Ryanair Review

My husband and I flew Ryanair this weekend for the first time. I was curious to see how the experience would turn out because I really didn't know much about the airline, nor did I know anybody who had flown it. All I knew was that they fly all over the place here in Europe and they do it cheaper than any other airline (usually) and that alone makes it a go for me. So I decided to write a bit about my experience and what I thought about the airline just in case anybody wanted more information.

Pros:

1) Unbelievably cheap flights: While this is usually the case, sometimes prices can go up in cost similar to other airlines so be sure to shop around if you think the quote is high.

2) Abundance of destinations from which to choose: You can probably get to most anywhere you might want to go (maybe not the main airport in the city but a smaller one or one a bit further away). For example, say you wanted to jump a spur of the moment flight to Morocco. Well, it just so happens that you can easily get to the city of Fez in that country on Ryanair from several different European cities. Voila!

3) Smaller airports makes for a much more speedy check-in and security process: Since a lot of the Ryanair flights come and go through secondary airports in larger cities and small airports in more out-of-the-way locations, there is less waiting in lines to be done. For example, even if you are flying from one EU country to another you will probably have plenty of time for checking in/security even if you only show up an hour ahead of your flight's departure time and that is a luxury in itself.

Cons:

1) They charge for everything.

You are allowed one carry-on bag per person and it can't weigh more than 22lbs nor can it be over a certain size. If it exceeds the weight/size limit then you are required to check it and that will cost you something like €12 per person. You cannot check more than 3 bags and the combined weight of those 3 bags cannot be more than 33lbs otherwise you must pay €8 per kilo (or €8 per every 2.2 lbs, roughly and this is for one leg of your trip) and that could get expensive fast.

If you check-in online (which means you are not checking bags) then you can waive the check-in fee. But if you need to check bags you are required to check-in at the airport. You also can only check-in online if you have "a valid National Identity Card issued by the government of a European Economic Area (EEA) country" which neither Mr X nor I have. So we, by default, must pay the €6 per person fee (for r/t).

If you want to have "priority boarding" (which you do if you are with 2+ people and want to have a chance at sitting together) then you must also pay another €6 per person (for r/t). Priority boarding is nice but also slightly pointless sometimes as about half the people boarding the plane also want to be in the first group to board so they just crowd up in line and it's a free-for-all run for the seats once they are allowed on (literally, people running, cutting-in and shoving). Then they allow the rest of the passengers to board. I would say that priority boarding is pointless unless you really want to sit together or you really MUST have an aisle or window seat. But it is expensive.

If you book online with a credit card you are charged a credit card fee of €12.

If you want something to eat, even some water, it will cost you anywhere from €2 and up.

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On a side note... I read a page in the in-flight magazine where they were shamelessly promoting themselves, something all companies do. They state that their rate of lost luggage is less than 1% which is leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors. I found this to be a bit of an unfair comparison for two reasons: 1- A good number of the people on any given flight simply aren't checking their bags. 2 - They don't do flight connections. You fly from one location to the next and that's it. You're not boarding a flight that starts in Frankfurt and then changes planes in Barcelona before reaching the final destination of Malta. So of course they can make their baggage handling look fantastic compared to everyone else.

Back to the point of my review...

All in all, I would say that if you are looking for a quick weekend trip (thus no checking of bags) Ryanair is fabulous, but if you are going for longer then you might want to shop around with other airlines. I would (and already plan to) use Ryanair again but if I found a comparable price on a more traditional airline I would take that in a second over Ryanair.