The Reasons We Didn’t Fly on Ryanair and Probably Never Will

by joeheg

We like to poke fun at Ryanair on here every once in a while. After all, looking at how Ryanair operates gives us a welcome break away from being upset about how United, Delta and American are always one-upping each other with customer-unfriendly policies.

I’ve shared the time when the CEO called the customers a bunch of whiners because they didn’t pay for seat assignments. Sharon found what might be the funniest customer complaint letter ever written by a passenger after their experience with Ryanair agents at the airport when they were running late for a flight.

There once was a time when we could have taken a Ryanair flight. Here’s why we considered it (for a split second) and why we still didn’t fly with them.

We don’t often take short flights around Europe

This is just a fact of the way we travel. Because of limited vacation time, when we take a trip to Europe, we try to stay and only see one area. If going around a section of Europe, train travel is often more convenient and economical than flying. That’s how we got around Austria and Germany and it was amazingly easy.

If we’re making a connection in Europe, our flight is part of a TATL (TransATLantic) ticket, so we would be connecting to an alliance partner (American+British Airways or Singapore+Lufthansa) and not to a Ryanair flight. Since most of Ryanair’s flights are point to point jaunts, they aren’t even a consideration for us.

There was one trip when we were going to be visiting London (to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and Salzburg (because Sound of Music). These were originally going to be two separate trips, but to save vacation time and airline miles, we decided to join the two trips together. I had the airfare to London and home from Salzburg booked but we still needed to get between the two cities.

Salzburg, Austria

I knew British Airways flew between the two cities, so I planned to buy a cheap ticket or to burn some of my Avios miles. One problem – they didn’t fly the route on the ONE DAY OF THE WEEK that we needed to go. AARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!

So I looked for options. British Airways did offer us a flight from London to Berlin and then onto Salzburg. It doubled the travel time but it worked. The problem was since Avios prices for the flight (2 flights = double the miles), the cost just went up. I looked at trains but it was like 12 hours of travel time, nope. So I searched some more. Ryanair flies from London to Salzburg. Non-stop. I know we said we’d never fly them but let’s see…

When traveling in Europe, we’d have luggage (lots of it)

luggage-933487_1280

For being seasoned travelers, packing light just isn’t something we’ve learned how to do very well. Oh, we’re getting better at it. This still means for a 7-10 day trip we’d each have a suitcase, roll-aboard bag and small carry-on or computer bag each. If we flew on Ryanair, we’d have to pay for those bags. That takes the low-price advantage away for us and makes it the same or cheaper to take a full-service airline (*cough* I just referred to British Airways inter-Europe flights as “full service” *cough*).

So I checked the prices for us to bring just 1 suitcase each. £25 for each bag. On top of that, I’d have to make sure our suitcases weighed the correct amount, which is less than we’re used to. Our cabin bags also had to be the exact sizes. All things I could manage knowing in advance, but more things to worry about.

Now I remembered why we said we weren’t going to fly on Ryanair, but onward I searched (not telling Sharon, as I’d have to work pretty hard to convince her to fly Ryanair) (Note from Sharon: You’re darn tootin’.).

Ryanair usually flies from the furthest airport from major cities

I checked and the Ryanair flight to Salzburg leaves from London Stansted airport. While this may be convenient if you live in the area and would be driving to the airport, it would mean that from London, we’d need to take a 45-minute train ride to the airport. That’s on top of the Underground trip to the train station from our hotel. Not a deal killer but still another logistical challenge.

The flight schedules on Ryanair are limited

Did I mention the flights to Salzburg from Stansted Airport left at 6:35 & 7:15AM? So there would be no way possible (besides getting a taxi or private car) for us to get to the airport in the morning in time for our flight. These were the only flights on the schedule (two flights a day, first thing in the morning). So we would have needed to get there the night before and stay somewhere near Stansted Airport just to get this flight with Ryanair.

That was the final stumble. I stopped wasting time and started looking for flights with connections. We flew from Heathrow and ended up on a combination of British Airways and Airberlin flights (this was before they declared bankruptcy).

Final Thoughts

Just as we didn’t fly on Allegiant and have no intentions of flying Spirit, I don’t think we’ll ever fly on Ryanair. I don’t want to say never (Note from Sharon: I would) because if the price and the schedule and the type of trip fit perfectly, I’d possibly, maybe, questionably consider flying with them (Note from Sharon: If you ever do, I’ll meet you there. I’m not flying on Ryanair. Ever.). It’s just that I value my vacation time too much and traveling is part of my vacation. If the airport process and the in-flight experience is horrible, it has a chance of ruining my vacation. That’s something I don’t want to risk.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

Featured Image © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons

4 comments

derek February 1, 2020 - 11:28 pm

I am from the United States but I needed to fly from London to Malaga, Spain. I flew EasyJet. It was fine. Their return schedule was actually the most convenient. It was a red eye to Luton. I then took a bus to Victoria Station then went to Gatwick for my flight home. The bus was at 4 am or so. There was only 1 passenger. I intended to look out the window but fell asleep as the bus pulled out of Luton, awaking seconds before the bus stopped in London.

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William Dykes February 2, 2020 - 3:36 pm

Ryanair is Europes number one airline by passenger numbers. Answer is value for money. Ryanair passengers unfortunately don’t have to option of using their avios points! It’s reasonably priced flights who usually land on time and are affordable to most!

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DaninMCI February 2, 2020 - 4:59 am

All good points, Ryan air is OK but unless you can avoid the added fees and ground transport costs it might not be a good value.
Just to be clear (on “limited vacation time”) you each take a big suitcase, a roll aboard suitcase and carry on bag? That is a ton of luggage per person for short trips <2 weeks, etc. I'm not a great packer but using just basic tricks like rolling instead of folding and trying to bring only 1 or 2 pairs of shoes I can pack enough in a roller for 7 to 10 days. With 3 bags you are going to pay to check one of them much of the time which can really add up. I think if you shed some of the excess stuff when you travel you will find that you enjoy it much more.

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STEVE February 2, 2020 - 7:52 am

Ive only ever flown Ryan air once since i live in Australia. The times and direct flight availability worked out so i took a chance. Paid the extra for row 1 and had a lovely chat to a really sweet cabin crew member. Flight was on time. Seats were comfy and the toilet clean. Snacks were an ok price too. I was surprised by the whole experience.

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