Flying With Ryanair May Be Bumpy, But It’s Worth It

Ryanair likes to show off its on-time record. Photo: Rachel King.

Ryanair often gets a bad rap in the press. Sometimes for all its penny-pinching, tacked-on fees, complete lack of frills or how far a lot of the airports it serves are from the advertised destinations.

But still, sometimes you can’t knock how cheap some of those fares are. For instance, last week, I flew between Brussels, Mallorca, Madrid and Porto, Portugal for just about €50 ($68). That’s not including an easyJet flight and actually getting to those airports, but it’s an incredibly cheap airfare budget, nonetheless.

However, flying with the Ireland-based airline is not without its memorable moments.

For one, I was able to keep my budget down because I only had a tiny carry-on duffel bag (with both my purse and DSLR camera taken apart, stuffed inside) that was under the 10-kg rule (about 22 pounds). And don’t think they won’t weigh it, nor ask you to put it in the measurement bin to see if its under the width/length limit. While flying from Palma to Madrid, the ladies in front of me were dramatically trying every which way to stuff a small (but not very petite) roller suitcase into the bin. Miraculously, after about 10 minutes, they got it in there, but I’m still not sure how.

Another problem is that often times, the airport isn’t really near the city listed on their website. We flew out of Brussels-Charleroi airport, which is actually about an hour south of Brussels, and fairly difficult to reach without a car. (There is a shuttle from Brussels-Midi train station for €13, but it wasn’t easy to find given that everyone inside the station seemed to have a different opinion about where it was.) There are plenty of other examples around Europe as well. I still don’t count Beauvais as Paris, nor Girona nor Reus as Barcelona. Take a good look at a map and find how much it costs to get from the airport to the city center before actually booking.

Once you’re on the plane, passengers have to pay for any food or drinks, but it turns out that their in-flight magazines and access to the bathrooms are still free of charge. There isn’t much entertainment onboard unless you bring your own (i.e. iPod, netbook or even a plain old book if you can avoid the motion sickness). Not to mention these three flights were three of the bumpiest I’ve ever flown. But the bolts of the plane held together.

There's no row 13 on Ryanair. Photo: Rachel King.

Along with the low-fares, the shining quality of this airline is their timeliness. Ryanair holds true to its motto, “the on-time airline.” Not one of my three flights within the same week in three different countries were delayed. In fact, they were either right on time or early.

The key to understanding how to save money by flying with Ryanair is not to make any changes to your booking or luggage. The airline basically makes money by knowing that people are likely to make mistakes, and they exploit this to every degree. Even if you have to call their customer service center, no matter what the reason, it is a toll call. (Although, I got around this by using Skype.)

Overall, I’d fly with Ryanair again if it fit my itinerary. But given the fact that easyJet doesn’t have a weight limit for its carry-on baggage and it flies into larger airports (i.e. Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Gatwick), I’d be pressed to go with easyJet over Ryanair if it came to a decision.