Portuguese_traveller

After booking a connection flight with Ryan Air between Porto - London - Kaunas, I realized that a lot of people on the internet were talking really bad things about Ryan Air.

I went all worried to do my travel, and it turned out a great one without any problems.

Ok, the service isnt the best. But comparing with other regular airlines, i think it turned out better. I got allways on schedule, unlike most airlines I've travelled where 50% of the flights are more than one hour delayed, and payed a lot less.

The crew and personell on land were very nice and friendly (except one girl at stansted airport, but I guess theres allways one bad apple everywhere..), I felt safe all the time and they'r strict rules are necessary to make the whole trip go well and without delays.

Of course I didnt like to see garbage on the plane floor, have to pay 5€ for a lousy sandwich or have to walk to the airplane even if its raining cats and dogs. Or even the crappy Stansted airport thats clearly too small for the people that it gets. But I dont mind that at all, as long as I pay less for the whole trip. For old or disabled people, I wouldnt recommend the adventure. But for young people like me that prefer to spend their money on other things besides the flight, i say: fly with them.

P.S. - Im not being paid by Ryanair to say good things about them. I just think most things they say about the company are not true. You just pay less to do the same thing: fly.

Aviatrix

Hmmm....:

Yes, they are usually on time (unless an aircraft goes tech in which case you could be stuck for a week).

Yes, they normally manage to devlier customers' baggage on time.

But I think those are the only good things that can be said about them. (Oh yes - and sometimes they are cheap, IF you manage to get in on one of their sales)

You are quite right - not to be recommended if you are old or disabled. A couple of years ago, on an EXTREMELY cold winter day (-10 or so) I saw them take a disabled lady to the aircraft ahead of everyone else... and then leave her sitting at the bottom of the stairs, shivering, while everybody else boarded.

As for cabin crew - yes, you'll get a reasonable service (a) if nothing goes wrong and (b) if you are lucky enough to be on a flight where cabin crew and passengers speak the same language. A little while ago I needed first aid on board a Ryanair flight (nothing life-threatening, but I needed medical help) and the flight attendants were totally clueless. And a lot of the time you end up on flights between countries A and B where the cabin crew come from county C and don't have a common language with their passengers other than broken English.

Gnopps

A friend of mine was supposed to fly them MMX-STN when the snow-storm hit Sweden in the beginning of the year. They boarded the flight and then pretty much nothing happened. For five hours! The passengers had to sit in the aircraft for five hours before Ryanair decided to delay the flight until the next day! By then it was 2 am, pretty much a lousy time to find any kind of transportation anywhere at MMX.

Don't know the reason why the passengers had to stay in the plane. More expensive to board again? Did the captain keep thinking they'd be able to take off in the next 15 minutes? On-time statistics kept if boarding door closed on time? Anyone else got a guess?

Flying FR is ok if you as passenger are willing to put up with this I guess, never flown them myself so I can't speak from personal experience. What is worse in my opinion though, is how they treat their employees. That is why I'll never give Ryanair any money of mine.

grbflyer

i also just had a good experience with ryan air. we flew stanstead to treviso. we got to the airport with just enough time to get to the gate and start boarding. a cheap flight and we got what we paid for. but from what i have read i guess it can be hit or miss. im just glad it was a hit, not a miss.

grb

farci

This point is also my concern.

It's sort-of OK for Ryanair to treat their passenegrs like cannon fodder. At some point there will be real competition between low cost carriers and we can vote with our feet.

It's their habit of treating employees with disdain that is a concern. As they say when urging you to watch the safety demo at take-off 'The cabin crew is here primarily for your safety...' so poorly motivated staff can be a real hazard.

For the trades union view on all this go here:

http://www.ryan-be-fair.org/

WillTravel

The experience of being forced to sit on a plane is not unique to Ryanair. I know people who have had similar experiences on Northwest. And a few years ago, there was the very nasty case where Northwest made passengers stay on the plane for more than eight hours! I suppose Northwest gets more of these mentions due to the locations of its hubs. But I'm sure neither Ryanair nor Northwest is at all unique in this. I think the solution is to have a regulation that passengers are not allowed to sit on a plane for more than three hours (or whatever reasonable amount of time).

IceTrojan

And therein lies the whole gist of FR's existance.

alanR

As I keep saying, follow Ryanair's rules to the letter and you'll be happy, step one inch outside of them (even if it's Ryanair's fault) and you are in deep doodoo

USA_flyer

http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?s...irline_blunder

And yet we see stories such as this

oxfordjames

I will not fly with them solely for this reason, they have no respect for the DDA or their passengers

USCgirlie

I prefer Easyjet to Ryanair for these very reasons...also on the Ryanair flights, the seats are so uncomfortable that I feel like I can't move. But I guess that is why their fares are so low! In response to that comment about Stansted - yes, it is small, and a bit out of the way, but taking into account travel times - it is only a bit farther than Heathrow, if not the same, and about the same to Gatwick too. Also, I really like Stansted because it is not impossible to get your luggage fast compared to Heathrow. But, everybody is different I guess!

Tr3p3

I'm going to be in Europe this summer. First time visitor. So I'm unfamiliar with the whole Ryan Air thing. What are these "rules" that everyone keeps speaking of? Is there a site that you can direct me to that explains them or something?

Aviatrix

Most of them can be found on ryanair.com... but things have actually changed since we were discussing Ryanair last.

Baggage used to be strictly 15 kg hold baggage and 10 kg carry-on, with extortionate excess baggage fees if you exceeded your limit. As of last week you pay for all checked baggage, but it's a modest fee for checked baggage up to 20 kg, so you no longer have to be careful to remain below 15 kg.

The other rule is the one about check-in deadlines. It's usually 40 minutes before departure, and the desk will close on the dot - even if they're half-way through checking in a family group and one half have their boarding passes and the other half don't.

The other thing to be aware of is to make sure you know exactly where you are flying to/from - they often fly to Little Town A but call it Big City B, and A and B can be miles apart. They claim to fly to Hamburg but actually fly to Lübeck (nice town, but a fair way from Hamburg). They claim to fly to Oslo but actually fly to Sandefjord (which I understand is also a nice little place in its own right).

Also, if you absolutely NEED to be somewhere don't rely on Ryanair to get you there. If things go to plan - no problem, they are usually on time. But if things go wrong then you will be really really stuck because they make no efforts whatsoever to get passengers to their destination if (for example) an aircraft goes tech. The choice is between a refund, or a seat on the next available Ryanair flight... which in the peak season, when flights are fully booked, could mean a wait of up to a week (I'm NOT joking)

Apart from all that, and all the other things mentioned in this thread... I guess they're not too bad!

colmc

Think Southwest. Only stricter (check in times, baggage etc). And less smiley, hug-the-world

USCgirlie

Definitely agree. And I wish it was like Southwest - whom I've never had problems with! If you can, try to fly Easyjet...in my opinion they are more like the European equivalent of Southwest.