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Comment by KozmoNau7 | Hacker News Reader

Step 1: Don't fly on Ryanair. Just don't.

I fly to Europe regularly with Ryanair, it's been amazing in the amount of places I've been able to go with very little money. Most Europe flights are 1-3 hours. Just get pissed enough at the Stanstead Wetherspoons that you don't give a fuck!

Another tip: If they put a yellow tag on your bag to make you check it in the hold, either quickly rip it off between the gate and the plane, or hold your bag so they don't see it. Cabin crew don't know who's bag has been tagged.

I didn't realise that Ryanair fly outside of Europe but I can see now that they do have a few locations such as Morocco and Israel.

But do you actually mean Ryanair or do you mean Air Europa, whom Ryanair seems to be a reseller for (transatlantic flights)?

Those of us in the UK consider "flying to Europe" as being a flight from the UK to mainland Europe.

Ah, I'm in UK but we still consider it "to Europe" as we're not on the main continent bit

Flights I had on Ryanair are merely 1 or max 2 hours long, (not taking the driving up and down the runways in account) and for this period of time some discomfort is perfectly fine.

the driving up and down the runways can be a significant factor. Ryanair think nothing of keeping their passengers on the tarmac for hours on end.

The same is true for other airlines. Anecdotal, but I've been stranded in airports/on planes far more often with other airlines than I have with ryanair.

I've taken about 500 flights in the last decade or so, I can count on one hand the number of delays of over 2 hours

* Moscow 2013 to Heathrow -- 4 more hours in the lounge, got €600 compensation.

* Heathrow 2014 to Bangkok, 5 more hours in the lounge -- got €600 compensation.

* Toronto 2017 -- delayed Delta flight to New York to catch a Virgin flight to Manchester so was downgraded and rerouted on KLM. No compensation as it was a U.S. airline. Lesson learned. (No lounge access either so cost me several beers)

I wasn't flying during the Volcano incident.

I do remember being delayed overnight with ryanair due to weather, but that was c. 2003. They wouldn't reroute me on the next morning flight to Anconna (rather than my original Forli flight -- only 50 miles away), so I had to buy a new ticket. It's attitudes like that which is the reason EU261 came in.

That EU261 is great yes, TBH I have earned money on the last 3 flights I have taken thanks to this system. All of those were long distance and had delays between 10 and 15 hour. It somewhat compensates for the lost time.

So it's just bad luck for me then. Of the 6 flights I have taken, 2 were delayed overnight and one was delayed by ~3 hours.

Yeah, that's fairly bad luck. I've flown about 100 timesover the 4 years, some short haul and some long haul, and in that time frame I've had about 10 flights delayed by > 2 hours. One of those was the volcano incident, and another was the beast from the east a few weeks ago.

Ryanair actually care a lot about keeping people on the tarmac - it costs them money. Their financial model only works if the plane is in the air as much as possible.

That is not true, as numerous documented cases will attest.

They get charged for using the gate, once they are on the tarmac "waiting for a window" they don't suffer additional costs.

It's not that they decide to "park the plane on the tarmac" it's that the interaction of various airport operational procedures make this the chepest option in certain scenarios, which is what they'll choose every time. Passengers bedamned.

In fairness though, I think though they've decided not to pursue this particular type of "cost saving" more recently.

once they are on the tarmac "waiting for a window" they don't suffer additional costs.

Nonsense, the crew has limited flying hours, and sitting there will burn them up. I can assure you they don't want to have to cancel or delay a flight because the crew can't fly anymore.

Like I say, this is subject to operational restrictions but they'll throw the customer under the bus if and wherever it suits them.

The longest delays I've had on Ryanair have been the shortest flights, not sure if it's just that short routes have more points for operational issues, or they just prioritise longer ones.

Recently my flight to EDI didn't leave until it was due to arrive, an hour waiting at the gate itself with no staff to update on anything (the price you pay for barebones staff on no-frills

The point is that I absolutely refuse to support their business model, the way they treat their employees, and their union-busting attitude.

Compared to the other budget providers (Easyjet, Flybe [who frankly, aren't even budget prices]), they're miles ahead. The Easyjet routes I used to fly regularly were late every single time, and a member of airport staff told me ~50% of Easyjet flights were delayed in that particular airport. While Ryanair is certainly super basic, and they take every opportunity to sell you tat, they've been far more consistent and far cheaper than the alternatives in my experience

Agree Flybe are not always cheap but I find them much more laid back about checking in and such.

I recently had a friend visit me in Spain from the UK and he is a very nervous flyer. The way they treat him was absolutely commendable. I doubt he'd of even got on the plane with some other airlines.

I don't fly on those, either.

The lowest I'm willing to go is Norwegian, and I'll absolutely choose a provider like SAS or Swiss or Lufthansa, if the prices are even remotely close.

Swiss has by far the best chocolate on their flights, BTW :-)

For some routes in Europe they are hard to avoid and, to be fair, some other budget airlines are not so much better that it's worth the effort.

Easyjet is much less obnoxious.

Thanks, I'll try them in future if it is an option.

There are some routes where they're the sole carrier and guess what you'll pay regular more expensive prices yet still receive the same "budget" treatment.

If, like me, you fly regularly between the UK and Ireland they're by far the best value and the service is no different to any other carrier.

I would take issue with this. The service with Ryanair is awful. I have never experienced rudeness from cabin crew of other airlines like I have of Ryanair.

Try to fly with American or United.

LOL I'd rather not :D

I was speaking more in the context of other carriers competing with Ryanair on routes.

Or Delta...

I just now have a personal rule to never fly with a North American carrier.

I've flown with them nearly fortnightly for the past two years and never had an issue with them. I guess I don't often have much cause to interact with the staff.

I've had an issue every single time - usually on the return route to Dublin funnily enough. Could be because I'm not flying so frequently alright, in a non-business frame of mind ... always more things to go wrong for a holiday traveler.

For a 1 / 1.5 hour flight from DUB->LGW I honestly couldn't care how the cabin crew act.

To be clear, I'm not talking about "disinterestedness" I'm talking actual, abject rudeness.

Possibly depends on where you're flying to/from in the UK (And Ireland I guess), but Aer Lingus are regularly competively priced against the Ryanair flights, Easyjet also works if you're flying into Belfast.

Beat me to it.

>How to avoid getting the middle seat on Ryanair flights

Fly BA instead.

BA has a similar seating policy with its cheapest fares (pay to reserve, or have one allocated at random), and has lower seat pitch than Ryanair.

Yes, BA have gone downhill dramatically in the last few years -- I used to be a top level frequent flyer with them

I've got a flight coming up next week with them to Nairobi, on a tired old 747, which I'm not looking forward to. In years past I'd paid a fortune for such a flight, now unless BA is at least £400 return cheaper than someone like Lufthansa, I won't fly them.

I did fly BA in January (again to Nairobi), was amazed how empty the plane was.

I often suspect with BA, that they actually purposefully make the economy experience worse than it economically needs to be, so that the difference with the more expensive tiers can be exaggerated. Often a fairly dismal experience, but their in-flight food is usually very good.

I don't fly further back than premium economy, which is how economy should be. Nothing as extravagant as a bed (although I'm in the process of upgrading next week's flight with miles)

However even up front their experience is lacklusture. I'd rather fly business on Qatar than First on BA, and certainly rather business on Qatar than business on BA. It's a tired product on tired planes and tired crew.

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