for thinking Ryanair is not that cheap?....

[reallyyummymummy]

Just got back from holiday with DCs. I flew with Ryanair and thought I would sum up my expenses.

The flights cost £400; they deliberately keep you in a queue so you have to pay for their shitty food in the plane which cost £50. I paid for priority boarding which I did not use because it took so long to get DCs to gate therefore £30; cost of checking in baggage for 3 people £70. Also, they fly from a really awkward airport which I would not normally use - the cost of travel was also quite sizeable.

I heard people moaning and I always thought how bad can it be? But it was really bad. The flight was stressful (trying to get DCs to aeroplane in time) and I ended up feeling sorry for the air staff (after speaking to them discovered that they had to buy their own uniforms).

I have never felt so fleeced in all my life.

[determinedma]

Flying Ryanair from Edinburgh to Krakow this summer.Booked in advance for 4 adults plus two suitcases and even with all charges came to about £650 total. None of the others were even close, or involved travel to another airport much further away. We are only 20 mins from Edinburgh. Yes, they are not glamorous, but we couldn't afford a family holiday abroad without them.

[dadofnone]

I find it pretty good that I can get from Liverpool to Poland, France, Spain or Lithuania return cheaper than I get from Manchester to Edinburgh or London on the train! It has been a similar price on some coach journeys but I can get to Europe quicker than going from Shudhill to Victoria!

[WinterWinds]

We have always used Ryanair for flights and We always do a comparison with other airlines and Ryanair comes out cheapest everytime even with taxes etc. This enables us to have 2-3 holidays a year as a family.

If you know the rules and regulations and go well prepared, then i really dont think its that bad. We have never been delayed or had any major problems either.

We have also had flights for 1p no taxes and very rarely pay over £100 for a return flight.

We use them to our advantage so it works for us!

[reallyyummymummy]

AIBU for thinking Ryanair is not that cheap? I still think it is a legitimate question to ask. The BA flights that I would usually book were gone within 2 hours of me booking the accommodation. It was a choice of flying Ryanair or the flight taking 24 hours.

I have never heard what he says about his customers - after this experience and the stories from the staff I spoke to I shall surely never be flying with them again.

[dadofnone]

That's fine. Don't fly with them it's not compulsory! I have two bookings with them + one with Easy Jet and one with Lufthansa over the next six months. The flights that I chose were based on best value for money, suited my deptature times and were flying where I wanted to go.

[chicaguapa]

I don't know about whether they're cheaper than other airlines because I refuse to fly with them. Their attitude towards their customers is appalling and apparently we deserve it because we've not paid much for the flights.

I'm flying to Mallorca via Madrid with Iberia in May, rather than give my custom to that hideous company. If people could just decide that being treated better is more important than getting the cheapest flights, Ryanair would have to change their tune. But for as long as people are happy to be treated like cattle, the company justifies its attitude.

I do like easyjet though and haven't had a problem with them in all the times I've flown with them. But unless you book flights when they go on sale, they're not cheap during peak times.

[reallyyummymummy]

I completely agree with you chicapagua. And actually if they have such a disregard for customer satisfaction then it makes me think they would cut corners in quite serious ways which would put the safety of their customers at risk.

I can't view Ryanair as a bus service that some people do for the basic reason that I care about my safety. If an aeroplane crashes it does make a difference if the plane is well maintained as to whether a few people survive or most people survive.

I want to know that if the plane is about to crash that their will be a lifejacket under my seat (I checked, have always found it on other airlines but could not find it on Ryanair) and that the plane has been checked over properly. I am highly suspicious of the fact that over 90% of the flights are on time when the average is much lower. I just ask myself why is this? Is it a disaster waiting to happen?

[Backinthebox]

As I alluded to earlier - yes, in the opinion of many airline pilots they are lucky they haven't had a big smoking hole in the ground yet. They came within 20 seconds of it though last September, and seem strangely unable to take off with enough fuel on for the conditions they fly in. They cut corners everywhere, and have extremely low employee moral, especially among the pilots.

[maleview70]

Never used them and never will.

Even if the cost was £100 less.

[theodorakisses]

I am not saying the OP, but sometimes people sound as if these shitto airlines have a duty to transport families cheaply, as if it were a subsidised service because families are entitled to fly cheaply. They are businesses, not surestart.

[livinginwonderland]

eh, i used them travellinng to/from france on my year abroad. flights were £15 return. didn't pay for hold luggage, didn't buy food on board, didn't bother with priority boarding or anything like that.

all my flights were on time or early and a return was at least half the price of an easyjet single.

[prettybird]

I now refuse to fly Ryanair because of Michael O'Leary's (on the record) attitude to his customers.

By the time that you've factored in the extra travel (and time) to/from the airports (eg to Prestwick and from Beauvais into Paris) it's often not as cheap as you think.

I don't mind Easyjet - flew them quite often in my previous job and although it was a pain standing in the queue to get on, you never felt quite as much like cattle as you do with Ryanair.

I work hard to find alternative, cost-effective routes and to make the journey part of the holiday: going skiing last year, we flew out of Glasgow to Paris, took the couchette down to the Alps (after a lovely evening in Paris) and coming back, we took the train to Grenoble and then flew to Edinburgh. Checking luggage in is an essential if you're going skiing - with ski boots, only three cases amongst three of us is actually quite an achievement!