Bad news for airborne reds

Popular airline Ryanair is to increase its fares by £20 per flight from May in a bid to make long-term savings.

Customers booking flights after March 19 who check in online will be charged a £5 per flight fee whether they are checking in or not.

Passengers who book tickets before May 1 can still check in at the airport as long as they are flying before October 1, but from March 19 the fee for airport check in will be doubled to £20 per person per flight.

From May 1, all new bookings must check in online.

So effectively, all flights that leave from October 1 will consist of passengers who have checked in online.

There will be a bag drop service at airports for Ryanair flights allowing passengers to put their luggage in the hold. The £9.50 per pag charge still applies.

Go here for a full Q&A on the changes.

Tips to save on Ryanair

- Search for flights on Skyscanner for your ideal flights. It is a very versatile search tool that can't be beaten online.

- Consider that, if you book indirect flights, you'll pay a card booking fee on two return flights, so that could up the fee by £18.

- Remember that if you buy flights on Ryanair from a foreign airport to the UK, you can only do so with a credit card, so the booking fee will be higher.

- ALWAYS book with a Visa Electron to avoid booking fees up to £9 per flight. You can get them from the Post Office for free if you put £50 on it when you get it.

- Never park at their airports. They are a rip off. There is always a cheaper alternative.

For example, when flying from London Stansted, park for free on a residential street five minutes from Bishop's Stortford then get the train to the airport, which takes six minutes and you'd be unlucky to be charged.

- Never buy anything midair. £4.50 for a can of lager and the same fee for a slice of pizza is extortionate. Even the departure lounge shops are cheaper and, as long as what you buy from there fits in one bag, it's allowed.

- Don't check in a bag unless you really need to. If you're going for a couple of days, you can back a change of clothes into a rucksack and, most of the time, you can buy what you need when you arrive for cheaper than the luggage fee.