You would think two years commuting back and forth between Stansted and Malaga at Michael O'Leary's convenience might take its toll.
Well yes and no.
The downsides to no frills air travel are well known - minimal leg room, a dash for seats, luggage nazis monitoring your hand luggage etc
All true and I can't say that I am a Ryanair fan exactly. There is a certain arrogance about them; they can be almost defiantly rude and wilfully careless of what their passengers and the public think.
My theory is that they like all the bad headlines (like Woman forced to pay £200 to print boarding tickets) because of a perverse kind of logic. If they can be so awful to customers and still book out their routes they must be the cheapest.
And they usually are. That's my first plus point - I shop around and they usually come out cheapest although less so nowadays. All the "cheap" airlines are a lot more expensive than they were only a year or so ago. That's partly the government's fault for putting up the tax remorselessly.
Another plus for me is that, once you know the system, the journey is quite predictable. You know they are strict about hand luggage and pack accordingly. You know you have to get in the queue early to get a good seat (or pay for Priority). You know you have to print your boarding pass.
Finally they have been amazingly punctual. I literally cannot remember the last time they were late either flying into or out of Malaga. It was certainly over a year ago. I have recently started to fly out o Gatwick with Easyjet on a Friday evening (better flight time) and they have been late twice on the trot.
(UPDATE: the first time I flew Ryanair after I published this blog I was delayed by about 45 minutes. I should not have opened my big mouth!)
So (and it pains me to say it because of their lousy attitude) - two cheers for Ryanair.
From our website: Spanish income tax
They are always on time, because their flight durations are inflated.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous above is correct. They can take off 20 minutes late yet still arrive 10 minutes early! Looks good on the stats and makes people think they're on time, and therefore happy. Its pretty clever really.
ReplyDeleteI actually have few gripes with ryanair. They're cheap and cheerful and have enabled me to get back to the UK to see family, and also have had friends come out to me. People who never thought they'd be able to afford a spanish holiday, have managed an off season £50 return with ryanair. Read the rules carefully to avoid the stings and they're fine.