I've flown Ryanair once, having long said I wouldn't put my dog on them, in fact not even my mother-in-law.
I did it because I wanted to see how bad they were and so that I could criticise with some authority. I paid £8.99 for a flight from Stansted to 'Barcelona North' (Girona - 100 km north) but I knew precisely where I was going and it suited me to go there.
The check in was a scrum, the girl was surly and very rude to a Spanish couple in front of me who didn't understand her chavvy Essex accent - it was hard enough for me to understand her - and the security queues were awful. Not all of that can be blamed on RyanAir.
The aircraft seats were so filthy I sat on my newspaper rather than have my clothes contact the filth. I believe they now have plastic seat covers, a much better idea.
The cabin crew looked tired, tatty, and disinterested except when it came to selling lottery cards. The safety demos were perfunctory and the one attendant giggled all the way through. Very unprofessional.
The flight departed the gate on time early and arrived early. I got what I paid for, nothing more, nothing less.
Whatever you might think of O'Leary and his business ethics, he runs a ruthlessly efficient operation and as he says, people will keep coming back if the fares are low enough.
I'd like to see him burn his arse because he's an arrogant loudmouth but I admire him for sticking two fingers up at convention. I wouldn't be sorry to see them go bust, other than that I would be sorry for all those who would lose jobs. I hope I never need to fly with them again, fortunately within reason the price doesn't matter to me, but if there were no viable alternative, I probably would, but I don't really like giving money to an outfit that has such low morals.
I understand that their maintenance standards are very high, I'm told it's done by Lufthansa, but I can't help feeling that the pressure on turnaround times and targets must sooner or later lead to a flight deck crew error with potentially tragic consequences. I hope I'm wrong.