Ryanair rant! Join me.

[Chrysanthamum]

Last New Year we flew to N Ireland with printed online boarding passes. We were turned down at Prestwick airport as the barcodes were unreadable and we had to pay an admin fee of £20 per person per flight. I was miffed.
Last Thursday the same thing happened but when we went to customer services they then told us we couldn't fly without a passport for our 18 week old baby anyway. We'd checked this out on the site beforehand and I had understood that an infant could travel with me without actually being on my passport. I did this several times with my other children in the past. Anyway my 7year old was heartbroken, my 2yr old was howling and I was by myself but no amount of pleading or cajoling would persuade the staff "he could be anyone" to let us on. Eventually we gave up and went to Stranraer to catch the boat. I know that its now their policy but the staff were such jobsworths. They don't even pretend to care about their customers and they've now tacked an admin fee of £5 on their flights to boot. They're a hateful company and the worst of the budget airlines ever. Am I alone in thinking that all the glamour and novelty value of flying has just faded and its now become a really stressful experience?

I much prefer Easyjet too as their pricing is clear and they are courteous. The airport they fly into in Belfast is a bit far away for people to come and get me so I prefer to fly into the city. Flybe are ok too but they're a bit expensive with the add ons.

Madame CF I think I've now got the message loud and clear that Ryanair require passports for infants. Thanks again.
I'm now thinking of boycotting them too not because of their shoite customer service but because some of the comments here about the commission staff get and their pilots are quite alarming. Call me a numpty but I find the Ryanair website confusing and wordy.

I must say my ferry trip to Belfast was so relaxing as there was no manic bag searching, no lifting kids in and out of buggies and pulling their coats off for security measures. I was pleasantly surprised and think I'll avoid flying unless I really have to in future. And yes I'm v aware of how important security is these days but it can still be a pain in the ear when you've got kids in tow.

Chippy, it was my proudest moment as a consumer.

When I cost up Ryanair flights these days, they generally end up pretty near the scheduled flight costs for the routes we do, or sometimes even more, so I've given up using them. I think a lot of the time the fares don't represent great value for money and people are suckered in by O'Leary telling them over and over again what a great deal they are getting.

I think the only time I would fly with them would be to get the route, not the fare, and what's really silly is that people like me would probably pay £50 extra to be treated like a human being, but O'Leary would never cotton on to something like that as a profit line.

Ryanair is a company that is nasty to its employees and nasty to its customers, which is in fashion at the moment as a capitalist tactic. However the worm is turning and as soon as they have their first major safety incident everyone will defect.

That's my theory, anyway.

I'm with yuo Boffinmum

Scyscanner comes up with Ryanair as cheaper to Paris from Glasgow - but then, even I weren't automatically deleting them from consideration, the cost of luggage, checking in (what is that about?), getting to Prestwick, paying the extra for boarding passes on the way back as we wouldn't be able tp print them out, it just isn't worth it.

I too think the worm is turning. I hope so anyway!

I am flying with them in 3 weeks time to Malaga - crapping it for want of a better phrase.

I went to check my booking last week and I couldn't get with my reservation number it kept coming up as an error. Phoned customer services who told me to try the i.e. site (the Irish site) but no still couldn't get in, so I phone again and that person said their systems were being updated and I would be able to get in the night. No surprise when I didn't. I reckon I was being palmed off, I did eventually managed to get in by putting in the flight times and destination etc.

If my flight had been that day and I couldn't get in I would have had to pay another £320 for return boarding passes for 4 at the airport. Oh and if you want to phone their internet support line it costs you £1 per minute.

I hate Ryanair with a passion, Easyjet are so so much better.

It really pisses me off that Ryanair are so anti family and so nasty to their staff and passengers, it then seems to rub off on the passengers and there is a complete rugby scrum rush for seats. I hate hate hate it.

Sorry you had a bad experience crysanthemum, you do need a passport for a baby, but i can understand why you made that mistake.

www.courts.ie/courts.ie/library3.nsf/WebPageCurrentWeb/4F0ACA2C99B3EAC78025715C00517853?OpenDocument &l=en

Here is the link for the Small Claims Court. Alternatively you could probably do it in the UK as the contract was made here. But it's cheaper to do it via Dublin.

Probably not the best place to ask (!) but does anyone know when Ryanair's summer timetable will be on sale? Just DH & I flying, and most convenient airport, so may risk it.

Hi,

We've just had exactly the same problem went to fly from Luton to Knock and got turned away because we didn't have a passport for my 14 month old daughter! Although I know it was my responsibility to read the terms and conditions (which i didn't, lesson learnt!) I assumed she still did not need one being under two to travel to Ireland because in March 2009 we traveled to Knock with my daughter age 3 months and didn't need a passport for her then, so it must only be a reasonably new policy. We were so disappointed, I was more annoyed with Ryanair that they had let us check-in online, it didn't flag up in red about not having a passport number for daughter, hit continue and printed of boarding passes and assumed all was fine, they soon let you know if you've entered you credit card details wrongly!!