Budget airlines stress, is it just me?

You're not alone. I will never fly Ryanair again !!

I hate Ryanair with a deep and utter loathing ?

I hate booking budget air tickets
All those add ons you don’t want

Enjoy Portugal (I wasn’t able to go in the end )

You’re not alone. I too will never fly Ryanair again. I’ve used them twice, awful company.
We use EasyJet for most short haul flights. Still a few niggles but overall much better.

Oh God! Its my first time flying with Ryanair at Easter! Not my choice as such, we have booked a holiday in the Canaries for ourselves youngest DD and her 3 children. We wanted to fly from our local airport, and the holiday is all inclusive, so the airline was the travel company choice!
I am absolutely dreading the flight! Both of the tiny children are/ will be undergoing assessment for spectrum disorders! so a 4 hour flight with them will never be easy!
I too am super anxious about the luggage issues? especially after reading the last two comments!

Ive never flown a budget airline because Im disabled and frankly they dont have a great reputation with able passengers so I would not want to leave it to chance.

Last time I flew alone I went Swissair and they really looked after me. Being a German managed airline everything was like a military operation and the plane was met with a wheelchair at every transit. I could not have managed Frankfurt airport (which is huge) without this help.

Even though they really looked after me I have sort of made up my mind I will probably never travel by air again. I just dont like the way you get treated as so much "fodder" at airports. There is just too much bullshit and standing around. It takes all the pleasure out of travelling. When you get to your 70s youve had enought of all that.

I’ve just returned from a trip to Rome flying with Ryanair who I’ve flown with many, many, times. I generally don’t take the hand luggage only option as it’s a pain lugging it around airports although I used to when flying frequently to visit my mother. I find if I take my time with the booking process it’s fine. I just accept that the starting price is low then I add on my luggage and seat, making sure I add the same for the return journey. DH needs extra legroom so I always book these seats.

I can honestly say that in many years of using Ryanair, as well as other airlines, I have never experienced any problems with my bookings or my flights.

Just to add I always use the Ryanair website, never go through a third party.

All in all I find it’s much easier than the olden days when I’d have to go into our nearest city in order to collect my very expensive Aer Lingus tickets from their office.

I've flown Easyjet without too many problems, have spent the last two years cancelling and rebooking flights with them.

I don't fancy Ryanair, personally I'd rather not go anywhere than fly with them.

There was an incident on Jet2 airlines on a flight to Turkey that was highlighted in the Mailonline the other day, some awful woman shouting and abusing staff and other passengers, drunk of course! Unscheduled stop in Austria I believe to offload her, that of course costs the airline extra money in landing charges. I believe she was fined £5,000. Of course such people can be on any flight, I remember a sweary drunk man on a Singapore Airlines flight coming back from Australia who was off loaded in a scheduled stop in India. Flying a bloody nightmare at the best of times!

I've flown Jet2 a few times and they've been lovely. I've had a few niggles with Easyjet and will never fly Ryan Air again. But Jet2 are not in that category for me.

I also will never fly BA again. I think they offer a really poor level of service despite not being cheap!

I second your faith in Swissair, biglouis. I've flown with them 3 times and they offer excellent service from check-in to getting off the plane. They're fantastic.

I have no choice but to fly Ryanair next week. I've used them many times and on the whole I just arrive early and go with the flow. Fortunately I am able to choose priority boarding to give me time to board. I found them very thorough in checking covid passes last December.

My greatest concern at the moment is the queueing at Manchester airport. Not sure I'm strong enough to queue for 2-3 hours! My friend thinks I should choose assisted boarding, but I'm only a bit weak after recovering from illness and don't have anything really wrong with me like others, so I feel I shouldn't.

Flown with several budget airlines and never had any problems. Think some people have a degree of snobbery when it comes to them. I've got no issues - if the price is right, get me on that plane!

We fly Ryanair by choice travelling between home in Spain and UK and other European destinations. Book via their website and follow the instructions and have never had any problems, they were brilliant rebooking flights during Covid so no complaints from me.

Slightly off piste but yesterday, I flew into Tokyo (with a Japanese airline )and we were all asked very politely to stay seated, belts still fastened until the plane had docked & the captain gave us the ok to move. Well, we all sat there like good children, not a soul moved, not a sound was heard and it was a good five minutes before the proverbial whistle blew. Everyone was calm, bags were gently retrieved and everyone disembarked in a cool, calm manner?. It can be done. Maybe Easyjet and Ryanair could take some lessons in training their passengers!

Just come back from Portugal, both ways with EasyJet. The worst thing was Manchester Airport and it’s purely shortage of staff. There was a lot of queuing both ways through security so maybe you could get assisted passage or something.

If there is a choice, we prefer EasyJet from Liverpool but it’s very early flights. I wouldn’t actually choose Ryanair if there was any other way, especially the late flight on Friday nights from Liverpool - pure hell! There’s no doubt it’s cheaper by Ryanair if you can stomach the added costs etc and the thought of THAT MAN crowing about his passenger numbers!

Once you’re on the planes, there’s no difference, the food choices and staff are better on EasyJet but it’s such a short flight, it’s no hardship really. Good luck, just sleep if you can (except the late Friday flight from Liverpool, just avoid for your blood pressure’s sake!

Never had a problem with Ryanair, in fact very grateful that their low prices have enabled me to get away to beautiful places when my finances have been tough.
I was able to visit magical Siena with the best ever bargain of a penny there and a penny back flight to Pisa.

Blondiescot

Flown with several budget airlines and never had any problems. Think some people have a degree of snobbery when it comes to them. I've got no issues - if the price is right, get me on that plane!

Not at all. It's about quality of service for me. Jet2 are cheap but offer good service. Easyjet can be hit and miss, although mostly they're good. Ryan Air has always offered poor service on the flights I've been on. Great that they're cheap, but I don't want that stress when travelling.

I love Ryanair...flown with them loads...never had an issue....always landed on time ( if not before)

I hate Qantas- overrated, rude staff and uncomfortable flights. They were good until that Irishbloke took over.

I am not an airline snob, it’s the whole package, queues,security,check in etc, I never want to be the person holding up the queue.
I travel on an Irish passport which will make life a bit easier but until I’m off the plane I don’t really relax.

Ryanair used to be awful but they are really fine now and did you know Ryanair have the best safety record of ANY airline
I travelled with them three weeks ago and it was perfectly smooth absolutely nothing I could complain about

nanna8

I hate Qantas- overrated, rude staff and uncomfortable flights. They were good until that Irishbloke took over.

What has the Irishbloke got to do with Qantas - they are owned by Ethiad, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Group, HNA Group and the rest 51% is Australian owned.

Alan Joyce CEO of Quantas, don’t know what anyone could have against the man.

I’m another who’s fine with Ryanair - follow their instructions to the letter and there’s never been a problem and mostly on time, they never cancel!

EasyJet cancelled a flight without notice and were totally unhelpful in getting us back to Blighty so that cost them €800 compensation for the two of us!

BA were brilliant with free champagne on a birthday flight, Etihad, Emirates, Air France - excellent service but expensive

Most of the problems I’ve seen at airports are caused by other travellers not listening and/or thinking they can beat the rules, because they’re entitled. Airside staff and aircrew deserve medals for their patience IMO.