RyanAir gets the award for our least liked airline. We flew into Dublin because it was substantially cheaper than flying into London. Les knew that RyanAir flew between Dublin and London cheaply. We booked our tickets far in advance for 20 Euros per person.
That...should...have...been...our...alarm...that...this...was...a...bad...idea!!!
They sent an email shortly before our trip (the day before) telling us we had to pay for all luggage that was checked AND we could only take ONE carry on. They were strict about it too. The carry on had to be small and under 10kg. Checked bags cost 30 Euro each, but that price was only good for up to 15kg ( = 33 pounds). One of my bags was over the limit. It wasn't a flat fee for going over the size limit. Want to know how much? 20 Euro PER KILOGRAM! Want to know how much extra they wanted to charge for my bag? 120 Euro. Yep. I cried in shock too. Thankfully, the lady let me redistribute the weight amongst my other bags.
They don't have seat assignments on the plane. They do it similar to Southwest - whoever gets on first gets first choice. I have three boys under 7, I don't want them not sitting near me on a plane. It was an extra 10 Euro per person to get priority board - Les refused to give them any extra money. It was frustrating to buy plane tickets and then have to deal with the uncertainty of where my kids would be on the plane in relation to me. Instead, we positioned ourselves right next to the gate and lined up in the front as soon as a line started to form. We were able to all sit next to each other on the plane without any problems.
Then the flight took off. All food and drinks were for sale. They passed out menus with prices on them. Then they walked through the aisle selling packs of cigarettes fanned out between their fingers. Followed by lottery tickets and designer perfume.
We got reprimanded twice during the flight too. I was told to put down my arm rests because they belonged down. I have no idea why. I put them up so I could snuggle my kids. Zach was playing his Leapster in the row behind me and put the shade down on his window so he could see his screen better. He was told to put it up and leave it up. Seriously?!
The kicker and perfect ending to the entire experience was the horse race bugle over the intercom the moment after landing - it was the cheesiest thing I've ever experienced. It came across as "Ta Da! We landed safely". Les and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Next time we're taking the ferry across instead.
