How long to leave between Ryanair flight and long haul flight with different Airline?

maisonette

I’ve read that flights departing from outside the UK are much cheaper due to lesser taxes, having had a quick look at the comparison between Heathrow>Sydney and Dublin>Sydney the savings are well worth the extra hassle.

My plan is to get a Ryanair flight from Luton or Birmingham>Dublin (approx £25+ whatever fees they add!) and then get a flight Dublin>Sydney with the return leg being Sydney>Heathrow.

My question is how long should I leave between the Ryanair flight and the flight to Sydney?

The options are:

Arrive Dublin (Ryanair - Luton)
07:50
16:05
19:20
21:35

Arrive Dublin (Ryanair - Birmingham)
09:05
12:25
15:25
20:00


Arrive Dublin (Aer Lingus - Birmingham)
09:10
12:45
17:05
21:10


Depart Dublin for Sydney
07:40
08:50
15:20
18:00
19:00
19:20

What combo would you pick to be on the safe side? I would have preferred to avoid staying overnight as that’s another expense for a hotel/taxi in Dublin but equally don’t want to risk missing the flight!

Kez1983

Is there a flight from Dublin to Sydney that is cheaper than the others or are they all of a similar?


I would pick the long haul flight you want first and work backwards, and personally leave as long a gap as possible, but I'm a lateness panicer!


Check in for long haul on Air lingus (not sure if that's who your Dub-Syd flight is with) closes 75 mins before departure so factor that in too!

tomtontom

What time of year are you travelling? If there is a chance of poor weather I would leave a full day between flights, if not I would book the first flight of the day from BHX/ LTN and the last flight leaving DUB. You need to account for delays for weather/ technical reasons, and if your first flight is cancelled, be sure the airline can put you on a later one.

richardw

Fly to Dublin the day before and stay overnight.

maisonette

Kez1983 wrote: »

Is there a flight from Dublin to Sydney that is cheaper than the others or are they all of a similar?


I would pick the long haul flight you want first and work backwards, and personally leave as long a gap as possible, but I'm a lateness panicer!


Check in for long haul on Air lingus (not sure if that's who your Dub-Syd flight is with) closes 75 mins before departure so factor that in too!

The flights are all pretty much the same, £15-25 for the RyanAir ones (plus famous RyanAir charges!) and the Aer Lingus ones are around £50, didn't look to see what that includes/doesn't include.

The Dublin>Sydney flight is indeed with Aer Lingus, I presumed the check in would be 3hrs so good to hear it's 75 mins, gives more leeway if things go wrong!

My preferred Dublin>Sydney flight time would be 19:20. In which case maybe the Birmingham RyanAir 15:25 arrival could be good. Bit worried that if that flight was cancelled there are no other RyanAir flights that would get me there on time - there is a 17:05 arrival Aer Lingus one though.

maisonette

tomtontom wrote: »

What time of year are you travelling? If there is a chance of poor weather I would leave a full day between flights, if not I would book the first flight of the day from BHX/ LTN and the last flight leaving DUB. You need to account for delays for weather/ technical reasons, and if your first flight is cancelled, be sure the airline can put you on a later one.

richardw wrote: »

Fly to Dublin the day before and stay overnight.

I'm looking to go early October so fingers crossed no adverse weather but who knows in this country!

Looks like my 'pick' above would be too risky then based on both your replies.

tomtontom

maisonette wrote: »

The flights are all pretty much the same, £15-25 for the RyanAir ones (plus famous RyanAir charges!) and the Aer Lingus ones are around £50, didn't look to see what that includes/doesn't include.

The Dublin>Sydney flight is indeed with Aer Lingus, I presumed the check in would be 3hrs so good to hear it's 75 mins, gives more leeway if things go wrong!

My preferred Dublin>Sydney flight time would be 19:20. In which case maybe the Birmingham RyanAir 15:25 arrival could be good. Bit worried that if that flight was cancelled there are no other RyanAir flights that would get me there on time - there is a 17:05 arrival Aer Lingus one though.

It would be madness to leave it that late. In the event of a cancellation, even if you could get seats on the BHX Aer Lingus flight the cost of booking would outweigh any saving made.

maisonette

tomtontom wrote: »

It would be madness to leave it that late. In the event of a cancellation, even if you could get seats on the BHX Aer Lingus flight the cost of booking would outweigh any saving made.

Thanks, I'm not a seasoned traveller so wasn't sure.

Looks like Luton (although closer for me) is not a good bet as if I missed the first flight for any reason there's only one more that would get me there on time. If I missed the first Birmingham flight there's still 5 others (spread between the two airlines) that would get me there in time.

photome

As someone else said, go day before and stay overnight. IMO its not worth risking any other combination

jpsartre

There is no correct answer to your question as it all depends on how risk-aversive you are. Given the stakes (probably thousands of pounds) I would personally not be repositioning in the first place but if I was I would go the night before. If that was out of the question I would leave the longest possible gap between connecting flights. You might be able to off-set some of the risk by getting a good travel insurance which would cover a mis-connect.

duchy

I would treat the night in Dublin as a part of the holiday and go the day before ...I say "I would" I have actually done this on a couple of occasions. I would allow the longest possible transfer ideally overnight- if not 07.00 from the UK for an evening departure from DUB. I'd check my bags in for the long haul flight and then go spend a few hours in the city before getting the bus back to the airport to arrive a couple of hours before check in time.

Cutting it fine would be stupid and not very MSE.