I have to ask this question. The powers-that-be at Ryanair may not like it, but I make no apology. Personally, I would never fly with Ryanair again unless I absolutely had to go somewhere and they were the only airline that flew there. I will explain the reasons for this – hopefully some of you will comment. Perhaps even someone from Ryanair will comment – I’d love to have a debate about customer service with them, because their views and my views are obviously diametrically opposed.
The first time I flew with Ryanair was about twelve years ago. I went to Dublin for a long weekend with some work colleagues, and we decided to fly from Leeds Bradford Airport as it was a central location for us all to get to – we all worked for the railway so could get to Leeds Bradford very cheaply. There were no problems with the outbound flight, and we had a great weekend in Dublin. Things went wrong on the return flight when we were diverted from Leeds Bradford to Teesside Airport, near Darlington, because of fog at Leeds Bradford. When we arrived at Teesside we were ushered off the plane and told that ‘there would be coaches to take us back to Leeds Bradford’. No apology. I live in Peterborough, so after waiting half an hour for the coaches to arrive I decided, with another colleague, to get a taxi to Darlington station and catch a train home from there. I was home in Peterborough an hour before my other colleagues arrived back in Leeds by coach. I wasn’t too perturbed – I thought it was just a one-off.
A year or so later, I met a friend for lunch in Essex. She had flown over with Ryanair from Dusseldorf in Germany where she was on a business trip from the U.S. Yes, I do have a few international jet set friends! We had lunch in a country pub a few miles from Stansted Airport and arrived back just in time for my friend to check in for her return flight. As we entered the terminal building at Stansted, the flight was showing as checking in at a numbered desk. By the time we got there, a minute later, it had closed. We were met with a barrage of indifference. My friend had no option but to pay an extra £40 for a seat on the next available flight. I made a mental note to avoid flying with Ryanair again. I wasn’t in the least impressed with the uncaring attitude displayed by the staff – which I’m sure originates much higher up in the organisation.
I had stuck to my guns, despite several visits to Ireland in the last few years I had resolutely refused to fly with Ryanair, preferring Aer Lingus (who are not perfect, but that’s another story!). Last year, a friend and I booked a week’s holiday in Spain through an online booking service. The airline wasn’t specified, until the booking details came through a week before we were due to depart. Neither of us had flown with Ryanair for a very long time. We realised that we were flying with Ryanair when we saw the flight number with the prefix ‘FR’, but it was too late by then. Being the positive sort of person that I am, I thought it would be a good experience to see if things had improved. Arriving at Gatwick Airport we made our way to the check-in desk to get our boarding cards. The polite young man on the desk (who didn’t work for Ryanair) asked us for our boarding cards. I said that we had come to see him to get them. That’s when we were told that you have to print off your boarding cards at home, or pay an excess charge of £40 per person. So, we had no option but to pay the £80. Then we got on the plane and listened to the pilot welcoming us to ‘the legendary Ryanair experience’. Enough said.
The final straw came for me last week when I was listening to Ryanair’s Director of Communications defending the airline’s decision to fly in the face of advice from the CAA regarding scheduling flights while there was a perceived danger from a volcanic ash cloud. The message I got loud and clear from that radio interview was that Ryanair may value making money even more highly than passenger safety. I’d love to hear what you think!
Ryanair are hungry for press attention, and I believe that their decision to fly was equally about getting publicity. Ryanair are quite sneaky when it comes to that… good or bad publicity, they don’t really care. They hardly spend on advertising, so anything goes.
They are also well aware that they get away with hidden fees and lousy customer service, as long as they perceived to be the cheapest airline (whether they actually are or not). Although I personally vow never to fly with them, they obviously have a customer base who are willing to compromise. If they didn’t, they would have gone bust a long time ago.
Benjy – thank you for your comment! I agree that Ryanair are successful because they compete purely on price, but once you have added on all the ‘extras’ I wonder if they are any cheaper than Easyjet or any of the other no-frills airlines. I accept that I may have been unfortunate to have had three poor experiences with Ryanair, but I have flown many more times with Easyjet and never had a bad experience with them – perhaps I will write about them soon!
OMG! We are using Ryanair for the first time on 15th June to fly to Malaga to visit my son. We are already underwhelmed with all the extra charges. Being of a positive nature, I am trusting all will be well. 🙂
I hope you have a better experience than I have Margaret. Perhaps you would like to come back here and comment again after your trip. I hope you have a great time in Malaga, and enjoy the legendary Ryanair experience 🙂
I have flown with Ryanair numerous times and have never had any problem at all… I have always found you get exactly what it says on the tin, to coin a phrase! However, their rigidity with luggage is my big irritant, having been made to check my small bag in at the departure gate when heading to York to a Toastmasters conference. They are a no frills airline… if you want frills fly with someone else! I always price around and go with the cheapest… my most recent flights have been Aer Lingus, who are more laid back on carry on luggage, a big plus!
I agree Maire – you do get what you pay for, and I have had some rather poor customer service from British Airways too in the last couple of years, but that was probably more to do with what was going on behind the scenes in the company at the time. I have some friends who travel with Ryanair often and they just laugh about it – their latest Ryanair experience is just part of the trip and they accept that!
On 23 June 2011 Ryanair flight from Stansted, London to Faro, Portugal landed in Malaga, Spain. The pilot made an announcement a few minutes before the landing that we wouldn’t be able to land in Faro and he didn’t know what the reason for it was. The weather was perfect, by the way. No hotel was offered or offer to complete the journey on the next flight. People were dumped in the middle of the night in the wrong country. This airline makes its profits from not flying all the way and dumping people where it’s cheaper for them to do so. They also don’t want to pay penalties at airports when they are late. We were over an hour late taking off, so presumably it was too late to land in the small Faro airport . We had to continue our journey on a 6.5 hour journey by coach in the heat at night in the upright seat across Spain. We were on the coash all night and got to Faro in the morning the next day. A day of holiday was wasted, a hotel bill wasted, and over 8 hours of hell endured – late take off, looking for a coach, coach journey, missed shuttle). Ryanair refuse to refund or credit that flight. Flying someone to the wrong country isn’t a good enough reason it seems. If you intend to fly with Ryanair, beware that you may end up where it’s more profitable for them to be and not where you booked.
You have been warned!