This is my first overall on Ryanair. I have known about them for years and never actually flown them. I wanted to fly a trip with Ryanair if I could get a flight with easyJet back. That came to fruition in May 2015.
I was considering this trip after Ryanair started their London Stansted to Cologne/Bonn services in October 2014. In May 2015 I found that during a week in August, Ryanair were offering £9.99 on some of their Cologne flights. I checked out easyJet and decided to do the following plan of action;
Ryanair on 18 August STN-CGN on the morning service and return easyJet on 19 August on their daily service. I booked both flights the breakdown of the prices (rounded to the nearest GBP figure) was as followed:
Ryanair Flight: £10
Ryanair Seat: £6
easyJet Flight: £24
easyJet Seat: £4
Overall £46 for the whole trip. Plus £41 for a cheap hotel. I wanted to camp in the Terminals, but the idea didn't set well on my parents who paid for it. Which was thoughtful. A cheap trip over all.
This was my first time on Ryanair and flying out of London Stansted. I fancied Cologne due to the Viewing Deck and their massive presence of Cargo Airlines (mainly FedEx and UPS).
I got to London Stansted and went through security, I checked in online so I didn't have to arrive as early as some. Security was long and tedious. I went through security quicker at LGW on my BA 737 domestic flight which was at a similar timing. Once airside I got some wonderful images of parked up planes, most where Ryanair & easyJet though.
My aircraft turned out to be EI-DVC. a Boeing 737-8AS(WL) based at Cologne/Bonn. It does a CGN-STN-CGN service every morning then does what ever rotation it is subsequently put on (Including Rome, Madrid & Dublin).
The flight was punctual. I enjoyed the novelty of boarding an open aircraft on the apron rather than via an Air Bridge. I was one of the first on-board. The cabin was quite clean, given that it was only the 2nd flight of the day for this plane, was somewhat expected. I accepted a copy of the menu and duty-free book for a browse.
We departed pretty much on time. The flight was pretty relaxed and smooth.
I had enough legroom for me and my bag. I found the seating really comfortable. I ordered a snack box & cuppa tea for my flight, the total was 7EUR (about £5) which wasn't that bad…
The flight was just under an hour long. We arrived at Cologne/Bonn Airport about 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. Probably due to tailwinds I guess.
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After we landed, I was allowed in the flight deck. The captain asked me not to film or picture in the flight deck, I don't know fully why- he claimed it was company procedure, I feel he either didn't want his picture taken or because he wanted to set a professional example for the third pilot on the flight who was a trainee. Fair play to him, its his call.
Either way, I got some pictures whilst disembarking the plane in the same fashion as I entered it.
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Bellow is a link to my Flight Review video on Youtube. (Link will be up once uploaded)
