Ryanair Reviews | Opinions of Ryanair shared by travelers

This was a perfect vacation on Lanzarote that unexpectedly turned into a nightmare with the worst ever air trip in our life. Me, my wife and our 6 year-old daughter flew with Ryanair from Lanzarote (Canary Islands) to Dusseldorf (Weeze) on May 5, 2012 (flight FR6209). It started as usual for the 2 star airline – gate was announced only 10 minutes before it should be closed, a crowd of people started to rush to the gate, a long queue was anxiously waiting for boarding in anticipation of trying to occupy a seat in the plain. We saw they started to check hand luggage size, but we were calm as we checked the size of ours and it passed nicely into that blue iron frame. Our turn, a woman takes our bag, measures it. Oh wait, a side pocket bulbs a bit out, because it was too warm in the airport and we put daughter’s jacket off and tucked it into the pocket. I said: “Just push a bit harder, it’s a jacket. Or wait a sec, I’ll pull it out”. She said: “Yes, yes, yes, please follow this woman”. Another woman grasped our bag and draggled it to another corner. Then she said: “You have to pay 50 euro now”. We were shocked: “Wait,… it’s a kids’ jacket in the side pocket… I can pull it out, look”. “No, don’t touch your bag, it is prohibited in this area”. I said: “Please, re-measure it, it will fit even with that jacket”. She replied: “No, it is prohibited, pay 50 euro now”… We tried to negotiate, but we were too polite to convince the woman. She was impolite, even quite rude. She promised to not let us board at all if we won’t pay right away. A bleeder knocking out money from a victim, this scene from a recent movie passed in my head. She said it was stated on a boarding pass that you are not allowed to touch your bag anymore, which was a lie – I checked the boarding pass later – it’s not there. Maybe it’s stated on page 21, para 265 of the terms and conditions… Our daughter started to cry; she did not understand what is going on and took this situation really hard. Anyway, we were force to pay 50 euro. I said: “Sorry, we are not allowed to touch our bag now, but we really need that jacket as it will be cold in the plane for the kid.” She replied: “Oh yeah, now when you paid, you can take the jacket, but you will not be refunded.”

Oh poor we, we thought it was the end of the nightmare, but it was not. While negotiating, we were almost the last to board and there were no seats left. We went back and forth a few times, but could not find 2 seats next to each other. Our daughter cried really hard at that point because she was afraid she will have to sit alone very far away from mommy and daddy. Oh, here is a stewardess, she will help. I explained the situation. “You have to find any seat available and take it”, she replied a learned phrase. “But she is only 6, she is afraid and is crying…” “Sorry, I can’t do anyting, let me go, I need to do my work” (Hmm, I thought this was her work?). We walked frustrated for another 10 minutes along the occupied seats… All stews replied us the same phrase. Hopefully, two young guys who sat together saw our child crying and offered us help scarifying their own comfort. Thank you guys, you are real humans.

“Client is always right” – I know this is often forgotten in the modern reality. We did not ask for that. We paid around 1,000 euros for tickets and wanted just a bit of respect, politeness and understanding. We were really shocked and we would never expect such terrible service from a European company. Ryanair got their extra 50 euros, but lost clients forever. Being a business owner, I don’t think it’s the right strategy.