To wonder why anyone would fly with Ryan Air?!

[candyandyoga]

Nasty, wanky airline! So many reasons why! Aibu?!

They are the only airline that flies to the airport closest to the inlaws' place in France, so we use them at least once a year (often twice) for that. We have family in Dublin, so would look at them for that too.

It's fine. It's not a luxury experience, but neither is my morning commute and I get through that each day.

I care more about the conditions if I'm going to be on the plane for more than a couple of hours. For short flights, you're up, they try to sell you food and drink, you read a bit and then you're down. I don't need to feel pampered for that.

Yanbu. They are horrific money grabbing bastards.

they're the only one flying direct to where I want to go. I would never use them if I had a better (cheaper / shorter) option.

I'm with an earlier poster - I fly out of desperation...

At Christmas they ramp their prices up so much (no competition) that flying is no longer an option for my family (close to £900 for 4 ppl, two suitcases no extras) I can go a bit out of my way for £300 less (4 ppl, 4 larger suitcases, and 4 reserved seats), plus 1hr drive to final destination, or take the swanky overnight ferry with meals for £400 less (including petrol), plus 2 hrs drive in UK and 3 hrs driving on the continent.

why did I settle in the UK?

I have flown with them in the past (family in Ireland, holiday in Venice (not near the bloody air port mind you etc), and have decided that baring an absolute emergency, i will NEVER EVER fly with them again. It is just too unpleasant. Having said that I can understand why many people feel they have to use them

We are lucky - our most frequent route is London Marseilles, and that is well served by BA, Easyjet and RyanAir...we are going shortly and booked about 6 months ago. BA was expensive, Easyjet was ok. I didn't bother checking RA because the website winds me up and I hate Micheal O'Leary. Prices sound great until you've added up the extras, and then found that they have included insurance that you don't want, so then you try to delete, and get binned out of teh site / find you've booked seats / not booked them for the wrong people.

Life is too short, and I can't be doing with the stress of it. And until Easyjet wind me up, I think that they are probably about as cheap.

I've used them loads. Hand luggage only, paid for,priority boarding, printed off boarding cards at home and had a quiet flight with no problems.

I agree, Easyjet is actually as cheap and a lot clearer about pricing, and the staff are nice.

I am flying EZ this weekend to 'Craggy Island' to see the family, so unless they manage to plunge me down into the Irish Sea or the Atlantic (I hate, hate bloody flying) I'll be happy.

Because I'm 10mins away from a Ryanair airport and my DF is 10mins from one at the other end.
I'm very careful how I book and am never caught out with crappy extras.
I sit where I want, in my own bubble with mp3/book and then - woof! We've landed!
I akso bear in mind my DM insists on flying with BA and we have to drive over an our on expensive toll roads to pick her up. Every. Time. We stick her on the airport bus to get her back and she recently paid 350£ snobby fool

Still think they are a nasty shitty company!

Whether they are a nasty shitty company is not really reevant.

I look at how much they cost
I look at where they fly
I decide if the extra cost (or extra travel time, if the alternative is to go to a different airport) is worth the "better service" on another airline.

Often it isn't.

I am the opposite of many of you in that I will happily pay for extras. If reserving an extra-legroom seat over the wing costs £10 I don't think "I disapprove of this", I think "will this make my journey £10-worth nicer?" and usually I decide that it will.

(I realise this only works if you think that £10 is not a significant amount of money but it still adds up to cheaper than the alternative)

I agree that are an awful company. But some people may not be able to afford any other airline. I would not have been able to have my last holiday were it not for the cheap flights I got. They are crap though.

I am clearly amoral because two products or services have to be very close in quality/value before I start making my judgements based on how I feel about the company.

I use them a few times a year to fly me and 3 dc back to the UK and have so far found the staff very helpful and cheap there is no other way I could get to the UK and back for 150euros

They're cheap. I don't care about the frills, I just want to get from A to B at the cheapest price.

I had to be in Vilnius a few months ago. I got there and back for less than 40 quid. The flight was from my nearest airport.

Can't say fairer than that!

My husband is Irish. When he moved over here in the early 90s he rarely went to see his family in Ireland because airlines were prohibitively expensive and the ferry involved 2 full days traveling on a round trip.

As soon as Ryanair started up he started returning a couple of times a year because it was fast and affordable. Also in our 20s we went all over Europe because it was affordable. All we needed to take was hand luggage for a week/weekend and we hopped on and hopped off There was no way we would have been able to afford it 10 years earlier.

And you're barely on there for longer than a long bus ride or tube trip and it's no worse than them. I don't need anything other than functionality to when I am traveling.

If you don't like it don't travel with them, it's simple. But the fact they've made foreign travel affordable for a lot people is a good thing in my book. If you can afford better then pay more. But for a lot of people the reality is that if they didn't have these budget airlines they wouldn't travel at all. They provide a service to a market. And if it was that bad they' go bust, but they don't because there is a demand.

When my granny was dying I had to book a next day flight to get home to see her. Aer Lingus wanted 480 euro one way. Ryanair wanted 180 return. No contest. The flight was on time, staff were fine - that has been my experience each time.
Their rules are clear, if you don't like them don't fly with them. I fly frequently and my worst experiences have been with KLM UK.

Is this in response of the programme last night on bb2?

I thought it was really interesting, especially how they price their flights.
Anything over £40 is profit for them, that's with all their extras that have been added on.if you take them.

Ryanair is all about quickness. If an aeroplane is on the ground it's not making money. They think it's quicker for people to choose their seats.Rather than allocated seating.

They have changed the way people travel, that includes easyjet.

A lot of people would be unemployed without them. That includes the airports where they land and the people who supply them.

They've just ordered another 175 planes.

Yabu

I fly Ryanair because it's cheap. Simple as. If I manage to find a cheaper flight, I use it. We take hand luggage as much as possible, and take food onto the plane etc; and try to avoid as many extras as is possible. And I've always found them to be great with the kids, even when they were babies and toddlers.

I have never flown with them and never will. Have used Easyjet a few times, they are OK - I always board last rather than queue with the herd.

I have flown with ryan air twice now and had no problems either time. THe flights were not exactly cheap either as we were travelling during school holidays. This year we paid £1500 for 4 of us to fly to spain (murcia) during the May half term holiday. I did pay for priority boarding purely because I want a stress free start and finish to my holiday and don't want to be worried about the family sitting seperately on the plane. Out of the £1500 fare only £56 was for the priority boarding. We travel with hand luggage only. As trills said up thread I will pay for extras if it makes my life easier. The fare was the cheapest I could find, even easy jet wanted £1700 for the four of us. All in all they get you from A to B cheaper than anyone else so there is no contest in my book.