The RyanAir Experience – Part I

I had been told (more like warned!) by many travelers about flying RyanAir, the low cost airline that flies routes in Europe starting a 1 Euro, and sometimes even for 0! The catch is they charge you for almost everything – baggage, drinks, and even for certain check in processes that would otherwise be free on other airlines. Their model seems to be to generate as much revenue on everything but the airfare. Well, on my flight from Stansted to Rome I finally got to experience the airline myself and decided to document it with a little video.

Below is the complete raw footage (we might edit later with subtitles as the conversation is a bit inaudible at times. Plus I wasn’t really concentrating too hard on filming (especially after the agent at the desk requested I not film her in my documentary).  To set this up properly, know that the company prepaid for me to check in two bags and we were absolutely polite and cordial as can be to the agent – so there was no antagonistic play whatsoever, at least until she started giving us the run around. I am the last one of the group to check in…

In the end, Adrian took my rollerbag as a carry on as he just had his MacBook with him (which could easily fit in the bag if necessary) and we saved 130 quid from the extra weight they were going to charge us.

The moral of this story is don’t check in bags at RyanAir. I later found out that the agents were paid on commission and further they are working on doing away with all desk agents. I guess that explains a bit. But is it an excuse for being rude and showing lack of customer care?

Stay tuned for The RyanAir Experience – Part II…