Summary
- Ryanair offers cheap fares and allows passengers to pay for only the services they want, making it an affordable option in Europe.
- The legroom on Ryanair flights is adequate, and the airline's punctuality rate is generally high.
- Ryanair boasts a young fleet, a strong safety record, and environmental initiatives to reduce emissions and plastic waste.
Ryanair, a leading European low-cost carrier, often faces criticism from passengers who haven't had the best experience with the airline. While it is true that things can go wrong from time to time, the majority of experiences with Ryanair are okay when considering that you get what you pay for. It's no first class experience but doesn't cost anywhere near as much. Here are ten reasons why flying Ryanair isn't as bad as you may think.
1 It's cheap and (mostly) cheerful
Ryanair is a low-cost carrier. This means that some of its fares are among the cheapest you'll see anywhere across the aviation industry. Historically, the airline offered fares as low as £1 ($1.27). Unfortunately, these are no more, though it is still possible to fly one way for as little as €9.99 ($10.93), for instance, from Milan Bergamo, Italy, to Rijeka, Croatia. The flight is set to last one hour and 10 minutes. Without any extras, you would pay around €0.14 per minute of flight.
While fares typically ramp up nearer the travel date, booking flights for half that of competing "full service" carriers is often possible. This has opened the door of travel to many who might struggle to afford it otherwise, though people need to be aware that you really only get the flight and nothing else for these kinds of prices, speaking of which...
2 You pay for what you want
Ryanair is a no-frills airline. While many airlines have been cutting their complementary offerings over the past years, Ryanair didn't offer them to start with. Not including these "frills" in the ticket price is a blessing in disguise. While passengers wishing to use them have to pay extra, you can end up saving money. Don't want a checked bag? You don't have to pay for one in your ticket price.
While Ryanair happily offers most ancillary services on an individual basis, it also presents several fare buckets which contain differing levels of extras. Let's stick with our €9.99 flight example from Milan to Rijeka. At the time of writing, the following packages were on offer on this flight:
Fare |
Basic |
Regular |
Plus |
Flexi Plus |
Standalone Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cost |
€9.99 |
€30.84 (+€20.85) |
€38.48 (+€28.49) |
€85.84 (+€75.85) |
|
Small bag (40x20x25cm) |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
N/A |
Reserved seat |
✔ (Certain seats) |
✔ (Certain seats) |
✔ |
€8-21 |
|
10kg cabin bag (55x40x20cm) |
✔ |
✔ |
€12.50 |
||
Priority boarding |
✔ |
✔ |
|||
10kg check-in bag |
€11.99 |
||||
20kg check-in bag |
✔ |
€20.49 |
|||
Fast track security (where available) |
✔ |
€8.00 |
|||
Free airport check-in |
✔ |
✔ |
N/A |
||
Free flight changes (fare difference applies) |
✔ |
N/A |
|||
Travel on an earlier flight (same day) |
✔ |
N/A |
3 You get what you pay for
Of course, you also get what you pay for. You're never going to receive a first class service when you spend less than ten Euros on your airline ticket. You get what you pay for when you fly with Ryanair. As long as you accept this and adjust your expectations accordingly, the travel experience won't be so bad.
While a more comfortable experience may be favored on longer flights, with an average block flight length of two hours and ten minutes (according to 2022 flight schedule data from Cirium), most can put up with the service on these relatively short flights.
4 It's (almost) always an option in Europe
Most traditional carriers, such as British Airways and Lufthansa, operate as hub-and-spoke airlines. This means that all of their operations are focused on one or two major hubs. Ryanair, on the other hand, focuses on point-to-point operations.
The airline has many smaller bases across Europe, serving almost 230 airports in July 2023. This means that if your local airport doesn't have a Ryanair service, one nearby likely will. July 2023 was a record month for Ryanair, marking the first time it operated more than 100,000 flights in a single month.
5 The legroom isn't bad as people claim
Many people claim the legroom in intra-European economy cabins is less than ideal. Ryanair manages to squeeze 189 seats onto its Boeing 737-800s, while its high-capacity Boeing 737 MAX 200s seat a whopping 197.
However, each aircraft features ample legroom. At 6ft 3in tall, I feel well qualified to comment on a lack of legroom, yet I've never found this to be an issue on Ryanair flights. There's also always the option of the extra legroom rows for those particularly concerned about this.
6 No annoying interruptions (early in the morning)
You may know that Ryanair is famous for its mid-flight announcements. At times, it seems as though they're never-ending when catering, drinks, duty-free, and scratch cards are offered up on a one-hour flight.
Michael O'Leary famously once said, as quoted by The Guardian,
"We already bombard you with as many in-flight announcements and trolleys as we can. Anyone who looks like they're sleeping, we wake them up to sell them things."
In recent years, things have become a little calmer on flights very early in the morning and late at night. Of course, safety-critical messages will always be played, but you'll likely be spared scratch cards, and the infamous on-time arrival trumpets, very early or late in the day.
7 You should reach your destination on time
Speaking of the notorious on-time arrival trumpets... Ryanair is keen to let you know if you've arrived at your destination before the expected arrival time, and you are likely to hear this sound on a Ryanair flight. The airline operated 837,703 flights in 2019, with 92% arriving on time. In 2021, 96% of the airline's 339,858 flights arrived on time.
Unfortunately, the airline has been hurting somewhat of late, partially due to staffing issues across the European aviation industry (though reportedly not at the airline itself). Across the past 12 months (August 2022-July 2023), the airline's punctuality has averaged around 84.5%, dropping as low as 76% in December due to significant snow disruption at London Stansted.
Month |
Flights |
On-time Performance |
---|---|---|
July 2023 |
101,272 |
84% |
June 2023 |
95,799 |
86% |
May 2023 |
94,266 |
88% |
April 2023 |
89,644 |
86% |
March 2023 |
71,322 |
87% |
February 2023 |
60,549 |
89% |
January 2023 |
68,322 |
86% |
December 2022 |
65,541 |
76% |
November 2022 |
64,123 |
87% |
October 2022 |
88,007 |
82% |
September 2022 |
88,406 |
81% |
August 2022 |
92,181 |
82% |
8 Ryanair's fleet is young
Ryanair operates a reasonably young fleet. The airline's average fleet age is 10.8 years, according to Planespotters.net. Younger aircraft use less fuel and produce fewer emissions, and the proportion of these aircraft is set to grow over the coming years. The airline has hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 and MAX 10 aircraft on order, due to be delivered through the next decade.
Less fuel and fewer emissions are good for airlines and passengers. Airlines have lower overhead costs, meaning passenger ticket prices can be lower. It also means that passengers are responsible for fewer emissions. The addition of the Boeing 737 MAX amplifies these benefits, at 16% more fuel efficient than previous generation aircraft.
9 Ryanair has a high level of safety
While you may think that a low-cost airline wouldn't spend as much on safety, this is anything but the case for Ryanair. Like most airlines, the carrier knows this is one area where you can't avoid spending money.
After all, a single serious accident could cause irreparable damage to the brand. According to the ASN Aviation Safety Database, Ryanair has never had a fatal accident or incident and only has a single hull loss on record. This came following multiple bird strikes going around in Rome in the year 2008.
10 Europe's cleanest & greenest airline
Ryanair claims that it is "one of the world's highest-rated environmental airlines." Passengers traveling with the airline can be reasonably confident that they are trying to work on its environmental impact.
By using newer planes with more passengers, Ryanair can cut emissions per passenger. With a high load factor, emissions get smaller by splitting it between more passengers. Additionally, using less fuel means that the number split between passengers is already smaller. According to the airline, it had a load factor of 96% in July, while 76% of flights were taxied on one engine.
Ryanair also aims to be 100% single-use plastic-free by 2025. It also aspires to use 12.5% sustainable fuel in its operations by 2030 while cutting its per-passenger per-kilometer CO2 emissions to less than 60g. Right now, it sits at around 65g
Have you flown with Ryanair? How did you find the experience? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!
Source: The Guardian, ASN Aviation Safety Database, Planespotters.net