Thoughts on Ryanair?

[Aanniilleess]

I've never flew with them myself, but my friends in Ireland use them all the time to come over to the UK due to tiny cost. They always just say 'it's an hour flight, I don't want to spend loads'.
I know they get a lot of bad press but I was surprised to learn they've NEVER had a fatal crash ever.
Any thoughts and experiences with Ryanair? specifically like the route between UK and Ireland.

If you view it like catching a bus then they're fine but they're my least favourite airline! The prices are obviously extremely low but I hate the hassle of having to go through their bloody T&Cs every time to check we're not going to get caught out & charged some stupid sum! But as long as you get your head round the T&Cs they're ok - last time we did the Dublin route there was a bit of hassle with queuing in the airport & the DH had a bit of a very hungover wedding guest strop but the flight took off on time. Inside the plane with the blue plastic seating it reminds me off a bus too - sure doesn't feel like luxury travel! But we've used them lots & never had a problem & they've only taken off late once (when we flew to France at Easter & the plane door wouldn't close without some WD-40, probably not something you'd experience on Emirates!). Just don't expect much in the way of Customer Services!

Yes, ditto previous poster - I flew with them last week to Porto and back - we were a little late (30 mins) taking off but the return flight was on time. Everything else was fine, except I've noticed how uncomfortable the unpadded armrests are to lean against!

The cabin crew were lovely and the boarding was efficient. As PP says, check those rules. As expected our cabin suitcases were taken off us at the gate and put in the hold (because we didn't pay for priority boarding) but unless you are in a mad rush to get away at the other end (ie you don't want to wait at the carousel) I'm sure it isn't worth it - I hated hefting my cabin case up into an overhead locker anyway.

I've not had a bad experience with them over the last 5 years - though I do worry a bit about last-minute cancellations, as they seem to have had a problem with this recently - but hopefully you'll be fine .

It's fine.
Just pay attention to the rules around seats/luggage/etc and don't expect any special treatment or to "get away" with anything.

Use them all the time and never had a problem.

But yes, read the terms and conditions and don't go thinking "well, it says 15 kg, but mine is 15.5kg, that won't be a problem". It might not be, but it very well might.

They aren't always the cheapest, so shop around. In September when I needed a flight, Easyjet were much cheaper, which isn't usually the case tbf.

Coming back from Portugal recently (not with Ryanair, on a package) the Ryanair desk was next to ours and there was a family utterly gobsmacked that they should have done their own check-in and were now being charged god knows what for the assistant to do it for them.

Hate them. Sometimes there's no alternative to fly with them but other budget airlines like EasyJet are so nicer.

Ryanair herds you around like cattle, treats you as a customer with contempt, and then when you're on the plane they don't leave you 5 minutes without trying to flog scratchcards, or vaping kits, or train tickets, or any other type of tat they can come up with.

And don't expect any type of sympathy or assistance if they cancel a flight, they don't give a shit and treat their customers accordingly.

The one point in their favour is that they can be cheap.

I've had excellent service from Ryanair, no complaints.

They were fine with luggage being slightly over, they're only bothered if it's a full kilo or more over.

But my work won't use them and insist on paying more for the more expensive and slightly worse times on the aer lingus flight on the same route despite Ryanair getting there on time and AL being late more often than not

I am very wary of them as the last holiday I went on ( easyJet). Ryan air cancelled 12 flights 6 of them holiday destinations in the space of 5 mins this summer. The airport was in chaos and families were shouting crying. Etc

I was raging on there behalf.

I fly with Ryanair a lot. They are fine as long as you treat them like a no-frills flying bus & follow their rules to the letter. You get what you pay for, but for a short flight it's not a problem.

I find them fine. I give myself more time when booking with them than I do with other airlines and tend to use a desk top. I only use them for hour/two flights though. I keep my bag within their limits, sound cancelling ear plugs and a good book. I find they are more likely to be on time than other airlines that fly from my local airport.

I use them all the time. You get what you pay for tbh, occasional delays, not particular great service on board but cheap as chips

I used this this week, only airline to do the flight I needed so no choice but was a hassle free easy process and that’s said as someone who is a shit flier

Absolutely fine, you get what you pay for but crew were great and flights on time.
Got chatting to a woman in the check in queue who told me her husband always refused to fly Ryan-scare until kids came along and suddenly price became factor and now he loves them...

I haven’t flown with them since the time they dumped two planeloads in Brussels rather than France, where we were supposed to be going. Took them four hours to put on coaches. Coaches then insisted on taking us to Beauvais despite everyone on the plane wanting to go to Paris, because Ryanair ‘runs a point to point service’. They could not have been less apologetic about it.

Their reason was ‘fog’. Checked the weather afterwards - there had been no fog, and my mum was in Paris and reported brilliantly blue skies all day. I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve subsequently heard that they do this if they don’t have planes in the right place and need to rebalance.

Maybe they’ve improved but I’m not prepared to chance it.

Never again. Never felt so cramped and claustrophobic on a plane for a start.

We were in the air for only 4.5hrs and landed safely. That's the only positive I can think of.

Flown to the canaries with them twice now. I think they're fine. As long as you know their rules and stick to them it's easy and smooth. Everything else about the flight was exactly the same as any other, rubbish over priced food and drink and boring and uncomfy seats!

I know they get a lot of bad press but I was surprised to learn they've NEVER had a fatal crash ever.

Why? Being cheap and being shit doesn't mean they can ignore the stringent regulations.

Never flown with them and wouldn't want to. Their reputation, and that of their CEO, precedes them. I'd expect to be nickle-and-dimed and stung with unexpected charges that make it not cheap after all, and if anything goes wrong I'll be dumped with no support and refused the compensation the airline is legally obliged to give.

Flown Easyjet a few times. No problems there, they seem decent. Just don't sit in the back of the plane if you plan on buying food because chances are they'll run out before they get to you. (But in a short-haul European flight you don't really need food anyway.)

PS: On the other hand I wouldn't expect Ryanair to be dangerous. They're based in a developed country and fly reasonably modern planes. It's things like Russian and African airlines where you can be concerned about safety records.

I fly with them quite often, no problems, usually a slight delay outbound and it’s a pain that they’ve now changed their cabin baggage policy but other than that it is what it is, a cheap no thrills flight.

As long as you see them as what they are: a budget airline, the you'll be fine. Don't expect bells and whistles and m first class service. Be prepared to pay for any extras you want.

I would opt for morning flights over evening/night flights, as they tend to be rowdy and the cabin crew are not mindful of drunk people and will happily continue shoving booze down their throats.

Ryanair are governed by exactly the same operational, legal, safety and compliance regulations as any other EU airline, so there is no reason why they should be less safe.

Read their T&Cs carefully, and make sure you comply with their processes. That way they can’t hit you with very high penalty fees for, eg, not printing or downloading your boarding pass.

Get travel insurance, even if you’re only flying to Ireland. If your Ryanair flight is cancelled, they will not provide hotel accommodation or re-book you onto another airline, like BA would.

As with previous... if you see them as a bus service in the sky and expect nothing from them if anything does get cancelled etc then they are fine, can be cheap (although not always) and more importantly are the only option for a lot of small airport routes.

Regarding "see them as a bus service", I've never caught a bus that charged me extra because my backpack weighed too much, or that tried to sell me loads of tat while I was on board.

They are fine if your journey isn't long, although snacks and drinks are extortionate and the one thing that really annoyed me is that they didn't have anywhere on the back of the seats to put stuff, which I couldn't understand, where was I supposed to put my magazine and bits and pieces. And isn't that where sick bags are kept?