A Ryanair review

Dear world, I have joined your understanding in the frustration towards Ryanair.

Having flown Ryanair for both my flights, to and from Dublin, and having both flights delayed, it is my sincere belief that Ryanair is an airline that I would only fly if I were on a budget (which, sadly, I am) and if there were absolutely no flight cheaper or no other alternatives were available.

I admit, I went in feeling more than a little scared that I would either a) be made to pay an extra €50 for excess luggage, or b) face horrible people at the flight gate, but while neither of these fears were realised, having my flights delayed with no updates on the situation was far from ideal.

I am proud to say that at neither of my flights did I get stopped for excess luggage - in no small part due to my having worn half my clothes and sticking a feather quill in my hair. We'll get round to that in a bit, but first, this is what happened with Ryanair.

On my flight to Dublin on Thursday October 10, my boarding pass stated that gates closed at 7.40AM. I got to the airport at around 7.20, cutting it a bit close, but nonetheless I was there. I reached my gate at 7.35AM, having seen all the airport panels showing my gate 'now boarding', so I was expecting to be the only crazy last-minute person there. You can imagine my surprise when everyone was still waiting.

Never mind what the panels claimed about the gates being 'now boarding'; the gates hadn't yet opened at all, even those who had purchased priority boarding were in line. Mind, this was a pretty small waiting area, so it got pretty crowded.

Long story short, I freaked out when at 7.50AM, standing pretty near to the people who were taking boarding passes at the gate, I heard the staff say "The pilot isn't in the aircraft."I don't know if Ryanair possesses next-generation autopilot technology, but I like my planes to have someone sitting in front.

At 8AM we finally managed to start boarding, and the panels switched from 'now boarding' to 'final call'. I'm glad that I was standing close to the staff so at least I could keep a ear on what was going on, but for passengers who had absolutely no clue why we were being delayed (the delay wasn't even reflected on any of the panels!) I imagine they must've been furious.

Like many budget airlines, Ryanair doesn't rent airbridges, so we have to walk the stairs to the ground level, walk on the Tarmac and then up movable stairs onto the aircraft. My flight was supposed to have taken off at 8.13AM, and of course, at 8.13AM I was still walking on the Tarmac. We didn't take off until 8.40 at least.

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On my return flight back from Dublin, I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. My flight was supposed to take off at 10.55PM and arrive in Edinburgh 11.59PM; I got to the airport at around 9.30, giving myself at least 50 minutes to clear immigration, baggage check, and everything before my gates closed 40 minutes before departure.

When I got to the airport, the panels showed that the 10.55PM flight to Edinburgh had been rescheduled for 00:20. Well, at least this time they made it known that we would have to expect delays.

Luckily for this flight, we were kept informed of what was going on (the plane that was supposed to be flying to Dublin and then make the return flight to Edinburgh had faced a delay in taking off from Edinburgh, pushing the entire schedule backwards) so it wasn't a very frustrating wait.

Still, though, at least I didn't get stopped for luggage at the gate - in no small part because I was wearing my camera on my body rather than stuffing it in my bag, and the feather quill I bought from Dublin I stuck in my hair because I had no idea how it was going to fit in my luggage. Also, I was wearing four layers of clothes when I came back from Dublin - a camisole, a turtleneck, a thick sweater, and a coat - so I was pretty warm in the plane but at least it saved me from having to part with €50.

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Ryanair isn't the best airline to fly, but it is cheap. If there are alternatives, I would very strongly discourage people from flying Ryanair. There are plenty of other budget carriers - Aer Lingus, EasyJet, Jet2, FlyBe, and countless others. Some of these have flights cheaper than even Ryanair's, if you look around for the right flights at the right times.

For me, as far as budgeting in trips is an issue, I will have to continue flying whatever airline is cheapest - and most of the time, this will mean Ryanair. I haven't had the best first impression of them, but I do hope that subsequent experiences with Ryanair will be much better than my first.