Frequent fliers are known for frequently missing airplanes. So did we today.

What I hate is that we actually didn’t miss the plane at all, but still had to watch it leave. So what happened? Ryanair changed the flight plan for this Sunday, leaving 20 minutes earlier then normal. Taking this flight almost on a monthly basis we only looked briefly at the printouts and confirmed that the plane goes after 4pm, as usual. So we arrived a quarter before 4pm at the airport. 10 minutes too late, because Ryanair is closing the check-in 40 minutes before departure. Disregarding the fact that we didn’t have any luggage to check in at all. Or that the plane was 20 minutes late anyway. Ryanair was unable to print us tickets. And a flight over Salzburg wasn’t going to do us any good as we would never reach the connection to Cork in time. Forcing us to book extra flight’s on Easter Monday, putting an extra 230 euros on top of the costs. Still slightly cheaper then changing the existing booking.

Other airlines offer out to print your own tickets when you travel with hand luggage only. Meaning that you not only save time by bypassing the queue at the check in, one also catches a flight last minute. In Munich, I once rearrange a flight from Dublin to Cork last minute at the gate and still got on the plane. They where able to print a new boarding pass at the gate! In Vienna I was once driven to the plane to reach the connection in time. In Frankfurt it was no fuzz to get on the earlier plane, leaving 15 minutes after we landed. Travailing light, usually means that you are flexible.

Not so if you go with Ryanair. So why do we fly with them all the time, for sure it isn’t for the service. Most people would imagine it is because of the price, but the truth is, they usually aren’t cheaper at all. The sad truth is, they are quite simply they only airline going to Linz.