Improvements at Ryanair

suerte

looks like a good solution:

€10 - "premium" seats
€5 - "standard" seats
free - allocated seats between 7 days to 2 hours in advance

www.ryanair.com

murphaph

I wonder will they automatically seat groups together (insofar as possible) when 2 adults (and child perhaps) are due to fly under the same reservation. If they do anything else then they are more or less forcing passengers to pay at least the fiver, which will breed resentment IMO as people can currently sit together (with a scrum) for free. I hope they use common sense and seat people on the same booking together. They don't have to go as far as allowing those passengers to select from remaining free seats (like EI, Air Berlin etc.) if they don't want to, but that's a nice touch.

MuffinsDa

Just booked flights with them - did pay the fiver, as it was handier to have the peace of mind of getting nice seats towards the back for 2 adults and 2 kids.

You have to give it to them for really trying now. I have been a critic of them for a long time and have avoided flying with them (preferred Aer Lingus) but with these changes I have finally gotten back to flying (with Family) with them. The changes are minor in the overall scheme of things but they signal a shift in the attitude that has to be welcomed!

beer enigma

The changes are certainly filtering through and seem to be working. Friend of mine booked flights to Stansted yesterday and suddenly realised Luton would be easier. Phoned up and they changed for a €20 admin fee.

EI-DOR

€20? Jaysus that was alright. Normally they would sting people €100 to change the flight. Good stuff FR!

beer enigma

EI-DOR wrote: »

€20? Jaysus that was alright. Normally they would sting people €100 to change the flight. Good stuff FR!

Apparently said it was a 'gesture of goodwill'......ho ho ho

devnull

The new Flight Info page certainly isn't an improvement, it's far worse and gives less information than the old one which was much cleaner and easier to read.

sully2010

The charm offensive continues, fee Santa flights:

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-and-shannon-airport-offer-free-santa-flights

3000 kids is 15 free 40 minute flights, nice touch all the same.

Aestivalis

I hope they change the livery and interior colours! :pac:

murphaph

I don't care what the outside looks like but I do hate the gaudy plastic interiors. If they toned it down a bit it would be most welcome.

Locker10a

Aestivalis wrote: »

I hope they change the livery and interior colours! :pac:

Rumour has it Easyjet are to revise their livery! But Ryanair dont need to! They actually have quite a classic airline livery its not a stereotypical low cost carrier one! But Yes they do need to change their interior ! Even if they only changed the colour of the yellow seat backs the rest would be fine!!

Zonda999

Ryanairs livery does what its meant to do, make its aircraft instantly recognisable. It does that quite well IMHO. Compare FR's livery to a totally anonymous livery like Brussels Airlines or something like that

As for the interior, yeah terrible. Getting rid of the yellow colour everywhere and the adverts of the bins would dramatically improve it

sully2010

Zonda999 wrote: »

Ryanairs livery does what its meant to do, make its aircraft instantly recognisable. It does that quite well IMHO. Compare FR's livery to a totally anonymous livery like Brussels Airlines or something like that

As for the interior, yeah terrible. Getting rid of the yellow colour everywhere and the adverts of the bins would dramatically improve it

Would totally agree, I think its a very nice livery. If they want more business customers they really need to sort out the interior for their new batch of planes. As said getting rid of the yellow is a must and putting in the Boeing sky interior would really slicken the interior up.

L1011

The Easyjet interior is hugely more palatable for sitting in for an extended period despite their (slightly, but noticeably) meaner seat pitch.

Zonda999

sully2010 wrote: »

Would totally agree, I think its a very nice livery. If they want more business customers they really need to sort out the interior for their new batch of planes. As said getting rid of the yellow is a must and putting in the Boeing sky interior would really slicken the interior up.

I have to say, if they opted for the Sky interior, I'd be seriously surprised/impressed. Was in a Malaysian B738 with it during the summer and its really nice.

Actually, does anyone know if they're going ahead with their plan to sell advertising on the nose or winglets? That's hardly compatible with this new Ryanair stance

homerjay2005

when people only have the color of the seats to complain about, you know Ryanair are doing something right!

murphaph

Well, people don't only complain about the colour of the seats. That's why FR are making all these other changes ;-)

Fagashlil

murphaph wrote: »

I don't care what the outside looks like but I do hate the gaudy plastic interiors. If they toned it down a bit it would be most welcome.

Rumour I heard is that any new planes won't have the fluro yellow interior, not sure if there'll be changes to the old ones. Now that's only a rumour I heard in the office.

Jhcx

Surely it costs Ryanair more to get those plastic plates made up after all there not standard.

Razor44

Jhcx wrote: »

Surely it costs Ryanair more to get those plastic plates made up after all there not standard.

but you have to verse that to the cost made from ad space they sell, and or revenue that it generates

but i agree, the cabin its gawdy

Jhcx

Think its stupid they can still advertise the space on standard after all most of them are stickers. Dont need to waste money on yellow cabinets.

bk

Just used the new Ryanair website for the first time and while it is certainly an improvement, there are still things about it that make it annoying to use and could be improved:

• There is no "London (All)" option, so if you aren't too bothered about which airport you are flying into and just want the cheapest price/best time (something I'm sure many Ryanair passengers want), it is very annoying as you have to try each airport individually.
  
  Same goes for other cities with multiple airports (e.g. Barcelona, etc.)
  
• When you have gotten the result and you click "Edit Search" and you change the airport, the date always reverts back to todays date, rather then the date you had previously selected!
  
• When you are entering your billing address, it makes you enter a post code, even in Ireland where most places don't have postcodes. Yes this problem is common to many UK websites, but Ryanair should know better!
  
• I'm surprised that you can't create an account/profile, so you don't have to re-enter all your details every time you want to book a flight.
  
• If you select a single flight from London to Ireland, seems you have to pay in pounds!

The weird thing about these issues, is that unlike the old bad site, the issues don't benefit Ryanair at all, they just make the site harder to use and show bad user testing.

PS Yup just checked the Easyjet site and they have "London All Airports" and other similar "All Airport" options. The modify search is much better, it is permanently displayed, you can easily change airports, dates and even single or return flights, all without weird resets. The search results can show both a 3 day or 3 week view. You can select to pay in the currency you prefer. And you can create an account, with preferred airports, etc.

So Easyjet still have a much better site.

murphaph

The account/profile is on the way. Read it somewhere on their site. Think by end of April.

roundymac

Also a proper timetable like the one on the EI website, where you enter the destination and month you want to travel in the drop down folders.

keith16

bk wrote: »

[*]If you select a single flight from London to Ireland, seems you have to pay in pounds!
[/LIST]

I think this is true of any airliner, no? If you select a flight from Poland to Ireland, you will pay in Zlotys.

If you go to book, they will ask if you want to convert it to euro at a guaranteed (usually poor rate, with someone taking comission) or if you want to go with the market exchange rate (I would go for this option).

Somewhat underhand, but Aer Lingus deffo do this aswell.

bk

murphaph wrote: »

The account/profile is on the way. Read it somewhere on their site. Think by end of April.

Makes sense, creating the databases, etc. for storing accounts is a bit more complicated then a simple website re-design.

keith16 wrote: »

I think this is true of any airliner, no? If you select a flight from Poland to Ireland, you will pay in Zlotys.

Well Easyjet don't, right above the search box you can select your preferred currency.

Lustrum

Just booked flight having registered on the website to remember my details. You still have to not insure yourself, re-enter your ccv number for the payment card, but start to finish now takes roughly 60 seconds!

Well done ryanair!

periodictable

Travelled last week with them- check in staff and cabin crew friendly and relaxed. Now to work on how to let the seat recline .....

IngazZagni

periodictable wrote: »

Travelled last week with them- check in staff and cabin crew friendly and relaxed. Now to work on how to let the seat recline .....

No! Please no! There is nothing more annoying for me than someone in front of me reclining their seat. I have quite long legs and my knees almost touch the seat in front as it is. If it was able to recline I would have to sit slightly sideways. I do agree that the seats could be more comfortable in general though.

Gobethewall

Just checking flights on their new site. I note now when booking you have a choice of assigned seats or priority boarding. What to go for?
If I book seats will I not be priority boarded. Priority boarding also is more expensive than assigned seats!! Do you need both?

The biggest problem I find is people running up and down the plane trying to find somewhere to put their carry on bag so I like the priority to ensure a space.
On my last flight, in Ryanair's Travel advisory they say they only have room for 90 bags

Sorry, a bit of a ramble, question is, to Priority or not priority?