Ryanair complaints / compliments

A snowHead

I've noticed while reading different threads on this forum that Ryanair gets singled out for criticism, some vow never to fly with them again, others would prefer not to but find it difficult to avoid.

I have flown with them in the past and had no problems. Is it the case that if everything's OK, it's fine; but if something goes wrong, it's awful?

Please let us know the worst (or the best) you've experienced.

A snowHead

We have used Ryanair a lot, although to be honest only when we have been able to get cheap fares (i.e. less than £20). We have never had any problems with them. I tend to think there are two types of complaint about Ryanair:

1) Bona fide complaints where they have not got you to your destination or not got your luggage there, etc. in which case they (i.e. Ryanair) really have no excuse

2) Complaints about things related to the airline's practices/business model that people don't like, e.g. excess baggage charges etc. I don't have a lot of patience for these types of complaints, because my view tends to be that you know the baggage limits when you book, you know you will have to pay extra for ski carriage etc. you know you will have to pay for food etc. you know they are strict about the 45 minute check-in deadline etc. Ditto with the advertised fare versus actual fare thing, if you don't like the final amount, no-one is making you click 'confirm' and put in your payment details. For these types of complaints I don't really understand why people don't just choose not to use them, without complaining loudly that they are the worst airline in the world ever. A bit like on the programme 'Airline' about Easyjet, where they continually have the same problems, under age kids wanting to fly alone, excess baggage charges and late check-ins etc. People get really angry when it is generally a case of not having read the details of what they were buying before buying it.

For me, the fares I have managed to secure have meant I have been able to take extra holidays some years, which I just wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

Just my two pen'eth though, I am sure there will be some Mr & Mrs Angry's on here soon!

D

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I've just had 2 flights with them, so here's a recent experience.

The price, flight times, and route were the major reasons why I used them, in descending order of importance. Had everything gone to plan, I'd have gritted my teeth and endured the flights, as its impossible to enjoy them. As it was, they changed my outbound flight to 5 hours later, 3 months after I'd booked it, when the only option was to accept the change, as every other airline had by that time bumped their prices or sold all of their cheaper seats. Having said that, everything else was as expected - the flights were on time, the check-in and security checks were smooth, boarding was no more scrum-like than I had expected and had experienced previously with Ryanair, Easyjet and Thomsonfly, the staff were OK, and even the baggage handling was quick and efficient, even at Stansted on our return, where I have previously waited longer for my baggage than I had spent in the air...

The one slightly unpleasant surprise was that they have decided that those with mobility problems and those with small children no longer get priority boarding unless they pay for it in advance, so while we expected to see 20-30 people sail past with priority cards, we didn't expect to be told to join the queue with the rest of the passengers. Having said that, we didn't have any problems getting through the process at either end, the transfer of the buggy to the aircraft was flawless, and as the flights weren't entirely full, we managed to get three seats together despite only paying for two, as most people were reluctant to share a row with two hassled parents and a screaming one year old (he turned off the tears and screams as soon as the doors were closed - we have him well trained).

I think the major problem Ryanair have is that their public image is tarnished, and it will take a minor miracle for them to turn it around. The perception is that they put profits before everything else, and the combination of their string of upheld advertising complaints and the unpleasant character of Michael O'Leary when he is interviewed on any subject adds to the general air of dislike which many people have for them.

Personally, I'd rather fly with anyone else than Ryanair, but if I have to, I will. Easyjet, Jet2, BMIBaby, Thomsonfly and all the other cheap carriers have very similar business models, and similar practices in many respects, but they've managed to do it without causing as much dislike.

Basically, and as I have been reminded on here before now, you get what you pay for. If you want to travel like livestock, expect it to be cheap. If you want to travel like a millionaire, expect to pay for it. The trick is in finding the middle ground, or in setting your expectations at an appropriate level before you start. Be warned though that it may take a while for your experience of the airlines to average out - I've had nothing but positive experiences with Thomsonfly and Easyjet, but others hate them with a passion.

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Deliaskis, agreed. You get what you pay for with Ryanair. If you don't like it, don't fly with them.

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Not travelled with Ryanair specifically, but my only complaint is the use of the term "cheap airlines". I much prefer the term "no frills", which is exactly what it is.

I've paid 6 euros each way plus taxes on Lufthansa to GVA for the last 3 seasons, which is at least comparable, if not cheaper than Ryanair/Easyjet/Flybe etc. Oh and it's not a seating free for all, you get a free sarnie and drink, and I've never paid a baggage fee.

After all it is free

ccl, you get a free mini choccy tracker bar biscuity thing too. And at least it's cheaper than the muffins on BA Connect / Flybe (muffin+coffee there cost me more than the advertised price for the flight!)

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Unhappiness tends to get a lot more publicity than satisfaction, so in that sense Ryanair and the likes are at slight disadvantage. But it;s true of any airlines, so only comparing between airlines can give a sort of measure of how good or bad an airline is at keeping its cutomers happy...

Ryanair get a lot of bad publicity because their business model is so extreme and they are "leaders" in their field. I am referring to charging for bagages in hold, reduced weigth allowance and priority boarding.. All these get introduced without any visible efect to the customer since their fares were already really cheap before all these things were implemented.
Apart from the weight allowance, Easyjet has now copied almost everything else...but because they weren't the first, people have got used to it since then and Easyjet does get all the negativity...

I find the bagage number pre-booking/no weight pooling is a major pain, especially when travelling as a family...but there you go, it's all known so you can choose not to fly with them..

Personally, I have not had problems with either of them. I have had to change tickets with both of them this year and it was horribly expensive, but I knew it would be, so as said by others, no right to complain...

If possible however, I would also choose any other airlines to Ryanair because of the reduced weight allowance.

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ccl, with the other options, you resent being treated like cattle slightly less, since you are treated like cattle who have an option to go with someone else. The others have also managed to get me there on time, with little hassle, and so on. There is no real logical explanation for this, just a gut feeling that Ryanair is a company which has lower morals than the competition, and is therefore more likely to cut corners to keep everything in profit. As an example, the pilot on my flight yesterday just about did a handbrake turn onto the stand at Stansted, having left half his tyres on the taxiway at Salzburg when he arrived at the runway at 30 knots, turned hard left and immediately hit the throttles. You can bet his pay packet depends on the flight leaving and arriving on time, but this isn't necessarily the safest way to drive a 737-800 around an airport.

When the flight lands on time, they now play a cheesy brass fanfare which has the same effect on me as hearing my dentist say "root filling"...

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Also, the saddest day for the no-frills flight industry was when Easyjet acquired Go and announced that the allocated seating system which Go had been using very effectively was to be the first casualty of the merger. I've never understood why - the cheap end of the market has very low margins, so they need maximum occupancy and fast turnarounds, especially if they have any delays. Ryanair especially seem to aim for sub-15 minute turnarounds. The key to this is getting everyone on quickly, so they use both doors, but then everyone wants to be close to the doors to get off quickly, so they clog the aisle while they try to fit their maximised hand luggage (thus removing excess baggage charges) into the overhead lockers, which can only be done when standing in the aisle or in the aisle seat.

Go did it by row numbers, with everyone given an allocated seat, so if there were 28 rows and both doors were in use, they'd call everyone for rows 12-16 first, then 8-20, then 4-24, then the rest. Loading times were much lower, and those who wanted to sit as a group had some chance to do so without queueing at the gate 2 hours before takeoff and then elbowing everyone out of the way to get seats which are together, which all too many seem keen to attempt now.

You know it makes sense.

Plus the pilot may have landed a bit long for whatever reason and needed sharp braking not to miss the taxiway.... very common with all airlines...

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Kersh,yup, Pilot friend told me that a smooth landing is often not the best landing as smooth usually = FAST

A snowHead

I regularly fly both Ryanair and Easyjet (as a passenger that is) and have noticed that Easyjet landings seem to be better - less of a thump. But this may be the difference between a Boeing (Ryanair) and an Airbus (Easyjet) rather than a matter of the pilots.

A snowHead

ccl,

Probably sheer luck/coincidence...I have had some thumping landings with Easyjet...Including one were the senior cabin crew started her arrival speech by "Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we can safely say we have landed..." Laughing

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Kersh, no I'm not a pilot, but I've flown a _lot_ and I know the difference when someone treats his aircraft like a hired sports car. He may have felt it was safe, and I don't have the qualifications or flight experience to question that on a technical level, but it was markedly different to the 120+ other flights I've taken on 7 continents, which is why I mentioned it. As a pilot, you'll be well acquainted with the checklists which are required before takeoff, and on commercial flights these are in multiple stages, including one immediately pre-takeoff which is done on the runway. It usually takes 5-10 seconds, plus there's a requirement for clearance from the tower, and on busy runways, also a requirement to leave enough of a gap to avoid the turbulence caused by the aircraft in front, so its not unusual to sit on the runway for 15-20 seconds before the engines are throttled up and the aircraft starts moving.

The pilot in this case taxied at much more than the normal speed, turned onto the runway at the same time as opening the throttles, and was in the air within 3 minutes of leaving the terminal building, which at Salzburg is not exactly miles from the runway, but even so it was described by my non-technical travel companions as "a bit quick".

On arrival at Stansted, he braked very hard to make the first taxiway off the runway, ran into the terminal area at abnormally high speed, and slammed the aircraft to a stop with a noticable jolt. Now, either he was under time pressure, or he wasn't a very good pilot (which I doubt), or some other combination of external cicrcumstances made it necessary for him to act that way, such as congestion and a request to clear the taxiway as fast as possible. However, at the Salzburg end there were 4 aircraft on the ground in total, the next flight out was 25 minutes later, there was no incoming flight for more than an hour, and the taxiways were therefore empty. He could conceivably have been hurrying to get into an international slot from ATC, but given it was Sunday and therefore not peak changeover day in the Alps, I'd have expected the skies to be somewhat quieter than normal.

Basically, you can't turn an airplane into a bus without turning the pilot into a driver, and while the CAA and its international counterparts have regulations on most aspects of airline operation, the financial drivers in low-cost airlines do force them to shave as much as they can off their margins to keep the costs down and maximise the service time of their aircraft. We all hope that safety isn't compromised, and I believe that the airlines are currently judging it fairly well, but with ever decreasing margins and ever increasing competition, is this sustainable in the longer term? Ryanair now flies more passengers per year than any other carrier in the world, and has not yet had a fatality. Neither has Easyjet, which is ranked 5th or 6th in numbers. That's impressive, but can it last?

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Honestly though ousekjarr, I've had take-offs/landings exactly like you described with other airlines, including 'legacy' and flag carriers etc. especially at smaller airports where I guess on a quiet day the procedures can be got through a lot quicker if you're the only aircraft on the move.

Not saying Ryanair are perfect by any stretch, just that they're by no means the only airline to do things like that. But they do seem to be the only ones that raise an eyebrow for doing it.

D

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I disagree with you jb1970, hidden charges are in most peoples mind charges that you are not aware of when seeing the advertised price. I accept that most airlines do it, I just used Aer Lingus to Geneva last month, they made me pay for a assigned seat. I would have sat in any seat that was available but you had to pay!!!

The total cost of flights are quite cheap these days and so if a flight from Dublin - Geneva is €250 then just say so, not Flight one way 45.00, return let 65.00, airport charges 75.00, plus luggage 30.00, credit card booking 10.00, seat allocation one way 10.00, seat allocation return 10.00, and then 10.00 just because we want to round it up!!! They should just say return flight is X, and not trying to mislead their customers.

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ousekjarr, sorry I didn't mean to cause offence. I'm not questioning whether on your particular flight you had a speedy take off or came to a sudden halt at the stand. I'm just saying that I doubt they would have done anything that's not safe. Ryanair, BA, Virgin, Emirates ... it doesn't matter. For sure they're going to push the envelope to make money but not at the cost of safety.

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After all it is free

Flyed with them on and off mainly in the summer in May and August.

Ive flown

Stanstead - Turin (twice)
Stanstead - Bergamo (twice)
Stanstead - Rome.

They have sneaky charges, but in the end you're still paying cheaper.

Ive never had a problem with them. I dont like their business ethics, but I'm too tempted by low prices.

Remember pilots aren't going to put there own safety at such a high risk. So i trust all airlines and pilots the same. The people I'm more worried about is the maintenance. That is where corners will be cut to planes back into serivce. Take for example BA flight which had a window blown out, due to mechanics under pressure. Leading to wrong bolts installed in windows.

We've booked with them twice. The first time, months after booking, they changed our outgoing and homeward flights by 4 hours later and 12 hours later respectively. We managed to arrange things around this, even though it was very inconvenient and depended on the co-operation of various other non-connected people.

The second time was a nightmare. A special wedding anniversary trip to Venice, booked 12 months in advance, was wrecked as they again changed our flights shortly before we were due to go, so that we lost the whole of the first day and most of the last, which on a 3 day trip meant it wasn't worth going and we had to cancel. Evil or Very Mad

Any other flights available were either very expensive or from an airport at the other end of the country. These things do happen, but their lack of communication (we found out purely by chance when we looked on the website) and lack of response when we emailed repeatedly to try to clarify, means that we will never book with them again and if asked, would never recommend them.

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I've used them once or twice a year since about 2000. Their "hidden" charges have risen rapidly in that time. I remember then booking several flights to Nimes, Strasbourg, etc and a 1p each way flight would cost about £20 once all the costs were added in. I'm travelling with them in February and on top of £18 flight costs there are extras of £105 (total costs for 2 people). All this covers is their taxes, 1 case each and debit card fees.

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Kersh, no problem - I wasn't suggesting that they'd do anything which was unsafe either, as the CAA and the other bodies would come down hard on them if they did. However, there's a whole country's worth of grey area between unsafe and definitely safe, and my query is how close they get to the border post...

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You know it makes sense.

skisimon,

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I have never had too many problems when flying Ryanair with friends/alone. You can fairly easily guage what you need to take on most trips and as has been pointed out, the baggage weight limits, whilst being low, are well publicised.

But having endured a family holiday (2 adults, 2 children , 1 infant) last year, I will never again put my family through the horror of travelling with these buffoons.

What I have since worked out is this... when travelling alone, or with a group of adults who are all well travelled and need little assistance, the Ryanair model works. You turn up, check in, board, fly. Most of us are fairly competent enough to get through this. But when travelling with kids/infants, one is more likely to have to put a hand in the air and (this is where it all falls apart) ask the staff a question, or for assistance in some way.
Now I hate to generalise, and I'm sure there are many within Ryanair who are quite brilliant at what they do. But unfortuantley there are also too many cogs in that machine that have broken teeth.

Without going into too much detail of my personal/family experience last year, I'll just say that from arrival at Stansted check-in, to landing at Parma Mallorca, and then the same on the return trip, they were simply brutally shoddy (check-in staff were incompetent, cabin crew careless and moody!) Travelling with families just doesn't work with them. They were in fact quite open about this during our voyage of drudgery. They have no time or patience for it.
My anger and resentment from that trip has long since subsided. I now understand! And I will gladly pay slightly more to travel with another when on a family trip (from experience, we have never had a problem travelling with kids with Easyjet).

All that said and done, I'm off (10 blokes) to Austria in 4 weeks time - with Ryanair - they sell booze, good enuff! Laughing

A snowHead

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7176401.stm

A snowHead

ousekjarr,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Had a great couple of flights with them this weekend. No queue to check in, no problem with boarding, got 5 seats together (leg room ones no less although in fact their planes have far more legroom than the competition anyway), landed on time, bags with us withing 5 mins. Couldn't ask for more - on current personal experience they are actually the best I've flown with within europe, in 4 rounds of flights they have yet to give me a problem. aj xx

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Kersh, ousekjarr, Ref Ryanair landings - there has been some discussion about this on PPRuNe here with the most probable explanation being that the Boeing 737-800 that Ryanair uses has different landing characteristics from other planes.

My views on Ryanair are negative, I have used them a couple of times and found it an unpleasant experience. I've seen how they abandon passengers at airports without due cause and without offering compensation. They are constantly in trouble with the ASA regarding their untruthfull advertising (i.e. they tell lies).

luigi, is correct, I think, when he stated

Sage, i'll take a look at PPRuNe .... i've not read that in years. I used to read that as much as I now read Snowheads. Once went to one of the Xmas bashes many moons ago!!! Toofy Grin

Ahem, back to Ryanair then .... wink

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