What two years flying Ryanair will do to you

Not really me (it's been a while since I was 36 for one thing) but I do fly Ryanair a lot.

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

Ryanair's new policy (it's good for once)

We’ve all been wound up by Ryanair over the years haven’t we? The luggage Nazis who patrol the queues looking for oversized hand-luggage, the unseemly stampedes for a seat, the grinning mug of Michael O’Leary as he announces some other way of making his customers suffer and those enticing low fares that balloon when the extras start totting up.

A typical example: Ryanair criticised over New Year advert. Ryanair ads suggested we all spend New Year’s Eve celebrating in Dublin using their super low £7 fares. Just one problem with that – the fares were for January and February so the earliest a reveller could arrive in Dublin would be as the clearing up began.

But now for something completely different. In praise of Ryanair! They now quote their fares with taxes and charges included. There are a few extras like the “EU 261 levy” and an online check-in fee but basically a flight of £50 costs more or less £50. Actually there is the other hidden charge which is a complete wind-up – the charge for using a credit or debit card which multiplies with every flight you book and bears no relation to Ryanair’s actual transaction costs. But all the airlines do that don’t they (and some other online merchants).

I use a Ryanair a lot and there are good reasons – they are in my experience less prone to delays than other airlines and, even when all the extras are added in, they are often the cheapest. One thing I have noticed is that it does NOT always pay to book a long way in advance. It is often the case that waiting until nearer the time (but not too near) is cheaper. I am also told that it is also wise to delete your cookies that track your previous searches and also affect the prices you are quoted (anyone know if that’s true?).

A final plus point for Ryanair – they make it free to print out your own boarding pass and skip check-in at the airport. Judging by some of the long and slow-moving queues I have seen at Malaga and London recently , that is a blessing.

From our website this week: Guide to Spanish Double Tax Treaty