Ryanair schedules. Early Morning or late evening flights.

[TrundleAlong]

Both myself and my wife take about five overseas trips per year. 95% with Ryanair.

I have been browsing through their late summer and early Autumn flights as well as some early 2027 flights.

Is it my imagination or are there more early morning and late evening flights and reduced mid day flights?

Having to be at the airport at 6 a.m. or arriving at my destination at 10 p.m. was O.K. when I was a lot younger, but I feel I am past that now.

First world problem but just wondering if there are people who fly to the same destination noticing a trend?

 

[mathepac]

people who fly to the same destination noticing a trend?

From which airport(s) and to which destinations?

 

[David_Dublin]

The issue with later flights is they are more likely to be delayed. At this stage, I'd almost select destination or airline based on a reasonable departure time, somewhere post early morning rush hour traffic. If its 40 or 50 euro more expensive I couldn't care less, getting up at 3 or 4am is crap.

 

[patfert1]

The airports where Ryanir base aircraft will feature more early morning departures and late night arrivals. Below is ChatGPT's estimate of plane numbers at Ryanair's largest bases. These numbers may not be reliable since Ryanair don't publish a list of these. ChatGPT gleaned these from press releases and other sources.

Rank	Base	Approx. aircraft based
1	Dublin Airport	~35
2	London Stansted Airport	~30+
3	Milan Bergamo Airport	~22
4	Brussels South Charleroi Airport	~18-20
5	Barcelona El Prat Airport	~16-18
6	Palma de Mallorca Airport	~15-17
7	Rome Fiumicino Airport	~14-16
8	Alicante–Elche Airport	~14-15
9	Kraków John Paul II International Airport	~13-14
10	Manchester Airport	~12-13

​

 

[patfert1]

In the context of the original question - assuming it was referring to Dublin airport - even though Ryanair has its biggest bases in Dublin and Stansted, well, that's always been the case. What you experience is probably a mix of perception and actual changes. It could be completely different on other routes.

Flight scheduling is a highly complex task designed to maximise the use of each aircraft every day, considering limits on how long each crew is allowed to work, and getting each crew and the aircraft back to their base at the end of each day. Ryanair are very very good at this!

Flight schedules change constantly to optimise these factors. Especially since Ryanair constantly open and close routes, reposition aircraft, do deals with small airports, etc.

You would not see such changes with for example KLM... on a route I am familiar with, their schedule is the same every day and has not changed much for years.

On the Ryanair route I most often use (EU to/from Dublin), the schedule changes every 6 months as they announce new destinations, react to demand with more or less flights on a route, change plane numbers at each base, perhaps experiment with flight times to see how customer demand reacts.

Over time I have noticed flight times on this route change pattern in a way which suggests reduced use of planes based locally (less early morning departures, less late night arrivals), despite Ryanair having a number of aircraft based there. But it's impossible to read anything concrete into this.

 

[patfert1]

Personally I think it's great that on my regular route the flight times vary a lot from day to day because I can choose what suits me. That would not be the case for someone whose travel requirements are dictated by work. I never travel with Aer Lingus in one direction because they fly at 05:45 (aircraft based in Dublin) and that's been the case for the best part of a decade. Pity, because the price is often the same as Ryanair.

 

[joe sod]

I never travel with Aer Lingus in one direction because they fly at 05:45 (aircraft based in Dublin) and that's been the case for the best part of a decade. Pity, because the price is often the same as Ryanair.

A sneaky thing aerlingus do is charge more for a flight if it is only booked one way but a reduced price if it is booked as part of a return. Ryanair have fixed prices whether booked one way or as part of a return.

 

[AndroidMan]

A sneaky thing aerlingus do is charge more for a flight if it is only booked one way but a reduced price if it is booked as part of a return. Ryanair have fixed prices whether booked one way or as part of a return.

Not sure how this is sneaky. Most transport options are cheaper if you buy a return ticket.

 

[patfert1]

A sneaky thing aerlingus do is charge more for a flight if it is only booked one way but a reduced price if it is booked as part of a return. Ryanair have fixed prices whether booked one way or as part of a return.

I wasn't aware that Aer Lingus still did this, but it has always been a feature of the standard pricing model of the traditional "flag carrier" airlines. I know KLM still do it. The low cost airlines - Ryanair, Easyjet, etc - have never done this.
Even though I worked in this business for a while, I never got a good rationale for it. In my view, it turned away potential customers who wanted one leg only - it can often be the case due to timing of different airlines' flights on a route. (The alternate view is that the policy succeeded in extracting higher prices from customers who really needed one leg only.)

Another feature of the flight ticket pricing model of the traditional airlines was that the return price came down a lot if your journey included a saturday night stay. I never quite got my head around that one either, and I don't know if it is still common.

 

[Protocol]

Sat night away, lower fare, this is price discrimination.

Business people, less price sensitive, don't stay in Sat night, charge them more.

Staying on Sat night is the condition / barrier to access the cheaper fare for price sensitive leisure travellers.

 

[TrundleAlong]

Ryanair have fixed prices whether booked one way or as part of a return.

I have often found a decent price in among the weekly Ryanair prices and often wondered if I had found a diamond in the rough.....only to find that the return flight between 5 and 7 days later is way above the normal.

I now find that I add both the outgoing price and return price and what might have seemed a bargain initially (because the outgoing flight was cheap) is the same as two normal middle of the range prices.

Another thing. I always travel priority with Ryanair and I always pay for a seat near the front of the plane. I notice that the priority price and seat prices are constantly changing. I often wondered if the basic ticket price is low is there a corresponding increase in the other "add on" charges?

 

[joe sod]

Sat night away, lower fare, this is price discrimination.

Business people, less price sensitive, don't stay in Sat night, charge them more.

Staying on Sat night is the condition / barrier to access the cheaper fare for price sensitive leisure travellers

That's a long time ago now though, I thought COVID killed off the business flights.
Now if you want to return on a Saturday it is probably cheaper because most people on leisure and weekend breaks want to stay Saturday night and return Sunday or Monday, therefore those days return flights are obviously the most expensive now.
Also business people will now want to make a weekend out of it themselves the rare chance they get to go away on business rather than rushing home on a Friday or a Saturday I would say.

 

[Leo]

I often wondered if the basic ticket price is low is there a corresponding increase in the other "add on" charges?

They use dynamic pricing on the add ons, the greater the demand, the higher the price.

 

[Bronte]

Is it my imagination or are there more early morning and late evening flights and reduced mid day flights?

Having to be at the airport at 6 a.m. or arriving at my destination at 10 p.m. was O.K. when I was a lot younger, but I feel I am past that now.

First world problem but just wondering if there are people who fly to the same destination noticing a trend?

We are a household that travels very frequently including into Ireland regularly. No I have not seen more early morning or late evening flights. Like you I am past it as regards 6 am flights (unless I really really have to, easier in summer than winter as well) . What I do is look at the Ryanair/Easyjet/KLM/whatever under the flexible options. Ryanair has an option to hit a button, you pop in 3 or 5 or 7 days, pick where to where, put in the month, and from that I'll see what's cheapest and make my decision based on that. For example I saw a flight for tomorrow at less than 30 Euro if I flew tomorrow. Generally you have to avoid flying on Fridays or Sunays/Mondays. But if you go Sat to Tue, or Thur to Tue, you'll generally do better. You also have to avoid bank holiday weekends unless you play it say Sat to Wed if the holiday is a Monday.

I will pay more to avoid a 6 am flight. My children are under strict instructions not to come home at flights before 9 am, refuse to collect them for that time, they trade it off with each other by doing the driving for each other because they know I won't do it. They find amazing bargains. I got a really good flight last week for one of them to Croatia on a 3 nighter.

Can you give us an example of a destination you're looking at. I presume from Dublin.

Avoid travelling in July and August -go on holidays in June or Sept. You've to be cognisant of school holidays and bank holidays in other countries as well.

 

[TrundleAlong]

Can you give us an example of a destination you're looking at. I presume from Dublin.

On a daily basis I scour several destinations that both Ryanair and Aer Lingus fly to, mainly Spain, France, Portugal then I often look at Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. (From Dublin). That is how I noticed that there seem to be more early morning and late evening flights from Ryanair.

I am presently looking at this Autumn and even in to 2027. I have a trip booked to Marseille for mid September but currently looking at October and November for one last sun break. I think I have found what I am looking for but I will avoid travelling during the mid terms at Halloween.

I won't be making my way to catch the Aircoach to Dublin airport in October/November at 5 a.m. in the morning nor returning at midnight.

It is good to have a Plan B and Plan C.

 

[Trudie2021]

Hello All - I've noticed considerable changes to flight schedules to Sun Destinations this year and into the winter.
For example Cork to Las Palmas was always an early am departure at the weekend, with an afternoon departure during the week. Now all departures are late afternoon. this is also the case with same airline going to Alicante & Faro. Similar changes also from Shannon & Dublin. I wonder why, as the early am departures given the flight duration in particular to Gran Canaria, were full flights. Seems odd to switch to late afternoon and of course returning flights then are very late, hanging around all day before you leave.

 

[BlackandBlue]

Simply put they will get better utilization of the aircraft across the day by moving the sun rotation to the afternoon.
Delays tend to compound across the day, so it can make more sense to take the hit on several short hops with minimal delay rather than try make up for 2*4 hour legs.

I wonder why, as the early am departures given the flight duration in particular to Gran Canaria, were full flights. Seems odd to switch to late afternoon

 

[Protocol]

Simply put they will get better utilization of the aircraft across the day by moving the sun rotation to the afternoon.

Can you explain this further, please?

What is meant by "sun rotation"?

 

[Bronte]

Hello All - I've noticed considerable changes to flight schedules to Sun Destinations this year and into the winter.
Seems odd to switch to late afternoon and of course returning flights then are very late, hanging around all day before you leave.

Presumably it makes sense to the airlines or they wouldn't be doing it. Some people think late flights back give them an extra day in the sun !

For myself I like an 8 or 9 am flight out, anything up to 11 am, and hate an early return, prefer something after lunchtime as the last day seems to be hectic ............. Therefore I'll base my flights on my preferences, if I can. One of which is to avoid everywhere in July and August as much as possible. This year we moved our 'summer' holiday to March ! Plus a week in June and another one last minute in Sept .... Older age has it's benefits.

 

[Bronte]

Having to be at the airport at 6 a.m. or arriving at my destination at 10 p.m. was O.K. when I was a lot younger, but I feel I am past that now.

Solutions to the early mornings are going the day before if there are better flights times, or staying at an airport hotel before flying. On arrival make sure you're booked close to the airport if possible if landing late. Ask for late check out, sometimes they'll give it for free and sometimes it's worth the extra charge. Most resorts allow you to use the facilities all day and have a placed to shower/change.