Ryan Air out of Stansted - Early Hours!

I have friends in town (London) who are flying from Stansted to Salzburg at 6:30am tomorrow!  Usually I am extremely anal about arriving at the airport at least two hours before my flight leaves, but as the Stansted Express doesn't have a train until 4:40am, it looks like their options are to arrive just one hour ahead of time, or leave my home at 2:30am and get a bus.  Has anyone taken this flight or a comparable one?  I know I have had smaller flights that are walk-in-fly-out, but I never want to assume...

Thanks!

I'm usually paranoid about making sure that I arrive at the airport really early too, but for a flight that early, I would see if you/they can find out what time the check-in desks actually open in the morning. I took an early international flight (6.30am) out of the US to the UK a couple of years ago - it was right around the liquids terrorist thing so we were advised to get there really early... so we got to the airport at 4.30am, only to find that the airport was almost empty and the check-in desk didn't even open until 5 am!

If, for example, the check-in desk only opens 1 hour or so before the flight leaves, then there would be no need to get there 2 hours early .

Also, to save time, can they check in online beforehand? That will mean that they won't need to allow as much time for checking in when they arrive at the airport.

If they are handbaggage only they can check in online up to four hours before the flight (no more than five days) and they will only need to arrive 40 mins before the flight.  This is one of the best things about Ryanair.  I just did it to and from Luton.

Vicky