Frequent flyers, how do you rate Ryanair? Who would you recommend?

20 comments

1. To be honest i’ve never had much of an issue with them. You get what you pay for. You can get dirt cheap flight tickets with them. I dont buy anything in flight. I only take a small cabin bag. I think i’ve been lucky (and maybe the odd one out) but i’ve never really had a flight delayed by long… longest has been around 45 minutes.

2. Prices make it worth it. Timing seems +- same as the others. No major complaints

3. It’s cheap. That’s the main benefit. For something cheap, it’s fine.

   It’s like ‘Spoons for air travellers.

4. I avoid them because I don’t like it and have status with other airlines. However their business mode is sound.

5. It’s fine. Anyone who moans about baggage is daft, it’s not like they surprise you with the sizes at the gate. Legroom and general comfort is the same as easyjet. I’ll generally take the cheapest option and if it happens to be ryanair I’m not concerned.

6. Never had an issue, perfect for a weekend away as I never need any more than a small backpack. If you book around 4-6 weeks in advance you can get some super cheap deals. I’ve been to Croatia for a £15 return, Prague for a £30 return, etc. It would cost me a lot more to get a train about the UK.

7. Don’t mind it.

   Do mind some of the other passengers.

8. Contrary to what a lot of people have said so far, I really dislike flying with RyanAir.

   For context, I’ve flown probably around 50+ times in my life, both domestic and international.

   I completely understand that it’s one of those “you get what you pay for” kind of airlines, but I would actively avoid them if it can be helped.

   A few months ago I travelled with a family member who was in a wheelchair. When booking their ticket we selected the “needs assistance” option. When we got to the airport and when to the check in machines, we confirmed with the staff there that they needed assistance onto the plane and that they can’t walk at all.

   On a side note, the staff at the check in systems were the rudest airline staff I’ve ever seen. Rolling their eyes at passengers that were having issues, ignoring some passengers completely and doing their job at a sloth’s pace.

   When we got to the gate we were told that they hadn’t prepared the assistance on either end of the flight because, even though we requested assistance, it’s the airport that does it (unlike most Airlines, they don’t have their own equipment for those with disabilities and rent it from the airport) and we needed to ask RyanAir specifically to request further assistance from the airport, at the counter, not just RyanAir themselves (despite us clarifying it with them anyway). This has never been an issue ever before.

   RyanAir also forgoes the path ramps from the gate to the aeroplane, so you have to walk up the steps. This is to save cost but is a bit unfortunate when you’re dealing with Scottish weather and arrive to your seat absolutely soaked.

   The seats are also the worst I’ve ever sat in on a plane. They then spend half the flight trying to persuade the passengers to purchase things from them.

   On another RyanAir flight I had them reject my Scottish £10 note because they only accept “British currency”.

   You should also be aware that their hand luggage requirements are smaller dimensions than pretty much any other airline.

   Again, I totally accept that if you think the financial benefit it worth it, then by all means go ahead, but if a flight with another airline is going to cost anything less than 20% more I would absolutely take the other flight.

9. If you read the smallprint, it’s fine.

   Used to fly with them regularly in the days you had to print off boarding passes or pay €45 per printed ticket, the number of people who would turn up and argue until they were blue in the face…

   Also, luggage charges, weigh your baggage people.

   They prey on the unprepared – those who turn up to the airport as if it’s still 2000. We all know the type, get to the front of security with liquids over 100ml in every pocket and pouch. Boots, belt, watch on each arm, assorted jewellery concelled randomly around the person. If you are this person, Budget airlines are going to swindle you of €100 before you know what’s hit you.

10. I’ve never had a problem with baggage etc because I read the rules in advance. I can see why sneaky stuff like having a smaller hand luggage size than the other airlines would cause people to get caught out, butnit hasn’t happened to me.

    No, what makes them banned from my list of acceptable airlines is the appalling customer service. I had one journey where I was delayed for 4 hours by 5 minutes each time (obviously no staff around to check with, and at Schipol airport so no way to get to anything to eat or go to the toilets in 5 minutes).

11. “You get what you pay for” sometimes doesn’t actually make Ryanair good value, factoring in remote airports and odd flight times. However for the most part no issue with them.

12. When nothing goes wrong, they’re brilliant.

    It’s just when it does go wrong…. They’re communication and customer service is terrible.

    I think if you fly Ryanair, always have back up funds or be mentally prepared you might not get where you’re going.

13. I hate RyanAir. The seats lack any ability to support your phone, EasyJet and Norwegian do. The seats are more cramped. They are ALWAYS late. I now pay more to avoid them. Only fly on them when the flights are later when it suits me.

14. I’ve literally never had a problem with Ryanair. Their entire service seems to be excellent. Every complaint I hear against them is from somebody who has failed to comply with their policies and is annoyed that they haven’t been let off. The flights are often a bit late, the seats are cramped, the whole thing is a sales pitch, but as long as they keep their safety record and prices where they are I will continue to support them.
    And those hard landings? Exactly what you want from a landing. A soft landing is an aircraft that is still keen to fly, the worst possible thing an aircraft can be when you’re trying to stop it in Rotterdam.

15. Never had an issue with them, personally. I’ve heard a lot of people say that between the 2, EasyJet is better but that doesn’t line up with my experience at all. Seems like every single EasyJet flight I’d been on had some sort of issue or delay – pretty big ones too (once a 4h delay!)

    RyanAir is cheap and you get what you pay for, but it got me to where I needed to go and at the end of the day that was the most important thing for me. I’ve only ever used them for short trips so one hand-carry bag was enough.

16. I asked a friend to compare RyanAir to a Premier League team for a friend who was trying to find a cheap flight. Here’s the response:

    They aren’t premier league, they are high school compared to premier league. If I had to pick one I’d say Bournemouth. Nothing fancy, you get what you get and that’s it. Sometimes they surprise you by being average.

    Honestly with Ryanair you just gotta roll with the punches, and make sure you don’t take anything more than a backpack on board without paying a lot and accept that you’ll not be sitting with your companions. They only alternative for EDI > BCN is Vueling. Flown them twice, including on that route. I once read some reviews about them. They are known as the “Spanish Ryanair”. They are slightly better than that for me but not by much, Spanish easyJet probably my description.

    In summary, your friend will be fine on Ryanair, just make sure they play the game right, booked checked bags when they book, don’t take more than a backpack on board unless they book priority etc. and expect absolutely nothing. I think it’s around €5 for a can of coke on board so buy snacks in the terminal. It’s only a couple hours to bcn. It will be fine.

    Oh, and the flight will be 30 mins late, just gotta accept that haha.

17. As long as you’re not checking luggage and your hand carry is within the rules and they don’t postpone or cancel they’re okay. Worth checking though I’ve found BA to be cheaper on occasion and shite as they can be they’re still better than Ryanair.

18. Pretty much the best option for me when flying to see family, because of neatest airport etc.

    Not had any major issues with them so far, and neither has my family when coming here.

    The only issue that *almost* affected me was during covid: for a few days before I was due to leave, they were completely misunderstanding Italy’s testing requirements and turning down people that should’ve been okay to travel. The embassy had to get involved and things were fixed.

    Other than that, had a couple of annoying times when we were stuck on some cramped stairs between the gate and the door to the bus, or sat in a rather hot bus waiting for the plane to be ready.

    Agree with another commenter that seats are not the most comfortable, but I’ve actually had worse a few years ago on a KLM flight. I only fly Ryanair to a couple of airports, and the flights are short enough I don’t terribly mind the seats.

19. Hate them, but can’t avoid them. They started the race to the bottom that is now the airline industry and it’s insane to see how much it degraded over the last few years.

    What pisses me off further is the constant rule changing to catch people out.

20. Usually pretty good for timings since they get punished for being late.

    Eurowings on the other hand…