Sharon Petersen
Cabin: Economy
Route: Edinburgh - Dublin
Aircraft: 737-800
Earlier in the year, Ryanair revealed their new more sophisticated cabin. Promising more leg room, softer led lighting, new menus, larger windows, new uniforms, more overhead locker space and (thankfully) less yellow.
On occasions in the past where an airline has had an overhaul,prices often go up, but at 30 pound for a return Edinburgh – Dublin ticket I can assure you their focus on providing the lowest fares has not changed.
Seat and Amenities
To put it simply – they’ve changed the seats and got it right. New slimline seats that are actually comfortable means extra legroom. Ryanair were already one of the most generous with regards to legroom among low cost carriers in Europe but now they would have to be up in the top 5 with the likes of Norwegian and Germanwings.
The seats don’t have head rests, they don’t recline and the arm rests are only half arm rests but on a short haul flight this is fine and when you look at the price it’s even better. The only thing I would wish for is a seat back pocket to put your things in.
Customer service on board
The new uniforms and focus on crew presentation was noted and again had been executed extremely well.
Cabin service was quick and efficient.
There are still far too many announcements on board and I’m not a fan of the scratch card games (neither are the crew) which I personally feel cheapen their image.
Catering
The menu is handed out shortly after take off or just before. There were plenty of options and I was impressed that they even took hot meal orders despite the short 60 minute flight time.
Inflight entertainment
There is no in-flight entertainment – not even an in flight magazine but you can use your device in flight mode throughout the whole flight.
Extra information
Whilst these new aircraft are still a minority in the Ryanair fleet they are a vast improvement on the old. The same rules apply – pre purchase baggage, get to the airport on time, if you want guaranteed seats together then pay to select your seat, print your boarding pass out and if you’re traveling on a non EU passport you need to allow time to get your visa stamp at check in whether you have bags to check in or not. Do this and you will get a comfortable, generally on time and cheap flight.
The Ryanair haters are going to keep on hating but in this editors opinion there’s absolutely nothing to hate.
