Know What to Expect When Flying with Ryanair

Thursday May 24, 2007

I am someone who tends not to boycott products on principle when it puts me out more than it affects the company I would like to boycott. This is why, despite previous complaints about Ryanair, I have continued to fly with Ryanair. Usually, their prices are just too good to be true and I can put up with the draconian weight restrictions and lousy customer service if I can fly at half the price of their nearest competitor and at a tenth of the cost of the major carriers.

However, on two recent occasions, even with my tickets already paid, flying with Ryanair has forced me to fork out extra cash before I could actually get to my destination. On the first occasion, Ryanair denied me the right to fly due to a technicality with my passport (a passport they declared to be invalid, but which the British passport authority deemed to be perfectly acceptable). On the second occasion, Ryanair moved forward my flight's departure time by six hours, meaning that rather than catching my usual bus from my flat in Salamanca to Valladolid airport, I had to spend money on a hotel in Valladolid and pay for an expensive taxi to the bus station. as there were no buses from Salamanca so early in the morning.

Special circumstances maybe, but similar things can happen to anyone. Like when you fly with Ryanair to 'Barcelona', only to have your flight land 100km away in Reus or Barcelona. How are you going to get to Barcelona from there? It's important to remember that the cost of getting to your holiday destination doesn't stop when you purchase your ticket.

Ryanair will usually be cheaper than any other airline, but you ought to know what you are getting yourself into when flying with Ryanair: read this Full Review of Flying with Ryanair.

Further Reading