I have booked and flown with Ryanair many times now, most recently from Prestwick to Stansted and back this week. Lots of people pay for low cost air tickets and then expect 1st class service. I have to admit, I don’t really like the low cost experience, in particular the free for all when it comes to seats, however I am prepared to put up with that when I can fly to London and back for 1p plus government taxes. I have made a few flights to London with Easyjet too, although none for about four years or so, and of the two airlines, I much prefer the Ryanair experience.
History of Ryanair ---------------------- Ryanair has been flying for an incredible 18 years now, having set up with a 15 seater turbo prop plane following airline deregulation across Europe in the 1980’s. Remember the industry pre de-regulation, when prices were fixed, and it didn’t matter if you went BA or Aer Lingus, the fares were identical and the service was mediocre. They didn’t set up as a low cost airline initially but re modelled themselves on SouthWest Airlines following financial difficulties. Incredibly they only launched their website for on line bookings in 2000. You mean there was another way to book a flight?
Routes -------- Ryanair has been adding to its routes over the years and now flies over 80 routes in 16 countries across
Europe. There is a tendency to use airports that are more out of the way, which is in common with any budget airline really. Hence they use Stansted instead of Heathrow, and Prestwick Airport in Scotland instead of Glasgow International. However the airline works with the rail carriers to negotiate cheaper rail tickets, and passengers can use the Stansed Express to get to London in under one hour, and likewise Glasgow is only 50 minutes from Prestwick Airport. Ryanair serves a total of 13 airports within England, including Gatwick and Luton, and a further three airports in Scotland. There are connections into Wales too, and six Irish airports make a weekend break in Ireland accessible to most people. On the continent, France and Italy are well covered, as is Austria and Belgium, and if you want to see the Northern Lights then you can reachNorway from PIK too.
Booking ---------- The thing with low cost airlines, and even BA seem to be shifting their Yield Management model a little, is that the sooner you book, the cheaper a ticket you will get. Obviously the taxes are the same whenever you book, but if you can plan about 3-4 months in advance, you should have no problem getting a ticket for under £2 excluding taxes, especially if you are avoiding the peaks on Fridays and Sundays. I recently booked a trip to Dublin for Feb 04, and managed to get a one way for 1p, and a return for £9.99, which is a great deal. Similar deals exist across the network, and it makes a trip to London by plane from Scotland a lot cheaper than driving yourself.
The website is easy to follow, and I have never really had any difficulties unless it happens to be a day when they have advertised 1 Million “Free” flights, and the whole country seems to try to book at once.
The front page of the booking website shows the destinations from some of the major airports, and details of the best fares, together with the restrictions on those fares.
Payment can be made with credit card on line, and you will receive instant confirmation and a booking reference number together with a complete 8 page document on terms and conditions of the booking.
Identification ---------------- Ryanair has recently changed its photo ID policy, and from January 2004, it will not be possible to fly with the airline unless you have a passport, photo driving licence or apprived National Identity Card. Up until this time they have allowed Student IDcards, and Work passes. So if you don’t drive, and you don’t have a passport, you will need to pass your test or get the latter before you book.
Checking In -------------- I have never experienced any real delays when using Ryanair’s services. Final check in for my flights this week was 40 minutes before the scheduled departure. I have always been checked in within about five minutes of joining the queue. Seats are unassigned, and you just receive a paper boarding card. The luggage allowance is quite low though at 15kg per person, which is not a lot when you are going away on business for a week. You are allowed a further 7kg to be carried as hand baggage, and if you are over the limit and there is availability you will be charged a further £4 for each additional kilo.
Boarding ----------- Arrgghh, this is the bit I hate most. Typically this involves a walk on the tarmac, always in the rain…well in Prestwick anyway. There is no assigned seating and people tend to take the window and aisle seats first meaning if you are not boarding early and you are travelling with family or friends you will invariably all be sitting in middle seats and not near to each other. At least they are only short flights anyway. The seats are comfortable though,l and I don’t have any complaints about legroom for the short journeys.
On Flight Service --------------------- As with all low cost airlines, all snacks and drinks need to be paid for as taken. This is fair enough really, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and you don’t have to have something. There is a range of drinks, including a bar service, and tea/coffeesoft drinks service, and a small selection of snacks. A cup of reasonable tasting coffee cost me £1.60 this week, and I believe the sandwiches retailed for about £4. You will notice that the cabin crew are constantly coming up and down the cabin selling something. This week’s offers included OK magazine, Travel Insurance, Ryanair credit card, and the usual range of perfumes and gifts. There is also the opportunity to buy your Rail tickets on board, and this does work out significantly cheaper than purchasing tickets after you have disembarked.
Delays -------- Well do you know I have flown with Ryanair several times, and contrary to the horror stories you seen on Airline with Easyjet, I have never had any serious delays. *Touch Wood*. There was the possibility that we were going to miss our slot down on Monday morning last week, as the tug to push the plane back was broken down, however the captain kept us informed and in any event we were underway within five minutes and still ran to schedule. That said, I would be reluctant to make a journey which involved a connecting flight over a short time period, as one of my travelling companions had tried to do a day trip to Paris, and ended up in Belgium due to fog in Paris, ruining her day really, although this wasn’t completely within Ryanair control.
So to summarise, as someone who once chalked up a massive 500000 air miles in two years travel, I used to avoid low cost airlines like the plague, however so far Ryanair has never let me down, and with prices as low as they are sometimes, I will definitely be keeping my an eye on their latest offers for last minute trips to London and elsewhere.
I haven't had quite such a great experience with Ryanair
kirstymack80 06.03.2004 21:15
I've only used them once, £8.99 for one way to Milan. HOW CHEAP?!! I was fairly pleased with them, for that price you can't really go wrong (touch wood!). ;-) KirstyM
pepis 02.03.2004 11:31
I try to fly on low cost airlines as much as I can...and by the way...do you know what I heard yesterday??? That Iberial (regular Spanish airline) is gonna start charging tourist class customers for their food on board on every short and medium distance flights...so what will be the point of traveling at full price anymore???? Thx for the review :) pepis xxx
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Nov 30th, 2003
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
