Ryanair

Ryanair may be "low cost" but their tickets are not necessarily cheap (sometimes more expensive than BA for example) by the time you have paid quite large sums for the privilege of travelling with a bag etc. They are most certainly cheap when it comes to airport services and very expensive for anything purchased onboard. The check-in process at Birmingham was perfunctory but quick, security a fairly long process as usual with inadequate staff, and boarding was fine until we stood in the airbridge for 15 minutes only to find that it was not connected anyway and so then had to descend the steps on to the ramp before going up the airstairs on the aircraft - certainly not good for the elderly and/or infirm. Similarly in Murcia, check-in was ok but long queues had formed by the time staff turned up and we were made to stand in the hot sun for 20+ minutes until the crew deigned to let us on board. At Birmingham once again no airbridge. All very convenient, I am sure, for Ryanair but not so for their customers. The cabin crew were amateur at best and seem to be there mainly to extract more cash from the passengers : all their prices are ridiculous and a claim that perfume etc is "40% less than the high street" is at best disingenuous. On the positive side the aircraft are clean, albeit uncomfortable, and the flights operated within 30 minutes of schedule. They do more or less what they say on the tin - but do not have any other expectations, take your own food/drink, purchase nothing and prepare to be de-humanised.

I flew Ryanair from Stanstad to Athens return, and was aware of the aspects of luggage weight and hand luggage, printing boarding pass etc, and all went smoothly. Ryanair is a budget airline at a good cost so am well pleased. Read the terms and conditions and all should go well.

Over the years I have flown Ryanair many times. I know of the fees tacked onto the cost of the ticket and travel accordingly. What was out of the ordinary and an exception to earlier trips was the cabin crew member sitting at the front. During boarding he attempted to assist a gentleman with his baggage, attempting to place it in the first overhead bin on the right side. After some grunting and shifting of bags that were already in the bin, the cabin crew cursed outloud more than once. In addition to the lack of a filter, the cabin crew appearance was less than polished. He needed to have tucked in his shirt before the boarding process started and perhaps rechecked his appearance before the live demo.

Three elderly ladies were refused entry to this Ryanair flight from Stansted to Kos for being 30 seconds late, one of whom was disabled. My wife had just gone through and they could literally reach out and touch her, Ryanair is a terrible airline which in the long run costs more than most full service airlines after all Ryanair add-ons.

You get what you pay for with Ryanair, we paid £50 for a return, cheap and cheerful. We were only on the plane for a couple hours, the seats aren't the most comfortable but again, you get what you pay for. The staff were all seemingly polite, do their job well. The airport service was quick and easy no problems, infact we even arrived half an hour early on the way home and made an earlier coach. If you don't mind about luxuries and just want a cheap and cheerful flight that gets you from A-B then Ryanair is great. I wouldn't recommend travelling for more than a few hours.

Not knowing that I could be charged to check in, I went to the Ryanair baggage check in desk to check in only (no baggage) and the woman there would not check me in saying that I need to do it on my smart phone for free, or on their kiosk for £45. I failed to do it online and went to the kiosks. There were 4 of them, 2 would not work, one was working badly and the 4th worked ok. It cost me the £45. If I had known about this charge and the problems involved earlier, I could have done it online at my hotel, but Ryanair would not get their silly hidden charge of £45, which made the flight dearer than Air Lingus, who did not have any charge for this the last time I flew with them. I will never travel with Ryanair again over this. I expect the cost paid before the flight to be final.

Due to the closure of a section on the M25 we arrived at Stansted with only one hour to go before our flight left. Knowing we were in trouble and seeing the hundreds waiting to be checked in, I joined a queue at Ryanair customer service to ask how we should proceed. Mrs miserable at the 'Here to Help' counter uttered that same litany, as if we had arrived late on purpose just to annoy her - "Check-in opens 3 hours before you fly". Her head twitched sideways and she announced "check-in 80' (where another long queue was waiting), then turned her back on us. When our turn finally comes after one assistant has closed up and gone home leaving only two operating, we are told we are too late and the gate is closed. If you want a bad situation made much worse then fly with Ryanair. Of course this is a very lucrative action by Ryanair as people are then offered - "as a gesture of goodwill" the chance to buy another flight for £100 per head.

This morning I received an email from Ryanair encouraging me to check in for a flight to Denmark. There are three of us in my party. Having filled in all the boxes with passport details etc (including expiry dates which I had to ring round for) the screen timed out and I had to start again. Having all the details to hand it didn't take me long to get to the next screen which told me that unless I purchased allocated seating, I couldn't check in until a couple of days before the flight. What is wrong with these people that they can't tell you that before you go through all the hoops.

To celebrate my wedding anniversary I book a few nights away with my wife as a surprise. The trip was book on Friday 11th Sept to fly on Sunday 13th Sept. I was told to check in online and despite several attempts where I kept receiving a message saying my itinerary was not found, I contacted the airline who advise to keep trying and as a last stop check in at the airport. I had a further 9 attempts to check in online only to receive the same message. This morning I get to the airport and join the huge queue of people waiting to check in. By the time my wife and I get to the front I am informed that check in had closed 13 minutes earlier. We had been queuing for nearly an hour and we could not check in online despite all of our attempts. I showed them the correspondence I received from their own staff about our difficulty checking in. Despite our efforts we were turned away. I spent nearly £900 on a wasted trip as the Ryanair online system and staff was appalling. I wanted to complain to them both in person and though their online system. I was told nobody was available at the airport and their stupid once again records nothing ref this sort of complaint.

We had the worst experience with Ryanair last month. To begin with, they do not have airport check-in and boarding pass printing. Their system is based on the customer bringing his/her boarding pass ahead of time. We did not realise this, and they send us to pay 50 Euros for each ticket (for a family of 5 it was 250 Euros). Payments are done in a different "office", so I had to go there and stand for 20 min in a very unorganized line. When I came back to check-in the agent was very upset that we didn't pay for our suitcases, almost yelling at us. Guess what? we didn't know about this as well. So now she sent me again for the same "office" to pay another 200 Euros. Now, however there is only one line instead of two, so it takes another 30 minutes to pay the fee. Overall, their service is the worst that I've experienced. They make you feel as if they are doing you a favor for allowing you to fly their planes. I encourage anyone who wants to fly at a low cost not to fly with Ryanair. Overall it comes out to a very expensive experience.