Ryanair - What to Expect?
 

Hi All -

I've booked my very first trip on Ryanair (EDI-DUB).

There are lots of "horror stories" about the airline but I'm curious to hear from experienced flyers - what should I expect? Is it all a lot of hyperbole? I fly Southwest in the US frequently and find them very efficient and perfectly acceptable. Is Ryanair similar?

It's only a short flight and the only way to efficiently do the nonstop between the two cities so I'm not expecting a lot.

The booking process was rather amusing, with the assault of goods and services being thrown at me. I loved the option to what appeared to be a "gambling" game for my ticket towards the end?

Thanks for any insight!

Bus with wings.

It's like Southwest without the cuteness and free things. More Spirit than Southwest.

Follow the rules (to the letter), ignore the sales pitches and it's fine - especially for a flight that short.

So check in online. Get your passport checked before going through security (as I assume you're a non-EU citizen, the will check and stamp your boarding pass), stick to all the luggage limits (1 carry on means 1..no extra laptop, shopping bags etc), luggage size limits etc.

Providing you can get a good price and avoid all the extra charges as much as possible, it is perfectly fine. Just don't expect anything other than the flight.

I fell out with then about 5 years ago because of baggage allowances. Up until then I had used them frequently and I guess I still would if travelling without anything other than light hand baggage. They are very popular. And punctual.

- and make sure you print your boarding pass. Their "boarding pass printing charge" can be more than the cost of your flight.

- and no water bottle, newspaper, sandwich, or bar of chocolate either. Absolutely EVERYTHING has to be inside your carry-on when you board.

This is also a good description of the inflight experience with FR :D

Thanks for all the tips, everyone!

I didn't want to chance it with the carry-on size so I pre-paid for a checked bag.

Got the message loud and clear about printing out the boarding pass early.

As long as they run on time, I'm not too concerned about much else, given it's such a short flight.

Thanks for the insights! :-)

no horror - just a bit exhausting
 

You'll be surprised: there's nothing special to expect!
If you booked at a low rate you will get what you paid for: transport.

Just make certain you have printed all your boarding pass in advance, your passport details match your reservation (in case of mis-spelling they'll send you to the ticket counter for an expensive correction and then time gets short) and your checked-luggage is within the unusual low weight limits (they get particularily fussy about this in the holiday season when they seem to make more money on overweight then on tickets) and the exact quantity you reserved for (otherwise it's off to the ticket counter again....). And be at the airport in time since Ryanair means standing in line at few check-ins and few security checks they pay the airport for).
In spite of the noise they make in advance Ryanair are not very strict with carry-on measurements, because the staff knows many passengers are on connecting flights and due to Ryanair policies are forced to take as much carry-on as possible - so expect full racks.

After standing in several lines expect to rush to the aircraft because every party wants connecting seats in spite of no seat reservations (by this they make additional money for priority boarding).

Ryanair's maintenance is said to be very good (that obviously does not include cabin cleaning by the cabin crew in the 20mins between flights), but their attempt to be Europe's most punctual airline (not much of a task when you fly from one remote cowshed to another without having to wait for connecting passengers) is known to put additional pressure on the cockpit crews.

"the assault of goods and services being thrown at me". You'll get much more of this. Ryanair flights are like promotion excursions. You can't get any sleep, but your flight is short. "Drinks, drinks anyone?", "telephone cards, telephone cards anyone?", "snacks, snacks anyone?" (prices of which are fair), "inflight-shopping, inflight-shopping anyone?", "bingo, bingo anyone?", "garbage, garbage anyone?" (they pull a plastic sack through the plane to collect the leftovers and since you'll find no seatpockets to stuff anything into...).
In case you are one of the few lucky passengers to be handed the really good inflight magazine: sit on it, they will try to collect them again prior to arrival.

All this is a bit of an exhausting pleasure and takes any glamour out of air travel. That's totally acceptable if you are lucky to get a low rate, but less admirable if you're heading for a long business meeting, got a connecting flight, have to take a long drive to what Ryanair calls airports (Ryanair's VIENNA is not even in Austria and I've seen quite a few oversea's tourists in Hahn in search of their onward flight from FRANKFURT) or in travel season pay a rate comparable to REAL airlines.

Ryanair - What to Expect?
 

Bingo?!?

If you're flying alone with no large carry-on and you turn your brain off for an hour then it's not too bad. If you're a group or need overhead bin space then it's a lot worse.

My strategy when I fly them is to pack a tiny bag that fits in the seat in front. Wait for everyone else to board without getting into line, then take whatever seat is left. Turn brain off and wait until I get there. It's not worth standing in a queue for an hour and fighting the masses to get a better seat for a short flight alone.

The seats don't recline (which isn't really a bad idea for such a short flight). The backs have very little padding. The PA system plays very loud advertisements the whole flight selling food, bus transfers, bingo tickets, whatever they can hock. You might want earplugs just for that.

DO remember to get your passport checked at the *check-in* desk. The GA won't verify ID unlike every other airline in the world.

And prepare for the fanfare upon landing... or so I'm told.

I would possilby fly with them, if I was on a promotional ticket price below the taxes they will be paying on my behalf, and I knew I was costing them money. Thankfully, they don't travel anywhere near me to anywhere I want to go.

Oh, and it was slightly glossed over in this thread with the phrase 'remote cowshed', but do check where the airport actually is. They have a habit in some places of using, not secondary airports, but terciary ones. Sometimes in different towns, I think once or twice in different countries to where they 'rename' the airport.
Most airports are fine / the normal ones, but some of their airports are NOT where you would expect them to be, with significant travel costs and time to get to them, etc.
DUB and EDI are fine.

To be precise, you need to get non-EU passport checked and your online boarding pass stamped at the landside check-in desk, and the gate agent will again check that it matches you and your boarding pass.

Additionally, the boarding pass instructions state that it must be printed on A4 paper. North American paper is not A4. No idea how strict they are on this, but I would try to avoid putting myself in a position where Ryanair could claim I had failed to comply with its absurd rules.

Lottery

I think this might have something to do with printing on 8.5X11 paper and stretching the bar code to fit which may then mess it up?

I've had this with other European stuff (train tickets). I'm so paranoid, I print them on Legal paper and then trim to fit but, I select the "print at original size" option on the printer.

:( I was hoping for an in-flight bingo game. That would have been hilarious! :D

Be careful what you wish for ....