Airline Review: Ryanair
I promised myself that I would never fly with Ryanair. I heard too many stories of rude employees, strict rules and bad management. I always preferred to pay a little bit more for an airline I know and trusted. When I flew to Ireland in January the price difference between the airlines was too big though and Ryanair clearly won when comparing the prices.
Too many additional costs
I flew out to Dublin from Eindhoven in the Netherlands in January and flew back the same route couple of days later. I have to admit that I was surprised by Ryanair. When I booked the flight couple of weeks earlier I created a reminder in my calendar to check in online as soon as it is possible, which normally is 14 days before departure. I also printed out my ticket early enough and checked that everything was right. I heard that if you don’t have your ticket with you they charge you 40 € to print it out at the airport.
I also only had carry on luggage which made the flight more affordable. Something I hated about the booking process was that you always have additional costs after you selected a flight: 2 Euros passenger fee, 6 Euros web checkin, 12 Euros admin fee etc… At the end I paid another 20 € to the actual price. It was still much more cheaper than other airlines.
Get an extra carry on bag to save costs
For weekend trips I bought a bag which is accepted as carry on by all airlines. At both flights they checked if my bag would fit into on of these standardized boxes. If it wouldn’t they would have charged me another 40-50 Euros for checking in my bag.
If you want a good seat you should line up at the gate early. At Ryanair you don’t have a reserved seat as you usually have at other airlines, with them you actually have to fight for it. So it you are a group traveling together you should line up early.
Pros:
- Everything is automatically and fast
- Cheap
- Leg room is ok
Cons:
- No food or drinks
- Too many extra fees
- Too much control
- chaos when boarding the plane due to seat management
Did you fly with Ryanair before? What do you think of this Airline?
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I agree with your assessment – it’s cheap, which keeps people coming back, but its such a messy experience.
Nicole (colehaber.com) recently posted..reason #2039 to take a risk
I still prefer to pay a little bit more and have a pleasant and relaxed experience…
Usually though, that “little bit” is about 200 Euro…
I think I’m going to have pass on this airline…
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It was an emergency option and will always be…
Just wanted to tell you I really found this post interesting and I’ll be pinning this on my pinterest account!
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I was actually pleasantly surprised with Ryanair when I flew them from Madrid to Marrakech. In response to your con, no food or drink, they do have food and drinks, but you have to pay for them, and even when you take into account the amount you are going to spend on them (10 euro maximum) you are still saving a ton of money over the majors. I also found the flight attendants to be some of the friendliest i have ever experiences. I also found that the exit rows are always free, maybe because people think you have to pay extra for them, which is not actually the case. When it comes to travel, I do it for the experience, not the comfort of the airplane or hotel. Ryanair, like hostels, is a great way get the most travel for your budget.
I flew them for one trip and i never will again. i almost had to check my douffle bag and ended up having to shove a bunch of my clothes in my boyfriends backpack. then when going back by myself, i left stuff at his place b/c i knew it wouldnt get past them. im cheap but i might just pay a little extra next time…
That is exactly what I observed while flying with them. Many people shoving their stuff in their full bags because they’ve been asked to check it in or pay a fee…
I think you have to keep your expectations reasonable. For a 2 hour flight Ryanair are bearable, just. I find it strange people will line up for an hour or more to “get a seat” on a short flight. I have never had a problem getting a seat, room for my bag, and in fact I usually end up in an exit row.
Even if the worst thing possible happened, I ended up in a middle seat, I would rather that for 2 hours than stand in line for an hour.
I do wish they would ease up on the 1 bag rule, I always end up shoving my bag/purse into my suitcase/backpack just for walking onto the plan, then as soon as I am on the plane pull it back out again so I can access the things I need.
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These guys are indeed awful, absolutly awful. I ended up in a line with an employee shouting at my about the amount of luggage in my bag but it was fine on the way over. I opend it and took out a carrier bag so it was okay but then she wouldnt take it from me until I requed – the whole service was run by morons
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But only line up early if you’re in a big group! The English in particular love to line up a long time before their flights. They need to relax. Seriously, I only flew Ryanair of Easyjet for years and my partner and we have yet to not get seats together.
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Ryan Air should be a No Go for every traveler!
They are a risk for your life!
A pilot had to do a safety round when approaching Dublin too low. Afterwards he got pressure by his boss and threatened that if he would do that 2 more times, he would get fired!
That’s a No Go!
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Where did you get that information? It is very serious, can you prove it? I personally do not believe it, even thinking that there is such an idiot boss that only thinks about money, risking a multi million aircraft would not be a very good way to save the company’s money.
I do not believe it.
Cheap and does the job! However i also wish they would ease up on the one baggage policy, last time they made me stuff 1 poster into my luggage becuase it was classes as anther baggae which was ridiculous really.
And wish they did auto seat allocation beforehand, although its cheap so i cant complain especially as I am not willing to pay for extras on budget airlines!
Hmmm, what do I think of Ryan Air? They are the worst, even making the reservation, I stress: http://passtheham.com/2012/04/11/timeline-of-a-ryanair-purchase/
I do depise this company, but I will continue to fly with them. They’re almost always the cheapest and if you follow their strict rules, you’ll have no problem.
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Every time we fly Ryanair, we say “never again”. But we lose our willpower pretty quickly because (as you noticed too) the tickets are often so much cheaper – despite all the add-ons they cheekily wangle out of you.
The Ryanair staff are usually rude, the plane is often quite dirty (because of the tight turnaround at the airport to pack in as many flights as possible), and those constant in-flight adverts for electronic cigarettes drive me insane. But until a better service at a similar price comes along, I think we’re destined to lose our willpower whenever Ryanair is an option!
Great post, I recently wrote a piece on Ryanair with an example that shows their fares aren’t that much cheaper. What a bad experience
I hate all the added on expenses and the fact that most RyanAir flights operate out of airports that are far from the city centers (i.e Flying in and out of Paris is a 1.5 hour bus ride out of the city). But the costs for tickets are so low, its hard to not buy… What an I say, I hate to love them!
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We just created an airline reviews website (http://www.shelterous.com) for passengers to see other people’s experience. Ryanair is pretty bad on our ratings and one of the reasons why people keep flying this airline is for the price, which makes sense, but specially for a certain kind of passengers. This airline is all right for students and adolescents, but never book a seat for your grandma that is flying by herself or for unaccompanied minors. Sometimes it is better to pay a little bit more for the quality of service from more qualitative brands.
The idea when booking a flight is to follow 7 simple rules that will prevent you from airlines’ hassles (read more: http://blog.shelterous.com/2012/10/the-7-basic-rules-to-prevent-from-airline-hassles-while-flying/).
Very nice blog by the way
I just wrote a piece about Ryanair because I actually use them all the time. Even with their add-ons they always work out around £80 cheaper on the route I often take. Plus their airport in Sweden is actually about 10 mins from where I live, saving me loads more on Swedish public transport.
I stick to their guidelines and I have never had an issue with them. I have never been delayed, and I always get a window seat (my preference). I never queue up early – I don’t see the point in worrying about where to sit on a short flight. Plus, a few years ago when many of my friends were stranded in Stansted airport due to snow, my Ryanair flight took off on time
If Ryanair didn’t exist I would not have travelled as much as I do, and I wouldn’t get to see my family as often as I do, so I am pretty happy that they exist!
I could do without the cheesy fanfare at the end though!
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MY husband is a military pilot and has warned me dozens of times of the lax safety training, low fuel reserves, etc. But since it’s cheap and has the best offering of destinations from where I live, it seems to keep getting my business. Next up is Bologna in January, much to the displeasure of my husband!!
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I have flown worth Ryanair and, as long as you stick with their rules, it is a good airline. People complain because their “hand” luggage is not as small as they should be, and they have to pay. The airline have right to do so, if other airlines are not strict about it and permit big luggage as hand luggage, this does not make Ryanair wrong.
The funny thing that I saw was that the same check in employee was ordering the line near the gate and collecting the boarding passes. They really optimize business processes.
Thats’s one of the downsides of the budget airlines of the world…with all of them there are always extra costs, for everything! Even to have a glass of water on the flight. But like you said, there’s such a huge difference in the price that you can’t help but take the cheaper airline.
We fly with budget airlines 99% of the time, so we’re used to these things! Never Ryan Air, but with Easy Jet in Europe.
Cheers for the post.
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Play a new record commenters Ryanair is riduculously cheap and I have flown nearly 50x with them and never had a problem. Ryanair is my favourite airline and I would fly with them 100x over the knobends at Easyjet whose morals are FAR looser if anyone actually took the time to look at them. Photoshoot at a holocaust memorial Easyjet? Oh yea nothing says high fashion like millions of dead Jews. If that was Ryanair we would have never heard the end of it.
http://georgeonthego.org/2012/08/18/why-i-love-ryanair/
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In my own experience, quite often regular fares outperform Ryanair’s due to involved transaction costs of using Ryanair. Comparing total costs (including airport to city transportation costs), in especially short-distance flights (e.g. Netherlands or Germany to London) other transportations options are at often at better cost, such as Stenaline (GBP 48 including train tickets in both Netherlands as the UK) or even for the budget-conscious traveller Eurostar/Megabus. Customers get constrained to the idea of a relationship between Ryanair and “cheap fares”, while this isn’t the case if flying last-minute (JetAirFly has a pricing model descending for lastminute flights) or often with short-distance flights. In the end, whether or not Ryanair’s fares are worth it completely depend on one’s personal situation and geographic distance.
Taking the uncertainty of Game Theory, what % of less expenses are you willing to risk for extra charges, such as discovering 1kg additional weight at the airport, seeing your hand baggage has expanded with just 1 CM and doesn’t fit? Interesting is that strictness of Ryanair’s rules depend on the country.
Yes I flew with them before… A flight from Bristol to Dublin ( I think ) and all your observations and tips above are on point. I only traveled with a mate of mine so we didn’t have too much trouble with the seats. I would definitely fly with them again if the price is right…
Eartha
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