to consider flying with Ryan Air?

[beals692]

There's a destination I've wanted to visit for a number of years but I've always been put off because the only airline that goes there from my nearest airport is Ryan Air.

I'm not an airline snob and have travelled with other budget airlines but I know Ryan Air have got a reputation all of their own. I always hear horror stories about Ryan Air online (e.g. about people suddenly having to pay huge sums at the airport to be allowed to fly because of something somewhere in the small print) and the response to any problems always seems to be 'well, what did you expect if you fly with Ryan Air' and that you deserve everything you get if you fly with them.

I had thought about travelling to another UK airport in order to be able to get a flight with a different airline but I'd incur a lot of extra costs (travel, airport hotel) and would have less time at my actual destination (which is just a European city break).

WIBU to fly with Ryan Air and can anyone give me any tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of booking and flying with them?

[Writerwannabe83]

I've used them once and it was awful!!

The words grubby and dirty come to mind....

I gritted my teeth for the duration and tried to distract myself from the horror with my iPod and a book. It felt like the longest plane journey on earth!!!!

[beals692]

I don't think I'm going to get a confirmation e-mail now as it's been about an hour since I tried to make the payment - and I can't see the booking on their website either. I think I'm going to have to try ringing their (expensive) call centre tomorrow but a quick google tells me that you get kept on hold for ages (at great expense) and then they are either unhelpful or just put the phone down on you!

[rookiemater]

That happened to me too once beals692, had to ring up for the peace of mind, to find that a booking hadn't been made, however I found the call centre people perfectly friendly.

I have flown Ryanair a number of times, they seem to have become a lot friendlier recently. I echo what everyone else says, follow the instructions to the letter and you'll be fine. As a lone traveller I guess it doesn't matter where you sit.

Main problems we encountered were almost being split up as a family even though we had booked priority boarding because they boarded the plane about 45 mins before departure - luckily the cabing crew were Spanish and very helpful and got us all sorted out, then the other one was my fault, thought I had booked cases for all 3 of us and waiting in line at check in discovered I hadn't - 80, but it was my own silly fault.

[AnnabelleLee]

The plane wasn't too clean and that made it horror filled? Jaysus, precious much? Pay twice or three times as much for a slightly cleaner plane then