A great bargain flight! (Ryanair)

Member Name: Shellywelly

Product:	Ryanair
Date:	19/11/08 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Lack of refreshments, annoying ditty

I had used Ryan Air a few years ago and had a disastrous experience, however I recently decided to give them another go and my review is based on my recent experience.

My partner had booked some days off work so I decided to look for a day trip we could go on, I considered going to London but then summed up the prices of train etc and decided to look else where. On the off chance I decided to see if we could get good flights to go to Dublin for the day and Ryan Air was the obvious choice as it is a Irish airline and is known for cheap flights.

I did a search and managed to find the perfect flights for only 1p each way per person and no taxes!! Woohoo! As it was a day trip we could do online check in as we did not have luggage. The costs are considerably more if you have luggage and don't check in online, there are also extra charges for priority boarding etc.

Unfortunately Ryan Air charge a transaction fee for payment by card of £4 per person per flight, which unfortunately you have no choice but to pay this as you have to pay by card! However £16.04 total for a return to Dublin is fabulously cheap!

We boarded the plane at Birmingham Airport on time and the staff were friendly, Ryan air flights are basically a free for all, you choose your own seats on the plane so if you are at the back of the boarding queue do not expect to be able to sit together! We managed to get a seat together near the back of the plane and we were quite impressed , the plane was not as cramped as my last experience and the seats were leather and had arm rests that you could lift up, which is always a benefit when I have to squeeze my rounded bottom into the seats J

The staff on the plane had strong Irish accents and we were relieved that the safety information was given as a pre recording from someone with a more clear Irish accent! The safety information was given quickly and then the pilot introduced himself. He explained that the flight would be quite turbulent.

Once we were finally in the air the pilot announced that as the turbulence was moderate he would not be removing the seat belt sign and that we were only to leave our seats if necessary i.e. for a toilet run!

Shortly after the pilots announcement a very annoying ditty blared out of the speakers and it was Ryan Air's new signature tune that they were trying to get passengers to buy for kids - no chance!!

The staff brought round teas and coffees, I ordered a coffee which was £2.50 or Euro3, however it was impossible to drink with the turbulence!

Time for decent, we arrived on time and this was notified buy a loud hooter going off and an annoying American accent announcing that we had been on a Ryan air flight that had landed on time and apparently the majority of Ryan Air flights land on time. As I am sure you can imagine there were lots of sniggers after this hooter sound went off.

Return home

As I mentioned in my Dublin airport review coming home started off very traumatically as we almost missed our flight! Anyway when we finally got to the plane I was in the process of having a panic attack so my partner asked the steward for a cup of water at first the steward said they had nothing, then he took one look at me and as I was shaking head to toe and practically blue in the face he managed to find some! The steward looked more panicked over the situation than I was and I think it must have been the first time he had dealt with such a situation! We took out seat and the rest of the passengers boarded , within minutes the steward was back with me checking that I was ok and he checked a few times through out the rest of the flight. I was really impressed with the fact that he checked that I was ok on a few occasions.

The flight on the way home wasn't as turbulent as the way there, however they were not serving any drinks on the way home at all so we were dying of thirst and for that reason they lose another star as I would of given them four star if not!

Summary: Cheaper than a train to london!