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?

Flown them hundreds of times literally, yes they are cheap and a bit nasty but you get what you pay for. And most people can manage for a 1-2 hr flight.
No worse than EasyJet.
Sure is rather fly KLM business class but who wouldn't. £30 rather £1000. for two hours pay £30!

Flown with Ryanair for nearly 40 years - my first flight was as an unaccompanied 12-year-old in 1985 from Luton to Dublin.

used to fly with them every 6 weeks to school, and since then flown with them all over Europe as the two airports near where my mum lives in France are only serviced from the UK with Ryan - baring one flight to Tours when the pilot parked it through the runway on landing as was very late. I can't fault them and they've changed aviation for the better.

The last trip was Manchester - Malaga and again faultless really. and even when my daughter had a problem with a delayed and then canceled flight from Oslo they sorted her without argument onto another flight and paid out the expenses claim and the EU compo.

I've had far more issues with BA and Virgin than any of the lowcost carriers.

In 2018 they refunded my non-refundable flights after I was hospitalised with a miscarriage.

I’ll always be grateful for that.

Our flights to Lanzarote with Ryanair are half the price they would have been with Jet2 and far better times as well, that’s with paying £34 for seats at the front too and however much for the priority pack of small + large bags. I know the seats are like sitting on bricks but I’ll manage.

What we’ve saved on flights has more than paid for upgrading to elite level at the hotel, so private dining room, premium drinks in private lounge, full mini bar etc. I’d rather have all that than a slightly better plane experience.

To be fair, the one time my mother had a problem (flew out with them without proper insurance and had a hell of a time getting her back), they were incredibly helpful on the return flight I booked for her. Sorted out for her to be accompanied, wheelchair, the works. All over their chat function. So couldn’t fault their customer service that time, really.

Check the flight times, the luggage situation, also which U.K. airport you are flying from for each airline (parking varies a lot)

That said I prefer EasyJet, check in is much better

We generally avoid budget airlines because they are often not that budget when you include the add ons.

It's awful having to contend with commoners isn't it. Swearing? Dreadful. Ryanair's fault of course, cheap flights just attract the wrong sort of people.

Ryanair very much like a flying bus. Only flew with them twice and it was fine. Amused at standing at the bottom of the plane steps waiting to board whilst the passengers got off, very quick turnover!
Also all the cabin crew seemed utterly miserable. Never had that with any other airline ever but they were really, really grumpy. I get the impression from that it's an awful company to work for??

Ryanair promises little but gets things done. I would still be waiting for the (paid) cup of tea I was offered on a better flight. he remembered as I was leaving the plane by which time I had a splitting headache. Thanks a bunch. I'm glad my face jogged your memory a full 45 minutes later 😄

I want to dislike Ryanair, but I use them almost every time. They always end up cheapest even with the add-ons. I've only ever had minor delays.

Just get your booking right first time, as they are inflexible once they have your moneh!

Flown with them loads mostly fine. The final cost will go up with seat allocation and bags though so be aware of this.

Recent experience with Ryanair, they will pull out all the stops to get you there less than 3 hours late (or whenever compensation kicks in). If that means juggling other planned flights then that's what they'll do so lots of flights will be delayed 2-2.5 hours rather than 2 flights for 3h 30...

Seat pitch was fine for me (5'6) they definitely try to put people not next quite to each other but the cheapest reserved seats were £8 each and you'd need to do that to check in online more than 24h in advance.

You can only have a small rucksack as your personal item (under seat in front of you).

Wouldn't say they were much worse than other airlines - I had sports kit which was pricey but didn't get lost or delayed. Luggage beat me off the plane both times...

who pays for the add-ons? and I see it more as things I don't want to pay for so don't

You've never flown American then

Look, if you are one of those monogrammed suitcase people taking a long train of luggage through the airport in your designer shoes then Ryanair baggage fees will cost you and you won't enjoy the experience compared to a posher airline. However, if you are budget conscious and would rather spend more on say, nicer meals when you actually arrive then the few hundred pounds of savings is largely worth it. Sometimes, when I want to be 'looked after', I will pay more. Most of the time though, Ryanair is great for short haul.

I’d rather swim over than fly with Ryanair, and I can’t swim!

Takes you from A to B, staff are nice, all airlines can have delays.

Except for the occasions when they take you to C, which happens to be in the middle of nowhere in a different country, leave you stranded for 6.5 hours with no information and no chance to get food during that time because 'the coach will be here in ten minutes and if you aren't waiting in this place it will leave without you', 3.5 hours on the motorway without breaks except when the coach blew a tyre, before finally being dropped at the destination airport after the final shuttle to the city had departed, which was not Ryanair's problem 'because we run a point to point service and we have got you to your destination'.

There are reasons some of us say never again! 😂

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.