Good morning from Dublin, Ireland!
My name is Alex, and…
I’m about to fly with Ryanair.
Well, actually, Alex from two years ago is.
Throughout 2019 and 2020, I took a couple flights with Europe’s largest and perhaps
most infamous low-cost carrier.
I never actually posted those videos though since my channel focuses mainly on Canadian
aviation and airlines, and I figured people might not be as interested.
However, by popular demand on my Channel Member discord server, I finally put together one
of those flights from Dublin, Ireland, to Rzeszow, Poland, with a couple clips from
other flights throughout.
Today’s journey starts in Dublin Airport’s terminal 1, where I found my way to Ryanair’s
check-in area, weaved through the lines, and found a kiosk to print off a bag tag.
Once there, I managed to drop off my bag and head through security.
As I understand it, most Ryanair flights leave from the newest part of Terminal 1, which
only has ground-loading gates.
It’s quite a walk to get there though, through the most extensive duty-free section I think
I’ve ever seen.
After a couple gate changes, and a slightly delayed inbound arrival, we would be leaving
from Gate 111.
At this point, I was pretty excited to properly give Ryanair a try, considering that they
were the pioneers of low-cost travel in Europe.
Eventually, our plane for today taxied in, this then one-year-old Boeing 737-800, registered
as Echo India Golf Sierra Golf.
Golf Sierra Golf first flew in September of 2018 and was delivered to Ryanair that same
month.
Being nearly brand new, this plane also has the new Boeing Sky Interior, which means an
even nicer cabin.
That is, as far as all-economy 737s go!
Pretty shortly afterwards, boarding started, and we made our way down the stairs, for what
is one of my favorite parts of flying in Europe - ramp boarding!
Ryanair’s 737-800s are all fitted with the maximum number of seats possible, 189.
However, I… do value my knees and so I paid a bit extra for seat 17A, the window seat
on the left in the second overwing exit row.
For me, this was well worth the extra 10 euros, and considering this is a fairly long flight
across Europe at just under 3 hours, I was very happy sitting here!
In typical Ryanair fashion, they don’t actually have any seatback pockets, so all the safety
information is actually glued on the backs of the seats.
Honestly, I think that’s a pretty brilliant idea, since it cuts way down on turnaround
times, and kinda forces you to look at important safety information.
In the exit rows, the tray tables are locked since they could impede evacuation, and you’ll
find them in the armrests instead.
Another slight downside of these exit rows is that you don’t actually have an armrest
on the window side, again, for evacuation reasons.
For my purposes though, I was very comfortable with all the space I had.
With that, here’s our departure from Dublin, taxiing and taking off from what was then runway 10.
CORRECTION: This should say 10R-28L.
Like I said before, Ryanair’s 737-800s seat 189 passengers.
18 of these seats have extra legroom, and when I took these four flights with Ryanair,
I actually planned it so that I could try out every single extra legroom seat with a
window.
So, this flight was 17A, the second exit row, while the next one was in 16F, on the opposite
side in the exit row in front.
The experience is pretty much identical in either row, but it’s worth keeping in mind
that row 16 only has the one window.
For the two flights I took in 2020, I instead went to the front of the cabin, and from Manchester
to Dublin I picked seat 2F.
This one, I would argue, is not as good.
There is plenty of knee space, but any foot room is restricted by the bulkhead in front.
The tray table is also in the armrest as you’d expect.
Interestingly though, for both 2D, E, and F, and 1A, B, and C, there’s obviously no
seat in front, and this is where you can find the only printed versions of Ryanair’s safety
card!
Speaking of 1A, this seat is definitely the most unique in my opinion, and that’s the
one I picked from Dublin to London-Gatwick.
There’s no front bulkhead at all on the left side of the plane, and so the legroom
here is virtually infinite.
The only downside is that it feels pretty narrow since the fuselage is curving inwards
towards the nose, while you and the cabin crew in front both desperately try to avoid
awkward eye contact.
Caption: “I feel so bad for these people”
One cool thing though is that you can see the built-in airstairs either extended retracting
from here!
With these two front row seats, it is also possible to get a bit of a wing view.
With all of this in mind, I did try a normal seat at one point just for comparison’s
sake and… yeah it’s a bit tight.
I’m not exactly the biggest fan of having hard plastic pressing against my knees so
I am more than happy to give Ryanair more of my money!
As is standard on the 737-800s, there are three lavatories on board, which are nothing
special.
One more thing - looking at them side by side, you can really see the difference between
the Boeing Sky Interior and the older one!
The older interiors also have some advertising on the overhead bins, which…
Again, I think is a great idea to bring in some extra revenue.
Meanwhile on the original flight, the cabin crew came around with food and drink for sale,
and I went for a hot chocolate and a ham and cheese panini.
That set me back another 9 or 10 euros, but both were pretty tasty.
On that Dublin to London flight a few months later, I pre-purchased an Irish breakfast
box with a coffee since it was a super early flight.
This came with sausages, potatoes, orange juice, and some bread.
The actual breakfast tray itself was hot too, so for another 10 euros, it was pretty decent.
That said, in both cases, I bought these, and then died inside a bit when I remembered
the exchange rate to Canadian dollars.
Even so, Ryanair’s food to purchase on board is not bad at all.
Of course, like I did on my return flight from Rzeszow, you can always go the method
of having your own snacks that your Polish family members forced you to bring.
Either way works!
Another interesting Ryanair quirk is the fact that they also sell scratch cards on board.
Again, whatever brings in some extra cash, although I don’t think you’ll be seeing
Canadian airlines do that anytime soon.
A nap or two later, and the light outside began to fade as we started our descent over
Poland.
Here’s our arrival into Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, landing on runway 09.
So, that was Ryanair, and honestly, it wasn’t bad at all!
I find with low-cost carriers in general, it’s very much a “you get what you pay
for” type of experience, and so I think it’s important to go in with managed expectations.
Even then, there weren’t any surprises with Ryanair.
I paid for seats and bags beforehand, bought some food if I was hungry, and got to my destination
each and every time!
Especially coming from a country like Canada, where airfares are often quite inflated, Ryanair
does things very differently, and it’s a unique experience that I think everyone should
try at least once.
Going forward, I will definitely continue paying for Ryanair’s extra legroom seats,
especially if I happen to come across one of their 197-seat MAX 8 200s.
But yeah, four flights, all reasonably on time, in reasonable (paid for) comfort, and
all for very reasonable prices.
I certainly enjoyed my flights with Ryanair, and should I ever make it back to Europe,
I will definitely be flying with them again.
Thank you so much for watching this look at a non-Canadian airline for once,
and I’ll catch you next time.