Ryanair

Lanzarote one way flight from Bristol 8th January. A handful of minutes late departing and arrived Arrecife half an hour early. Totally uneventful flight. What more do you want?

Ryanair is fine to fly most of the time to get from A to B and if you can go hand luggage only. But that isn't always possible and today at Alicante the Bag Drop was pretty shambolic and stressful having to queue for more than an hour to drop off a case with people getting more and more frantic as the clock ticked by. It might have been because they had about 6 full flights scheduled one after another in a 2 hour period and only 3 desks for bag drop off. Plus they were charging everyone who was even just slightly over the weight which led to queues being at a stand still as people tried to rearrange their luggage or go and sort out the extra payments. If this is a frequent occurrence (will be watching as am a frequent flier) I will definitely avoid Ryanair as much as possible in the future. I will and have paid the premium for the extra business fare but the huge omission is that there is no priority drop off. Unlike Easyjet who give priority at bag drop if you have speedy boarding/easyjet plus. Makes the business fare bundle all a bit pointless since you have allocated seats anyway. If Ryanair introduced a priority drop-off as an optional extra I would happily pay it rather than stand in a queue for an hour.

Rome to London Stansted 31 Dec 2014 cabin crew never greeted or smiled as we boarded plane - looked very fed up and engaged in no personal chat during the flight. Very uninterested and worked more like zombies going through the motions. Flight was good and would travel with them again. I paid £136 return - it might be cheaper than other airlines but surely the staff represent the airline and what did this service say about Ryanair?

Malaga to EMA due to snow we were told we would be diverted to Stansted Airport. Subsequently we were provided with a coach back to EMA. The second half of this journey proved very challenging due to the snow but we arrived at EMA 3.5 hours later. Although very stressful at the time we appreciated the speedy response in getting us to EMA.

We have flown Rysnair on the Birmingham - Trieste route 2 or 3 times a year for the last 4 years. This route hasn't appeared for 2015 and having contacted the airline all it can say is "keep looking". This simply isn't good enough. Ryanair will know already if it will operate this route this year. I suspect they want passengers to book alternative routes but Stansted really isn't an alternative for us. We live in Staffordshire and petrol plus car park fees would cost more than the price of the flights. Come on Ryanair.

Tallinn to Milan first and last time flying with Ryanair. Ryanair is by far the worst airline I have experienced in terms of customer service fees and travel experience. This was our first time flying with Ryanair and after booking our flight we were traveling often without internet service when we got to the airport to check-in 2 hours before our flight we were informed that there would be a 70Euro fee/person! We had no email from Ryanair about the need to check-in online 2 hours before departure. The online check-in cut-off time is arbitrary as it serves no purpose other than a deliberate tactic by Ryanair to extort additional funds from paying customers who at that point have no alternative but to pay and board the flight. We then were forced to wait in a crowded gate area and our flight departure was delayed by over an hour. During our time at the gate several Ryanair "customer service" agents made their way through the crowd demanding that some passengers must check their carry-on luggage. Almost every passenger with more than one carry-on item was ordered to leave their additional carry-on at the ground by the plane to load in to the hold. After making our way across the runway in freezing rain and snow we slowly made our way up the outdoor stairs to the plane only to be met with a surly male steward who was talking with a staff member instead of greeting passengers. All of the staff were rude and only spoke to passengers to ask to purchase items. Every item including water was provided only for a fee. We arrived in Milan only to be told that we had to sit on the plane to wait for a bus to take us to the terminal. One bus came and filled with passengers. We were in the back of the plane so we had to wait another long period for another bus. Bottom line - this was the worst travel experience in my 30 years of global travel. Yes the airline industry has changed significantly to cut costs and keep fares reasonable but there is no need to intentionally make customers feel worthless. I will gladly pay more for a flight to not be extorted for additional monies and to have a smile and a friendly hello delivered by the airline staff.

I have no issues with Ryanair. Given how cheap the tickets are I think the airline offers a good deal. Ok the seats aren't the most comfortable and the cabin crew are expected to sell sell sell but who cares. I can get to many European destinations for less than the price of a return train ticket to London (just 50 miles away from where I live). I am happy put up with a few minor inconveniences for deals like this. Just one minor gripe - I hate the recorded fanfare when the plane lands early or on time.

My wife and I live in Spain and had booked a flight from Malaga to Stansted and a return flight from Stansted to Malaga some five weeks later. The night before our flight out of Malaga I duly went online to the Ryanair website to do the Online Check In. I filled in the flight details and submitted it then there was on option to print the Boarding Pass however I didn't have a printer my apartment so I assumed that since I had submitted the details all would be fine. This was not the case however. On arrival at Malaga Airport the next day we went to the Ryanair check in point that was at least 100 metres away from any other check in desk (probably so that other passengers could not hear any passenger complaints) We were asked for our Boarding Passes. I said that he had checked in online but had no way of printing the Boarding Pass. The Ryanair representative said that her computer was not showing that the Online Check In had been done. Although I insisted that I had submitted the Check In form online there was no way that I could prove it. The Ryanair Online Check In requires that the submit button is clicked on numerous times as it wants to sell extra luggage allowance hotels car hire and selected seats. If the submit button is not clicked on by-passing each of these selection options then the Online Check In does not go through. The Ryanair representative said that we would have to pay 70 Euros each for not submitting the Online Check In and for printing the Boarding Passes but as an alternative we were then told to take our laptop to the Ryanair Information Desk where they could have 15 minutes of free use of the Wi-Fi to find the details. The Wi-Fi was password protected however and the Ryanair staff member was not exactly showing any signs of wanting to help. I am of the opinion that it was extremely difficult if not impossible for a passenger to be able to retrieve the data. With time to board fast approaching we had no option but to pay 70 Euros each a Rip-Off total of 140 Euros to print two boarding passes. No wonder that several review sites describe Ryanair as "The World's Most Hated Airline".

Round trip from Barcelona to Porto for 38€ direct. Unbelievably cheap. The service this year is much better than prior years. Follow the rules and expect the worst and you will be pleasantly surprised. Print your pass ahead of time get your passport stamped and only take a carry-on.

Although some people had not spoken very well of Ryanair. I have the opposite to say. In both destinations in Athens and Stansted I found the staff very polite and very helpful. They were very organised and I was pleasantly surprised. The seats on the aeroplane were not too comfortable but for a short trip it didn't matter. The plus point was that travelling with a small child the arms of the seat lifted up and being flat it was easier for my daughter to sleep on the journey. The only down point that I could say is that the staff talking on the intercom I could not understand very well their English or Greek. This could have been a fault of the intercom. I found them excellent and compared to other airlines very competitive. It was the first time I had travelled with them and would do it again. I gave fair for value for money but that's because all flights from Greece to England are far too expensive. Please bring the price down or make more offers.