Explain the dislike towards Ryanair?

Strumms

Bob Harris wrote: »

I thought their 'bad reputation' had pretty much worn off at this stage.

It has more or less. They are indeed a little less ‘convenient’ to fly with then some other carriers but for the saving and some other pluses it’s worth it..mostly. Or is it...

Negatives :

Staff - the quality has improved but in some instances the overall friendliness and helpfulness leaves something to be desired. This might not be the staffs fault in its entirety as it seems to be that flexibility especially is not encouraged.

Boarding / de boarding - to incur less in the way of charges Ryanair in most airports use ‘non contact stands’ or gates without air bridges in the furthest most far flung corners of airports. This means walking in all weathers across the ramp to the steps of your aircraft, rail, hail, sunshine or snow.

Terminals - again to reduce costs Ryanair are often using less passenger friendly facilities. I’ve taken some late flights with them after a day working away to find after a long walk to a gate no other option then a vending machine to get some chow.

Comfort onboard - seat pitch isn’t too bad but I find the newer aircraft the seats are rock hard. Not a comfy journey.

Pluses :

Excellent on time departure record

Mostly unbeatable Price

Variety of destinations

Young reliable fleet

Atoms for Peace

It's part of a British tabloid inspired post colonial mentality here. The British media hate to see an Irish success that the best in the game, they'll take any opportunity to knock them.

Poulgorm

I agree with you re the Ryanair seats - they are uncomfortably hard. Legroom is at least on par with the other airlines.

cml387

Ryanair are fine, they are cheap and cheerful.
Overall the problem is not Ryanair per se, but the whole experience of flying has deteriorated markedly in the 30 or so years I've been travelling.

I used to look forward to travelling by air, as an avowed "aerosexual" but now just want to get it over with.

Thats mainly down to the panic-induced security forced on us since the Americans massively effed up on 9-11.

Shoes on or off, liquids, barked instructions from security (in fairness Dub is not the worst).

The methods used to force you to keep shopping by late opening gates (yes, it's done).

ATC go slows by entitled controllers in France or Spain where the job and associated militancy is passed from Father/Mother to Son/daughter.

NickNickleby

Deleted User wrote: »

Unemployment benefit/assistance has to be collected in person from the local post office.

Ninja edit:
I can state absolutely that my description is 100% accurate. TMI in previous version

Nigel Fairservice

I like Ryanair for the most part. I've seen most of Europe very cheaply. I've only ever had 1 bad experience with them in the days before they started to work on their customer service. My bag was weighed at the gate one time and it was 10.1 kg (limit was 10 kg). Was told I'd have to pay €50 to put the bag in the hold. It seemed excessive for being one tenth of a kg over the weight limit but the gate attendant insisted I check in my bag. I'd say fair enough if it was was really overweight. I just took my book out of my bag and put my socks and underwear into my coat pocket and it brought the bag down to 9.9 kg. Attendant said I could board without checking my bag. I told the gate attendant I was still boarding the plane with 10.1 kg worth of stuff and asked what the point in making do that was. She just looked right through me and suddenly pretended I wasn't there. No common sense applied to the situation at all. Would still fly Ryanair.

Canard

I don’t get the general disdain some people have - as said, they still offer the best value most of the time. But it does seem that later flights (evening/night) are always delayed.

My only two gripes are the hand luggage and seating. Not for the usual reasons though - the new hand luggage rules mean everyone is piled into the fúcking aisle for ages (when the whole idea behind this was to reduce delays?!) and half the time there isn’t room for all the bags anyway. I always liked putting mine in the hold. The seats - I never pay for priority, but I sometimes get window seats. Which means the people in the outer seats have to move to let me in they could really do with some kind of seat-ordered system, maybe it would be too confusing but I would imagine it could reduce ‘people congestion’.

I rarely fly with anyone else. Even when I lived in Paris, I always flew with them. The airport they use isn’t even in paris, but you can be sure your plane won’t be leaving til the shuttle gets everyone in - whereas going to CDG the train always breaks down, so you end up leaving just as early to be safe.

Junkyard Tom

Ryanair is a great company - they made air travel accessible to regular people. Irish folk used to get the bus to London back in the day because flying with Aer Lingus was extortionate - literally.

I wonder will people avoid their 787 Max planes when they start flying.

mikemac2

I miss the yellow stickers. I would always volunteer to have my bag put in the hold. They are making it easier for me, I can board last and no stress over locker space. EasyJet still do this if a flight is busy, you leave your bag in the trolley outside

Plenty of selfish people ripping off their stickers in the stairway, yep cute hoors indeed but enough did it and the air hostess has to walk up and down looking for space that didn’t exist

Now I’ll pay €8-€12 for what used to be free.

mikemac2

mikemac2 wrote: »

I miss the yellow stickers. I would volunteer to have my bag put in the hold. EasyJet still do this is a flight is busy.

Plenty of selfish people ripping off their stickers in the stairway, yep cute hoors indeed but enough did it and the air hostess has to walk up and down looking for space that didn’t exist

Now I’ll pay for what used to be free.

Flying back from Birmingham one day and one hostess was taking small bags from overhead and giving them to their owners to stow under the seats. She held up a small Victoria’s Secrets bag demanding its owner to identify themselves. A young lad, late teens, early twenties raised his hand sheepishly and a huge cheer went up! You won’t get that camaraderie on Aer Lingus!

Nikki Sixx

OneEyedORourke wrote: »

This attitude makes me laugh.

I'd take a group of "scummers" on a hour long flight over annoying little brats who's parents can't be arsed to control any day of the week!

To add to that story we were kept in the plane on the tarmac in Dublin airport for over two hours waiting, with no proper explanation. So I spent over 4 hours on a plane one way, with extras from Love/Hate.

Nikki Sixx

J_A_F_A wrote: »

On the plus side their seats don't recline.

It’s more than being a snob. When you have to sit bedside Tomo from Tallagh and Beyoncé from Ballmun and they are loud and drinking throughout the flight and you have no escape from them.

Wheety

J_A_F_A wrote: »

On the plus side their seats don't recline.

This! It's great. All airlines should have this on short haul.

whisky_galore

Does anyone actually ever win anything on the scratch cards?

Berserker

Franz Von Peppercorn II wrote: »

The Ryanair flights I took to Bristol and back when I lived in the U.K. were business. Early flights though. On that route aer Lingus was inferior.

Oh Aer Lingus are no great shakes. If I'm flying short haul, I tend to opt for Ryanair. Much more punctual. Aer Lingus is more relaxing but if they are delayed, forget it. Ryanair will try to make up time, at least.

OneEyedORourke wrote: »

I'd be on flights to Amsterdam every few months for work - there is feck all difference between the passengers on each airline, especially at weekends.

Really, I fly midweek with them, in the afternoon and the Ryanair crowd tends to be far younger. You'll always find bunches of lads on the Ryanair flights midweek.

Wheety wrote: »

The amount of people I hear giving out about paying for the extras (during booking, not on the flight). It's quite simple, check the cost on another airline who give you everything included and then check the price on Ryanair, including seat selection and priority boarding (as it includes carry on luggage). Ryanair are usually still cheaper.

By far. I use them for short flights, with the exception on Luxembourg where I use Luxair. They have a great service, free food and drink and it costs me < €100, including hand luggage and a check in bag in that price.

Atoms for Peace wrote: »

It's part of a British tabloid inspired post colonial mentality here. The British media hate to see an Irish success that the best in the game, they'll take any opportunity to knock them.

Try again. Ryanair have a massive European hub in Stansted and they have more flights in and out of the UK than Ireland.

whisky_galore wrote: »

Does anyone actually ever win anything on the scratch cards?

Know a few people who've won free flights but you have to pay the taxes on them. Don't buy them myself. Don't buy drinks or food on Ryanair flights.

donkeykong5

Will never ever fly ruin air again. It's more expensive on aer lingus but I dont care. Prefer to be treated like a human.

Nikki Sixx

whisky_galore wrote: »

Does anyone actually ever win anything on the scratch cards?

I’d doubt it and the charity side of them is probably a lot less than the stewardesses make out.

Nikki Sixx

whisky_galore wrote: »

Does anyone actually ever win anything on the scratch cards?

You get a load of them for around €12 and still no joy.

Stephen15

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Will never ever fly ruin air again. It's more expensive on aer lingus but I dont care. Prefer to be treated like a human.

And Aer Lingus don't treat passengers in the same way?

ToddyDoody

€80 for over baggage limit
€40 not checking in online
€~ on a business trip alone behind a stag party

The final one is the very essence of my failure in life.

ToddyDoody

ToddyDoody wrote: »

€80 for over baggage limit
€40 not checking in online
€~ on a business trip alone behind a stag party

The final one is the very essence of my failure in life.

??

ToddyDoody

[Deleted User] wrote: »

??

That the b*stard company sent me on such a cheap flight.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

I don’t mind them. They enabled me to visit home for chape when I was starting out as a graduate in the UK a decade ago. I think the cheapest return flight home I got during that time period was £28 stg all in. When your starting salary is something like €27,000, that’s much appreciated.

mdwexford

Ryanair are awesome.

Flew with Aer Lingus recently as it suited better and found it a far worse experience.

borderlinemeath

My dislike from Ryanair stemmed from missing a work flight about 15 years ago. I won't go into the details but it stemmed from missing a flight due to a power cut, the flight itself was delayed by 90 odd minutes due to stormy weather so while we admittedly arrived late to the airport, and missed the check in by 2 minutes - the flight we had to divert to for a cost of €60 each - actually left before the one we were not allowed to check in for (this is back in the days when you had to go to the Ryanair desks). Customer service agents were smug, smarmy and self serving. We would never have missed the flight, but it was a lesson in a money making exercise from Ryanair staff.


Compare that to a different work flight with Aer Lingus where I managed to leave the house without my passport. They let me "check in" and held my boarding pass until himself arrived with the passport and then ran me through fast pass to catch the flight.

TBH, price of the flight and extras isn't the biggest annoyance, I'll book the flight that is most convenient time wise, I'm not into getting up at 4am to catch a 6.30am flight when the midday flight costs €30 more. Sometimes that's Aer Lingus, sometimes it's Ryanair.

donkeykong5

Stephen15 wrote: »

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Will never ever fly ruin air again. It's more expensive on aer lingus but I dont care. Prefer to be treated like a human.

And Aer Lingus don't treat passengers in the same way?

No. Complete opposite.thats why I dont mind paying a bit extra.

ThunbergsAreGo

Stephen15 wrote: »

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Will never ever fly ruin air again. It's more expensive on aer lingus but I dont care. Prefer to be treated like a human.

And Aer Lingus don't treat passengers in the same way?

When something goes wrong Aer Lingus are far superior. Them being part of a group helps as well

Take the recent air traffic strikes in France . Heading to Salou, mates on AL flight take off an hour late and there for the first night.

mates on Ryanair, on the plane for three hours then cancelled, no guarantee of a flight for a few days. Ended up being a sprint to Belfast for another airline

whisky_galore

I've never had a bad experience flying Ryanair tbh.
Stick to the rules and you'll be fine.

Granted some of the airports are former WW2 airstrips in the arse end of nowhere, the children's play centre cabin interior and scratch card theatrics I'll put up with for a cheap flight. It's a bus with wings.

TaurenDruid

whisky_galore wrote: »

I've never had a bad experience flying Ryanair tbh.
Stick to the rules and you'll be fine.

Granted some of the airports are former WW2 airstrips in the arse end of nowhere, the children's play centre cabin interior and scratch card theatrics I'll put up with for a cheap flight. It's a bus with wings.

It's a bus with wings, which is absolutely fine. Until something goes wrong.

When something goes wrong, you want to be flying with an actual airline, preferably one that's part of a group.

And not a bus company. Who have outsourced everything, so you can't even talk to a bus company employee when your flight gets cancelled at 2am.

whisky_galore

TaurenDruid wrote: »

It's a bus with wings, which is absolutely fine. Until something goes wrong.

When something goes wrong, you want to be flying with an actual airline, preferably one that's part of a group.

And not a bus company. Who have outsourced everything, so you can't even talk to a bus company employee when your flight gets cancelled at 2am.

I've had nothing go wrong. If it's just a short hop for a reasonable cost I'll take my chances. You can choose whatever carrier you want.

stefanovich

jetsonx wrote: »

Why does a Ryanair get such a hard time?

I've flown with them at least a hundred times. Nearly everyone of these flights was on time and trouble-free. Lost luggage only once which was duly put onboard the next flight. Planes were reasonably clean. Most takeoffs and landings were textbook. And each time their staff were unfailingly courteous.

Yet, as a consumer, I can't understand all this animosity towards Ryanair?

I cannot sit comfortably as there is no leg room. I want all the extras anyway so its not cheaper.

TaurenDruid

whisky_galore wrote: »

I've had nothing go wrong. If it's just a short hop for a reasonable cost I'll take my chances. You can choose whatever carrier you want.

Yup, exactly. If it's to the UK or not far into the continent, and the times are convenient, I'll usually end up on Ryanair. If it's further afield or more important/luggage-intensive than a weekend away, I'll pay a small premium to be treated like a human.

DeanAustin

F**kers did me for 8 euro this morning with what must be a revised bag policy. Thought “you f**king bastards” when they pulled me at the gate but have to admire them. And to be fair, I didn’t really read the bag policy so it was my own fault.

Ryanair are fantastic at getting you from A to B cheaply. As long as that’s all you expect from them, you’ll be grand.

Gorteen

Dislike is probably related to silly people who don't like to play by the rules of the contract. I remember queueing behind a young woman one day for boarding. She (like most people) had a cabin suitcase on wheels.... The hilarious bit was she had a full backpack on her back and put a cardigan on over it..... It was like watching a comedy sketch where you know the outcome but every moment getting to the ending was hilarious... LOL

ThunbergsAreGo

Gorteen wrote: »

Dislike is probably related to silly people who don't like to play by the rules of the contract. I remember queueing behind a young woman one day for boarding. She (like most people) had a cabin suitcase on wheels.... The hilarious bit was she had a full backpack on her back and put a cardigan on over it..... It was like watching a comedy sketch where you know the outcome but every moment getting to the ending was hilarious... LOL

In some cases yes, and I have no sympathy for those.

I have flown Ryanair for years but in the last year have had two awful experiences. They are fine until they are not, or something tiny goes wrong (air traffic control strikes as an example). If something goes wrong, they do nothing for you and staff are poorly informed ( not their fault, just poor systems)

I will take the risk flying on my own but I will no longer fly with them with family

fire and ice

When because of them I missed my niece's funeral, first told flight delayed by 2 hours no explanation given, flight delayed again this time told because of weather even though other flights were leaving. Put on plane made wait 1 hour on board then told to get off again as staff had gone over their working hours. No staff in the terminal to talk to eventually told flight would leave at 9 the next morning. Taken to a hotel at 5am and had to be back at airport for 9am. Returned to airport only to be told flight delayed again. At 12 noon brought down the stairwell to board plane but again once at the bottom told no it's delayed again. Flight eventually left at 3:30.

spurshero

mdwexford wrote: »

Ryanair are awesome.

Flew with Aer Lingus recently as it suited better and found it a far worse experience.

Is that you Micheal ?

spurious

I would love it if they would do away with the overhead bins and only offer the option of small bag under the seat or checked in at a range of prices. Load passengers in minutes.

No real issue with them generally, though they fall down badly in terms of sharing any info when they have major delays or cancel. The staff usually leg it before a voice makes an announcement, leading to lots of frustrated customers.

Strumms

spurious wrote: »

I would love it if they would do away with the overhead bins and only offer the option of small bag under the seat or checked in at a range of prices. Load passengers in minutes.

No real issue with them generally, though they fall down badly in terms of sharing any info when they have major delays or cancel. The staff usually leg it before a voice makes an announcement, leading to lots of frustrated customers.

This... when things DO go wrong instead of like other carriers who do their best to inform, keep you informed and enable a solution...Ryanair too often just disappear and you are left in the dark. Not knowing yourself to be able to plan and inform loved ones when you might get home or IF you will that day / night.

Like I’ve said all things considered Ryanair are really good..on price, choice of destination, being on time... when anything goes wrong though you are well and truly left up shît creek, without a paddle for the most part, in my experience anyway.

Yamanoto

EI still pretend to be a decent airline, though they've gone to sh1t subsequent to Christoph Mueller's departure.

At least most folks approach Ryanair with suitably modest expectations.

borderlinemeath

Gorteen wrote: »

Dislike is probably related to silly people who don't like to play by the rules of the contract. I remember queueing behind a young woman one day for boarding. She (like most people) had a cabin suitcase on wheels.... The hilarious bit was she had a full backpack on her back and put a cardigan on over it..... It was like watching a comedy sketch where you know the outcome but every moment getting to the ending was hilarious... LOL

But I've seen the other end of pernickity-ness from Ryanair staff. At Seville airport a few years ago a couple ahead of us in the queue were having issues because the man had a fairly nice looking camera that he had hanging around his neck. They made him open his case to put it in and then shoved it the bag measure, told him it didn't fit and were going to charge him €40. So he proceeded to open the bag, took out a pair of jeans and a shirt and put them on over his shorts and tee shirt. Then repacked and put it in the bag measure again. The staff were livid, a bit of commission lost. Bear in mind it was about 35 degrees and he was probably sweating buckets, but you have to play them at their own game sometimes.

Cienciano

TaurenDruid wrote: »

It's a bus with wings, which is absolutely fine. Until something goes wrong.

When something goes wrong, you want to be flying with an actual airline, preferably one that's part of a group.

And not a bus company. Who have outsourced everything, so you can't even talk to a bus company employee when your flight gets cancelled at 2am.

I flew with Ryanair hundreds of times and never had a problem. But the idea that other airlines have good customer service is definitely wrong. I flew air lingus a couple of years ago to usa with connecting flights, all booked through air lingus. Problems on the way over with bags, problems on the way back with flight delays and missing connecting flights and no one from air lingus available leaving us stranded.

Recently bought tickets to Bristol on Ryanair. Cost me €50 on ryanair, my mate went with air lingus at almost identical times and paid €90. I remember in the 90's getting the bus to london because it would have cost about €300 with air lingus. But they gave you a newspaper and a breakfast that was worth about €2 so people thought it was fancy. Thank fúck for ryanair.

Dufflecoat Fanny

The British media are to blame for most of the flak Ryanair gets. If Ryanair was owned by a British tycoon he'd be fawned over.

TaurenDruid

So, yeah - they're grand when things go fine.

When something out of the ordinary happens, they're ****. Case in point: this.

Flying over for a wedding? We're just going to rebook your flights home to the day before the wedding. And become uncontactable.

Samuel T. Cogley

Franz Von Peppercorn II wrote: »

I think that this post sums up why people don’t like Ryanair - snobbery.

The only actual complaint is the legroom.

Both the wife and I are quite tall and actually we like RyanAir for legroom as the seats don't recline. I wish more airlines had seats like that.

cannotlogin

Ryanair is very clear in what they are offering - cheap, no frills, flights - zero extras.

I don't why people give our when told they have to pay extra for things like excess baggage, booking amendments, seats together. The seats together cracks me up - unless there are children involved. I just don't understand why it's an issue to be separated from friends or family for 3 hrs, you are going to spend the trip with them, surely being apart for 3 hrs is a good thing.

I don't use Ryanair when I have to be somewhere at a specific time, risk is too high. Everyone knows they move flights at the time but acted shocked & outraged when they do. People know it's a risk when they book.

Take somewhere between 6-10 Ryanair flights a year. Never had to pay for any extras, never stranded anywhere, flight only delayed on 2 occasions - once due to air travel controller struck a so can't blame the airline. Second time staffing which meant that we were on the run for an he but couldn't get off as no stairs.

Annoying sure but you get what you pay for.

borderlinemeath

cannotlogin wrote: »

Ryanair is very clear in what they are offering - cheap, no frills, flights - zero extras.

I don't why people give our when told they have to pay extra for things like excess baggage, booking amendments, seats together. The seats together cracks me up - unless there are children involved. I just don't understand why it's an issue to be separated from friends or family for 3 hrs, you are going to spend the trip with them, surely being apart for 3 hrs is a good thing.

I don't use Ryanair when I have to be somewhere at a specific time, risk is too high. Everyone knows they move flights at the time but acted shocked & outraged when they do. People know it's a risk when they book.

Take somewhere between 6-10 Ryanair flights a year. Never had to pay for any extras, never stranded anywhere, flight only delayed on 2 occasions - once due to air travel controller struck a so can't blame the airline. Second time staffing which meant that we were on the run for an he but couldn't get off as no stairs.

Annoying sure but you get what you pay for.

The seats together thing is the fear of the unknown. You could be sitting beside the passenger from hell rather than your family member. At least if your sitting beside your family then you can share collective outrage at the drunk/noisy/unruly passenger across the aisle.

TaurenDruid

cannotlogin wrote: »

I don't why people give our when told they have to pay extra for things like excess baggage, booking amendments, seats together. The seats together cracks me up - unless there are children involved. I just don't understand why it's an issue to be separated from friends or family for 3 hrs, you are going to spend the trip with them, surely being apart for 3 hrs is a good thing.

Because if I'm going on a trip with them, I want to travel with them and not some random stag/hen party member, someone else's kid, the nervous flyer who needs the loo 4 times on a flight to London (yes, I've had this!), the mouth-breather, the guy with the flu...

It's the plain meanness of the thing that gets me, to be honest. They've actually gone out of their way to program in random seat allocation, to force an extra few quid from customers. It's just low and mean.

Strumms

It’s simply a tool to extract more fûcking money from your pocket.

If you are getting a train down the country WITH a few mates, going to the cinema WITH them, going to a match WITH them...would it be acceptable for Irish rail after you booked with them want MORE or your money to sit together ? Acceptable for the Odeon cinema to want MORE of your money to sit WITH them ? Ok for Bohemians football club..ok for them to charge EXTRA so you are in the same row beside your mate ?

We have become too used to this airline demanding people follow their rules like a bunch of concentration camp inmates. Too used to accepting thing going wrong or inconvenience because they are CHEAP.

There is a massive difference between NOT EXPENSIVE and VALUE for money.
Ryanair in my view are beginning to lean toward the NOT VALUE FOR MONEY unless you are a solo traveler.

Berserker

Dufflecoat Fanny wrote: »

The British media are to blame for most of the flak Ryanair gets. If Ryanair was owned by a British tycoon he'd be fawned over.

Joe Duffy is the biggest anti-Ryanair media source out there. Is he British now? The Beeb and Sky love MOL.