Ryanair changes: what's the catch?

[Pickles]

I have looked over Ryanair's latest announcement:

http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-announces-customer-service-improvements-over-next-6-months

and, despite being a regular user of Ryanair and therefore somewhat attuned to its devious ways, I can't find a downside to this announcement. Perhaps the downside will be announced at another time ...

[Gardengirl]

I heard about these changes on radio, and wondered what the drawbacks would be. However, so far it seems all good news.

[woolybanana]

You stand!

[NormanH]

In the case of the line I am interested in no winter flights for the first time..

[PaulT]

Was this intended for release on 01/04/2014?

[Hoddy]

I wonder if he was affected by the battering he took on Twitter ?

Hoddy

[Mrs Trellis]

What are the changes? Nothing on the website now.

I have noticed a negative one: I am about to print out my boarding cards but find that unless I have paid extra for an allocated seat, I can only do this 7 days before.

As I am going next week, for a week, that means I can't print the boarding card for my return flight before I leave.

[idun]

There is an advert on UK tv for Ryanair saying they are starting allocated seating. I HATED Easyjet doing that, and I cannot help but think that Ryanair could well charge a fair old bit for it. I have never flown with Ryanscare as they do not go to airports that are convenient for me.

[YCCMB]

Having flown relatively recently with Ryanair, I was pleasantly surprised. I printed out my outward and return flight tickets before leaving (in fact, the site did it automatically for me) and was allocated seats on both flights without having to pay extra, which simply resulted in rather less chaotic boarding, as they tell you according to your seat number whether to use the front or rear doors. Although I generally walk onto a Ryanair flight with my hands in my pockets, having no real need of a carry-on bag, I was able to take one AND a handbag without having to work out whether one would fit inside the other.

OK, in the great scheme of things, the changes are hardly radical (although the website to me seems vastly improved), but it's certainly a more user-friendly experience than I've been used to over the years.

[Théière]

All well and good but I like to have a laugh at the sheep all boarding through the fornt door whilst the rear was completely empty allowing me un obscured access to rear seats.  Planes don't crash backwards!  They don't crash very often at all but that's where I prefer to sit and it's all ruined now you say? or can you allocate yourself to the rear of the plane?

[YCCMB]

You can allocate yourself a seat....if you pay! I rather think, though, that if my own experience was even vaguely typical, that they fill up the plane from the middle, so I printed off my ticket quite late in the day, and found myself quite near the front on both outward and return journeys. Of course, travelling alone always helps, as there are 3 seats per row, so people like me are good fillers!

[Théière]

I would never dare mention you as a good filler, crikey, I would rather recite bah bah black sheep, but what if an entire rugby team book and get allocated on just one side of the plane!

[YCCMB]

Snigger! I've never flown with an entire rugby team. A couple of stag parties, that's about it. Mind you, both were on the outbound leg of their journey so they hadn't got into the swing of the event, thank goodness. And, at Ryanair onboard prices they were hardly going to hit the drinks trolley...

[richard51]

We had the pleasure of flying with a  young French rugby team ( U somethings ) on Ryanair a couple of years ago. They were obviously very excited and were being quite a pain. Their teachers and the the stewardesses were doing absolutely nothing to calm them down ( probably because they couldn't). The  young lads behind us were knocking the chair of my OH which would normally be acceptable but she was due an operation on her neck and was feeling every bash!

Relief came when we flew over London, and I turned around and pointed out to them the landmarks that were visible. Their attention turned to the windows immediately. Unfortunately, though, we could not see the bridge over the Thames which is like a fairground ride for the tourists and apparently is otherwise known as Boris's folly.

[Gardengirl]

We've not flown with Ryanair recently, but have looked at their new website a few times and been pretty impressed with it; we were hoping to fly to France this weekend but we're still in UK for a while longer due to medical reasons.

It must be a couple of years ago when we flew back to London with Easyjet from Montpellier and had a huge number of French rugby fans around us in the waiting room and on the plane - they were going to catch a plane straight up to Scotland. They were all very pleasant and definitely weren't tanked up, or else could handle their drink well. There was one giant of a Frenchman in his kilt and and full outfit - chatting cheerfully to everyone; it was a very pleasant wait and flight, and the only people who kept pushing into the queue weren't any of the rugby supporters, although still French.

[YCCMB]

[quote user="richard51"]

Relief came when we flew over London, and I turned around and pointed out to them the landmarks that were visible. Their attention turned to the windows immediately. Unfortunately, though, we could not see the bridge over the Thames which is like a fairground ride for the tourists and apparently is otherwise known as Boris's folly.

[/quote]

Alright, I'll bite, just because you know you want me to. If it was a couple of years ago, you may well not have seen it, especially if it was before June. What with it not being built till then, and all. And do you ski? I bet you enjoy taking the ski bridge up the mountain. I believe they've also got some nice bridges in Wales that allow you to go up the mountains, and there's a bridge going up the peak in Hong Kong. Hasn't your wife educated you as to the correct use of the word yet?

[Théière]

Maybe it is Boris's folly but he is shrewd enough to get Emirates to pay for it. Its very handy for getting to Excell centre though. Likewise from east London to the O2.

[sid]

I've flown Ryanair 10 times already this year. I think the improvements are good. Forget about Priority boarding unless you have a very particular need, (I can't think of one off the cuff) as you now have your seat automatically allocated AND it tells you which door to use. This has definitely helped to calm the crush as people scrambled to get a favourite seat.

You can still book Priority boarding and you can also book one of a few seats with extra legroom, but these are generally near emergency exits, so you need to be fit enough to operate the door in an emergency, and not be unfit enough that you're a hindrance to others.

Treat the journey as you would a bus ride. Expect little, and you won't be disappointed! [:)] In fact I've used Ryanair for about 8 years now and never had a bad experience; all of my grouses have been because of extremely unpleasant passengers.

There are always those passengers who take an age to put their bags in the overhead lockers and hold up the queue! And the latest craze seems to be to dump their cabin bag in the first locker near the door and then proceed down the plane to their seat, thus depriving someone else of being able to store their bag above their own seat. Only the first 90 cabin bags will go in the plane the rest go into the hold. I've not seen this implemented yet.

 

[Cendrillon]

#1 daughter and family recently flew Ryanair and passengers were asked if they would agree to have the hand baggage stowed in the hold. As they also had hold luggage they agreed. They are a family of 4 (which includes small children) and they had no complaints.

On a recent flight to Dublin with Aer Lingus it was a full flight and they too made the same request.

[Sunflower]

For those travelling Ryanair who are disabled and so need special assistance, you cannot reserve a seat online but have to call the helpline number and a seat allocation is then added to your reservation.

The other changes for special assistance are that you are no longer seated at the front or rear of the plane (which can be difficult if you have severe walking difficulties) and you are boarded and disembarked last. They also don't allocate you to an aisle seat automatically so worth asking for when you are on the phone.

The reason for the change in order of boarding etc is because so many people were abusing the service just to get on and off the plane more quickly - which I personally think is more socially unacceptable than parking in a disabled bay when you are fit and healthy.

[Judith]

[quote user="sid"]

Only the first 90 cabin bags will go in the plane the rest go into the hold. I've not seen this implemented yet.[/quote]

They tried it on me when I last flew from Stansted ... not even explaining why a sticker had been put on it until I asked ... I objected all the way along, refused to hand it over, twice, even when entering the aircraft, saying they could have it only if they could guarantee it would not be opened (I'd not been able to find my padlock  before I left home, thinking it was cabin baggage and it should not be necessary to lock it, so anyone could have pilfered from it).  Of course they couldn't (which of course I knew) but as it turned out, I stood my ground to the last, and when we looked in the lockers above my seat, there were spaces, and with a push and shove the space was quite adequate for my bag because people "park" their bags in the lockers like they park their cars - badly.