Ryanair . . . no-brainer?

[LeevMarie]

Hi,

DH, DS (who will be nearly 5) and I are travelling to Spain in early July with parents in law.

I've been looking at the costs of the flights and we can fly into the same airport with Ryanair and save nearly £350 for our family of 3 vs booking the same flights with Jet2. The times are very similar (early morning outbound and midafternoon returning).

I mentioned this to my mother in law yesterday and she warned me quite strongly against booking anything with Ryanair. I know they don't have the best reputation for punctuality, but she even said that irrespective of what we choose to do, she's not going to fly with Ryanair and would rather pay the extra. 😂This is crazy, right? Or am I missing something?!

I've flown with EasyJet before and that was pretty terrible, but it's only a 2.5 hour flight. I can tolerate pretty much anything in order to save this amount of money.

Is Ryanair really that bad? Flying to Malaga, so there maybe some stag or hen parties on the flight, I guess, but surely that's a risk you take regardless?

[jocktamsonsbairn]

I regularly fly with both Ryanair and EasyJet and have had no problems with them at all. In fact both were fantastic with our cancelled flights over covid in 2020.
Usually very punctual, clean and never had problems with rowdy behaviour or untamed children!

If you are flying flight only with Jet2 you will probably have to add bags on too.

With RA and EJ don't add bags on to start with - usually a bit cheaper if you add them on as an afterthought'. Also if just going for a week you might be cheaper booking the option with 2 cabin bags and reserved seats. Then you get a wee suitcase and a backpack per person and it's usually much cheaper.

[legoohno]

@Chersfrozenface

Sky News are reporting on a Which survey of 8,000 passengers. Jet 2 came top and Ryanair were second from bottom.

1. Jet2
2. Turkish Airlines
3. Finnair
4. Swiss
5. Aurigny Air Service
6. Norwegian
7. Icelandir
8. Aer Lingus
9. Air Malta
10. SAS Scandinavian Airlines
11. Aegean Airlines
12. Iberia
13. KLM
14. TAP Portugal
15. EasyJet
16. Tui Airways
17. Air France
18. Vueling Airlines
19. Lufthansa
20. British Airways
21. Eurowings
22. Ryaniar
23. Wizz Air 

Sky News here https://news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-latest-well-paid-jobs-that-dont-need-university-study-what-does-credit-suisse-rescue-mean-for-banks-12615118

Which? here
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/airlines/article/best-and-worst-airlines-a5EhC8N851et

Sorry about untidy clicky links.

I forgot Wizz Air existed.

My husband and I flew with them before we had children. I kid you not, a man was singing Angels by Robbie Williams through the tannoy. Actively encouraged by the cabin crew.

Christ.

[legoohno]

As above, Ryanair generally keep to time.

I swore I'd never fly with them again and we actively go out of our way to pay more for jet2/EasyJet.

Jet2 in particular have a lovely way with children so that swayed me entirely.

Ryanair staff are also generally rough. I don't care for the jags I may receive for this but they absolutely are.

[Lou1C]

I dont blame her. I flew with Ryanair in Feb with my family. It was a disaster. Not only are the flight desk staff untrained and lack knowledge of their subject they are rude and lack empathy. My family and I missed our flights due to long queues as a result of a attendant who was useless. The ticket counter insisted we buy new tickets and lamded in a town which costed us a further day of trains and extra costs to get to town our initial flights were to land at. Avoid them like the plague. You will regret it.

[NCTDN]

That's interesting! So you don't necessarily get more satisfaction if you pay more.

[Chersfrozenface]

Sky News are reporting on a Which survey of 8,000 passengers. Jet 2 came top and Ryanair were second from bottom.

1. Jet2
2. Turkish Airlines
3. Finnair
4. Swiss
5. Aurigny Air Service
6. Norwegian
7. Icelandir
8. Aer Lingus
9. Air Malta
10. SAS Scandinavian Airlines
11. Aegean Airlines
12. Iberia
13. KLM
14. TAP Portugal
15. EasyJet
16. Tui Airways
17. Air France
18. Vueling Airlines
19. Lufthansa
20. British Airways
21. Eurowings
22. Ryaniar
23. Wizz Air 

Sky News here https://news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-latest-well-paid-jobs-that-dont-need-university-study-what-does-credit-suisse-rescue-mean-for-banks-12615118

Which? here
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/airlines/article/best-and-worst-airlines-a5EhC8N851et

Sorry about untidy clicky links.

[rookiemere]

Just checked and Jet2 is £35 per person each flight. That's why we've started using Jet2 holidays, we ended up cancelling our trip last year ( weren't sure DS16 was up to coping by himself for a week) and it only cost us £120 to cancel as more than 90 days.

[NCTDN]

That's worth knowing rookie. I was just so shocked that I couldn't cancel.

[rookiemere]

@NCTDN Easyjet is now £45 per person to change each flight, and I wouldn't be surprised if Jet2 charges similar or more. It was only because of covid that flights change charges were paused.

[NCTDN]

I've had no outdoors with Ryanair except for when I needed to change the date. It was £45pp per flight (one way) so cost me £180 to change a flight date for two of us. I couldn't cancel either.

[SeatonCarew]

I fly regularly with Ryanair to Spain, because in my experience all the airlines are much of a muchness nowadays in terms of service level, adding additional charges etc. I'd go with the Ryanair flight and meet your inlaws there.

Jet2 staff are very friendly and smiley though, so if that's worth £350 to you then go for it.

Just be prepared for busy airports and a possible wait for your luggage etc this summer - none of which is the airline's fault.

[BorgQueen]

Flew out to Lanzarote on Fri with Ryanair, my god the seats are even more uncomfortable than I remembered, was on the plane for 5 hours due to a 45 min delay 😩
Not looking forward to Thursday’s return although hopefully it should be a quieter flight, Friday was completely full.

[newname2022]

If you do choose Ryanair, don't select the option to add 20KG bag. Go with the basic option and then add your bag as an extra later. Worked out about £10 ish per bag cheaper when we did that.

[ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea]

I've not found Jet2 to be significantly more expensive than Ryannair once you add on your luggage - assuming you are taking check in luggage - and on Ryannair you also have to pay more for normal sized cabin baggage .

I do have a preference for Jet2 - but I couldn't really say why! I think Ryannair are actually meant to be quite good in terms of punctuality and fewer cancellations etc - and I've never actually had any problems with them. I don't know if there is any difference in cancellation policies.

I've also never had any issues with antisocial behaviour on a flight to Malaga with any airline - not sure if that's down to the times we've travelled.

[GirlySwot73]

I'm not an experienced traveller by any means, and have only ever flown with easyJet, Flybe and Ryanair and find them to be all pretty much the same. So I can't compare them with the posher airlines, but they've all been absolutely fine for me. Save the £350! It would be really mad to spend that much just to avoid Ryanair. Mad! It's only two hours of your life.

[Marymary987]

They’re absolutely fine, we fly to Spain most years with them as they’re the cheapest for us. Their add-ons are usually cheaper than the EasyJet add-ons, I’d definitely save the £350.

[jackstini]

Fly with Ryanair every couple of months - no issues. Yes they are a budget airline but punctual and do the job fine!

[kirinm]

I'm going away at the end of the week and I tried to avoid Ryanair. They fly from Luton and stanstead mainly - for areas I've been looking at - and neither are convenient to get to.

I know all the airlines do add ons which are also really annoying. We are flying with Tui on Sunday and we did get free luggage on that so it made it not that more expensive than Ryanair. Our journey is 4.5 hours so it felt a bit too long for an uncomfortable flight. I'd probably do Malaga with Ryanair (flew there with easyJet and vueling last year).

[BlackForestCake]

I wouldn't choose to fly with Ryanair, but when I have it’s been ... fine. I can’t say the experience on Lufthansa was much better.

[amylou8]

If it were a choice between Ryan air and a fully serviced airline maybe...but Jet2?? They're both like a bus. You get on, sit in your cramped seat, watch something on your iPad, then get off the other end, hopefully where and when you should be. Just suck it up for a couple of hours and save 300 quid. Tell MIL she can 'upgrade' to another budget bus plane alone if she wishes.

[onetimenamec]

It's fair to point out that we have an unusually large choice of airlines passing through the UK. There is something for everyone. There will always be takers for Ryanair as well as critics who turn up their noses especially if they are not fans of O'Leary. There isn't an objective best choice.

[EvelynKatie]

@somewhereovertherain

You've never flown American then

I have actually! Can’t remember the crew. Definitely can on Ryanair.

[AchillesElbow]

Ryanair are fine until something goes wrong, then they’re very much not. You will be more or less completely abandoned by then if they need to cancel flights or reroute the plane for any reason.

I have heard a couple of horror stories from friends (8 HOUR queue to try and rebook after a cancelled flight home) and that is enough to completely put me off.

[LlynTegid]

I don't fly with them at all. I am prepared to pay extra not to support Mr O'Leary who in my view is a nasty unpleasant human being.

Your mother in law I applaud.

[freetheunicorn1]

@somewhereovertherain we want the baggage etc which is why we don't fly the budget airlines 🤷🏼‍♀️