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Ryanair | The Review

By February 20, 2014 No Comments

Did we really just get asked to make change for a ten over the intercom?

Yupp. That just happened. This was my first experience on Ryanair.  I’d heard about the airline over a decade ago and planned many a trip that didn’t come to fruition. Seems like everyone had a bad experience… and yet, people kept flying. All this bad press left me with some anxiety as to how this would end up.  But at $100 round trip with a bag it seemed like the unicorn of flights, so here we were, ready to board the flight from Rabat to Madrid.
Up to this point I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Ryanair doesn’t allow check-in four hours or less before your flight, otherwise the purchase and airport process was fairly normal. Flight was supposed to leave at 1715, we were still waiting to board at 1715. We were on-board by 1730… and in our ASSIGNED, no less. As of February 1st 2014 all passengers have assigned seating.Progress. Nice. Massive ads all over the plane make you feel like you’re flying Air MacDonald’s, but the crew was nice.
As of February 1st 2014 all passengers have assigned seating.
Stats from the in-flight mag

Stats from the in-flight mag

Things to be aware of when flying the Irish Skies:

  • Check-in and printing boarding passes 15 days to 4 hours ahead could present issues depending on your access to printers, internet etc while traveling.
  • Ryanair doesn’t do connections, so you have to book two separate flights… which means you have to check-in, fly, get your baggage, and then check in again for your connection.  If you miss your connection, you’re out of luck – pad your connection time!
  • In some cases Ryanair uses airports that are outside of town (Paris, Rome, etc). Make a note of this so you can arrange transportation.

In the end, the flight was what we expected, low-fare no frills transport. Sending a letter within the US costs 50 cents these days and my wife and I flew round-trip from Rabat to Madrid for $100 each with a piece of luggage.

Let’s put that another way: We had couscous for lunch and paella with sangria for dinner. I think Ryanair gets a bad rap; it’s a great option to explore some great areas if you’re flexible.

 Do you have a GOOD story to tell about a Ryanair flight?

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