Missing: Decorum
RyanAir is a venue for social experimentation. Things happen in conjunction with RyanAir flights that just really shouldn't happen. I think it is quite interesting to see what lengths people with go to.
Luggage: in order to avoid paying ridiculous luggage fees you can have one carry-on for free that is 10kg or less and contained in a bag measuring 55cmx40cmx20 or less. This is not one carry on and one personal item such as a purse or laptop, this is ONE bag. They were so serious about this requirement when we were leaving Crete that the agent actually told me that my book (small paperback book which I was reading while standing in line) had to be put in my bag. Containing all these items in my bag isn't usually a problem, it is staying under the weight requirement. So what do I do? I carefully think through every single item in my bag. I usually wear jeans twice and, I know this one is unthinkable, I only wear one pair of shoes for the whole trip. Take a minute if you need it......
Those are just smart packing things, but here is where I get weird. I always bring a jacket - regardless of the temperature - and I wear pants with pockets for the flights. Why? To utilize my pockets to help disperse the weight! It is truly amazing how much junk you can fit in pockets! I put my cell, ipod, small wallet, and camera in the pockets of my pants and jacket, and carry my jacket or wear it if the agents get cranky. In order to have a purse on the other end, I use my purse as my cosmetic bag in the suitcase and then dump it out at the hotel, take all the junk from my pockets, and load it back up. I upload a phrasebook on my iphone, instead of carrying a book, and have been known to tear out the pages from a guidebook that apply to my trip or photocopy them at home and just bring the ones I need. When we left Scotland last year, we bought some souvenirs that kicked up the weight on our luggage. In order to bring it back down Matt actually boarded the plane wearing a hoodie, jacket, scarf and sweater - it was May. And on our trip to Croatia we were pretty close on weight so Matt claimed he was going to wear his beach towel as a scarf if things got tight. The things you do to avoid paying for luggage.
Lines: There are no assigned seats on RyanAir, but it isn't like Southwest where you get a boarding number, and it isn't America where people generally stay in a line -Europeans could care less about the queue. On RyanAir the first to push their way onto the plane are the first to get seats. It is truly amazing how much junk you can fit in pockets! A few years ago my sister and I were waiting for a flight out of Rome and noticed three or four guys were circling the boarding area, like sharks waiting to attack a surfer. You could tell they wanted to be mobile but didn't want to get in line yet. We watched for about 30 minutes joking about how everyone wanted to get in line but nobody was going to make the first move and then decided to freak everyone out by putting on our backpacks on and standing up. Sure enough all the shark circling people jumped in line and about 100 other people followed. They all stood in a semblance of a line for over an hour just to be in the line.
The kicker abut the line, is that when it actually comes to boarding, nobody cares about the line and they just filter through the gate pushing and shoving like people at Walmart on Black Friday. On this trip back from Crete I actually saw numerous older people, to include grandmas, businessmen and mothers with babies's on their hips hurl themselves over the chairs in the airport waiting area in order to cut in line. Shameful. It wasn't sly pushing or "merging" it was blatant jumping over chairs and jumping in front of people.
Boarding: Once you break free from the big push to get through the doors there is a moment of freedom. You walk out to the airplane by way of a marked path, or shall I say fully sprint to the plane. People run with their luggage bouncing behind them, kids are dragged by their arms, people are shouting, and seriously bolting in order to get to the line at either entrance to the plane.
I refuse to take part in this crazy business. As long as we can find seats for each of the kids to be with an adult, I don't really care where we sit. Matt and I were one of the last people to get on the plane in Crete and I found it downright funny that even though all the crazy people were jumping over seats and pushing, Matt and I ended up sitting together with an empty seat between us, right near the rear exit of the plane.
Disembarking: nobody cares if your bag is two compartments ahead of your seat, they have no desire to let you get your bag in order to get off the plane. So, if your bag is not conveniently located right above you, people sometimes get out of their seats while still taxiing with hopes to align themselves up with their bag so they can get off the plane. My bag was one compartment behind me, which means swimming upstream between unsympathetic passengers in order to snatch it. I didn't have it in me, so I grabbed Matt's bag and sent him on the mission to get mine. As it turns out, he may or may not have elbow checked a lady in order to get it. But that is hearsay, not admissible in a court of law.
People's behavior absolutely shocks me every time we fly RyanAir. We all have tickets, we are all getting on the plane. You may have to sit next to a kicking child or a lady that refused to get up so that we can use the bathroom, but we were on the plane, we went to Crete all was right in the world. The fools people make of themselves to accomplish this simple task of flying is quite embarrassing.
Luggage: in order to avoid paying ridiculous luggage fees you can have one carry-on for free that is 10kg or less and contained in a bag measuring 55cmx40cmx20 or less. This is not one carry on and one personal item such as a purse or laptop, this is ONE bag. They were so serious about this requirement when we were leaving Crete that the agent actually told me that my book (small paperback book which I was reading while standing in line) had to be put in my bag. Containing all these items in my bag isn't usually a problem, it is staying under the weight requirement. So what do I do? I carefully think through every single item in my bag. I usually wear jeans twice and, I know this one is unthinkable, I only wear one pair of shoes for the whole trip. Take a minute if you need it......
Those are just smart packing things, but here is where I get weird. I always bring a jacket - regardless of the temperature - and I wear pants with pockets for the flights. Why? To utilize my pockets to help disperse the weight! It is truly amazing how much junk you can fit in pockets! I put my cell, ipod, small wallet, and camera in the pockets of my pants and jacket, and carry my jacket or wear it if the agents get cranky. In order to have a purse on the other end, I use my purse as my cosmetic bag in the suitcase and then dump it out at the hotel, take all the junk from my pockets, and load it back up. I upload a phrasebook on my iphone, instead of carrying a book, and have been known to tear out the pages from a guidebook that apply to my trip or photocopy them at home and just bring the ones I need. When we left Scotland last year, we bought some souvenirs that kicked up the weight on our luggage. In order to bring it back down Matt actually boarded the plane wearing a hoodie, jacket, scarf and sweater - it was May. And on our trip to Croatia we were pretty close on weight so Matt claimed he was going to wear his beach towel as a scarf if things got tight. The things you do to avoid paying for luggage.
Lines: There are no assigned seats on RyanAir, but it isn't like Southwest where you get a boarding number, and it isn't America where people generally stay in a line -Europeans could care less about the queue. On RyanAir the first to push their way onto the plane are the first to get seats. It is truly amazing how much junk you can fit in pockets! A few years ago my sister and I were waiting for a flight out of Rome and noticed three or four guys were circling the boarding area, like sharks waiting to attack a surfer. You could tell they wanted to be mobile but didn't want to get in line yet. We watched for about 30 minutes joking about how everyone wanted to get in line but nobody was going to make the first move and then decided to freak everyone out by putting on our backpacks on and standing up. Sure enough all the shark circling people jumped in line and about 100 other people followed. They all stood in a semblance of a line for over an hour just to be in the line.
The kicker abut the line, is that when it actually comes to boarding, nobody cares about the line and they just filter through the gate pushing and shoving like people at Walmart on Black Friday. On this trip back from Crete I actually saw numerous older people, to include grandmas, businessmen and mothers with babies's on their hips hurl themselves over the chairs in the airport waiting area in order to cut in line. Shameful. It wasn't sly pushing or "merging" it was blatant jumping over chairs and jumping in front of people.
Boarding: Once you break free from the big push to get through the doors there is a moment of freedom. You walk out to the airplane by way of a marked path, or shall I say fully sprint to the plane. People run with their luggage bouncing behind them, kids are dragged by their arms, people are shouting, and seriously bolting in order to get to the line at either entrance to the plane.
I refuse to take part in this crazy business. As long as we can find seats for each of the kids to be with an adult, I don't really care where we sit. Matt and I were one of the last people to get on the plane in Crete and I found it downright funny that even though all the crazy people were jumping over seats and pushing, Matt and I ended up sitting together with an empty seat between us, right near the rear exit of the plane.
Disembarking: nobody cares if your bag is two compartments ahead of your seat, they have no desire to let you get your bag in order to get off the plane. So, if your bag is not conveniently located right above you, people sometimes get out of their seats while still taxiing with hopes to align themselves up with their bag so they can get off the plane. My bag was one compartment behind me, which means swimming upstream between unsympathetic passengers in order to snatch it. I didn't have it in me, so I grabbed Matt's bag and sent him on the mission to get mine. As it turns out, he may or may not have elbow checked a lady in order to get it. But that is hearsay, not admissible in a court of law.
People's behavior absolutely shocks me every time we fly RyanAir. We all have tickets, we are all getting on the plane. You may have to sit next to a kicking child or a lady that refused to get up so that we can use the bathroom, but we were on the plane, we went to Crete all was right in the world. The fools people make of themselves to accomplish this simple task of flying is quite embarrassing.
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