Transavia Tips?

[Mark in CA]

A friend will be flying Transavia from Rotterdam to Budapest next month, and I would appreciate any tips people here may have for flying with this airline. From the web site, it appears to be very Ryan-esque in its budget approach to flying, with similar fee structure, baggage constraints, etc.

I was wondering about the basic departure process. Is it also like Ryanair in that you must print out your boarding pass in advance and present similar restrictions on carry-on luggage size? How strict are they about it? Are seats reserved or is it a mad rush to the plane?

I would appreciate your valuable input on this. I found it very useful for my recent trip on Ryanair. Thanks in advance.

[Heathrow Harry]

They are better than RyanAir...................

[mixture]

Mark in CA,

Your girlfriend does like to make you suffer, dragging you on all these LCCs...

[MathFox]

There is no need for an online check in, geting your boarding pass at the airport is included in the ticket price. Yes, pay a fee for checked luggage (buying in advance is cheaper.)
On board there's food and drinks for sale. Buying a bottle of soda at the airport generally is cheaper than buying on board.

Rotterdam is a small and efficient airport, you'll get bussed to the plane, luggage handling is fairly quick.

[Heathrow Harry]

as said Rotterdam is really small which means there is an alarming lack of shops selling Rolex watches, Loius Vuiton Bags and $ 500 bottles of perfume

If you can live without these its great - the staff are friendly and you can whsitle through in no time

[Mark in CA]

mixture -- thanks, but this is not my flight (and she's my wife, not my girlfriend :) ). This is for an American friend that will be visiting us while she tours around Europe for a couple of months (retired).

To all, thanks once again for your knowledge exchange. Greatly appreciated.

[mixture]

and she's my wife, not my girlfriend

Aah yes, sorry. Maybe I should have just used the safe word "partner" instead. :(

[Mark in CA]

mixture -- no harm, no foul. :)

[piton]

Hi Mark,

I work for Transavia - if your wife's friend hasn't travelled yet advise her to pay attention to the hand baggage/luggage rules - our ground staff are strict! If she wants to bring a regular size roll-aboard/trolley it may get loaded in the belly (free if within size/weight regs) if the flight is full & she boards late.

https://www.transavia.com/en-NL/service/hand-luggage/

In Holland we are thought of as the friendly airline - hope she can confirm this after travelling with us. You do have to pay for food but our sandwiches are better than most lo-co offerings (and at least you have a choice instead of pretzels or a biscuit on KLM Europe) and we recently also started selling a tapas set that seems very popular...

Rotterdam is our smallest base - very easy & quick to navigate as another poster mentioned.

Feel free to PM me if she has any other questions.