Ryanair - RYR > Reviews > You pay peanuts, you get monkeys...

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Very poor
Customer Service	Unhelpful
Punctuality	Satisfactory
Space	Terrible
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Errrr .  .  . you get places eventually
Disadvantages:	See below !

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I was absolutely amazed to read good reviews of this airline, to be frank. I have flown with them on many occasions (the lure of ticket prices are what draws one in) - for a budget airline, their number of destinations is impressive, admittedly, but that's where the fun stops.

My friend flew with me to Italy via Ryanair recently, and having never succumbed to its horrors asked me apprehensively: 'What's it like?'
My reply? 'You know how they transport cattle...?.'

And honestly, that is how I see it. To me, their theory is - you pay low prices, you get low levels of customer service. Often I've had rude, unhelpful orange-coloured women begrudgingly answer my questions; once without any warning one of them snatched my bag from me and shoved it in the above compartment, allowing everything to spill out. No apology, no explanation, nothing.

You'll often find yourself waiting in a hot terminal for long periods as you are jostled from all sides by other travellers desperate to push their way to the front of the queue. There is a system, generally, whereby seat numbers 0-90 are seated first, but on a recent jaunt to Dublin? Some rude women with seats not in that bracket pushed their way to the front, feigned ignorance and were still seated ahead of us, the ones who'd spent an hour in line.

The reason for this madness and also a major cause of stress with this airline is that they don't allocate seats properly like the more reputable airlines, so occasionally you'll find yourself shoved on the end of a row at the other end of the (cramped, tiny) plane from your travelling companions.

The leg room is abysmal, as is just about everything related to this airline. (Again, if you pay peanuts...) If you remortgage your house, you can afford some of their vile, fat-packed, devoid of nutrional value 'food.' No thanks.

The most recent flight I foolishly took with these idiots was last month - flying back from Milan, the flight was delayed for two hours. They eventually boarded us on the plane, and THEN told us we'd be sitting there for another forty minutes. Now, I don't know if you've ever spent much time on one of those nasty jets, but that was NOT a pleasant prospect, or experience (note: never sit near the loos...it generally isn't good for ones nostrils).

Having seen the Channel 4 documentary this year showing just how many corners this airline cuts with regards to safety and customer care, and the complete disregard for customers and well, anyone but himself, the CEO displays, I have decided that from now on...

I'm sticking to BA. More legroom, better choice of destinations, free, and more pleasant, food on board, seat allocation...Ahh. I can't wait til my next flight.