Ryanair Cabin crew nonsense.

Steve57

Last month we flew to Athens (a 4 hour flight) and returned a couple of weeks later.  After the total nightmare of Stansted (another story in itself) To get the seats and hand luggage, we paid for priority boarding but when it came to it, it was just a disorganised free for all (also another story) We got on the plane and it took off the usual half an hour late.  What I noticed a while into the flight that there were mega queues for the toilets, one at the back was locked and were told it wasn't working.  On the flight back we boarded, waited for the half hour late take off and then after take off the seat belt sign stayed on for about 1.5 hours when there was no turbulence (even the captain said it would a smooth flight). The turning off of the seat belt sign conveniently happened after the first run of food/drink trolleys (which takes well over an hour on Ryanair due to the messing about with payments and waiting for missing items etc) which would not have been wheeled out if we were going to have turbulence.  They repeated a couple of times that the seatbelt sign was still on to keep us sitting.  One of the rear toilets was still locked but what I did notice is that the cabin crew were using it, ie they had closed it off for us but not them.  So 2 hours since being locked into our seats people could get up and use the toilet, long queues formed of course, some people looking desperate, I was close.  This is most certainly some sort of connivance between the flight crew and the cabin crew and the locked toilets was some sort of trick of the cabin crew.  After hundreds of flights all over the world I have never experienced this. In fact in the past we had a full meal service on 1 hour flights and time to get up if needed.   I doubt that we will use Ryanair for flights of more than maybe 2 hours max ever again. Unfortunate on account of Stansted being our easiest to get to Airport. 

Steve57

Also to note, the one open toilet at the back ran out of hand towel and t-paper long before landing. Several people had to nag the cabin crew over and over to replace it when they were too busy selling perfume and lottery tickets. 

Westin

Perhaps something for the Praise and Vent board
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/praise-vent-warnings

NoodleDoodleMan

"We got on the plane and it took off the usual half an hour late."

https://news.sky.com/story/revealed-the-airports-airlines-and-countries-with-the-most-cancellations-this-year-12650091

Upsidedownandaround

You should email your concerns to the CEO of Ryanair. 

I’m sure he will be very concerned to hear about this.

zagfles

Ryanair's priority queues are usually longer than the non priority, because if you want a trolley bag rather than just a small under seat bag you have to book priority. It's quite amusing when people appear shocked that the priority queue is longer than non priority! And quite often they deal with both queues at the same time.

CKhalvashi

Nothing out of the ordinary here.

You don't have a right to the seat belt sign being turned off. This is to the discretion of the Captain who has a right to make the duty of the whole crew easier.

The meal service can take an hour, however this is still less than 20 seconds per seat. An open bar would take longer than this. Ryanair likely are happy with 20 seconds per seat.

Ryanair are an airline relying heavily on ancillary sales. I've paid as little as £4.99 for a flight with them this year on both the Lviv and Wroclaw routes, and haven't paid more than £20 one way for anything despite needing certain dates. I'd prefer to fly with someone else too, but for a lot of places they are the only double daily option. Due to the prices paid, I don't expect a full meal service, large bag or anything more than getting from where I am to where I need to be. I suggest when booking with a LCC, you are realistic about your expectations. You can travel 1700km on a £40m plane for less than £5 (that's 0.4p/mile). I'm not sure how you expect more than a seat.

During Covid it has become part of the SOP for some airlines to block a toilet off for crew use. I'm sure you'd be complaining if your flight had been cancelled due to crew illness had this sensible precaution not taken place. This has not been limited to low cost carriers.

bagand96

zagfles said:

Ryanair's priority queues are usually longer than the non priority, because if you want a trolley bag rather than just a small under seat bag you have to book priority. It's quite amusing when people appear shocked that the priority queue is longer than non priority! And quite often they deal with both queues at the same time.

My favourite is when the aircraft is on a remote stand and it's a bus ride.  All the priority people rush to the gate and therefore are first on the bus.  Then everyone else crams on, last on the bus usually means first off the bus and up the aircraft stairs!

zagfles

bagand96 said:

zagfles said:

Ryanair's priority queues are usually longer than the non priority, because if you want a trolley bag rather than just a small under seat bag you have to book priority. It's quite amusing when people appear shocked that the priority queue is longer than non priority! And quite often they deal with both queues at the same time.

My favourite is when the aircraft is on a remote stand and it's a bus ride.  All the priority people rush to the gate and therefore are first on the bus.  Then everyone else crams on, last on the bus usually means first off the bus and up the aircraft stairs!

yes! There is a logic to Ryanair's policy of priority boarding for those with trolley bags, so there's room in the overhead lockers for them rather than getting cluttered with non-priorty passengers small bags which should go under the seat. But the way they implement it means priority doesn't mean first on board.

If I'm travelling with just a small bag, as I do quite often, I try to get on last, so that if there's room in the overhead lockers I'll put my bag/coat/jacket etc there, rather than have to put them under the seat or have the cabin crew remove them from the overhead locker to make way for someone's trolley bag.

Westin

bagand96 said:

zagfles said:

Ryanair's priority queues are usually longer than the non priority, because if you want a trolley bag rather than just a small under seat bag you have to book priority. It's quite amusing when people appear shocked that the priority queue is longer than non priority! And quite often they deal with both queues at the same time.

My favourite is when the aircraft is on a remote stand and it's a bus ride.  All the priority people rush to the gate and therefore are first on the bus.  Then everyone else crams on, last on the bus usually means first off the bus and up the aircraft stairs!

Or when not on a coaching stand, Priority means you are first to queue and wait in the stairwell or airbridge. Sometimes 10-15 minutes before the non-priority passengers join the boarding process.

CKhalvashi

To be honest (and I do this with any airline whether it's Ryanair, Wizz, LOT, Lufthansa etc, I prefer to board almost last anyway, but waiting near the gate, even with Priority.

I can't think of anything worse than the 'Luton treatment' of waiting in a corridor for half an hour while the plane is offloaded and checked. Not sure what the obsession with being gatelice is, the plane isn't going to go any faster.