Ryanair

Having been put off using Ryanair about 4 years ago I took a flight from Bristol to Girona and return early July 2014. I was well aware of all the pitfalls and extra charges and then made the mistake of mis-spelling my own first name. I thought 'here we go' especially as I couldn't get through on the phone even the £1.09 a minute line. Then I stumbled upon their 'live chat' facility got connected within 2 minutes and had the name corrected. They emailed me a revised confirmation. Of the flights - well the pre-allocated seats are a great improvement - saves that awful scramble on board with the FAs screaming 'if you don't sit down we'll lose our flight slot' and passengers coming to blows. The boarding pass saying front or rear of the plane is sensible. Unlike previous flights (which was what finally put me off Ryanair) there were no cases either at BRS or GRO of passengers being harassed having their luggage weighed or measured or any sign of people being charged for things. Most notably I didn't hear any passengers grumbling about anything. So the simple impression of just 2 flights is that you get what you pay for on-time clean planes and a vast improvement from 4 (plus) years ago. Whether I want to brave a STN flight is debatable but I need to fly home later in the year and I won't be too worried.

Edinburgh to Arrecife 6/7/14. Crew outbound were very depressed couldn't hear them speaking on the announcement and they were French which made hard to understand them but they did speak English we felt rushed during boarding as the crew kept announcing "good morning please can you store your hand luggage and take your seat as quickly as possible" this was said 4 times! Overall early departure and arrival which makes it better! Nothing was a problem but the crew were very shy! Arrecife to Edinburgh 13/7/14. Crew inbound were really nice my niece got welcomed specially by the two crew boarding us at the door. They were lovely. Once it came to the lottery cards they made it into a laugh which made the flight more welcoming. This was just an opportunity to get rid of your euro coins and to be charitable. Overall smooth flight and arrived very early. Just remember this is a low cost airline and remember to print all your boarding pass off before you depart like we did!

June 23 Brussels to Palma de Mallorca. Check-in online and boarding passes already printed baggage respected Ryanair's rules so fast and smooth drop-off two hours before departure. Automatic seat allocation is a good improvement don't need to stay in line for boarding despite the fact the flight was almost full. Short walk from the gate to the plane (for me was nice). On-time boarding 30 mins. late departure due the long queue for take- off. Some turbulence during the flight and a bit bumpy landing. The plane was clean and the crew was polite. In Palma fast luggage on belt. Good value for money.

Tenerife South to Manchester 15/07/14. Great value flight. 35 mins early much better than Monarch's time keeping. Friendly service and much less announcements. Really starting to notice the changes.

On March 30th 2014 we flew Ryanair our of Beauvais France (BVA) to Madrid Spain. The tickets sounded like a great deal until we got to the airport and found out we had to pay another $140 euro for boarding passes. The rep at the counter all of a sudden did not speak English or Spanish was rude and started to roll her eyes. We paid the additional charge and went back to check our luggage. We then were told there were more charges for our bag (under weight) that were not included apparently. We paid the extra fees and finally were told we could get in line. We proceeded to get in line which was a huge disaster and with no logic or system in place or completely poorly executed and took 2 hours. The lines began to severely back up they began shifting customers back and forth between lines and ultimately the plane had to leave late. Once on the plane the conditions and cleanliness of the plane were noticeably lacking and even a few pieces were broken. Refreshments were offered at unreasonable prices. The pilot must have been new because the entire flight was filled with drastic turns turbulence and ultimately. We couldn't wait to get off the plane. We had to wait another 45 minutes in baggage claim before our luggage began to roll. I will never use this airline again.

I recently flew Ryanair between BCN to SVQ and I had a really pleasant flight. Temperature inside the cabin was perfect and seats comfortable. Space between seats was adequate. Crew were very friendly on both flights. I also appreciated the changes of the new Ryanair with seat assignments and with the automatic priority boarding if you buy one seat when booking. I will recommend Ryanair and fly them again.

Outward flight Stansted to Pisa one hour delay very cramped seats I am only 5' 8'' tall ventilation blew very hot air out for a considerable part of the journey. Return from Pisa on July 12th a 5 hour delay no reason given as to why no vouchers offered no compensation mentioned sat for 45 minutes on the tarmac before taking off delay at Stansted getting off the darn plane at 02.15 as only one set of steps could be found. A complete and utter shambles if you have a choice do not fly with them.

Ryanair does not allow you to get boarding passes for the return flights straightforwardly at the same time as for the outward flight although within the 30 day period. This resulted in a £70 charge for each of our return flights. A lot of people seem to have been caught out by this see other reviews. This seems to be a new practice and I could not recommend Ryanair to anyone in future since there is a real risk that their holiday will be ruined as a result of this disgusting sharp practice. I could not help noticing that the return fight was not full and would not be surprised if fights are even emptier in future.

Flew 05/06/14 STN to SNN. Had a horrible start to my journey thanks to the Stansted Express service on which I was stuck for 2 hours due to technical difficulties. Missed my flight as a result and Ryanair transferred me free of charge to the next flight which was the following morning. Very much appreciated considering it was not their fault I missed the flight. I needed to make it back to Shannon for a trans-atlantic flight the following afternoon so they saved my holiday from being cancelled. This along with the various upgrades to their service in the past 12 months (additional carry on bag reserved seating etc) have made Ryanair my choice of airline when flying from London. Customer service is dramatically improving in my opinion and as long as you know how they operate and how the pricing structure works then there shouldn't be any issues when flying with them. I'm not sure how so many people are allowed to leave bad reviews on here when the source of their problem is very often the customer being at fault and not adhering to the "rules of low-cost flying"!

We were due to fly to Fuerteventura on 24th June flight FR3525 from Luton. After sitting in the plane on the tarmac for 2.5 hours they decided to cancel the flight for operational reasons. Presumably it was costing them too much money to sit there/they needed the plane somewhere else. We re-booked with Jet2 for the following Saturday (only about £15 dearer) and received excellent service. When we arrived at the hotel the manager told us that there was only the one flight cancelled to Fuerteventura that week from the UK. If other airlines can cope with delays then why can't Ryanair?