Ryanair First time

Started by suendrob, May 31, 2018, 20:42:25 PM

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suendrob



We'd never used Ryanair before, as they never flew either where we wanted or when we wanted.

We had to drive from our Isle of Wight to visit a relative in Norfolk, when we realised we'd be passing Stansted. As we've always wanted to see Benidorm â€" Yes. Really. - it was a very convenient opportunity.
Ryanair and Benidorm â€" a perfect combination!!
Booking was cumbersome, but not too bad. We'd made life difficult for ourselves by taking one hold bag between us, This meant making two separate reservations, one with speedy boarding/seat/guaranteed cabin bag, one basic, with reserved seat. Not too difficult a process.
Printed boarding passes and used app on phone.
Boarding, as well as the lead-up went well, though it's a shame they won't pay to use the jetty, so it's a walk across the apron.
Cabin crew were polite, businesslike, rather than friendly, but absolutely fine.
We'd booked cross-aisle seats immediately behind the wing exits, as is our usual habit.
The couple who'd paid dearly for the extra-legroom were too fat for the seatbelts, so they got moved   back one, unfortunately for us. We took in in turns to sit with them, he never got to use the armrest though. No sympathy.
When I found no paper in the forward toilet (didn't actually need it, thankfully) I found the cabin crew resting at the aft end, said “Just letting you know there's no paper”. One immediately went off to replenish, 
Took off and landed on time, no issues at all. The aircraft interior was rather austere, felt cheap, I did worry about the thin seats, but perfectly comfortable.
There was actually more legroom on the aircraft than the modern, 'luxury' coach we'd booked for the transfer to Benidorm itself!
The whole experience was just as we expected â€" bearing in mind it was Ryanair to Alicante for Benidorm!

sungod

Hey

in what way was the booking cumbersome?

suendrob

Quote from: sungod on May 31, 2018, 20:52:52 PM
Hey

in what way was the booking cumbersome?

it's not very intuitive, perhaps because we;re used to easyJet and others, but it didn't seem to flow from one step to the next. Miss just one piece of info and you have to redo a whole page. The same thing if you have to go back to check something - start again. Just not very user-friendly, it seemed almost as if they were trying to make it difficult. It did the job, though.

Can the Man

I think you may be right in that your just not familiar with the booking system with Ryanair. I find their system very simple especially if you complete your profile with them. I fly with RA, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA among others, and I must say I prefer RA over them all.

decho

God Bless St Michael!
Yes it irritates me that I now usually have to pay more for extra legroom seats + priority boarding( so that I can take my cabin bag actually into the cabin) than for the flight itself, but hey, when your paying < £30 for a 4.5 hour flight, which is nearly always on time and cabin crew who are nearly always helpful, they will still be my first choice...although JEt2 are a little more civilised.
As for the booking...once you've set up an account with the names of regular fliers, booking is VERY quick and simple,.

zedzedeleven

Are the seatbelts in the extra legroom seats shorter than the seatbelts in the other seats?  Seems a bit strange as the people who pay extra to sit there are probably doing so because they are larger than normal
Mentor to the boneheads.

zedzedeleven

P.S. I`m sure I saw a flight attendant supply someone with a seatbelt extension once.
Mentor to the boneheads.

suendrob

These were the seats at the overwing emergency exits. It is, apparently, law that they can only be occupied by 'persons willing and able to assist evacuation, so no children, infirm etc can sit there. I know that I've seen it in print somewhere that seatbelt extenders are not allowed, either. Actually, I think that these two might have struggled to get through an emergency door themselves, let alone help others.

zedzedeleven

Yes, I suppose in those circumstances obese people will be classed as invalids and no help in an emergency evacuation. The airline wouldn`t know that if the seats were booked on line and probably not allowed to ask questions like "please state waist size" and anyway, women would fib.
Mentor to the boneheads.

suendrob

Copied from Ryanair faq 'Seat Restrictions'

For safety reasons to sit in an emergency exit seat (rows 1, 16 & 17) you must be:

16 years or older
Willing and able to help in the event of an emergency
Not traveling with an infant (in addition includes rows 15 and 18)
Not be a large customer requiring  a seat belt extender
Not have not booked an extra seat (comfort or additional item)
Not requiring airport special assistance of any kind
For safety reasons a maximum of 2 infants can be seated in any row (one on either side of the centre aisle).


The pair moved from the seats with no complaints, so they must have known the rules and were just trying it on, otherwise they'd have made a fuss!

btw I'm 6'4" and 16 stone and found the seats (and belts) comfortable, but wouldn't have wanted anything to be half an inch less!

decho

Don't know if it's the same in the new interior style planes, but on the old ones if I remember correctly the emergency exit seats have solid sides up to the arm rests, so those of a slightly larger disposition will find them a tight squeeze to fit into.
If you are tall like myself though it makes such a difference to the comfort of a 4.5 her flight.

sungod

Quote from: Can the Man on May 31, 2018, 22:21:28 PM
I think you may be right in that your just not familiar with the booking system with Ryanair. I find their system very simple especially if you complete your profile with them. I fly with RA, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA among others, and I must say I prefer RA over them all.

Yeah, I agree I think Ryanair has a good and easy booking system, and it's easy to get a overview over bookings and so on if you have a profile.


Canaryfly on the other hand.. worst website I have ever booked a ticket on.