Book it Danno! To Birmingham Airport, Ryanair FR693 Birmingham to Dublin

Book it Danno! To Birmingham Airport, Ryanair FR693 Birmingham to Dublin

Index:

DANGER: THE FOLLOWING SEGMENT CONTAINS ME FLYING RYANAIR. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

The day of departure.

With a 7:50 pushback at the airport, I was awake at 5am sorting out the final bits and bobs. And loosing certain final bits and bobs to the point where I had to abandon the idea of catching the bus and train to the airport, but in the end catching a cab.

The bag this trip, anything to stay inside Ryanair’s luggage limit….

Well, I’m holiday – that’s the excuse isn’t it?

With my local taxi firm doing the best effort not to get lost around my local area, the driver was thankfully was in the mood to put pedal to the metal, and get me to the airport at 7:10.

Up into security – the old EuroTerminal area – now dominated by Ryanair

With 20 minutes to go before boarding commenced, it was a case of rushing up to security and heading to the Ryanair gates in the old EuroTerminal at Birmingham Airport. This isn’t easy thanks to the enforced maze called a duty free shop

Although Birmingham Airport was happy to sell more stuff Ryanair passengers want… and reminding them they can take a 2nd bag.

And to stock up…

Thankfully, I made it to the gate at 7:20, and boarding had yet to begin.

Queueing at Gate 1

Depending on what you paid for is where you board. I was cheap and was in the “All other passengers queue”…

The queue begun to move after a couple of minutes – and the days of pushing and rushing seems to be over with Ryanair having assigned seating.

It’s almost like Ryanair is turning into a grown up airline.

Through Gate Number 1

With my mobile boarding pass zapped, I was allowed down the ramp. A short wait at the top of the ramp (as passengers were getting off the previous service) and soon enough, both pens of passengers were allowed downstairs onto the tarmac and onto the waiting 737.

The waiting plane from the jetbridge.

FR693 Birmingham Airport to Dublin Airport
Ryanair, Seat 12E (selected by Ryanair)
200 miles flown (C’mon, a frequent flyer bonus? Only in Ryanair’s dim and distant past).

I headed aboard the plane, and was welcomed aboard by a rather jolly Irish crew – and was directed to my middle seat

Yes a middle seat. It’s the joy of Ryanair and a 45 minute trip. That, and I wasn’t prepared to give up £5 for a window seat, and £2 for priority boarding.

So is the plane yellow? Well, yes and no – the yellow appeared faded.

Boarding in progress

That cabin is looking awful faded… 50 shades of yellow there?

Meanwhile, the safety card was glued to the back of the seat.

Well, at least safety card thieves can’t make off with this one… mainly as it’s glued to the seat back, as well as an advert.

Legroom wasn’t ample, but was bearable for 45 minute trip to Dublin.

The worst I’ve sat in? I’ve sad in worse for longer… normally when the person behind hits the recline button.

Safety demonstration was dispensed with in a quick, yet careful manner (with particular note to keep window shades up), and soon our 737 begun the taxi out of Birmingham Airport, and a short taxi to the runway where the engines powered up.

Now thankfully, you won’t get to see a takeoff and landing window (because recording over someone’s shoulder isn’t fun and more importantly, the seat alignment had gone to pot at row 12.

On taxi.

The cabin during taxi. Rather serene almost.

The engines spooled up, and soon our fully laden Boeing 737-800 took to the skies.

The cabin itself was still during climbout… and after a short while, the sales patter when into high gear.

Climbing.

And so the lights came on for the full sales. And there was a reasonable trade in drinks and snacks first thing in the morning.

And of course, there was the scratchcard sale. Well, this is Ryanair. US Airways hawk credit cards, Ryanair hawks its Scratchcards.

Scratchcard? Scratchcard! Scrathcard? SCRATCHCARD!!!!

The flight times were padded (Aer Lingus quotes an hour for this segment with a 45 minute flight – Ryanair quote 1:10 for the same segment), so the plane was booked to land rather early at Dublin Airport.

A densly packed overhead panel.

And like that, the flight time was ending. The cabin was cleared down, magazines collected (or given away for those who were mad enough to take one) and we lined up for Dublin Airport.

With a heavy thump, we landed safely, and peeled off the taxiway. And of course, this being Ryanair there was the arrival fanfare. And I didn’t record it. Thankfully there are plenty who have on Youtube.

The plane taxied over to the far 100 Gates, where our plane came to a stop at a hard stand, and it was a mass exodus to the door.

I did say it was an exodus!

And my turn too.

Overall: As a method of getting from A to B, and at the price paid (£10.19), I think the airline may had made 20p out of me if that. It wasn’t state of the art luxury. But then – any flight in economy isn’t. The seat was reasonable, leg room was passable for the segment length, and when you learn to block out the announcements (or use good headphones) it not that bad.

Does the “friendlier” Ryanair work? There were plenty of warnings about extra fees, the assigned seating worked, and the only reason to get to the gate early is to secure the precious overhead bin space, so to a point – yes. There was minimal baggage weighing and bag fittings, boarding was organised and not a mass sea of panic – so in this experience, it worked for and my circumstance

Did Ryanair annoy me me off? Apart from being auto-assigned a middle seat… nope. They did the job.

Would I rather had been on Aer Lingus? You betcha. Less annoying baggage regulations and slightly easier ground handling. However, Aer Lingus weren’t worth £55 on this 45 minute flight. For £10.19 Ryanair did the job.

And with Ryanair, that’s all you can hope for – anything else is a bonus.

Next: A morning and a bit around Dublin

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