I’ve been flying with Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, almost since they started. We fly with them regularly, as they ply the routes we currently use or have used in the past, at the most convenient times, and usually at the best price.
Ryanair is a controversial airline, not least because of the oft ridiculous utterings of their chief executive, Michael O’Leary. They are leaders in the field; where they introduce changes most other airlines follow.
The company also expected not to pay landing charges at tiny airfields in Spain, France and elsewhere, where the airline promised them big business. When these airfields cottoned on and suggested Ryanair might pay them, the Irish company simply walked away. I can think of Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Carcassonne, Frankfurt Hahn and Waterloo. There are many more. O’Leary and his mates are unscrupulous and uncompromising.
The routes I have used include Liverpool to Granada, Málaga, Jerez and Sevilla, to Cologne, Düsseldorf Weeze and Frankfurt Hahn. Since I moved to live in Spain 15 years ago, my routes have changed to Malaga, Sevilla or Jerez to airports like Baden-Baden, Hahn or Weeze and Bristol, Gatwick and Stansted.
Booking flights online these days is a nightmare. Offers and add-ons come at you thick and fast. And if you want to travel with more than a small bag, you pay extra; lots extra.
I flew from Malaga to London Stansted yesterday. I opted to fly with a carry-on bag, so I just paid for the flight. A 10kg small case would have cost me 40€ extra. I also refused to book a seat and pay a charge of anything between 10€ and 40€. I let them allocate me a random seat. I got 9D. Not bad, an aisle seat near the front of the aircraft.
So, I just paid 55€. A bargain for a 3000 km journey.
Normally I am quite happy to fly with Ryanair. I can put up with the non-reclinable seats and the tiny legroom for between two and three hours, their coffee (Lavazza) is drinkable, and their food offering has improved immensely over the years.
More gripes about yesterday. The flight left 50 minutes late with no explanation given and no apology until we had landed and were about to disembark the plane.
More gripes, although these are not Ryanair’s fault.
At Stansted the automatic passport machines, as is often the case, were refusing scores of passengers, so we had to traipse to the manual desks, where the queue was immense. An hour to clear the airport is unacceptable. Then a 25-minute wait for a bus into London. Not my best ever flight day.
But, hey, I got here safely, albeit late for an appointment, and am now enjoying the company of my daughter and her two sons in Stratford, London. On Monday I head for Hastings to my son’s to meet my newly born grandson for the first time.
Unusually I fly back to Malaga next Wednesday with Vueling, the Spanish low-cost carrier. They’re just as much a rip-off as Ryanair. I need to book a small case to take some stuff back to Spain, which will cost me 40 pounds.
© The Curmudgeon
Tags: Baden-Baden, Bristol, Carcassonne, Cologne, Curmudgeon, Dusseldorf Weeze, Frankfurt Hahn, Gatwick, Granada, Hastings, Jerez de la Frontera, Lavazza, Liverpool, low-cost airline, Malaga, Michael O’Leary, , Ryanair, Sevilla, Stansted, Stratford, Vueling, Waterloo