hi Padandmad,

thanks for that - must have my bridal shop put their name in very large letters on the dress carrier or whatever they give me - it's only myself and H2B going over the first night - everyone else is following the next night - so we'll have to act extra lovey dovey

Cheers!

M

If you are so worried about using Ryanair, is there not another airline with a better customer focus that you could use instead ?

I would suggest ringing the airline with your queries ahead of time rather than just turning up on the day and hoping for the best. However, from what I hear of Ryanair, this would not be a runner.

Nope - flights booked long time ago, only airline that fly near our wedding venue etc....

Hi,

I flew Aer Lingus a couple of weeks ago from Heathrow to Dublin. A girl with a wedding dress as " hand luggage" held up boarding for a time while cabin crew discussed what to do with the dress. The flight seemed to be full to capacity. The crew did not seem to be a bit happy with her (and neither were some of her fellow passengers either by the looks she was getting). She was accommodated though as I saw her later in Baggage Reclaim with the dress.