Ryan air experience?

Considering booking Ryan Air between Brussels and Venice. Anyone used them? How were they?

I don't know if they've turned things differently since I flew on them, but for me never again unless I only have a purse and am willing to TRAVEL to their out of the way airports.

 

Taking a bus for an hour to get to the "Frankfurt area airport" was not worth it and then having to take the train for 45 minutes to get to London on the other end really wasted valuable vacation time.

 

IF you don't pack heavy bags, and don't mind having to go a ways to get to your final destination it might be for you.

I have flown with Ryan Air once as well, that was enough as they say, their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, and they are always trying to get extra cash from customers, their owner has even suggested charging for using the toilets for goodness sake.

 

The airports that they use are not always the closest to the city they service, Wayfairs you are from Florida, are you familiar with Orlando Airport and Sandford Orlando very similar to that.

Considering booking Ryan Air between Brussels and Venice. Anyone used them? How were they?

 

Brussels Airlines flying between the actual Brussels Airport BRU and the actual Venice Airport Marco Polo VCE would be a better choice.

 

Ryanair would fly from the remote airports of Brussels Charleroi and Venice Treviso.

 

When Ryanair flies to main airports, I do consider them an option and am always prepared to expect the worst and am sometimes pleasantly surprised. Seating is poor and baggage rules and fees are the worst.

There are a number of key things to remember with Ryanair:

1. Make sure they are flying to where you want to go, not to an airport 100 km away.

2. Print out your boarding passes in advance. If you do not, you will be charged a penalty.

3. Baggage/hand luggage restrictions are normally tightly enforced.

4. In-flight food and drink is expensive.

5. In the event of a flight delay or cancellation you will very much be left to your own devices - do not expect help in the form of finding hotels etc.

6. The initial fare may look cheap, but will increase significantly once you factor in additional costs.

 

Having said that, they operate a modern fleet, have a good safety record and for short European flights I find the seats OK, especially if you pay extra for an emergency exit row.

There are a number of key things to remember with Ryanair:

1. Make sure they are flying to where you want to go, not to an airport 100 km away.

2. Print out your boarding passes in advance. If you do not, you will be charged a penalty.

3. Baggage/hand luggage restrictions are normally tightly enforced.

4. In-flight food and drink is expensive.

5. In the event of a flight delay or cancellation you will very much be left to your own devices - do not expect help in the form of finding hotels etc.

6. The initial fare may look cheap, but will increase significantly once you factor in additional costs.

 

Having said that, they operate a modern fleet, have a good safety record and for short European flights I find the seats OK, especially if you pay extra for an emergency exit row.

 

All nicely summed-up.:)

 

I prefer not to spend my money with Michael O'Leary and his airline, his PR & customer service are awful.:(

 

Then I look at the prices. And even after the add-ons, I have to say they are very good value if the airports are convenient.:)

And because they over-estimate flight times, they frequently arrive early even if they take-off late. Best punctuality in the business.

 

One of the more extreme proponents of no-frills, but very satisfactory.

 

JB :)

JB - thank you for your compliment.

Agree with the others on Ryanair. The only way to get the full price for any journey is to go right through the booking process, adding 'extras' like checked luggage as you go. Note also the strictly applied rules on hand luggage size - 1cm too big and you have to check it and pay through the nose.

Thanks for the good info. We have booked a train instead of flying. Reading your comments reminded me of the hassles of flying and why we avoid it if possible. The train ride should be pretty.

Not sure I would fly on them again even if they paid ME.

Thanks for the good info. We have booked a train instead of flying. Reading your comments reminded me of the hassles of flying and why we avoid it if possible. The train ride should be pretty.

 

That's a fair old train trip - More or less the Orient Express. 17 hours 33 mins according the Goggle.

 

Better is to stay overnight in Milan or Turin.

 

Option 1, by daytime trains via Paris. This is an inexpensive and good-quality option, with some great scenery...

 

Step 1, take a late morning Thalys train from Brussels to Paris Gare du Nord in 1h20, from €35 booked at http://www.b-europe.com. You print your own ticket. There's usually a Thalys leaving Brussels around 10:30 or 11:10.

 

Allow at least 90 minutes in Paris to change trains and stations by metro or taxi to the Gare de Lyon. Why not allow a bit more time and have lunch at the remarkable Train Bleu restaurant inside Paris Gare de Lyon?

 

Step 2, take the afternoon Paris-Italy TGV train leaving Paris Gare de Lyon at 14:41 and arriving Turin 20:18, Milan Porto Garibaldi at 21:51, book this at http://www.capitainetrain.com with fares from just €29. Stay overnight in Milan or Turin.

 

Step 3, book onward tickets from Milan or Turin to Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice or anywhere in Italy at http://www.italiarail.com (easy to use, in plain English, they'll refund seat61 users the €3.50 booking fee if you email seat61@italiarail.com with your PNR) or http://www.trenitalia.com (requires Italian-language place names and has a few quirks so see this advice on using it, no booking fee, allows specific seat selection). Both sites sell the same tickets at the same prices and both usually offer ticketless travel, you simply quote your PNR on board the train.

 

Alternatively, you can leave Brussels by Thalys around 07:35 daily except Sundays, change trains & stations in Paris and pick up the earlier 10:41 TGV to Turin & Milan, arriving Turin around 16:18 and Milan Porta garibaldi around 17:51. It would then be possible to catch an onwards train to Florence, Rome or Venice the same day. You'd book this earlier option in exactly the same way.

 

http://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Brussels.htm#Brussels-Italy

 

What route have you booked?

Edited July 6, 2015 by Bob++

We are going Brussels to Paris, spending the night. Then Paris to Venice changing trains in Milan.

 

Where did you get the quote from? Didn't realize you could quote from another thread!?

I fly Ryanair regularly.

They are a great airline if you stick to their rules - baggage size, baggage weight, checking in online.

Their customer service has greatly improved in the last six months or so and the second small cabin bag is great.

 

Factor in the prices to get from their airports to where you want to go, it may still work out substantially cheaper than the other options. I would have no hesitation in recommending them. As long as you stick to the rules.

I have to agree with new grange. I have also flown with Ryanair many times and never encountered a problem because I abide by their rules. People. Who complain about them are generally those who think the T & Cs don't apply to them. In the past couple of years I have taken a mobility scooter with me and they have been the most efficient airline dealing with it. Their call centre is in Ireland and not in India as with BA. I have no problem in using them at all.

The 'sticking to the rules' caution applies more with Ryanair than most other airlines. Not a criticism, just reinforcing the message. Bags over-weight = extra charge: More bags than you booked = extra charge: Haven't printed off your boarding card = extra charge.

Just make sure that you have read and re-read the rules, and NEVER use Ryanair to fly in on the day of a cruise departure as they are more inclined to cancel flights [imho] than other airlines.

...their owner has even suggested charging for using the toilets for goodness sake.

 

Actually he didn't.

 

A TV interviewer suggested it as a joke when speaking to MOL about their charges, and MOL played along agreeing that it was something he should consider.

 

You only have to see the stunts MOL gets involved in to realise he will do anything to get free publicity.

Taking out the seats & providing passengers with something to lean against, similar to some McDonald's outlets, was one of his. :D

 

And instead of paying baggage fees to take your tatty clothing on holiday with you, buy cheap tat when you get there & throw it in the bin before you come home.

 

No, of course he wasn't serious (I hope :)) but they're fairly typical of the feller - any publicity is good publicity.

 

But it's the distain which the guy clearly has for his passengers that gets to me - I get the impression he'd never use a cheapskate organisation like his own.

Kinda like Groucho Marx's quote "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member "

 

JB :)

He doesn't hold his passengers in distain, he just understands that a significant number of people are happy to treat a short haul flight as a bus trip, and pay bus fare prices.

 

Why do you anything fancy if you are only going to be sat there for 90 minutes and it cost £20.

 

The problem comes with people who don't understand that with bus fare prices you don't get grovelling service, and then moan.

 

As for a cheapskate operation, personality I am happy to pay buttons to fly on one of the newest fleet of aircraft operated by any airline.

He doesn't hold his passengers in distain, he just understands that a significant number of people are happy to treat a short haul flight as a bus trip, and pay bus fare prices.

 

Why do you anything fancy if you are only going to be sat there for 90 minutes and it cost £20.

 

The problem comes with people who don't understand that with bus fare prices you don't get grovelling service, and then moan.

 

As for a cheapskate operation, personality I am happy to pay buttons to fly on one of the newest fleet of aircraft operated by any airline.

 

Ahhh, but what makes you think I want anything fancy, my insane friend?

I never suggested anything like that - as per my previous post, I've always found the service "very satisfactory", "best punctuality in the business" and"very good value".

 

I'm quite content to get bus-fare service for bus-fare prices - though nowadays nowhere near as low as £20 ???

 

The last time a Ryanair flight that cost me around the £20 mark was about 15 years ago. Advertised as 50p but with add-ons totalled about £20 - that's the way the feller used to do his sums before the govt. regulators stepped in.

Here's a song inspired by the man's pricing policy of the time

 

But it's the man's arrogance that gets through to me - and yes I think "distain for his passengers" sums it up. He treats them as cheapskates.

 

He likes to be controversial at the expense of his staff & his clientele & anyone else.

Here are some examples of his philosophy.

(Some I agree with ;))

http://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2013/nov/08/michael-o-leary-33-daftest-quotes

 

I fly with Ryanair if I have to - it's no good preferring to fly Easyjet or Flybe to Krakow if only Ryanair fly there. But given the choice I'd prefer to spend my money with another airline.

 

JB :)

But it's the distain which the guy clearly has for his passengers that gets to me ...

He doesn't hold his passengers in distain, he just understands that a significant number of people are happy to treat a short haul flight as a bus trip, and pay bus fare prices.

I think that there was a bit more to it than that. It was a deliberate part of the marketing strategy to portray the airline as being absolutely rigid about delivering only the bare essentials, with no extra customer service, as the quid pro quo for the much lower fares that the airline charged.

 

Of course, things change over time: the airline has grown and the market has matured.

 

From the airline's side, it's picked much of the low-hanging fruit in the sense of markets that could be profitably served with such a rigidly-disciplined low-cost and low-fare approach (note that "low-cost" and "low-fare" are two different things, although the media are generally too stupid to understand that). In addition, governments have got wise to the vast amount of public/taxpayer money that was being pumped into Ryanair routes in the form of business or tourism subsidies to start a route; but contrary to the implicit undertaking from the airline inherent in that, it often turned out to be the case that as soon as the start-up subsidy ceased, so did the route. And if Ryanair was going to run its business on the back of State subsidies, then the regulators would want to know why; they did, and this practice has had to be scaled up. The outcome is that Ryanair's net costs seem to be going up, so fares had to go up.

 

From the market's point of view, you can fool much of the market (especially new customers) for a certain amount of time by keeping headline fares low. But as Ryanair's fares have gone up, there has been increasing market awareness of that fact. More and more media articles have been written demonstrating how it wasn't cheaper for a normal person to fly Ryanair on a normal trip, because by the time you've paid all of the extras you could have got a cheaper flight from a conventional network airline. And as the market has got wiser to the assessing the total cost of travel, Ryanair's original marketing appeal has waned.

 

Profit growth slipped, and everyone could see potential financial trouble on the horizon if things did not change. So this led to a change of strategy, with O'Leary announcing a kinder, gentler Ryanair. "We should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off," he said at the company's AGM in September 2013.

 

As he publicly recognised this, I find it hard to see how the perceived "disdain" for passengers was not deliberate. It wasn't personal - he's not like that personally - but it did make the airline work for a while. However, the airline's now recognised that it has to change, and it's doing so.

 

The love of publicity stunts hasn't waned, though. One recent one was all of the media falling hook, line and sinker for the apparently firm announcement of plans for trans-Atlantic flights, which had been long been rumoured and suggested by the company itself. One look at the proposed timescale and the excuses for how long it would take was enough to confirm to knowledgeable observers that it was yet another bit of fluff. The stupid media completely fell for it, though. And it lasted something like 3 days before a board meeting was reported to have abandoned the idea; that news probably had to be published like that because otherwise it could have led to a false market on the stock exchanges, which would have been a serious business problem for Ryanair.

 

The old approach has managed to score some own goals. One of the biggest was unnecessarily pissing off Airbus, but that's not a story whose details are really for here - other than to say that there are suggestions that this increases the price which Boeing charges Ryanair for its aircraft purchases.

I'm quite content to get bus-fare service for bus-fare prices - though nowadays nowhere near as low as £20 ???

 

The last time a Ryanair flight that cost me around the £20 mark was about 15 years ago. Advertised as 50p but with add-ons totalled about £20

 

There are plenty of sub £10 flights on offer at any time.

 

As for add-ons, the only add-on charges are for optional extras. If you see a £9.99 flight, you can pay £9.99.

There are plenty of sub £10 flights on offer at any time.

 

As for add-ons, the only add-on charges are for optional extras. If you see a £9.99 flight, you can pay £9.99.

 

Well now, there's a challenge ;)

 

Just checked Ryanair's website.

Perhaps you can link me to a flight under £10 cos I can't find one.

It heralds promos from £19.85. On three routes, all UK to Ireland.

 

Best I could find was Gatwick to Cork 8th Sept at £19.85, returning 1st Sept at £16.29. Total at this point £36.28.

But when I go to "book" it shows fares of £23.99 each-way & a running total of £47.98

This isn't the effect of fluid pricing, the same thing happened starting the process from scratch several times. And each time it showed availability of one seat outbound & two for the return.

It includes 10kg hand luggage.

Adding one 15kg case adds £25 each-way. More expensive for my case than for me, but it doesn't get its own seat :p

Running total now £97.98.

Paying by credit card pushes it over £100.

 

So that's flights advertised from £16.29 one-way ending up at an average of £50 one-way.

That's without guaranteed seats £5.99+ e/w, or totally uneconomical (like £100+) supplements for booking by phone or in person, or any other add-ons.

 

Again, don't mis-understand me - £50 to get me & my bag to Ireland is still good value.

But it ain't sub-£10 or £16.29 or even £23.99.

And that's part of my reasons for not wanting to put money into Ryanair's pocket.

 

Unless of course you can tempt me with a £20 return to somewhere.

Anywhere. :D

 

JB :)

Well said JB

I just bought return tickets Dublin to Birmingham for the Christmas markets for myself and my partner for 19.98 euro return. That's going Friday evening, back Sunday evening.

 

They are not always the cheapest. Going away to Berlin the August (Irish) Bank holiday - Ryanair was over 500 euro for the two of us while Aer Lingus will take us for 368 euro.

 

As long as you realise what you are getting and as long as nothing goes wrong, they're fine.

Well now, there's a challenge ;)

 

Just checked Ryanair's website.

Perhaps you can link me to a flight under £10 cos I can't find one.

It heralds promos from £19.85. On three routes, all UK to Ireland.

 

Best I could find was Gatwick to Cork 8th Sept at £19.85, returning 1st Sept at £16.29. Total at this point £36.28.

But when I go to "book" it shows fares of £23.99 each-way & a running total of £47.98

This isn't the effect of fluid pricing, the same thing happened starting the process from scratch several times. And each time it showed availability of one seat outbound & two for the return.

It includes 10kg hand luggage.

Adding one 15kg case adds £25 each-way. More expensive for my case than for me, but it doesn't get its own seat :p

Running total now £97.98.

Paying by credit card pushes it over £100.

 

So that's flights advertised from £16.29 one-way ending up at an average of £50 one-way.

That's without guaranteed seats £5.99+ e/w, or totally uneconomical (like £100+) supplements for booking by phone or in person, or any other add-ons.

 

Again, don't mis-understand me - £50 to get me & my bag to Ireland is still good value.

But it ain't sub-£10 or £16.29 or even £23.99.

And that's part of my reasons for not wanting to put money into Ryanair's pocket.

 

Unless of course you can tempt me with a £20 return to somewhere.

Anywhere. :D

 

JB :)

 

Quite apart from the difficulty of returning a week before you set off, which I assume is a typo ;), I think you've missed the point about optional extras. If Ryanair offers you a flight for £20, it isn't fair to complain that a flight plus a suitcase plus a credit card payment costs £50. How much for the flight without the optional extras? If they say £19.85 and charge £23.99, then you have a legitimate complaint, but only £4.14's worth of complaint. Not £30+.