Is Ryanair’s new ‘Prime’ subscription service worth it?
March 26, 2025
Ryanair has launched a new ‘Prime’ membership product, priced at £79 a year, with membership capped at 250,000 members – although several areas of the deal’s purported benefits (including qualifying seat selection and discounted fares) remain as-yet unclarified.
Described by the low-cost carrier as a “subscriber discount scheme,” the annual £79 membership (€79 in Europe) offers free reserved seats, free travel insurance and access to twelve monthly member-exclusive seat sales. “Ryanair Prime is a new subscriber discount scheme for frequent flyers that want to fly regularly but don’t want to break the bank to do so,” commented Ryanair CMO Dara Brady, adding: “This will deliver great savings of £420 for members who fly 12 times a year”.
Although the reserved seating allocation may seem attractive, Ryanair has yet to specify which “designated rows on specific flights” qualify for the perk – with the higher-value options (such as exit rows or front rows) unlikely to be included. Either way, if pre-designated seats are available, Prime members will be forced to select from this restricted batch rather than rolling the dice of random allocation – or else pay extra for the privilege of unrestricted seat selection.
Additionally, although members may also reserve up to 12 annual seats for their ‘Ryanair Prime Companion’, this individual must also pay to subscribe – making the option of reserving a seat for a companion through a passenger’s own Prime membership somewhat superfluous. There is also no guarantee that a member and their companion will be able to select seats together.
Given that individuals under 18 cannot join the scheme, the stipulation Prime members must sit within a pre-ordained area may also complicate flying for families– with adult Prime members potentially separated from their children (or forced to pay extra for unrestricted seat selection).
The membership small print also suggests that members can “book an unlimited number of flights with discounted Ryanair Prime fares” subject to availability, although the precise nature of the savings or the potential applicable routes are not specified. Members will be informed of these options via email, which – crucially – are “a necessary feature of the Ryanair Prime contract” and cannot be opted-out of.
Travel insurance includes the cost of the ticket (up to a maximum of $500, minus a 10% excess) for a flight cancellation. However, compensation for a delayed departure will only be renumerated at $20 an hour for the entire first 12 hours of delay. Membership is restricted to residents of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
