has anyone here flown Ryaniar and it NOT been hell?

[dipitydoyou]

have just booked flights for myself, DH, DD 4, my Mum and my Brother too as going away for a big family holiday to Spain in 2 weeks.
We are really looking forward to it, and Ryanair we're the cheapest option for us. I know they're basic but after 'googling' am now breaking into a nervous sweat! soooo has anyone had a good experience ? or should I just prepare for the fact that its going to be a total nightmare?

im flying Monarch this year

I have flown with Ryanair many times, and have never experienced any problems at all, and would actually choose to fly with them over many other airlines (especially ANY charter flight).

Most of the people who complain about Ryanair have simply not read the terms and conditions, or do read the rules but don't think that they apply to them. For example how hard is it to understand that your hand luggage must be less than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm? Why take a bag bigger and then moan that you get charged to put it in the hold. Do you not own a tape measure?

As for the staff, I have never found them to be other than polite and professional, but I suppose it depends on how you treat them.

Regarding the comments about the planes being old, Ryanair operates the newest fleet in Europe. They operate 272 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with the average age of the fleet being 3 1/2 years. They took delivery of the last batch of 51 brand new planes in 2009.

I always amusing to hear people mention how cramped it is on a Ryanair flight, when they have exactly the same number of seats on their 737-800's as everyone else operating a single class configuration, which is 189. And as the seats don't recline, it is much more pleasant not having someone being able to slam their seat into your knees.

It seems to me that because people believes that they should dislike Ryanair, because everyone tells them they should.

I've flown the Stansted-Knock route a couple of times and found it incredibly efficient.

The only true issue I had with Ryanair was honestly my own bloody fault, and a ridiculous one at that (I stupidly made a mistake on a spelling of my mother's name and it wasn't discovered until we arrived at the airport. She had to be rebooked and recharged. sigh) But other than that, the flights themselves were absolutely fine.

I've flown lots of times with them and never had a problem. Tends to be a scrum getting on the plane, but i think if you don't expect too much you won't be disappointed. I do make sure I have followed all instructions to the letter with regards to booking in/tickets and luggage though. We are flying to Poland with them in August for a few days.

I find them fine. Monarch on the other hand are awful. Truly awful.

We have just returned from spain myself dh and 3 dd's with Ryanair. I cant fault them at all the staff were all friendly we followed the rules on hand luggage and hold weight dimensions etc so no problem there. I pushed dd in buggy up to the plane steps and both ways someone was there to take it from me and it was at the bottom of the steps on arrival. The flight crew were nice to my dd's as youngest wanted to walk about and they mchatted to them etc plane was super clean and had plenty of room in seats. We also had no problem with having seats together we met my mum and dad at airport as they were going with us and we were all sitting together. I would have no problem flying with Ryanair again and am looking at flights with them for next holiday at the moment.

Fly with them at least 4 times a year, and never had any real issues. (first time was a 'mare as due to fog we landed at a completely different airport and then they sent 1 bus to accomodate a whole planeload) In fact, on here I've been accused of being Michael O'L himself such are the praises I have been known to sing.

Wannabe- that is awful. Did you complain? I think their problem is, they have these black and white rules,which they apply 100% of the time, but sometimes,like in your case, the passenger doesn't fit into their little categories and they just don't know what to do. Your experience was outrageous though.

I do agree about the bumpy landings.....I think Ryanair pilots just look out of the window, glimpse the runway, shut their eyes and aim in the general direction.

I also think passenger attitude has a lot to answer for. I have been in queues where people will try and take suitcases which weigh more than they do through, and get all arsey when they are told you can't. Ryanair are jobsworths, and are in the business of making money. You get what you pay for. And the rules and regs are there in black and white for everyone to read before they set off.

I'm flying back to the UK in 2 weeks and have a choice between Ryanair at just over £100 total, Alitalia for £1,400, or BA for £800. For me, it's an economic no-brainer.

Easyjet are better, yes. But the routes I fly, at least 3 times as expensive.

Flown with them on 3 occasions. Bournemouth - Girona absolutely perfick, you'd never know they were a budget airline aside from the cost of on-board snacks. Service better than I've had with 'better' airlines.

Bournemouth - Portugal, fine.

Stansted - Montpellier, fine, eventually. The only problem with this was the outbound leg. There was an announcement that the flight would be delayed 30 minutes whilst we were waiting at the gate. Which would have been just dandy - had I not just heard the customer service (!) bod taking a phone call to say that it hadn't actually taken off on the inbound leg yet

Only done easyjet once, and on the flight home (from Mallorca) - they had NO alcohol on board, because they'd been drunk dry on the outbound flight!

Well i'm back to give you my experience and I have to say they were fine, I have to say I was v pleasantly surprised.

We weighed and weighed again our suitcases and carry on luggage at home beforehand so made sure we were ok with our weight restrictions. There was no messing if you were over though I think my Mum was something like .5 over and had to take it out and put it in her handluggage but they were fine with her and it was her own fault anyway (well she claims it was a ruse by Ryanair to try and charge her more )

The queue to check in our luggage at Liverpool was pretty long but moved quickly enough. The girl at the desk looked like she'd have rather been anywhere but where she was but got us through quickly which is all I wanted really. Very glad we paid for priority boarding as we walked straight into the priority boarding queue at the gate where we waited for a few moments (not many of us) and then we walked straight onto the plane.

The flight attendants themselves on board were nice enough, the plane was erm well basic, the emergancy landing info on the back of the seat had my Husband (who hates flying anyway) desperatley trying to avoid looking at it all flight! but the seats were clean , it was an early flight though who knows what they'd have looked like by 11pm.

Food and drink on board was expensive. I think I paid £2 for a Water and £3.50 for a coffee and my daughters snack box was £5 but I was warned.

The flight left on time and got us there early, someone mentioned earlier then landings were bumpier though and they definitly were. V bumpy landing home in Liverpool and it felt like the pilot had literally thrown the plane down onto the tarmac at Alicante.

All in all it got us there cheaply, and safely and a fab holiday was had by all which was pretty much all I wanted. Thanks to everyones experiences though it meant we were prepared!

I really do not understand why, just because something is cheap, then the customer service can only be expected to be rubbish? Why? I have flown hundreds of time with easyjet and always found their staff friendly and helpful on the whole - but, as other posters have said, I would rather never go on holiday again than go with Ryan Air. I suspect that the 'company ethos' comes from the top, as O'Leary (owner) seems to actually dislike customers.

Just be chilled about the whole thing. We flew with them recently after having sworn never to do so again, but we just relaxed, took our own snack and water, didnt queue and actually got on the plane last. It wasnt full so we sat together both ways and actually got the emergency exit seats which was great at DH is 6ft4.

Dont buy anything, dont expect anything, treat it as a train journey, you will be fine.