A Once decent Airline, cheapens itself to the point of being vulgar (Ryanair)

Member Name: huggy2009

Product:	Ryanair
Date:	07/06/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap (Before you see the stealth taxes)

Disadvantages: Loads of extra charges added, quality is average and the loss of toilets will be awful

Ryanair are a low cost airline who specialise in offering flights throughout Europe. Owned by the flamboyant Michael O'Leary Ryanair is becoming synonomous with cheap and uncheerful flights with some money grabbing techniques which are creating very negative publicity for the brand.

Well known for having regular offers where you can book flights online for sometimes as little as a penny, they have offered value flights to many European destinations for over a decade, the prices are generally cheap but then hiked up by the taxes which are added to the price.

The companies website is fairly good, it looks cheap but has a great number of flight options, you can book flights and pay for them, there are some great options and flying to Barcelona or Venice can be really great.

However, the company have started making a loss and recently are coming up with more and more ideas to make money, they are charging for taking bags through check in, charging for check in and they have now even come up with the idea of taking toilets off the plane apart from one, giving them more seats to sell. With the short-term flights they offer this is not appealing to me, as somebody with IBS I can't think of anything worse than being on a plane to Spain with a number of stag groups who've drunk all day and then spending most of the flight crossing my legs praying the toilet might eventually come free.

This is a step too far in my mind and I won't use Ryanair again as much for my own health and peace of mind as anything, it reaks of opportunism and I would rather pay a set fee for a flight with decent facilities as i'm finding that once you add up all the stealth taxes now, Ryanair are not cheap and I am tired of going through pages of booking to then find the original price bears no relation to the final price.

I think these flights will still appeal to some, but having flown with Ryanair a few times, i'm not prepared to sacrifice my health or my quality of travel for a cheap price.

My View of the Flights:

The planes are fine, on three flights i've used them for, two were perfectly on time, staff were friendly but slightly amateurish in their work, the whole process is cheap and cheerful, seats are uncomfortable and unfortunately, although due to prices, entirely understandably, you get a lot of people drinking and the atmosphere can be a bit rowdy.

I have used them, but don't plan to again as a point of principle as much as anything, if you want to reduce quality to increase revenue on your flights, why not remove seats and make people stand (Perhaps I should copyright this idea before O'Leary brings it out!!)

Summary: A Once decent Airline, cheapens itself to the point of being vulgar