Ryan Airways/Stansted

[parris]

I have never travelled in Ryan Airways or from Stansted airport. If you have, would you like to share your experience, pls.

[Paul22118]

Done both. Last journey from Stansted was on a Ryanair flight to Rome Ciampino. This is an out of town airport but was adequate and we used the pre booking service for a coach trip to Rome Central by Terravision, a coach company funded/owned by some budget airlines.
The entire return trip including coach transfer for two adults was �140. We left virtually on time from the excellent Stansted and arrived ten minutes early. It was a brand new Boeing 737 - return flight same story.
Does it feel like BA? No it does not, but when the fares ar that inexpensive have an appropriate mental attitude and push and shove with everyone else.
Stansted is busier than it ever was but is is a modern, clean airport with many shops and facilities. Car parking is a bit pricey though. Balance airport parking costs against return minicab journey from home.
This is what we found in answer to your question.

[jno]

I did once, and it was fine. But I believe they have a lot more complaints than scheduled airlines. That would suggest that it's fine for most people but you have a higher risk of things going wrong and less interest from the airline if they do.

[cascarelli]

Airport's fine but take some trainers for the rush to the plane - it's a cattle market

[Kim A]

Ryanair. Like steerage on a 19th Century tub to the States. Only worse. Ventilation - pants. Service -pants. Facilities - pants. I wasn't expecting much, and I got even less than I was expecting. And as for no allocated seating - Dear God, it was like Harrod's sale, day 1, only not as civilised. Never again. And Stansted is the armpit of the travelling world. Takes all day to get there, sharky parking charges, rude staff, sh1t facilities. And hot. You know that saying 'you only get what you pay for'? Well, just remember that when you go to buy your ticket, that's all I'm saying.

[Buenchico]

i live about an hour away from Stansted and use Ryanair frequently for day trips. (Excluding taxes, I've never paid more than �10 for a flight. Most flights have been less than �1).

Like all airports, car parking at Stansted is quite pricey although the long-stay rates are no dearer than most other airports. (Remember that the long-stay car parks are about 3 miles from the terminal. Get there in plenty of time to allow for the transfer on the shuttle bus).

There are good rail services to Stansted from London (Liverpool Street) and from the Midlands and East Anglia. There also good coach services from London but not from many other places.

Stansted Airport is a modern, attractive, well-planned airport. Like any big airport, there can be quite long queues to check-in on the most popular flights but, as long as you get there in plenty of time, that shouldn't really be a problem.

Some people don't realise how big the airport is and leave themselves insufficient time to get from the main departure lounge to the boarding gates. Read the signs telling you how long it takes to get there and then add some extra time on 'for comfort'.

Ryanair flights are scheduled to take off 25 minutes after they land. That means that boarding procedures can be a little rushed but passengers are usually split into two groups. (i.e. those who've arrived earliest, or checked in online, have the lowest numbered boarding passes. This group gets to board first [excluding people with disabilities or with young children, who get priority anyway] and, obviously, they find it easier to seek seats).

Personally, I couldn't care less if my flight had no seats and an outside toilet. As long as it gets me from A to B cheaply, I'm happy. I have flown with many airlines (including major scheduled airlines, like Qantas) and Ryanair is definitely my favourite airline because they're cheap, reliable and

[Buenchico]

. . . efficient.

(I hate it when AB does that!).

Chris

[pingping]

flew with ryan air from/to stansted a few weeks ago. stansted is horrible - stupidly busy so you have to queue to get into the departure lounge; to get on the monorail to take you to the gate; and then more queues to actually get on the plane. definitely agree with kim too - it's bakin in this airport - even at 4am!
ryan air staff in the airport were quite rude, but on the plane they were nice. why the hell don't they just allocate seats???? i don't understand the free-for-all rush as soon as you get on the plane. everybody's pushing and shoving just so they can sit with their partners/family. why not just allocate seats as normal?

[nickmo]

And more to scope here: http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ryan.htm

[SteveD]

I have never understood why Ryanair do not introduce a simple and cheap seat allocation system (which I have seen years ago used by other airlines).

All they need is sheets of self-adhesive, numbered labels laid out in the format of the aircraft seats. When the passenger checks in, a label is peeled off and stuck on the boarding pass (or identity document, booking details etc).

This would remove the main gripe of Ryanair passengers, cost peanuts and avoid the cattle stampede.

Ryanair's thinking is probably that they want passengers to run onto the aircraft so that boarding is accomplished more quickly. But is it?

[kwd1954]

In a nutshell - Ryanair is fine. You get a cheap flight and thats all you want really. As far is Stanstead is concerned, it is a VERY busy airport and allow at least 2 hours to arrive before your flight leaves. We all want cheap flights, we want to get from A to B, so we need to expect some hassle.

[parris]

Thank you to all you wonderful people for being so informative.