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?
About the author
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!
Great comment! I realy agree with you. Having flown many times with ryanair, I really think this is a great opportunity since you know the rules about your cheap flight . For me, it’s important that ryanair takes me from one place to another; I dont care about publicity, music, bagage and so one… and it have been working, and more, all the the staff has been very helphul and sympatic! Ryanair gave me the opportunity to fly at cheap! Without them I had never moved from my place , cause I had no money for that… For it doesn’t matter I fly to Paris – Beavais, since I pay 15 euros to go there, as it happened many times!…
[…] wing it at the airport; I’ve definitely talked (sobbed) my way into free heavy checked bags before, I could do so again. No shame for the poor […]
How much did you pay your ticket????? ass…
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!