What's flying with Ryanair really like?
 

I'm shortly going to be flying with Ryanair for the first time and am actually quite scared!

I'm envisioning being packed in like cattle, with no form of entertainment, rude staff and a charge for breathing.

Can anyone tell me what flying with Ryanair is really like?

Flying FR is made out to be like hell on earth, but it's not really that bad. You're fortunate to be flying them in the summer, as it decreases the likelihood that weather will make a mess of things for you.

The seat pitch is not all that different from any other carrier's economy class, once you factor in that there are no seat back pockets jammed with magazines. The seats don't recline, but the flights are short, so it won't really matter. If you and your party meat the exit row criteria, try to snag one upon boarding. (I got an exit without paying for priority boarding just by ensuring to queue up early.)

They are sticklers for rules (size and weight) when it comes to carry-on baggage, so read the rules, read them again, and read them a third time. Then follow them carefully to avoid being hit with a charge at the gate. Make sure you do online check-in and have your boarding pass. (Print a few copies and stash them in different locations if you're prone to misplacing things.)

The in-flight experience isn't awful. They will spend the entire flight trying to sell you things, so bring headphones and zone out.

Thanks for the info :)

I'd forgotten about my other worry - getting something wrong and being hit with a huge charge for it!

About a year ago my friend and her partner travelled Ryanair with just hand luggage. I was going to borrow the bags they used seeing as they must fit the guidelines.

Do you know if Ryanair have shrunk their hand luggage size limits recently?

Well....
. Don't expect legroom (if you're tall, pray)
. Don't expect free food (and food on board, when you pay, is overpriced)
. Don't expect to pay to go the lavatory (at least not yet)
. Don't expect to have to stay up all flight long (not yet)
Apart from that, planes are safe, FA's have always been nice to me (even more than air france, actually).
To sum it up, with ryanair, it's not about flying, it's about getting from point A to point B on time, safely. Quite simple, and usually cheaper than regular airlines whose intra european service is quite a shame.

And to me, despite all the discomfort, it still seems the most valuable way to fly when you compare the cost (it helps ease the pain about the legroom :D)

I'm nearly 5' 10" and my partner's 6'. Is it going to be hell?!

The flights four and a half hours too, so not that short.... :(

They don't charge for breathing.

Most of the problems occur before you get on the plane and are caused mainly by people who think rules don't apply to them or didn't bother to read the rules in the first place.

So when they say hand luggage 55x40x20cm they mean it has to fit into a box that size so you need to check for anything that sticks out like handles or wheels.
When they say one piece of hand luggage they mean one piece of hand luggage, not one piece plus handbag plus rucksack plus newspapers plus meal deal plus the duty "free".
When they say 10kg hand luggage they mean 10kg - not 10.01kg.
When they say 15 or 20kg of checked luggage they mean exactly that.

Ignore everyone who says that Ryanair is fine - it's a living hell, the FA's beat you, spit on you, often force you to cower on the floor just for kicks, cover your head with a sack for the rest of the flight if you so much as look at them the wrong way, whilst in theory you can use the toilet in practice you're not actually allowed to, most of the time they don't bother to pressurise the cabin these days, it's rare for the cabin lights to ever be turned on even on night flights so take a torch, at some airports they don't use the stairs any more and you now have to climb up and down a ladder (watch out for the wooden ladders with broken or missing rungs), the pilots often aren't qualified properly (fake certificates from the internet abound), and the ex-Belarusian air force pilots consider themselves above the petty considerations of air traffic control, the fuel used is often dodgy having been obtained through siphoning off oil pipelines in the Niger delta, hold baggage is routinely stripped of the metal pull tabs on zips (taken away to be melted down for recycling into drinks cans), and bags that have been in the hold are often found to be quite highly radioactive, likely a result of the uranium smuggling that the crews often partake in. All in all it's little wonder than most Ryanair passengers suffer a nervous breakdown after flying with them.

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One reason I am unlikely to fly RyanAir again is they will not rebook on other carriers when things go wrong and sometimes delays can go on for more than a day when things go really wrong. Legacy airlines will generally rebook me, minimizing the likelihood of a very long delay. Otherwise Ryan are fine for short flights when you don't need to take much with you, IMO.

My FR rules of thumb are:

- Consider for short flights up to 2.5 hours
- Take hand luggage only (Make sure it conforms to all their rules)
- Flying to smaller / out of the way airports can save a lot of time (depending on your destination....)
- Their first out last in flights from UK maximise weekend breaks value in your destination - had many w/e breaks in new cities for under 100GBP ai without needing to take any days off work if you book ahead and plan well
- Look out for empty Exit row seats - many people think they are reserved and they can't sit in them
- Take your own food on board
- Take a paper / book / I-Pods etc. to keep you engaged for the whole flight
- Expect what you pay for - anything over that is a bonus!

Flying Ryainair is like traveling in a coach which accidently flies. Don't expect much, but you have a reasonable chance to get to your destination in time.
757DUD

One small addition: If you don't have an EU-Passport there are some special rules. Make sure you follow them to the point, otherwise the plane probably leaves without you.

I'm 6' 4" and long in the leg and can just about fit by crossing my legs under the seat (if that makes sense). Not comfortable - but no worse than KLM's inhuman long-haul Y in the 747!

Neil

They are on a small number of flights - they are piloting reservations of the first 3 rows and the exit row for a fee, on 2 routes, though I can't remember which ones.

Neil

Nothing wrong with Ryanair if you read the rules and apply a bit of common.
Bag Drop, check-in online and print your boarding card on a standard A4 page (not double sided and don't be a cheapskate and print 2 per page). Bag drop opens 2 hours before and shuts at -40 so just make sure you turn up between them times as no rewards for turning up first or last. You CANNOT pool your bags so don't argue with them if you buy BAG1 for 2 passengers and turn up with 17.0 and 11.0. If you have a non-EU passport then you need to go to the Visa Check desk and get that stamped as you will turned away at the gate if you don't.

Hand Luggage, if it fits in the crate it fits and if it doesn't you get charged £40. Don't bother buying a "soft shell" bag that is exactly the dimensions and cram it to the brim as it obviously expands beyond the dimensions. All shop purchases, mini pouch bags and laptops must fit inside one bag.

Boarding, they call the flight -40, priorities queue down first and then everyone else behind. Loading front and rear steps so see where the "priority sheep" go first and you go the opposite side. Staff are only rude if you are arrogant to them so just help them out and they'll get you there on time. Gate closes -20 and you will be offloaded with no offload calls so don't wait until the queue dies down as you'll be booking another flight.

On Board, you pay for the flight and so you get the flight. It goes on time and it goes quick. If you want pre-boarding drinks etc.. then fork out the £100s for a full-service flight. Buy a meal deal at the airport before as drinks and food are expensive on board. Put some films on your iPhone and just chill out and relax. Ryanair I found are fierce with agents so expect all your bags on time as the agents will get hammered for any lateness.

I have traveled on on one r/t on Ryan Air.

The flight was on time and orderly.

I have an American passport so I had my BP stamped at the counter before security.

I got where I needed to go and for a fraction of the price of a legacy carrier.

I flew FR once, I had to drive two hours to the airport then at the other end it was 1.5 hours from the airport in the middle of nowhere to where I wanted to go with no train and an expensive coach service. Wasn't worth it at all.

... for you and your (unspecified) airports.

There are plenty of passengers who have flown FR even more than once with very different experience.

FWIW, Ryanair use more 'normal' airports than the legacy carriers in their area combined, as has been demonstrated many times over. Just because your one flight was a waste of time for you doesn't mean that this has any bearing whatsoever for others using the world's favourite airline, as confirmed by IATA. :D
http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/iata-...rite-airline-2

That's exactly the way to treat it. It's a National Express bus with wings. You'll get a set, they'll get you to your destination alive and hopefully on time. Everything else is a bonus.

Personally, I prefer EasyJet over Ryanair as you get less of the hard sell on board - but if you take an MP3 player and/or book you can zone out of everything.

Don't feel as if it's compulsory to buy something on board. It isn't. Bring some nibbles from home if you can't last the lenght of the flight without eating something and buy a bottle of water at the airport.

EZY are *just better* than Ryanair. But then Ryanair are normally cheaper than easyJet.

That said, I'm getting a bit miffed of late with easyJet's lack of information and slight arrogance. In particular their Twitterer always "answers back" at any suggestion (politely, to be fair) rather than taking it on board. By comparison, the Twitterer for London Midland trains has quite a bit of influence, has done things I've suggested before and always seems to take things on board.

In particular, the "nature of a strike" (as they put it) is not a reason for them not to phone round airports and ask about how bad the passport queues were yesterday then to inform their passengers properly. Not having someone to do that, or it costing too much, is a valid if slightly "undesirable" answer which I would have accepted. But the response I got was a bit like the usual generic "security reasons" given by airlines for things that usually have nothing to do with security and everything to do with revenue.

Neil

[QUOTE=Camflyer;16655835]That's exactly the way to treat it. It's a National Express bus with wings. You'll get a set, they'll get you to your destination alive and hopefully on time. Everything else is a bonus.

Personally, I prefer EasyJet over Ryanair as you get less of the hard sell on board - but if you take an MP3 player and/or book you can zone out of everything.

Don't feel as if it's compulsory to buy something on board. It isn't. Bring some nibbles from home if you can't last the lenght of the flight without eating something and buy a bottle of water at the airport.[/QUOTE]


+1 - you can also take an empty water bottle or 2 in your hand luggage and then fill up at a water fountain after security ;)

I think that this is most informative out of the above posts (not that the other posts aren't helpful as well), and echoes my own strategy of using them. Oddly, I dislike easyJet far more than Ryanair, but I can't coherently explain that. At least Ryanair doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is.

Short trip report NRN-EDI 27th June; EDI-NRN 1st July

I just completed two sectors this week, from Niederrhein (AKA Düsseldorf Weeze) to Edinburgh and back again. I was impressed with the efficient and relatively stress free operation at Weeze airport. Boarding is by walking to the aircraft, Ryanair save money and time by not using airbridges. Access to the aircraft is by a series of stages where you are held up and made to wait for the next stage of walking. This probably improves efficiency. Only downside, people start queuing early, so that can mean quite a bit of tiring standing around.

Seating is not allocated, it is all first come first served, but both flights were perfectly civilized during boarding. I scored the front row going, and row 5 to myself coming back.

The cabin crew were really quite pleasant, and there was a young Scot among them. The pay-as-you-go service is indeed a bit dear, €2 for soft drinks, €3 for a tea/coffee, €1.50-€2 for a chocolate biscuit, €4.50 for a beer (Heineken), €5.95 for wine. Cheese and crackers will set you back €1, peanuts and other munchies €2. The tea was surprisingly good and refreshing (as a Scot I like my tea black with milk), the beer was not sufficiently cooled. Observing those who ordered hot food, it seemed pricey (steak sandwich, bacon baguette €7), took a long time to prepare, and when it was served (during the commencement of descent) it looked very unprepossessing, out of the microwave still in its cellophane wrapper.

The flights themselves were pleasant enough, just like on any other shorthaul airliner. Seating is a bit cramped (I am tall), but no more than on Air France or Laudair.. bearable for flights up to 2 and a half hours. Just ignore all the stuff they try to sell you, and don't waste money on the scratchcards. The planes were clean enough, the flight back to Niederrhein a bit less so.

On the second flight (EDI-NRN) we picked up 50 minutes delay, having already boarded, apparently for engine oil to be topped up (but I think we missed the slot too). Virtually no information is provided, and no drinks offered (not even for purchase). I could feel the pax beginning to get restless. I think that Ryanair could be truly scary with major delays and cancellations.

Advice: 1) do not book a 2nd connecting flight after a Ryanair flight. I have done it and got away with it, but I would not wish that stress on anyone. If you do it, leave at least 3 hours connection time.
2) If you are late, as my flight was (we landed at NRN 35 minutes late), and you miss a shuttle bus connection, consider trying to get people together to share a taxi. I managed to get 8 people to share a taxi bus to Duisburg Hbf, which cost each of us less than the price of the shuttle bus itself!

Lowcost airlines are named like that b/c they offer only no frills bus transport but then a airplane.

If you know that it is no problem at all.

Only when there is a problem (delay/strike/volcanic eruption etc) you will know very fast their service is nothing compared to that we know off with the classic carriers (certainly when you have a frequent flier status).

Ryanair really isn't that bad. Here's a video they have on youtube which is posted under their old name, Yorkshire Airlines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKGVBUg

RyanAir is the greyhound of the skies...Just think of Spirit Airlines, then you'll understand that Ryanair is the European version of Spirit, both SUCK!

A good piece of advice, and one given by FR themselves. They *will not* honour connections under any circumstances regardless of the reason for the delay/rescheduling, and make this very clear.

Neil

Curious to hear about your experiences? (Or is this all just second hand?)

There are some interesting interviews on Youtube with the president of Ryan Air. He's quite a character and not very professional. In one of the interviews he jokes with a German reporter (female) and tells her the difference between Business class and Economy on Ryan Air is in Business Class you get BJs. I don't think Ryan Air's flight attendants were very happy with that interview.

In Business Week, about 6 months ago, the CEO of Ryanair was interviewed, he is considering (1)allowing standees, strapped to a wall:rolleyes:, (2)why have a pilot and a copilot?, just train a fa to be able to land a plane in an emergency.:rolleyes:. (3)charging for use of the toilets.

And more 'weird' airports too. They fly a lot.

Just had a look Easyjet vs. Ryanair:

Brussels - EZY actual Brussels, FR - miles away, in Charleroi
Paris - EZY CDF and Orly - FR miles away in Beauvais
Frankfurt - EZY no service - FR miles away in Hahn
Hamburg - EZY actual Hamburg, FR miles away in Lubeck
Munich - EZY actual Munich, FR miles away in Memmingen
Dusseldorf - EZY actual Dusseldorf, FR miles away in Weeze
Venice - EZY actual Venice, FR Treviso
Milan - EZY two actual Milan airports, FR miles away in Bergamo
Amsterdam - EZY Schiphol, FR - Eindhoven or Maastricht only
Barcelona - EZY Barcelona, FR - miles away in Reus

and there are many more....

Yes, and so what?

He's a showman, the whole thing's an act, and he's operating on the principle of 'any publicity is good publicity' - how much media attention do each of these carefully considered comments generate? The answer is of course bucket loads.

The more Michael O'Leary can coax the media into mentioning Ryanair, the less advertising they have to do, and the more the image of the airline as a low-cost if not bargain bucket way of travelling is reinforced in the mind's eye of the general public. And it works - Ryanair is hugely profitable and, as stated above, carried more international scheduled passengers than any other airline last year - over 71 million.

(1) is an odd one. There certainly were standee seats designed and proposed, though it didn't really go anywhere.

(2) well, we don't have flight engineers any more, do we? Things change. The industry and aircraft designs aren't ready for that *yet* but...

(3) given that a lot of their passengers if they encountered such a charge would end up using sick bags etc, I don't think this is anything other than a publicity stunt.

Actually, most of what they say is a publicity stunt. Repeat it all over the place, and he gets more publicity :)

Neil

But wait - people might actually *want* to go to those locations as well as the big city.

London Luton and London Stansted could similarly be seen as taking the mick. But there are loads of us for whom they are far more convenient than LHR, LGW and LCY. I'm 40 minutes' drive from Luton, and so are a lot of other people!

Neil

FR use Barcelona, Girona and Reus these days - and Girona & Reus have always been used to get to the various Costas not just Barcelona.
FR don't claim to fly to Amsterdam

You could have included Oslo - where Ryanair use Torp which is about 90 minutes

London Stansted is taking the mick - unless you live in the area or London then it's a hard place to get to by public transport. From the north it was often quicker to go to Gatwick (south of London) than Stansted (north of London)

... and made a very selective comparison. ;) I'll follow your example.

OK, I won't book EZ to Frankfurt if FR can get me closer. :DAs it happens, FR are currently using VCE on a temporary basis.OK, hands up. I admit it, you've got me beaten. I didn't know that FR claimed to serve 'Amsterdam'. Er, wait a minute. They don't. :DActually, FR use THREE Barcelona airports, including BCN. @:-)

You could also add Gothenburg and Rome where FR's airports are closer to the cities than GOT and FCO.

No, there aren't. Check at www.ryanair.com and let us know some of the 'many more'. What you'll probably find is a large number of airports that FR use and that other airlines don't, but that's not the same.Exactly.

Edit: apologies to alanR for repeating some of his information.

It is until you consider that it has a direct train into Liverpool Street, in the heart of the City. Because of this, it might well be more convenient than LHR or LGW (though obviously not LCY) for that area.

And remember that those airports serve people living in the area as well - STN is good for East Anglia, North Beds etc, though mainly only by car/taxi. As FR have a limited presence at LTN, it's heavily used by people from Milton Keynes etc, but not really by public transport. (Outside London I think it's fair to say most people do *not* reach the airport by public transport - airports outside London are generally poorly-served by this at the sort of times that many low-cost flights depart/arrive - i.e. the 0600ish outwards, 2300ish returns).

I doubt I'd use one of the "subsidiary" London airports if I didn't live in London or near it, though - they're not really much better served than Manchester, Birmingham etc.

Neil

And as I said "unless you live in the area or London then it's a hard place to get to by public transport. "

Which doesn't at all mean that the name "London Stansted" is taking the mick, which was the suggestion I think you made.

It *would* be a "Ryanair classic" if it wasn't served by a fastish train to/from London and it was instead a 2 hour coach ride. But it isn't.

I can see that "East Anglia Airport" might be a better name, just as "London Luton Airport" might just be better as plain "Luton Airport". But in a way it better serves London than anywhere else that isn't *really* nearby.

But as I said it's generally the case that, outside London, most people reach airports by car or taxi, so the public transport service is rather an irrelevance.

Neil

Do your research first. Chances are if its something they can charge you for, they will. Don't get stuck with unexpected charges.

Had my first FR experience today on OPO-VLC.

Metro do Porto recently cut frequencies to the airport to two trains per hour :(. The ride took a bit less than 40 mins. (this is after my 30€, 2h45 ride from Lisbon on Alfa Pendular)
Check-in: the visa check took about a minute and a polite smile from the Groundforce girl. Security line took 10 minutes and was a bit of a mess. I sorta wish I had my "green way" sticker to bypass the line (I normally get those as a *G when flying *A airlines).

The boarding gate was quite orderly. At T-38 minutes they started checking BPs, IDs and carry-ons. They didn't bother with my backpack, which was a bit wide but more or less within the limit. Once everyone was in the holding pen outside, at T-30 the crew showed up and started doing pre-flight checks. Ryanair planes have their own airstairs at the front door, which is quite interesting to watch unfold. At T-20 boarding started. We walked across the tarmac to the plane and boarded through both doors. On board, 4 FAs: all OPO-based, all except one -- Portuguese. Ads on overhead bins for nh hotels, and below overhead bins for BOGO Ryanair "bullseye bags" whatever those are. Seating pitch is tight unless you snag row 1 or either of the exit rows (as I did). Took off on time, landed 30 mins early.

During the flight, almost as soon as we were in the air, the FAs went through with a menu and a Ryanair magazine (advertisements and info on their destinations). They then went though with a drink/snack cart and took orders for hot food. Up to this point there were advertisements playing on the radio (ads about drinks, snacks, etc.). I have to say, the ads were quite good.

Then they went through with a prefume/cologne cart, then with lottery and then again with something else, and once more with a trash bag. And then we landed.

Food/snack prices were quite reasonable, not overly high. No idea about other prices.
We disembarked again from the front and the rear. Just like in OPO one of the cabin crew members was standing at the service road crossing, controlling passenger flow across the road to prevent anyone from getting run over.

Check-in took longer than it would have had I been on TP or IB or whoever else, but once on the plane, things were very efficient.

If the price is right and, more importantly, it's worth my time, I wouldn't mind taking them again.