Ryanair Passenger Reviews and Ryanair Customer Trip Reports

RYANAIR review :  23 June 2009 : by D Stone   (UK)

BHD-STN-BHD. This was my first, and hopefully my last time flying Ryanair. I had my reservations about flying with them, but the fares were good, and most people I spoke to had said "at least they are usually on time". That proved quiet ironic as it turned out. The first problem was the length of the online check-in process. By the time we'd entered the details for all 4 travellers and reviewed it, the session had timed out. After a second attempt we were checked in. We had some problems at BHD too, but these were airport, rather than Ryanair related. The flight was called about 45mins before departure and we were herded to wait needlessly for the period in a corridor. On board I have the usual gripes, regarding the horrendous colour scheme, lack of comfort and the service. The crew all spoke English to some degree and with various accents. No offence to them, but on a UK/Irish based airline, cabin crew should be able to be understood by the majority of the passengers. The real fun started as we approached STN. We were told that there was an unspecified problem and we would circle to try to see if anything changed. A little while later we were told that the auto-pilot was not working, and we'd fly around a little more as it was very foggy and we were unable to land. Ten minutes later we were told instead that we would have to fly and land at LTN instead. Now flying this was only a 5-10min diversion, but for anyone being met or with travel connections at STN it's a good hour out of the way. When we landed at LTN we were welcomed to Luton Airport by a cabin crew member who seemed oblivious to the fact that we were at an airport that nobody wanted to be at. We were first told a coach would be organised to get us to STN, then a few minutes later a plane was found to get us back. By which point half the plane was ready to disembark, and make their own way onwards. We decided to leave the plane and make our own way into London, which meant we had to pay again for new train tickets, as the Stansted Express tickets we had booked were now useless, as we had by now missed the last train of the night, even if we had made it back to STN. Frankly we were more than ready to part company with Ryanair. Except we had to fly home of course. Luckily the return journey was much less eventful, just a half hour delay, which was excellent service in light of the outbound flight.

RYANAIR review :  23 June 2009 : by Kerry Stockbridge   (Denmark)

AAR-STN-AAR with Ryanair and I never fail to be amazed at simple how bad the experience is. - The experience at Stansted was not to be believed. We were scheduled to leave from gate 45 and our plane was delayed due to bad weather but they then decided to move a flight to Venice- Treviso to our gate causing mass crowding. An hour or so later our flight was moved to gate 44, which was filled with people waiting to go to Frankfurt-Hahn, who then had to move to gate 42. Those who know these gates at Standsted will understand how insane this is. We were shocked at the response of a Ryanair official who refused to help a woman carry her stroller down the flights of steps to the plane (she had an infant on her arm that was too young too walk). The Ryanair woman's response was "No, I can't", no sorry, nothing ... and continued counting boarding cards.

RYANAIR review :  23 June 2009 : by S Blackburn   (UK)

I think the worst thing about Rynaiar isn't the plastic seats, or the fact that they have the same seat pitch as a London bus. It's the fact that you're playing a game by their rules, and they keep changing the rules. As a result everything is underscored with a sense of caution as you check and triple check to make sure you've unticked the right boxes on their website, printed the right boarding pass, worn all your heavy clothes, etc. to avoid being hit by a fine. It's just soul destroying. Obviously the benefit - and the reason we all keep on paying the piper - is that we can now fly to more places and occasionally pay less than we might otherwise have done. Anyway, flights STN-PSA were ok; return was an hour late. Two tips: Ryanair flights are likely to be later as the day goes on, so expect evening delays. And the last leg for any plane will probably only unload from the front door, so not worth going on through the back.

RYANAIR review :  23 June 2009 : by J Stewart   (UK)

Beware of Ryanair flights to Dusseldorf. We booked flights from Manchester to Dusseldorf only to find on landing that we were in the Netherlands! The flights are advertised as Dusseldorf Weeze, but it cost us 130 euros in a taxi to get from the airport to Dusseldorf.

RYANAIR review :  23 June 2009 : by John Fairclough   (France)

Perpignan to STN return. Gone are the days of being able to describe flying with Ryanair as cheap. It's becoming very pricey now,o nce you've added up all the charges etc. Of course the flights are bought on a "you know what you're going to get" - ie cramped conditions, poor service, a scrum at Stansted. Ryanair ought to remarket themselves as the "High Fares Airline". EasyJet are no better. Just priced a flight from London to Geneva for a family member and they are much more expensive from LTN than Swiss from LCY or BA from LHR. It's time the myth was exploded.

RYANAIR review :  23 June 2009 : by Y Owen  (UK)

Liverpool - Carcassonne. Both outbound and inbound flight on schedule and service at both airports was excellent, cabin crew helpful and efficient. We did not buy anything on board and travelled with baggage within the restrictions allowed.

RYANAIR review :  18 June 2009 : by Philip Chircop  (UK)

My family and I travelled from Edinburgh to Malta last week. Herded like cattle at check-in. My daughter had to pay £190.00 excess luggage even though her daughter had no hand luggage. No consideration was used. Inside the aircraft all plastic - no headrest covers. I hope the previous passenger did not have something nasty in their hair. We ordered 2 coffees and 2 small soft drinks. Cost £10.60. Coffee tasted like warmed up dish water. As for announcements, it might as well have been in Chinese as we could not make out most of what was being said.

RYANAIR review :  18 June 2009 : by John Herbert  (UK)

Another rip off alert; Ryanair are still using £1 = 1Euro for their inflight food and drink. The bank rate is now nearer £1.17 = 1 Euro. I flew Bristol - Beziers and back from £12 return and arrived ahead of schedule.

RYANAIR review :  17 June 2009 : by C Elbrow  (UK)

The new online service is discriminatory and unfair. I recently paid for a work colleague to travel to UK from Ireland booking the flight in the UK. He has no computer access and was charged £40 booking fee on arrival. I spoke to an incredibly rude check-in girl who had 'no time or interest' to the issues he faced - just wanted the money. The quicker this rude and unpleasant service goes bust the better! Have they never heard of customer service. These two customers will not be flying with them again.

RYANAIR review :  17 June 2009 : by A O'Donnell  (UK)

I have been flying from Liverpool to Barcelona Reus twice a month for the last 18 months but not anymore. It seems as if every month they come up with yet another scam to increase the cost. Do they really think people don't notice? The final straw is the new online check-in fee. £5 for online check-in, each person-each way with a fine of £40 for forgetting or being unable to check-in e.g. lost internet connection (happens often in the little spanish village I live). Why are they charging separately for check-in? It's not optional, you're not allowed on the plane without it. Check-in should be included in the initial flight price! And why are Ryanair's airport taxes and charges greater than Easyjet's at the same airport? Probably the same reason luggage costs are more, debit card fees are more and everything else costs more. I have just priced my next return trip with Easyjet and I can fly the same dates for £39 less with greater weight allowances and a more enjoyable experience (I don't feel I am being ripped off all the time). Fair enough, it adds an hour to my trip because I have to fly to Barcelona Central instead of Reus but it's worth it.

RYANAIR review :  17 June 2009 : by John Hayler  (UK)

Madrid-Santiago De Compostela. €1.80 return for flights incl tax! No card charge as paid with Visa Electron. No scrum at Madrid or Santiago airports, people queued in an orderly manner. A total of two people purchased priority boarding both ways. Inflight the crew, none of whom were Spanish were reasonably jolly. Constant plugging for the sale of scratchcards and phonecards throughout the flight.

RYANAIR review :  17 June 2009 : by Robert Phillips  (Belgium)

CRL-MAN-CRL. Maybe I have been lucky and one day the notorious Ryanair lack of service or care will hit me hard (they once landed me at Liege instead of Charleroi with no information and passengers left to fend for themselves). My recent experiences have been OK. Flights both ways half empty, lon time, strict checking of hand luggage on the way out. I find the pilots fine and cabin crew OK and I think they are beginning to realise that few people actually want to pay the inflated bar/food prices or buy a scratchcard. Just sad they use such a terrible airport as Charleroi.