Ryanair - hoping for some positive comments

[MascaraGirl]

This morning I booked Ryanair flights for late September, after extensive searching, and with the help of a travel agents, they appear to be the only airline who fly directly to the required destination from the airport that works for us.

If anyone’s had any positive experiences with Ryanair, could you share them? We’ve had two recent poor experiences with BA, and wonder if the whole industry is in decline?

Ryanair are fine as long as you stick to the baggage allowance weights/sizes. We find the evening flights are the ones most likely to be delayed as a knock on effect of previous flights.

I flew Ryanair from Marseille to Bucharest - no complaints and dirt cheap - I can see why they’re on time the pilot did the quickest transfer from the gate to the runway - no messing around

Ignore the sniffy people who claim to never fly with them again. Their flights are full. Follow the rules and dont try at blag it with luggage. Dont kick off if you don’t pay the seat reservation fee but still want to sit next to your party (insert very important reason who you shouldn’t follow the rules).

Enjoy your holiday.

Yes exactly this ^^

People who have issues don’t read the rules.

I’ve flown over 30 times with Ryan air with no issues that I haven’t had with any other company.

The odd delay, nothing out of the ordinary.

If you’re going somewhere below 4 hours it’s absolutely fine.

I've had several flight time changes or delays with easyJet, some fairly significant. Flight time changes with Ryanair are usually 5 minutes and I've never had a significant delay. But I'm usually flying to Nordic countries rather than the med. I've never had a problem with Ryanair but have had big delay/service issues with more than one national airline.

We flew earlier this month with them. Couldn't fault them. All very quick and professional. We did pay to put bags in hold but collecting them the other end was a breeze as not that much on the carousel.

Flown twice with them this year and had absolutely no problems at all. No one checked the sizes of our under seat bags on departure, planes all clean, all took off on time, staff were efficient, no one seemed to have a grievance about not sitting with their kids, we took food onboard so didn’t need to buy on the plane.

I travel a fair bit with Ryanair on short journeys as they fly into the airports that are most convenient for me.

Thye are a basic airline but good at what they do which is get you from A to B.

They tend to be very on time, they have a quick turnaround. However, have had delays which were outside their control - weather and ATC strikes - and have found them pretty good. In the delays caused by ATC strikes they tend to board you (if the plane has arrived) and keep you on board so they are ready to go as soon as they can, make sure you have water/something to drink and possibly something to eat in your carry on luggage (you can get water once you are through security) as they cannot do in-flight service whilst on the tarmac.

You've said you've stuck to the luggage rules and booked your seats so you will be fine there.

Every time I've travelled with Ryanair, a random guy farts really loud on the plane! Usually part of a stag do. Other then that its been fine

not a lover of them but sometimes have no choice but use them. I hate hate carrying my luggage so I pay for it to be checked in and only carry my hand bag on board also pay for my seat if travelling with my husband don't care if on my own. it is what it is cheap flight and pay extra for everything else as long as follow the rules then your fine

I use them to fly to a specific small airport to see family.

Flying out from London Airport is usually fine. However, coming back on an evening flight there's usually some sort of delay. We're not talking massive - max 1 hour. But I have now kinda put this into my travel plan.

I agree with luggage, be aware and vigilant, they will pull people out of the queue and make them pay. I have a 30l hiking backpack that fits under the seat nicely. It holds enough clothes a few days. They are OK with it. Sometimes I have to stuff my bumbag in as well... but that depends on the staff checking for extra luggage.

I never bought any food or drink on board, my flight is only for around an hour anyway, so no need.

The only thing I sometimes find is that their planes are not the cleanest/ tidiest, but it can be down to the fact that they often have very quick turn around, so no time for tiding/ cleaning.

Never had any run ins with staff - I find them generally lovely and friendly.

Flown with them loads of times, never had a problem. Stick to the baggage rules and you'll be fine.

Last time did a 4 day trip with just an under the seat bag but have also paid for priority boarding to take a cabin bag in the past.

I don't think I've ever bought food or drink on board as the flights are short and tend to buy it after security at the airport if needed

I’ve flown Ryanair for many years and never had an issue, unlike BA with whom I’ve flown several times recently and had more delays than I ever had with Ryanair.

We fly with Ryanair a lot as they have the most flights from our local airport. Never had a problem with them, just make sure you follow the rules. If you want to sit beside a travelling companion, pay for it, they will deliberately seat you apart - again not a problem for us as adults travelling.

I have annual travel insurance so make sure I have cover for each trip. I imagine the difference between say Ryanair and BA is if your flight is cancelled, you are on your own, but we’re quite independent travellers anyway and would have enough funds for an extra night at a hotel if needed etc. It’s never happened with Ryanair though <fingers crossed as have a couple of trips coming up>.

@rookiemere Ryanair paid for us to stay in a hotel when our flight was cancelled three weeks ago and flew us to our destination the next day.

I've also never had a problem with Ryanair but have had lots of issues with BA and Aer Lingus, which my work made me use 'because they were better than Ryanair'.

Except the Aer Lingus flight was delayed 2 hours, making me late for a work day in Ireland, but the RA flight I wanted to take would have got me there on time.

People talking about seats not reclining, do they ever on standard short haul?

We nearly always go with Ryanair (live near Stansted!) and generally it's been great. You do have to really check their luggage rules thoroughly. Priority and 1 bag means an under the seat bag and not a 10kg hand luggage. Flying this year, no one checked anything to do with luggage! Flights on time, only delayed due to weather but all very smooth otherwise. For a short flight it's totally fine.

I've flown with Ryanair atleast 100 times and have never had any problems. Never had any cancellations or long delays (3 hours was the most) never had lost/damaged luggage or baby equipment.

I’ve only flown Ryanair once and never will again.

Early morning flight to Liverpool. I’d been up all night, it was an awful combo. The friend I was travelling with was told at the gate she’d need to check in her bag as she had a second, smaller bag, that was around her chest with her passport etc in it. She tried to show them it fitted in the top of her normal bag no problem, but they refused. She was charged €75 and had to quickly get her belongings out of her bag that she needed.

Then we get on the plane. I was exhausted and pretty much fell asleep straight away, while we were on the runway. They shook me awake and said I couldn’t sleep until we reached cruising altitude! Then they shook me awake as soon as the descent started and said, again, I had to be awake for landing. The staff were incredibly rude, asked “why I was so tired” and said I shouldn’t be flying if I was so tired!

Then we get to the baggage carousel and our bags were last out, my friend’s hand luggage that had been checked in was open and her belongings came out one at a time. It would’ve been comical if it wasn’t so jarring. She also lost a pair of headphones (they said she couldn’t carry them in her hand, as they were in a big case. Said it was a case of picking between the small bag and her headphones, and paying a further €75 to check the other bag!). Two years later Ryanair are still being dicks about refunding her.

Never, ever, ever again.

If she hadn't worn the smaller bag all would have been fine. She didn't read the rules, so blame everyone but the culprit!

Rules are rules. No exceptions, not worth it, as she found out.

It’s like a big bus in the air. Stick to their baggage rules and sit back and watch as many travellers who haven’t have a meltdown when their bay doesn’t fit.

Expect crying babies and children.

Pretty much like any low cost airline.

I think as long as you don't expect too much then you will be fine.
We also have had to fly them as the only airline from the UK to that particular airport.
Several things I would do is online check in as soon as it opens. We still print boarding passing as found it much easier and quicker. Get your tape measure out for your wheel on if you have paid priority.

We have found they don't bat an eyelid if you have a carrier bag from one of the shops in the airport so we do that and don't try and fit our lunch or water bottle into hand luggage.

We were delayed (which they blamed on air traffic control) but magically missed the refund time but not horrifically. I don't book evening flights however for this reason and go for the early morning ones instead.

It doesn’t say you can’t wear two bags. It was disgusting from them to charge when they were shown it fit in the other bag. It was 6an, she’d forgotten it was on her.

Yes it does.

If you are NOT using priority with a 10kg overhead case then you can only bring ONE underseat bag 40x20x25cm and nothing else. Read the rules... her problem in not being aware, no one else's at all.

Presumably she was using the underseat bag only, so the added crossbody bag was not allowed.

If she had priority and a 10kg overhead case, there would have been no issue.

See?