Just adding my two cents (mostly) in favor of Ryanair. Since 2005 (there was a girl..) I've been on at least one Ryanair flight every month, first to Hahn then to Bremen when they opened there/here. Flying from Torp, half an hour with car (traffic allowing) from where my family lives in Norway. Since I moved to Bremen last october I think I've logged just over 30 flights.
I've never experienced any sort of problem with any of my no-de/de-no flights but a few in-air delays due to severe weather. And usually at the cost of a Euro (pluss Visa-charges... but I'm sorting an Electron card next week when I'm in norway again.)
My Torp-Stansted trips were usually more problematic. After my first time in London and on my second flight with Ryanair, we got a bad seed of a pilot. Not sure what he did, but there wasnt a passenger on that plane that didnt suffer from severe ear-pains due to airpressure. Apparently the pilot was in a hurry as the flight was delayed before it started, and did his best/worst to make it up.
Second trip went fine.
Third trip was ironically my first real out-of-country vacation with my dad. After boarding the plane 8ish in the evening, we were eventually told that the aircraft was unable to start due to an oil-leak in the APU. The evening progressed as they tried to find ground-power-units, shortened out ground-units, woke up ground-unit-technicians and so on. After being shooed out of and into the aircraft more times than I can be bothered remembering, the flight was finally cancelled somewhere around 3 the following night. Not a problem for my dad and I as he lives 10 minutes from the airport, but the 150 or so other passengers there had few places to go. A new flight was scheduled 10ish that morning and this time it worked out without any problems as far as I can remember. I did make a halfhearted attempt at claiming the compensation offered for severely delayed flights, but Ryanair brushed me off just like I expected. Considering how many times I've flown with them for next to nothing, I decided any added expenditures caused by the delay would hardly make the average go up by any significant ammount. Trip back went fine though.
Still, the cabincrew have always been helpfull, if ever so busy. I cannot remember a single crewmember who didnt act reasonably professional. Considering what I pay, I just can't complain. The tramride from the airport to where I live in Bremen is usually 3 times the price of the flight, takes almost as long, often experiences delays and cancelations and theres never a neat stewardess around to offer me drinks, snacks or scratchcards there.
Until I get my PPL, I'll be flying Ryanair when theyre going the same way. And even with the license in hand it will be hard to justify renting a C172 when I can get a windowseat on a 738 at a thousandth of the cost, taking a fourth of the time..
That being said, I'm sure something will come up the very next time I'm flying with them... better find some wood to knock on.
Please excuse my english; juggling norwegian, german and english has left me somewhat linguistically confussled lately
