Ryanair cut charges. Poles to take advantage?

They're also allowing reserved seats for GBP5 from Feb and cutting a few other charges. See link for full details.

Some people interpret it as forcing them to pay extra 5 euro per person in order to seat with companion.

They don't miss a trick, do they.


This they've always had - you can sit near the front for a few quid and get priority boarding - useful if you need a fast getaway.

I think during the last day before boarding, seat reservations will be free.


Yes, but it was ten quid or so. I sometimes paid it, other times just got myself near the front of the regular queue and got my usual seat of preference, but alas almost always near some screaming child that gobs in my hair.

Karma will get them back when they're older.

Seriously, I've only used Ryanair twice and none of the horror stories I'd heard came true. I was expecting them to measure handluggage etc but they didn't. And it isn't any hardship to walk to the plane. Plus their lounge at Stanstead is as good as any UK one from a normal airline. And of course they're cheap as chips.

I agree, it's hardly the most pleasant of flight experiences having to rammy into the plane if you don't want to be stuck between folk. But other than that I have never had a problem, never been late and (because I weigh my luggage and use cabin appropriate cabin luggage) never been stuck with extra charges. I would never want to fly longer than a few hours but you gets what you pay for.

I love all these people complaining at the gate about the charges, but they are very clear about the limits and charges online. It's their own fault for not checking their luggage before they left and trying to cram 42 outfits into a bag for a weekend. If you want to bring big bags and have a seat and fly in comfort, then you need to pay for it.

:o)


I have seen them routinely put a measuring box over cabin bags twice now, the rough maths would be about 1 in 10 or 1 in 15 flights. But I've also seen people get on with bags that were definitely too big. This size check seems to have happened mostly in the UK, rather than Poland. They walk up the queue with the box and place it over the cabin bag. Those whose bag doesn't fit are asked to step out of the queue, and I assume they have to cough up and pay more, or maybe they just get told off. But it does happen, albeit not that often in my experience. Anyone really taking the mick with an obviously significantly oversized case probably would get stopped at the desk when the boarding pass is checked.

I would really like to know how this works in the case of having to board a shuttle bus to get to the plane.
Reserving your seating I can understand, I've seen seats roped off for this purpose.
But priority boarding?
I flew to Poland recently and was one of the last on the shuttle bus. I was also one of the first off and straight on the plane.

No-one from what I could see was given any sort of priority whatsoever.

I've seen this too. People who paid for priority were first on the bus, but last to get on the plane.

Exactly. And Ryanair have the nerve to charge for this service.

At Okecie and Manchester there's no bus, you walk to and from the plane.

I've used it and found it a lot quicker. Useful if you've got a train to catch as soon a you arrive.

I'll stick with Norwegian, they already have half the price for luggage compared to Ryan, plus 5kg more for the price. The total cost isn't that much higher and they go to and from Arlanda.

Edit: The point of priority boarding is in my view not the boarding of the plane, but rather the situation at the gate. You don't have to wait in line, you have a different queue so you can hang around at more fun places than the area around the gate.

I think that people with priority boarding get separate bus and enter plane 1st.

Well, give me WizzAir anytime. And they fly from Okęcie, not from Modlin, which makes a big difference. Plus, their (paid) baggage allowance is much better, 32 kgs..

Generally that's true, although I've had priority before and the second bus somehow opened its doors before ours!!!

The priority should work well enough if there is no bus. I have flown the same route with the same airline company for many years, and sometimes the plane is a two minute walk from the terminal, and sometimes it's a 5 or 6 minute bus ride away. I don't know why this is, maybe priority is given to larger aircraft at certain times of the day to have a spot closer to the terminal? Anyway in these cases with the bus ride, I saw people who were on first, were last off at the aircraft.

There's sometimes competition for the best stands with certain airlines getting priority. It can be a hassle for the airline with the tight turnaround that low-cost airlines often have. They've to get people off, clean the plane, do the statutory checks of each seat and get people boarded in remarkably little time.

Even if they use a bus though, with priority boarding you still don't get hemmed in by queues (and on Poland flights they always queue as if the plane will go without them) and do get a seat on the bus. Getting off the bus last is no problem if you've got a reserved seat at the front on arrival, just stay near the bus door.

It doesn't sound much, but the stress of flying increases when you do it a lot and every little bit helps to reduce that.

This right here is why I don't want to work for Ryanair. Trying to clean down a plane in tight conditions in the space of 20 minutes seems almost impossible to me. That's a LOT of seats to get through.

I don't see why there is such animosity towards budget airlines. No-one complains about budget bus companies, you get what you pay for. I personally think that, for so long, flying had an air of grace to it. People complain about flying economy class on long haul flights, but it's never great being stuck in a tube for 12 hours. I think people assume that they should have Long Haul level comfort (keep in mind the RyanAir "bus" style seating with no booking and no reclining is a relatively new concept) on the short haul budget lines. Just sit down, be quiet and get on and off in an orderly fashion. It's not so much to ask.

I don't have a problem with Ryan Air. Without them, I'd be stuffed, frankly.

Also found the cabin staff and 'drivers' to be very pleasant & professional. Only ever met one unpleasant cabin crew and she had her boyfriend aboard and maybe they'd had a row. She was a right cow, but she's literally the only ghastly one I ever encountered. The others all behaved impeccably. Seen some abrupt ground crew, mind, at STN, but had that with other non-budget airlines too.

It isn't. It is supposedly to allow passengers to be part of the first group to board the plane and to choose any seats other than those that are reserved.


I bet they wish they did! I was about the fifth person to board my plane and the only other people on it were the crew.