Review of Ryanair flight from Bergamo to Lisbon in Economy

Background

This series covers a recent TATL trip. I needed to reposition from Lombardy to Lisbon the night before my return trip to the US. Why Lisbon? Mainly the fact that return tickets from LIS were less than half the price of returning from MXP/LIN.

I was hoping to take TP on the MXP-LIS sector, but they don't operate their evening flight on Fridays. That unfortunately meant the only direct option to reposition from the Milan area to Lisbon was on FR. FR operates 2x daily service from BGY, but again with bank holidays creating long weekends the fares on a Friday evening on FR are eye-watering with a ~200 EUR base fare which was still a small percentage of the airfare being saved by leaving from LIS.

Unlike U2, FR offers better value options for passengers that only want cabin luggage without all of the up-sell items (Regular package). Since this was for work, I did the Flexi Plus instead to have more flexibility on ticket changes that could have occurred between booking at travel.

Routing

This report will cover the 2.5h flight from Bergamo down to Lisbon, not something I particularly looked forward to on a LCC, but better than the 6-7h required if transiting in FRA/MUC/ZRH/VIE. The bonus will be the Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto.

Pre-Flight

Enroute to the airport, I get to admire the Torre die Venti while stuck in traffic getting off the A4 by the airport.

After returning the rental car and taking the shuttle bus back to the terminal, my buffer quickly eroded as I arrived at the terminal at 17:00 fearing long lines at security. Since I only had cabin luggage and had checked in online, I quickly made my way to the security lines.

My fears were not justified as the actual security area was only minimally occupied and with new machines, no electronics needed to be removed from bags and I was airside by 17:10.

Up the stairs we go into the terminal.

Upstairs, there is the option to go left to the A gates (Schengen) or right to the B gates (non-Schengen). I didn't study the map carefully and went left, which takes you through all of the shops and duty free.

A look at the FIDS first. A delay is confirmed for our flight, but 30 minutes is not too discouraging and the plane looks to be leaving Napoli soon based on flightradar24.

The duty free area you have to pass through going left.

Christmas decorations are up.

The walk through the shops dumps you near gates A8/A9. I turn towards my gate, A14, which takes me past the large Christmas tree.

I follow the signs to the lounge, which takes me almost all the way back to where I started after coming up the stairs from security. If you are looking for the lounge, head right towards the Schengen gates after security since the lounge is right before immigration. I used the only lounge at BGY, HelloSky, which is part of PriorityPass.

HelloSky Lounge

I was scanned in and welcomed by a very friendly agent, who insisted on showing me where everything was in the lounge. The lounge was not too busy and had a decent spread for European 3rd party lounge standards. The only inconvenient thing is the bathroom is located before the front desk so you have to leave the lounge area to use the restroom and re-enter. The large drinks display with alcoholic and non-alcoholic offerings. There was a station with Prosecco and wine off to the side.

On the back side is the food offering consisting of small hot dishes (pre-portioned) as well as cold dishes.

I took a seat near the windows overlooking the gates and had a light dinner since the delay would likely kill any chance of dinner on arrival in LIS.

The gate areas below.

Boarding

Boarding was called at 18:45 and I got in the back of the Priority line, which always seems to be >75% of the plane. As I reached the desk, boarding had stopped since the jet bridge was already filled with people who were waiting for the plane to be ready for boarding.

After 10 minutes, boarding resumed and I made my way down and out onto the tarmac. Our plane today would be EI-EMB, a 2010-built B738 in their standard Y189 configuration.

I booked a seat in the back so will avoid the larger horde queuing to enter the front door and head to the rear.

There is still a long line to board and eventually I make my way up and into the plane.

A familiar sight of dark blue and yellow seats.

My two seat mates were already there, so here is a photo of the seats across the aisle. As expected, no recline and no charging options.

Seat pitch is acceptable at ~30", and much better than U2 since there are no saggy literature pouches at knee level.

The QR code for the BOB menu and safety instructions on the seat back.

Old B737 PSU since this plane is 14 years old.

Flight

My view tonight as refueling was completing. Boarding took forever since the plane was nearly 100% full and everyone had tons of bags and winter clothes to store, which required a lot of crew intervention to find space. We finally pushed back at 19:25 as the safety demonstration was performed.

There is only one runways at BGY, so we will depart on runway 28 at 19:38 over an hour late.

After banking to the left ahead of the Italian Alps, we get a nice aerial view of Milan on this clear night as we start our trek southwest towards Lisbon with the typical route over Marseille, Barcelona, and Madrid.

A good nap later, the plane was prepared for landing as we crossed into Portugal. For a 1h flight, these seats are okay, but for a 2.5h flight, you really start to feel pain since the padding on these seats has been completely worn out and it feels like you are sitting on a bench. TP is not a great Y product either, but I at least found their seats more comfortable on the MXP-LIS flight that I did a couple months earlier.

The lights of Lisbon light up the sky as we prepare for a u-turn into LIS.

Tonight we will arrive on runway 03 over the city center.

We landed at 21:13 with only a ~45 minute delay so made up some time enroute.

Since we landed on runway 03, it was a long taxi back which did offer some spotting along the way starting with a DT B77W.

Plenty of TP A330s.

We eventually take a remote stand next to a W6 A321neo.

The cabin as I head to deplane from the rear.

Fuselage shot.

Down to the buses we go.

With no bags to collect, I head straight for the exit.

Exiting the terminal, my hotel is in sight. It is a short 3min walk down to the Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto making it the most convenient option (I left the baggage claim at 21:44 and was in my hotel room at 21:53).

Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto

The hotel is very close to the terminal and walkable even with suitcases so perfect for late night arrivals and early departures, both of which I qualify for since I would need to be up at 03:00 to catch my next flight.

The rooms are clean and well appointed for an airport hotel, so no complaints.

I'll leave off this series here as I begin my short stay in Lisbon, thanks for stopping by!

Flight Information

Ryanair, FR2096
Equipment: Boeing B737-800 [EI-EMB, delivered April 2010]
Departure: 18:35 (ATD: 19:38)
Arrival: 20:35 (ATA: 21:13)
Flight time: 2:36