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Oh Ryanair. Every time I hear that name, my left eye twitches and I usually emit an odd sort of growling sound. If I am near something I can vehemently kick, I will. Read on for my Ryanair horror stories!
Back in my study abroad years in Spain, I used to fly Ryanair all the time; this weekend in London, next weekend in Rome, it was so tempting, easy and cheap! For 50 euros roundtrip I could explore all Europe had to offer, though I almost always had to sleep in at least one airport to catch their absurdly early flights, but it was worth it. By the end of 2008, I had my own niche firmly carved out in the T1 airport in Madrid.
However, after 3 agonizing and infuriating “incidents” with Europe’s leading discount airline, I finally learned my lesson and firmly put my foot down and refused to fly Ryanair again.
Since 2009, Ryanair has been firmly at the top of my s*** list, and here’s why:
1. Paris
Paris, the city of lights, the city of love, who could say no to a long, early December weekend in the most romantic city in the world? Direct flight to Paris, oh wait, Paris Beauvais, more like, Beau-where-the-f***-are-we? Are we still IN France?
2 hours later I roll off the bus in downtown Paris, ok whatever, I’m here, I’ll make the most of it. After quite possibly the worst travel weekend I’ve had, I was more than ready to travel a hundred kilometers back out to the middle of nowhere to catch my flight back to Spain. The entire public transportation system in Paris was on strike! No buses, no taxis, no metro, no trains, NADA. And if you’ve been to Paris, you know that it’s huge and for me, was one of the least walking accessible cities in Europe and my hostel was in Montmarte! Not exactly near the sights. One of my biggest memories was how much my feet hurt from walking for hours and hours and hours just to get anywhere.
My flight back to Spain was Sunday at 6am, which meant I was planning to sleep in the airport the night before. I wasn’t about to pay a fortune for Parisian lodging for 2 hours of sleep. However, Ryanair gave me the wrong bus times back to Beauvais and I ended up missing the last bus out on Saturday night. Damn! It turns out you can’t sleep in the Beauvais airport anyway, though I think I would have preferred being out there than in the sketchy outdoor bus station in Paris.
With no transportation available to me (thanks French strike!) I wandered around like an idiot for an hour or too. I asked a few hotels how much a room would be before quickly scurrying out! (I don’t make much that in a week). After being offered drugs twice and accidentally asking a hooker for directions, I dragged my freezing self back to a fancy hotel and begged them to let me sit in their lobby for a few hours til the bus came. Luckily they took pity on me and let me hang out til I caught the first morning bus (who said the French were unfriendly?)!
I’ll pick Easyjet over Ryanair any day Source
2. Bremen, Germany
I was backpacking through western Germany in December right up until Christmas. Hopping from one magical little town to another, drinking hot spiced wine at the Christmas markets while my nose turned red, I kept my spirits high and I was looking forward to spending the holidays with my friend’s family in Norway. I boarded a long train from Cologne to Bremen in the north to catch a cheap Ryanair flight to Oslo on Christmas Eve.
After spending the day in sleet and freezing rain, I made my way to the airport. Since I only had my backpack, I did online check-in like I had done with all my other Ryanair flights that fall. As I was boarding the plane, the flight attendent took one look at my ticket and said “This ticket isn’t valid, only EU citizens are allowed to do online check-in. Our computer system closes 40 minutes before take-off, so we can’t print you a new ticket. You aren’t allowed on the flight.”
Hyperventilating I ran back to the Ryanair counter like a crazy woman; I tried to explain that I had flown Ryanair before and done the same thing with no problems, and I didn’t know it was only for EU citizens; it was Christmas Eve, this was my first time away from home, I had to be on that flight, I couldn’t spend Christmas alone, have pity yada-yada-yada. The heartless soul that Ryanair so carefully and plentifully employs took one look at my teary face and said: “It sounds like you speak English well, did you not understand the website? Online check-in is only for EU citizens. No refunds.”
Running out of the terminal I went from ticket counter to ticket counter until I found one that had a flight to Oslo that night; I had to fly all the way back to Frankfurt near where I was before and then back, but whatever. Lufthansa, thank you for saving me! Calling my mom from a payphone, she finally told me to put that flight on the emergency card and we’d deal with it later. Can you imagine how much a Christmas Eve flight bought in the airport the day of costs? Well I now know and it still makes me cringe when I think about it.
They squeeze you for every penny Source
3. Pula, Croatia
That was the last Ryanair flight I took (or didn’t take) for 2 years, but did I learn my lesson? Nope. I’m all about second (and third) chances.
Summer of 2009, one of my best summers so far. I was researching in Madrid and then backpacking through the Balkans when I had to catch a Ryanair flight from Pula, Croatia up to London. I checked my big backpacking backpack and had my smaller backpack filled with my laptop and research books and papers, and camera equipment as my carry-on.
As we walked up to security, I had that horrible feeling in my stomach when I realized they had set up a giant scale and were making everyone weight their carry-ons. Oh crap. Of course my bag weighed over since it was filled with textbooks, so the darling Ryanair workers told me I had to go back and check it. Fine.
I got back in line, and when I went to check it, the lady promptly told me 200 euros! Since I had already checked one bag, my second bag was charged per kilo, and not the flat fee for a checked bag (this is also the one and only time I have EVER had to weight my carry-on).
Oh, hell no! At this point I had had enough with Ryanair and I had no shame and nothing to lose but my dignity. Since I didn’t know anyone on this flight, who cares, right? I also ran out of money 2 days earlier. So I yelled, I cried, and I made a gigantic scene in this tiny airport in the middle of nowhere, Croatia. With about 50 people behind me egging me on (the anti-Ryanair movement is going strong) and oggling over the scene, I embarrassed the worker enough that she let me check the bag for 25 euros.
An all too familiar scene Source
I was flying with them back in 2007-2009, when they were a much smaller and lesser known airline. Back then no one really knew about the faraway airports, the little policies they make to screw you over that change monthly, or about the strict luggage and carry-ons. Nowadays, Ryanair’s money schemes and horrible customer service and widely known and pretty infamous, and every one is usually wary with them. There is even a website about it: I Hate Ryanair.
Ryanair has super strict baggage policies, charge you out the wazoo for anything and everything, and try to rip-off non-EU flyers by making them do a visa check on their ticket or they can’t board the plane. As long as you stay on your toes when flying with them and know what to expect, you probably won’t have big problems. Also be weary that they are not always the cheapest option. I got really lucky with them letting me check that bag, they are usually not that understanding. This is a company that pays its employees an extra bonus for every bag they make you check at the gate and are consistently and continuously sued for misleading advertisements and rip-offs. What do you expect?
If you plan to brave the horror stories, then be sure to check out my friend Liz’s great post about her tips for flying with Ryanair.
Do you have any Ryanair horror stories to share? What are your experiences with them? Would you risk flying with them to save a few pennies?
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youngadventuress
i can totally relate! i’ve actually never had a total horror sotry but every time i travel with them i’m on edge and so nervous about baggage and my carry on.
plus they;ve landed a few times and i swear the plane was going to fall apart
haha I’ve had one too many incidents to deal with flying with them. I’ve always been able to find a cheap solution anyways
Thank you for letting us naïve first-year auxiliares know about this, Liz! I never knew they didn’t actually fly into the cities they claimed. and omigaaaaa that advertisment for easyJet is hilarious.
easyjet is great, I love them, they have a no weight limit on their carryon bags too! ryanair is ok as long as you 100 perfect know what you are getting yourself into
I hate Ryanair more than anything for their dumb advertisements. Smokeless cigarettes? No. Electronics? No, and let me get by to the bathroom. I’ve only ever had to check one bag, from Dublin to Sevilla on my way home, but they only charged me 20 euros for being 1.5 kilos over. I just wanted home!! Unfortunately, the only budget airline out of Seville is Ryanair, so…GOD AND WHY DOES EVERYONE CLAP AT THE END!?
I hate them so much! and that damn music they play too
Eeek, these are all horror stories indeed! I’ve held my breath many times flying with Ryanair but nothing this terrible has happened so far (knock on wood). There was one time I nearly had to check a bag–my backpack?!–in Dublin, but whew, it didn’t happen.
How/where did you find out that the airline gives employees incentives for checking bags??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061349/Bounty-hunters-airport-Baggage-staff-50p-bonus-piece-Ryanair-hand-luggage-wont-fit.html
Yuck
Wow, that made me really sad to think of you desperate and in the airport on Christmas Eve. So awful, what if you didn’t have an emergency card? I’m travelling with Ryanair tomorrow – wish me luck!
I know! I know! It would have been horrible, reminds me I should get a new emergency card now haha, I don’t have that one anymore, eep!
Ok…message received!!! I know if that were me, I would probably get downright hostile…so, in the interest of not landing myself in some foreign prison, I will probably just stick to Easyjet…((I assume the best place to fly out of for Logroño is Madrid, correct?))
yeah madrid, or bilbao or zaragoza, but those places have limited flights
Thanks for the shout-out! You definitely have to know what you’re getting yourself into, 100%, or they can really screw you over. A lot of people don’t know these things before they fly with them, thanks for putting it out there.
Heh, every single one of those instances was YOU breaking Ryanair terms that you had accepted. (With the exception of them giving you the bus times, and to be honest you get bus times from a bus company not an airline. Would you ask flight times from a bus company?). You choose where you want to fly to/from, then moan that is too far away. Then… don’t fly there. You accept Ryanair terms, break them, then moan. If you comply with their terms and conditions, they are the cheapest and most reliable airline in Europe, bar none. You caused every one of these incidents yourself, you need to take personal responsibility. If you don’t like Ryanair, don’t fly with them but don’t blame them for your mistakes. All these many issues have been highlighted so many times, it’s incredible people still choose to ignore their terms and conditions. I appreciate people like you, because you subsidise the tickets for the rest of us who abide by the terms, know where we want to fly, and don’t moan like hell. Ryanair are excellent, they do exactly what they say. They certainly don’t try and hide their strict rules. – Ling
Ling, I’ll be sure to scour any & all car lease docs from you then!
Also, as the article says, 5 years ago it wasn’t such common knowledge that ryanair leave you in an airport 2 hours (longer than the flight!) from your destination city.
You rant about people leaving VAT off lease prices, how is ryanair saying ‘Paris’ any different?
Elizabeth, 5 years ago Ryanair were just as well known, trust me. It’s a strange thing, their CEO O’Leary says they try to screw people out of as much money as they can, he BROADCASTS this at top volume in many public statements, and yet some people STILL don’t get it. It is so easy not to pay any extra money, that is to C-O-M-P-L-Y
Then you get the best simple A-B flight service in the World, with the best safety record and most modern planes, very cheaply, at no extra cost. You are choosing to use that Ryanair service (and it’s massively popular, the most popular in Europe, far more popular than Easyjet, BA, etc etc), growing consistently quickly, and there must be more written and blogged and reported about Ryanair than any other airline, … yet, YET, you still consistently break their terms when you use them, and then moan about the consequences.
A. If it’s 5 years ago, why bring it up now?
B. It is not bad manners simply to disagree with you. I’m not rude or offensive. Why do you think I have bad manners?
C. I run a website selling stuff to people making over £500,000 GP a year. I know one or two things about running a business (so does O’Leary) – you should pay attention. Ryanair do it VERY WELL, and have transformed European air travel for millions of people and families.
- Ling
The point of this post was not to whine about Ryanair, rather to share my experiences with them so that if people decide to fly with them in the future, they know what to expect. If you had read my whole post, you would understand that.
I read it all. It still sounds like a whine.
thanks anonymous
Sorry, but I have to agree with Ling Valentine (I love you Ling!!). Ryanair – you pay less, and you get less – its a simple process and you know this as you book the flights and save your money. Personally, I have more nightmare stories about Easyjet than Ryanair, however I knew I was risking a mediocre experience at best when booking with them so didn’t, and don’t complain about it. If you want a lovely, stress-free and highly reliable flight, pay more and go with BA – it’s your choice after all
Peace, love and hair grease…
If I have two choices I would always choose Easyjet over Ryanair, unfortunately when I am travelling I often have to use Ryanair for convenience. I have never had a bad experience with them because I travel light and stick headphones on when on the plane so I don’t have to suffer their incessant selling of crap onboard.
O’Reilly is very clear about his policies and if someone doesn’t like them then don’t fly Ryanair. I hate the claims that it is the cheapest, best safety record, best “on time” arrivals etc… as they are all lies of course but respect to the company as they get bigger every year and people use them regularly. Their fleet of planes is one of the newest around and they take routes that companies like Air Lingus, Iberia etc… are flying at a loss and make them profitable at a much cheaper price for the traveller.
I have only travelled with Ryanair twice, the first time it was a business trip and all organised for me, just remember being in the queue and watching everyone fussing with their suitcases and bags, moving things around, putting extra clothes etc. (all before the check-in had even opened) A scene I had never witnessed before. The second time was a couple of years ago, I booked online from Spain, printed off the flight details and go to the end of the process so came out of the website. Bored.. decided to read through my booking details and read the bit about if you don´t print off our boarding pass they charge 40€! so went straight back online only to find the Spanish page for printing off said boarding pass wasn´t working! so I came out, changed to English and went back in.. hey ho.. boarding pass printed. I was fine… but in the queue at the airport i could see all the Spanish with their “flight details” printed off in their hands.. and low and behold every one of them got sent away to another window to pay their 40€ before they could check in. funny thing is.. if its to save on time and staff.. it obviously didn´t, if its to save on paper and printing.. still doesn´t because they gave everyone an invoice to take with them to the other window and they all came back with a receipt! go figure! and as for the tacking tune on landing… no comment. for me Easyjet whenever I can definately and nothing actually went wrong for me on Ryaniar, just didn´t like it.
Yes, Ryanair may be in the right in these instances, but is that necessarily good business? Doesn’t customer satisfaction count for anything?
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I had to re-comment!
I have never heard of Beauvais and I have been in Paris for three years! I would be pretty pissed if I thought I was going to a major city, to learn that I will land 100km OUTSIDE of where I want to go. Thanks for the heads up on this sham of an airline. I too would have been seduced by its attractive price offering.
I have always had a nice experience with Veuling.
Side note: I think Ling is a representative for Ryanair – he/she has to be! She is way too passionate about the terms and conditions you apparently broke. Geez!
I used to live in Paris (2005-2007) and hated that stupid bus trip to Beauvias from Ryanair. I haven’t flown with them in years and I plan to never do it again, I hope.
Just wanted to comment when you said “And if you’ve been to Paris, you know that it’s one of the least walking accessible cities in Europe and my hostel was in Montmarte! Not exactly near the sights.”
I find this to be pretty inaccurate. I lived there so I know the city better than someone who is just there for a weekend, of course. I lived in Montmarte, very close to Sacre Couer – which is a pretty major tourist attraction. I used to walk home all the time from the center if I missed the last metro home, and can say it really takes maximum40 minutes to walk all the way up the hill from the Marais. 30 minutes if you walk at new york speeds.
even walking to Montmartre from the Latin Quarter is do-able, and I found Paris to be a very walking-friendly city. Again, have to be upfront about my bias: I gave walking tours for a living and was incredibly familiar with the city.
Anyway, the public transport strikes were always a nightmare but when it happened, I either rode my bike or walked and allowed for extra time. these days Paris is waaaaay more bike friendly than it used to be, partially thanks to the strikes and the velib.
One more thing (and again, I’m biased): Montmartre is one of my favorite places in Paris. There’s tons to see in that area – the last Parisian vineyard, the “red light district” (Pigalle, Moulin Rouge, etc), Sacre Couer, two beautiful cemeteries, markets, the fabric distric, old cabarets (Lapin Agille), all the old artist haunts… and it takes about 15-20 minutes or so to wander to the Opera house in the 9th, or the canal in the 10th.
Ok, tourism rant over for Paris’ 18th district.
If you ever go back and stay in that neighborhood again, enjoy the sights that are there! And being that high up, you get a perfect view of the Eifel tower without having to schlep over to the 8th (one of my least favorite districts in the city).
–Tamara
I actually loved montmarte! It’s probably my favorite area in Paris too, I went back this spring for a week, with a lot more time to take stuff in. But imagine it being your first time in paris, you don’t speak french, you’re only there for 2 days and you have to walk everywhere! I had no idea where I was going, and even with a map I got lost a lot, it took me way over an hour to get from my hostel in montmarte down to the eiffel tower or the louvre, and then have to keep walking and walking and walking because I wanted to see everything. it made things really difficult. Still though, I have been to most cities in Europe, and Paris is just so big, it’s hard to consider it a “walkable” city.
That comment was also the only thing I didn’t quite get either. Paris is known to be extremely walkable for both locals and tourists. Maybe the next time you’re here you’ll get a better feel for the layout of the city and see that it is quite small and walkable. Just don’t take Ryanair! : )
I think the best thing is for me to move to Paris and get to know it even better
I have flown Ryan Air twice,. both times from Jerez to Stansted. Both were fine, clean and efficient . I wore my suit and coat and took flight bag only. Given a choice I would ALWAYS FLY MONARCH from GIBRALTAR. Brilliant Company, Brilliant Service
Ahhh Ryanair! I’m still flying with them since they opened up an ACTUAL Barcelona route (instead of the ones that are 90 minutes away from the city). It’s led to a few blog rants too because they are SO horrible.
When I was studying abroad, my host family refused to let me use their printer to print my boarding pass, so I thought it would be no big deal. It cost €42 at the counter, and it’s up to €60 now…and all they do is write your name on a piece of paper!
To date, they haven’t made me weigh my bag or put it in the measuring thing (fingers crossed!).
I can’t believe they said the “you speak English well” thing to you. That’s so rude it made me laugh in disbelief. I would have been so pissed!
You should not play the Ryanair game if you don’t know the rules.
Knowing which airport you go to is quite important, Paris has several even if you discount Beauvais that is even less Paris than Skavsta is Stockholm. But if you had flown with Ryanair earlier I thought you knew that.
Luggage is another thing… Having done more than 100 single flights with Ryanair the last 10 years I always check my luggage before leaving. Missing the rules can turn out really expensive..
this was over 5 years ago, when Ryanair’s shady business strategy was not as well known.
Trust me, it took 3 tries but I learned their rules
Another horror story–from today!
http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2012/09/07/madrid/1347010266_953158.html
I’ve flown quite a lot with Ryanair the past years, having a boyfriend in Britain, myself living in Norway and ryanair being the only cheap airline in between. From my experience ryanair is great (cheap) as long as you follow the rules and nothing goes wrong. The rules are silly and the advertisements are annoying sure, but you get used to the rules when you travel with them regularly, it’s really only to check in online, print boarding pass and don’t over pack. And the advertisements you can block out with music, the flights aren’t that long anyway.
If they check the size and/or weigh your hand luggage depends on the airport from my experience, whether it’s local airport personnel or ryanair personnel at the gate. Like from Oslo (Torp) they never weigh or check the size as it’s not ryanair people, while I’ve had my hand luggage size checked in Edinburgh (the actual Edinburgh airport), Glasgow (Prestwick), Alicante and I think London every time, as well as my hand luggage being weighed in Brussels (Charleroi).
They’re not all that great at taking care of customers when things go wrong though. Once I was supposed to land at Oslo (Torp), to the west of Oslo, but it was too much snow, so we landed at Oslo(Rygge) which is on the east of Oslo. Not a big deal for people from Oslo as it’s about the same distance, but made my way home a lot longer, as I was going west. Cost me a bit extra to get home, but thing is, it was still cheaper than any other airline I could have gotten. So I still use ryanair when they’re a lot cheaper than any other options, but I always try to find something better first. And if the price is almost the same, I generally go for the non-ryanair option.
yikes yikes yikes…looks like you have some ryan air reps hanging out on your discussion board…errr…i mean comment section.
i have never flown ryan air and have not heard the greatest of things about it.
but let me tell you what…despite never having flown them, i APPRECIATE posts like this. blogs are meant for opinions and recaps. obviously we all have different experiences. but the reason i would find your opinion on the airline valid and very warranted is because 1) you and i have a similar background (virginians living in europe) 2) we both like to travel, but sometimes when planning a trip don’t have time to make a 30-item checklist of things we must do in order to not accrue extra fees from the airline and 3) you’re being honest and sharing YOUR experience.
so you had a bad experience and wanted to share it. im sure if you had a great experience you would have shared that as well…seeing as you have a blog and tend to do those things. i can not understand why someone has so much passion to defend ryan air unless they of course, work for the company. and if someone that unclassy and vile works for the company, ill be sure to never fly with the damn airline ever.
i dont think your intent was to say to every single person on this planet “DONT FLY RYAN AIR…THEY SUCK ASS!” i think your point was to share your personal experiences and to make other travelers aware of what could happen to them if they are looking for ‘price’ over convenience. i know being the last minute traveler i am…i would certainly fall into their trap if i was not careful, so i APPRECIATE a post like this.
thanks liz for sharing your opinion!!
thank you
You took the words right out of my mouth!
My husband and I flew RyanAir this summer, and I too, always hyper-ventilate and stress out before the flight. Well, we paid to check a 15 kg bag and showed up at the airport with a 26kg bag. Our fault, but we spent the better part of two hours in the Santander airport lobby sorting through our stuff, giving what we could away and piling layer after layer of clothes on to make the 15 kg cut. Its a funny story now, but at the time I was so stressed and hot from all the clothes I had on, I thought I’d never make it. I, also, hate RyanAir, but I’ll continue to fly with them since their fares can be so downright cheap if you catch it right.
Oh Ryan Air. My friends and I forgot to check where the actual Frankfurt-Hahn airport was when we flew to Germany this past April. We landed and learned it was the bumfuck middle of nowhere and had to take a bus to Frankfurt which took us about 2 hours. To make matters worse, the bus also stopped at the actual Frankfurt international airport. We were just starting off the trip and our flight landed super late at Hahn. By the time we got to Frankfurt it was nearly 3 AM. We were so exhausted when we got to our hostel… and check out was at 10 AM meaning we had to get up at 9 in order to be out of there on time. Rough start to a trip but it was our own fault for not looking up where the airport was!
However the last flight I took with Ryan Air, I have no idea how this happened… I took a flight out of Beauvais to Madrid Barajas. Got to Madrid and went to baggage claim to get my suitcase. I could not find my flight listed on any of the monitors and followed a family on my flight to talk to a security guard. Turns out we had somehow followed signs to terminal 2 baggage claim and had to exit baggage claim and walk back to terminal 1 baggage claim. None of the signs I followed mentioned we were heading to a different terminal… Anyways we got to the right terminal (because quite a few people got confused and ended up in terminal 2) and waited for the door to open up from the inside so we could get in. Once we walked in, a security guard sitting at a table and casually looked up asking us, “Paris? OK get your suitcase!” without bothering to ask us for ID/proof of boarding pass or anything! We could have been stealing luggage and it wouldn’t have mattered! The suitcases were already on the luggage carousel waiting for us so it was fine.
But I don’t understand HOW so many of the passengers ended up in the wrong terminal after that Ryan Air flight! I lived in Madrid for 2 years and flew out of Barajas regularly and that is the only time that’s ever happened to me!
woah that is strange!!!
Barajas is such a mess! So crazy to think how other people could have nagged your stuff!
How much did you pay your ticket????? ass…
1st story: completely unrelated to FR (Ryanair). Travellers usually check the airport locations in advance not to get themselves into situations like you, Strike? What does that have to do with FR?
2nd story: If I’m about to get sg done, I usually make some research. Why would you even try checkin as a non EU citizen when you are a EU citizen? Never heard of Schengen? You think authorities let non EU citizens run up and down in the EU without passport? What did you even think? Lucky you never got caught before due to lazy ground staff.
3rd story: bags, bags, nags, nags, bags, nags, bags… Come on people. You are not living in a cave. You all have a scale in the bathroom and a tape measure. You wanna bring your stuff onboard? Measure it and no worries. You give a damn about it? Well enjoy being afraid of being caught with your oversized/overweight bag…
And for crying out loud… Why are you always groanin on FR? You fly back and forth for 50 EUR! FIFTY EUR!!! Thats the price of half tank of fuel. Thats the price of an avarage weekly shoppin for the family. And you get in exchange the opportunity to travel above the sky while doin 800km/h and get you to your destination at the other corner of the continent within hours…
Just one advice for this all the time crying, nothing is good enough spoiled generation:
Just one word of advice for all this crying, nothing is good enough for your spoiled generation. You want your asses licked before and during flight? Go deeper in your wallet and fly with national airlines for 2-300 EUR! You want to fly for 50 EUR? LEARN how you should do it and nothing special or bad will happen to you. Still not satisfied? Take the bus
1. when a ticket says Paris, I would expect to fly into Paris, not 2 hours drive from Paris. Misrepresentation
2. When you fly anywhere in the world within and outside of Europe, there is no distinguishing between checking in as a eu citizen and a non-eu citizen. Especially when you fly within the shengen zone, you do not pass through passport control. madrid-paris is within the shengen zone. it wasn’t a question of not getting caught before, it was a question of ryanair changing their rules and not adequately notifying passengers
3. Since I was living abroad I didn’t have a scale in my bathroom or in my whole apartment. secondly, I have flown hundreds of times and never, ever not once had to weigh my carry-on at the airport. how many times have you had to weight your carry-on?
4. that’s fifty euros I spend on something and I expect decent service. it’s no excuse for ryanair’s atrocious behavior
5. o you work for ryanair? if not, you should consider it
1. I don’t know about the past how it was, but it says nowdays Paris Beauvais and I think it always did.
2. The changin of rule and not knowin the new one does not liberate you from that rule. Yea. They change a lot. Still…
3. Happened sometimes. And if they particularly say the weight, you might expect that at some point they want to check it for some extra money. If you dont have at home, you can go to an empty check in desk and check the weight for yourself and reorganize if needed. Once again, not knowing the rule and expecting that you are acting by the rule doesen’t mean that you actually do.
This differs in every country. In Italy they mainly give a damn about it, since one of the most disgusting things on earth is to argue with an Italian. So there you can put your house in a car-sized suitcase, they won’t say anything. Other countries: they check every bag. Yet another country: they might weigh them as well.
4. as everyone else. I just don’t know from your stories where did you fail to get it.
5. just no comment. Callin someone/something atrocious and then sayin this? Double standards.
dude, stop picking fights in my comment section!
I’ve never flown with Ryanair, and I’m sure I never will.
Djeez:/
If you can avoid them, do it. Otherwise, read up on everything and prepare as best you can!
Wow!!!!!!!!! Craziness! Esp that bit about online check in….on the website I coulda sworn it read that all passengers should do online check in, otherwise it’s 40 euros for them to print it for you??? The only thing non EU citizens had to do was get the Visa/passport stamp…So that’s what I always did..no probs with it! Is there a different rule for different airports? even though it’s the same airline? Ryanair is so sleezy
I’ve had my share of crazy stories with Ryanair as well. The first time while I studied abroad, I used it once for a trip to the Canary Islands. Everything was as smooth as possible. No problems whatsoever. However, last year I had a field day with them!!!!!! I went to Paris in February for a weekend, things worked out great getting there, however, getting back to Spain was a nightmare and a half. There was a ‘big’ snowstorm in Paris, delaying, and then cancelling my return to Spain. Oh, and to make things worse, I did NOT have a direct flight to my destination, as there’s almost no direct flights anywhere international from Santiago de Compostela. I had a flight from Beauvais to BCN and then BCN to Santiago. I had plenty of time between them both, but apparently not enough time for a freaking snow storm. I spent way too many hours in that effing Beauvais airport, and we finally got a flight around 11 pm, and arrived in BCN maybe around 12 or 1 am. I was happy to at least be on the Iberian Peninsula again. Now how was I to get from Bcn to Santiago?????? I talked to the Ryanair staff about what happened, but of course they said “We don’t do transfers, so it’s not our fault you missed the flight, we can’t reimburse you, you have to book a new flight” ARGHHHHHHH, in Beauvais, of course they booked us a flight no charge, but a normal airline would have given a food voucher or two for having to stay in the airport so long!!! They may even give accomodations if you have to stay over night, like what happened in Miami on my way back frm Belize, oh well what to expect from Ryanair, nothing. (or all your money + then some) I looked up all the flights and they were WAY out of my price range at that moment, so I ended up buying a train ticket to A Coruna, a city in Galicia about 30 minutes train ride from there. So I spent the night in BCN airport, and went to BCN train station so that I could catch that 9ish am train off to A Coruna. That had to be the longest train ride of my life.. !!!!!!! Then I got to A Coruna, and the last train had already left I knew this was going to happen..but I thought perhaps I’d spend the night in the train station, and wait to catch the first one, it’d be the cheapest option. However, once I got off the train in A Coruna, I looked at the gloomy train station and decided that it was too sketch to stay there overnight, plus I really wanted to sleep in my own bed at this point and I went to the closest taxi driver and asked him how much it would be to get to Santiago, he told me 70 euros, and then I made a face…he said que pasa? and I said that I only had 60 euros (which was true) and I was off to Santiago, off to my bed. It was a complete NIGHTMARE. Ugh. Which brings me to say this: As much as I love travelling, I HATE travelling. I hate literally travelling. I hate going through security. I hate having my bags weighed. I hate being scrutinized at border checks (though I love getting passport stamps from diff countries, I know)
Camila
how come I haven’t seen that post before! I have soooo many (bad) stories to share about Ryanair and Wizzair too! just the other day Ryanair left around 20 people in Warsaw’s airport, even if they were on time the gate was closed and the place took off 20 minutes before the schedule (without airport’s permition) – and of course they’re not to blame! fortunately nothing ever happened to me but I’ve seen way too many things. and well, my backpack was weighted couple of times too – it’s just an easy money for them I guess :/
WHAT?! That’s nuts!
I’m flying (thankfully only once and not for too long) with RyanAir for the first time next month. I’m REALLY not looking forward to it.
Also, it annoys me how they misname airports to the biggest city in the region (or neighbouring region). “London – Southend”? Really? Sorry you were stuck so far out of Paris.
I hate them, and that airport naming annoys me too. They have been sued several times because of that
Why is it that no matter what country you are in, and regardless of the situation, Ryanair employees always act like they have a stick up their butt? Seriously, you could be checking bags, and they act like you are personally inconveniencing them.
Got here by following your link at Dangerous Business, and really enjoyed the read. Love the pictures!
I just think it is impossible to fix Ryanair and other budget airlines. If you are not the first time customer, you know what you need to do – “close your eyes and enjoy the ride”.
lol
I only travelled once with RyanAir, although I had little to complain about. It was a flight from Stansted (near London, England) to Haugesund (at the Norwegian coast).
My sister has travelled with RyanAir many times before and lend me her suitcase, which exactly fits the maximum allowed volume of luggage. Others had slightly larger bags and had to put them in a box to see if it fits. The staff let them squeeze (or rather force) their bags into the box, just to tell them afterwards it didn’t fit and they had to pay extra.
We landed on an airport located on an island off the Norwegian shore. It’s a very idyllic place to be at and that alone was worth the trip. However, like most of the airports RyanAir uses, the airport was far off the nearest town. There is a bus (the so called ‘Flygbussen’) chartered by RyanAir. However there is no other public transportation between the airport and the nearest town. And guess what: I went for some Norwegian currency first and missed my bus ride. ‘Luckily’, others were in the same situation so we shared an expensive taxi.
But the flight itself was OK, can’t complain for the price.
I had my RyanAir initiation.
Yuck. The kindest thing I can say about their seats are “easily wipeable”. And I’ll be some time trying to get the memory of that yellow out of my mind.
On the other hand, it was cheap and on time. “You pays your money and you takes your choice”.
I can’t stand people who complain about Ryanair. Every single problem you listed was your own fault.
If you flew with a different airline, and didn’t follow their policies, what do you think they’d do? Let you off? Oh, your bag is above the specified maximum dimensions….. ah well, get on anyway. No, it doesn’t work like that.
You just happened to have had those experiences with Ryanair because you always flew with Ryanair and you were stupid enough to break their policies. If you had always flown with British Airways then you’d be complaining about delayed and cancelled flight, lost luggage, etc… real airline problems.
I flew with Alitalia recently because I wanted to see how much better they were compared to Ryanair – a budget airline. I flew return to Rome and the ticket cost me €200, with Ryanair it would have cost me about €60. So is it worth €140 more? Well, it took me just as long to get to Heathrow as it does to get to Stansted, it took longer to board the plane with Alitalia, and it took a ridiculous amount of time to take off because, of course, it’s Heathrow. This meant that the flight arrived in Rome behind schedule, something I have very rarely experienced with Ryanair. As far as the flight was concerned, there was just as much leg room whilst sat down, it was just as clean, and the only food and drink they gave out was the smallest packet of tasteless biscuits i’ve ever eaten – about 40g worth – and a tiny plastic cup of juice – just one. In fact on the return flight they didn’t give any food or drink out as they said there was too much turbulence.
So all in all, I would rate the whole experience of flying with the 2 airlines about the same, and one is definitely not worth €140 more than the other. At the end of the day Ryanair have the lowest prices and an excellent on time record, who can complain with that?
Congratulations, Jim, for missing the point entirely of this post!
Coincidently, do you work for Ryanair?
Just giving my opinion, I believe I made a fair point.
Obviously you have the right to fly with whoever you want, case closed.
Eh with the greatest respect:
You book a flight to Paris beav and don’t research where it is!! There was a strike on in Paris and it’s Ryanairs fault!!!
You didn’t read the terms and conditions regarding online check in, particularly in regard to your not an EU citizen!
You exceeded your baggage allowance!
Let me see, why is this Ryanair’s fault?
You come across as somebody who can’t be arsed to do some simple research!
Your the one at fault for All of the above incidents!
Don’t get me wrong, I too dislike Ryanair but fair is fair! They never hide any guidelines, if anything they advertise them more than most airlines, you get what it says on the tin from them. Budget airline!!
“They never hide any guidelines” what total BS!
Maybe you should do some research and realize that RyanAir intentional mislabels and mismarkets which is why they are continuously being sued all the time! They intentionally change their T’s and C’s all the time to screw people over. This was back in 2007. How often do you read through the T’s and C’s of every flight you buy?
Maybe you should reread my article more carefully next time. I don’t remember blaming RyanAir for the strike or baggage, I blamed them for complete and total shitbags and having 0 respect or customer service. If things go wrong, this is what you are dealing with. I am trying to warn people, that was my entire post.
Next time, I’ll value your opinion more if you have the decency to read exactly what I wrote.
I haven’t flown Ryan Air, but it’s through blogs like this and other horror stories from friends that I have been warned to avoid it. I can understand the perspective of the people who have avoided all of the extra charges so far. But, I could also easily imagine any of them get caught out by one of the terms in the fine-print changing and then they will agree that it’s unfair. I think it’s unethical business practice to hide terms that have significant consequences in the fine print, without giving appropriate notice. In any case, even though it’s the rules, there is always room for staff to use common sense and apply discretion. It feels like spite otherwise (or they really are given a bonus for every customer they get these extra fees from).
Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate
you finding the time and effort to put this article
together. I once again find myself spending way too much time
both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!