Ryanair-Questions, comments, bouquets & brickbats (Merged)

[Dawdler]

With regard to naming airports after cities they are not near. How about
"Malmo" actually you land not at Sturup but at Kristianstad a mere 80km away! Our old friends Ryanair again

[The Real Slim Shady]

Ryanair will take you from Point A to Point B in a very new 737 - 800 very often for less than the fare on the Heathrow Express.

Want anything else? You pay for it. Simples.

GPMG it sounds as though you have champagne taste and a beer budget.

[Jofm5]

Ryanair will take you from Point A to Point B in a very new 737 - 800 very often for less than the fare on the Heathrow Express.

Want anything else? You pay for it. Simples.

GPMG it sounds as though you have champagne taste and a beer budget.

Condescending comments like that are hardly helpful.

Rightly or wrongly the average fare paying passenger when buying a ticket expect to obtain a reasonable service based upon what was advertised and declared the price they will pay for the service offered - so when told that what they want does not match the service offered because of caveats in the contract small print there can be some surprise.

Ryanair has a history of mis-representation of costs and has been told a number of times by the office of fair trading and other agencies to bring its act into line. The misrepresentation of ryanair fairs has been brought to the attention of various government angencies with little progress being made in improving the situation and these are still being contested to this day.

If we look at the bare facts, "it is all laid out in ryanair's terms and conditions" that ryanair can be within their rights to charge for the extra's - the issues are that ryanair hide behind the smallprint and rely on three factors 1) the pax not reading the small print and 2) the passenger misinterpeting the small print - 3) The pax feeling pressured into paying the balance to make the flight and have their journey/holdiay/meeting (delete where appropriate). Whilst there is nothing illegitimate ryanair has been warned and requested to ensure that the price advertised is the price payed which is a minority of the cases.

I personally have no axe to grind with ryanair, I have flown them a few times and it was as expected for a Lo Co. The major issues being investigated now are to do with the sales and not the operation of the fleet - I can understand the requirement for making a profit or at least breaking even but to behave in an suspisciously underhand manner to achieve this is only ever going to leave a distate, which is why they have been requested to establish clearly their charging model.

It is a tough time for all in the aviation industry at the moment, but there is no excuse for undermining the trust of passengers by hitting them with large unexpected charges. Flying is not cheap, anyone with more than one brain cell can accept that - but it does not give licence to lure in with one fare and then charging another. Ryan air are on the borders of legality and have been advised as to how to tow the line as to being reasonable, i.e. guiding the passenger to what the price they will pay for the service they require rather than advertising a minimum price that can rarely be achieved.

[IJM]

Malmo / Kristianstad

Dawdler - I am confused at your post. As far as I know, Ryanair don't fly to Malmo at present.
They certainly used to fly to Malmo-Sturup in the past, I myself used this service and it was definately to Malmo-Sturup!
Going further back, they may also have flown to Kristianstad previously, but I don't recall this being advertised as "Malmo"?

[Seat62K]

I'm with "Slim" on this one.

I regard my flights on Ryanair as shockingly good value.

Imagine: fares available to the general public that beat those which airline staff pay (ID90s).

Or fares which work out cheaper for me than using my BA Executive Club Miles.

Until Ryanair treats me badly/unreasonably, I'll remain a loyal customer.

[GPMG]

Thanks Slim for the snide remark. If you'd seen the villa that we rented you'd see that I may not be in Champagne money yet, but do have a choice from a nice selection of wines when spending on holidays.

As I said, Ryan Air flew at the right times and I wondered 'just how bad can it be?' Utter sh*te is the answer, thus I'll not be using them again and I'll happily warn anyone off making the same mistake.

In future I will line the pockets of those that understand that the service they provide is the basis on how their company is judged and who provide at least a low / reasonable level of service. I'd also have more confidence that money has not been saved whilst servicing the engines / flight controls. Seeing as MOL seems to think that any money saved anywhere is worthwhile,and seeing the turnaround times of RyanAir airplanes I wonder how long it will be before something bad happens.

I'll leave the seats free so that yourself and Seat62k can revel in your visions of cheap and cheerful.

[Capot]

Let's stop that one in its tracks......

Whatever you may think of Ryanair's commercial policies, commercial dishonesty, awful passenger contact staff and dreadful customer service, its maintenance is second to none.

Paradoxically, this is part of the same piece; Ryanair recognises that maintenance downtime is expensive, and unscheduled maintenance, diversions due to technical problems and technical delays are the most expensive form of maintenance downtime.

Therefore the airline's policy is that all that will be prevented by running the most efficient and high-quality maintenance possible.

It works. Look at the records.

[Flying_Frisbee]

Without wanting to stick up for Ryanair, Frankfurt Hahn and Glasgow Prestwick, and for that matter, Brussels South Charleroi, are the official names for those airports.
I'm sure it suits FR's agenda to use them, but it's the airports owners that picked the names.
Hamburg Lübeck is a different matter.

[Envoy320]

so many people write so many things about ryanair and charging fro this and that.

It's so well known even outside the industry of the type of airline that they are.

everyone has the freedom of choice. if you don't like them - don't use them - if you choose to fly on them - don't moan.

[Niallo]

Passenger seating in the hold

Ryanair are discouraging checked baggage. I believe they don't take cargo. So what will they do with the cargo hold? Can they fit passengers in there?

[Jofm5]

Seat62k

I'm with "Slim" on this one.

I regard my flights on Ryanair as shockingly good value.

They are good value, but are very poor in establishing with the customer up front exactly what they need to pay to get the service they require - the ASA has pulled them up on this more than once.

Flying_Frisbee
Without wanting to stick up for Ryanair, Frankfurt Hahn and Glasgow Prestwick, and for that matter, Brussels South Charleroi, are the official names for those airports.

Agreed, this is indeed nothing to do with Ryan Air - however it can be very misleading if you dont research where your going to first. I used to live/work in frankfurt and when ryan air opened up that route I thought I may use it - after at looking at where frankfurt hahn actually was I skipped it and stuck with BMI.

With all low cost airlines there are reasons why they offer cheaper fares, some of it is that not all you would expect is included and some of it is that your not going exactly where you may expect. There can be no issue with this unless you are being encouraged to believe what is not the case. Many lo cost carriers have been pulled up on this.

[Dawdler]

Dawdler - I am confused at your post. As far as I know, Ryanair don't fly to Malmo at present.
They certainly used to fly to Malmo-Sturup in the past, I myself used this service and it was definately to Malmo-Sturup!
Going further back, they may also have flown to Kristianstad previously, but I don't recall this being advertised as "Malmo"?

I know they started to use Sturup after a while, but the billing was "MALMO (Kristianstad)" Which to the uninitiated, seemed to indicate that it was going to Malmo.

[dmwhite]

I agree completely with the real slim shady...

I hate to echo the scores of other posts that have been made on various threads on Ryanair but...

1. GPMG, if boarding via an airbridge REALLY matters to you then use an airline with fares high enough to support the longer turnaround times and higher airport charges.

2. Its right there on the bl**dy booking page... EXTRA BAGS. Extra weight? I don't recall having seen that on the website on any of the countless occassions I have used Ryanair. In short - read the information.. it isn't even small print!

3. I'm sure Ryanair will be quick to apologise that they were unable to provide you with a 38 inch seat pitch, AVOD and an inflight massage in return for your tenner. (sarcasm detected?). If you spend next to nothing, expect to be packed in! And as for the lack of pockets.. use the overhead lockers.

I know that this post will sound incredibly condescending... but seriously folks. We all know about Ryanair's level of service, how many threads do we need???

GPMG - I'm sorry for your misfortune I really am, but when planning a holiday it is vital to thoroughly research the companies you are using and determine whether their service meets your requirements. You cannot afford to simply assume that another bag will double your weight allowance, you cannot assume anything when it comes to entering a contract such as this.

Edit: Just to be clear, I don't enjoy flying Ryanair and I certainly don't appreciate their level of service - but as many have said, they get one from A to B and they do it quickly.. for a flight less than 3 hours that's all that really matters!

[Capetonian]

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.

[Seat62K]

"Capetonian",

By your own admission, you have flown Ryanair only once. I have flown Ryanair probably around a hundred times. My experiences of flying Ryanair have been very different to yours - the only feature of your flight I recognise is its punctuality.

So, with your one flight and my (let's say) one hundred, who do you think has a better idea about the reality of the "Ryanair experience"?

[Capetonian]

Seat 62K

I made it clear that my experience of flying is limited to one flight, and I hope that doesn't change any time soon.

This does not preclude me from expressing an opinion about the morals of the Ryanair business model, or any other aspect of the operation.

You may have better flying experiences with them than I did on my one flight, but my comments were not purely about the flight, which, as I said, got me there on time and safely, but in rather squalid conditions.

[GPMG]

Has anyone ever seen Seat62k and Michael O'Leary in the same room?

[SD.]

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.

If I may just pick up on that point and explain a couple of things from the other side of the locked door. At no point are flight crews pressured into meeting an on time arrival and getting away again in 25 minutes.

In the 25 minutes that we have to turn around the flight deck, on a normal day, it goes something like this.....

• Pull on gate, transit shutdown checks and paperwork from the inbound flight. 3 minutes.
• The pilot flying the next leg will pick up the departure weather and set up the flight management computer, and sets the instruments for the departure. 5 minutes.
• The non-flying pilot will have completed an external walk round of the aircraft and rejoins the other guy up front to carry out a departure brief. We'll be talking about the expected departure, emergencies etc. 5 minutes.
• Coffee time, we cannot do any more until the dispatcher presents us with a load sheet. As soon as the load sheet is presented with the correct amount of pax we can then calculate the take-off performance from the tables. 2 minutes.
• Once the last passenger is on, a PA will be made from the flight deck and the before start checks are completed. 2 minutes.
• Once the doors are closed, push and start is requested and off we go again.

90% of the time, we are waiting for the passengers to board, fuel to be up lifted and the crew to give us a correct head count. It's a well rehearsed drill and 25 minutes is ample time to turn around the flight deck.

As for the terrible advertising PA's, constant harrassment to meet sales and that stupid chime they play when we land 'on time', I'm just glad the door is locked so we dont have to listen to that for 8 hours.

[smith]

Anyone having trouble using their visa electron card to book at the moment? Just cant seem to get mine to work and it usually works ok.

[Capetonian]

Thank you SD, I find that somewhat reassuring. In the unlikely and unwished for event that I ever have to fly Ryanair at least I will feel safer.