Find Your Own Seat (ryanair.com)

Member Name: Tupps

Product:	ryanair.com
Date:	18/06/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: That's only the ticket; cough up for everything else

I think most of us have a certain perception of Ryanair, whether we've flown with them or not. Most people think of them as the budget airline to end them all, and it's a fair point. But when I heard various horror stories of them on the news I was dreading the day I might have to fly with them. Then I did and honestly, it wasn't THAT bad.

I flew with Ryanair from East Midlands Airport to Girona (Barcelona) in April. I was surprised at the amount of legroom for a start: it's better than other cheap airlines I've used. I was a bit surprised that they've taken away the pocket on the seatbacks; nowhere to stash my mag while I went to the loo!

Cheap airline it may be, but everything else is extra. Cups of tea/coffee, snacks, sandwiches - all must be paid for. We paid around £1.50 for a standard two finger Twix and around £3 for a cup of tea. Rip off but you haven't got much choice up there!

The worse thing about Ryanair is the fact that you do not get assigned a seat, something I've never ever encountered with an airline before. You just have to get on and find a seat, like getting on a bus. The only problem with this is most passengers seem to want to sit either at the front of the plane or the back so it gets congested while people squabble over seats! You can easily end up sitting away from your hand luggage; it just gets shoved into any overhead storage bin and then you have to fight with other passengers to get your bag back.

And this is another problem with Ryanair: because they charge quite a lot for check in luggage, most people just take carry on bags and the overhead lockers get rammed. If you do want to take check in luggage, Ryanair are not as generous as other airlines: about 15kg each person instead of 20kg.

Halfway through our flight, a stewardess came round flogging scratch cards - another new in-flight experience for me.

A few weeks ago, on BBC Breakfast, I saw an article about Ryanair in which it was stated they were toying with the idea of taking away some toilets, just leaving the one on the whole plane, in order to get a few more seats on board, and thus make a bit more dosh. I hope this isn't true (and it wasn't April Fool's Day), one toilet to serve an entire plane full of people would be a nightmare!

The one good thing I would say about Ryanair is this: if you're just going somewhere for a few days (I went to the Costa Brava for 3 nights), I would consider flying with them - after all, they get you from A to B quickly enough and for not much money. It's not a bad airline in that sense, if you're after a cheap few days away.

But under no circumstances would I EVER consider flying with them all the way to the States. NO WAY!

Summary: Not a bad airline to use for a short flight