Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope it will be worth reading.
Last week I had the unenviable task of traveling to Palermo on business. I needed to be there early on Thursday until late afternoon on Friday. Alitalia appeared to be the only option with me traveling via Rome until they pulled the evening flight to HEathrow from their schedule due to the strike action that had this week. The only other option l had, living near to London was to travel Ryanair direct.
On arrival at Stanstead I was supprised, at 5am to find a massive queue still for the 6:10 flight. Having managed to check in with 5 minutes to go before the checkin officially closed, there was still a massive queue behind me. From the volume of people on the aircraft, I can only assume that they did even though we departed about 15 minutes behind schedule. The rest of the journey out was uneventful apart from none of the seats reclining. Am I the only one that wanted to sleep and couldn't?
The journey back however was a different story. Having got to the checkin 2:15 before departure, I was not supprised to see that it was still closed. I did however want to get a low number so that I could get a decent seat. Once the checkin opened, I was #2 in the queue until some Italian pushed in to the quese at #1 from the adjacent Milan desk.
Having managed to get boarding card #3 it was off for a weel earned coffee and cigarette before going through the security checks. First was the xray/metal detector, then, all London bound passangers were sent to another queue to have the explosive sniffer check, then finally to the passport check.
Having got through there I arrived at the departure gate to find a large queue already at the gate and all the seats taken. Oh well, with card #3, I will be on the aircraft soon and be able to choose a good seat then.
When the time came for the gate to open, it was a free for all. No priority boarding, just everyone practising for the 6 nations kick off next week. I managed to get through with about 50% of the other pax infront of me. Then can the next suprise. Once downstairs there was a bus waiting. why, the aircraft was no more than 50m from the stairs. On to the bus we went. Once the bus was full they made the other pax wait until the bus had arrived at the rear stairs of the aircraft before letting them all run up the front steps. Why did I bother checking in so early?
Having fought my way through all the muppets that insist on taking everything including the kitchen sink as multiple bags of hand luggage I found a relatively good seat. This one did not recline either
.
There were a large number of young Italians on this flight and were a little vocal at times. This I could just about manage to put up with. What got me though was the number that were standing up even as we pushed back long after the announcements had been made telling people to fasten their belts.
Only after we started taxying did one of the cabin crew make an announcement in Italian and got them all to sit down. Even following this, the one sitting near me was still unfastened and turning to his friends taking with the crew pushing past him in the aisle making no comment.
During the flight, one crew member spotted that the guy sitting near me was drinking his own (2ltr) bottle of whisky.and took it away. 15 minutes later, he got it back and continued throughout the flight swigging from it.
At another point, the crew turned on the seatbelt signs because of turbulance. guess who ignored it with no announcements being made? There were young Italians walking around the cabin still.
Even after landing, they were up out of their seats before we had stopped taxing with the crew taking no notice.
Why cant the flight crew, as a matter of procedure, stomp on the brakes at randon times during the taxi to get the message across?
Will I fly Ryanair again? Probably not through choice even if they are cheaper than the alternatives.
Off to Germany next week on QueasyJet as they appear to be the only people who fly direct to Cologne from Gatwick. Lets hope their crews are a little more safety aware.