Review: Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 – Stansted to Bari

About the Airline

Expectations

Pre-Flight Experience

As is usually the case when flying with Ryanair, I booked a ticket for this flight via Ryanair’s app and I found this to be quick and easy to use. Thereby leaving me with little to complain about, other than the plethora of additional extras that I was required to side-step past before booking. Having not paid to pre-reserve a seat, I was only able to check-in 24 hours before departure and was pleased to find that I could do this quickly and without issue. My only complaint with this was that I received a middle seat, although I decided against paying to move to a window.

Costs

Airport Experience

Stansted was well…Stansted. Frequently berated by travellers, the airport does not enjoy a particularly fantastic reputation and is often seen as being one of the worst in the UK. That morning, I was unfortunately provided with little reason to defend the airport, finding this to be chaotic, crowded and in places, in dire need of refurbishment. The only positives I took away from my experience were the reasonably short wait at security and the fast complimentary wifi, but I am a firm believer that both of these should be standard at any airport!

That morning, boarding was conducted in what seemed to be in line with most Ryanair departures. This involved passengers being held between the gate podium and doors to the ramp for quite some time (around twenty minutes to be precise) before finally being permitted to head out to the aircraft. Not wanting to stand around in the chilly and utilitarian stairwell, I decided to hold back and not make my way to the gate podium until passengers could be seen making their way outside to the aircraft.

Other than this, I wasn’t left with too many complaints regarding boarding, with both the forward and rear doors being used for this ensuring that this was a quick process with the final passengers boarding a full twelve minutes ahead of our scheduled departure time. That morning, the flight was around 70% full and I lucked out and ended up with a full vacant row, enabling me to shift from my pre-assigned middle seat to the window.

Seat and Cabin

As you would probably expect, Ryanair’s seats are far from plush and take the form of thin blue recline-less seats covered in a dark pleather cover. Yet being fairly modern in their appearance, soft enough for a short trip and providing an acceptable amount of legroom, I could not make too many valid complaints about these. Thanks to Boeing’s Sky Interior, the cabin felt bright, airy and modern, whilst unlike some of Ryanair’s aircraft this lacked advertisements running the length of the cabin on the overhead lockers.

Given the young age of the aircraft, I did not expect too many signs of wear and tear, and generally speaking, the cabin was in a reasonable condition. However, I did spot a few crumbs that had been missed during the aircraft’s overnight clean.

Lavatories

Ryanair’s Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 fleet feature a grand total of three toilets – one at the front of the aircraft next to the cockpit and two small lavatories squeezed into one half of the rear galley. Visiting one of the lavatories at the rear of the aircraft towards the end of the flight, this was clean enough and stocked with the basics, although I did spot a few marks and scratches in this.

Inflight Entertainment

As a ULCC, inflight entertainment was neither expected nor offered. Furthermore, since the pandemic, Ryanair has done away with its inflight magazine and I would advise those flying with the airline to bring their own entertainment.

Catering

During the flight four rounds of service were made which meant that given the relatively short flight time, the crew were regularly in the aisles attempting to sell. A short time after departure one crew member passed through the cabin taking hot food orders, which was then followed by the full buy-on-board service. Although that morning with many passengers being fast asleep, the crew seemed to have little luck in beating sales records. Later on during the flight, the crew passed through the cabin advertising the duty free offerings although once again there appeared to be few takers. This was then followed by a second buy-on-board service which was undertaken as we neared the top-of-descent.

Crew

That morning, the crew were not particularly welcoming or friendly and instead, perhaps due to the early Sunday morning departure time, seemed to be somewhat subdued. Upon boarding I did not receive any greeting, nor did I receive any greetings from the multiple crew members I passed as I journeyed to my seat. However, credit ought to be given to Ryanair for scheduling two Italian-speaking crew members on this flight, with all announcements conducted in both English and Italian. Two fairly comprehensive announcements were made from the flight deck – one prior to departure and another as we neared the top-of-descent.

Summary

This was not my best flight with Ryanair, however, I landed on time, in one piece and ahead of schedule, which is pretty much all you would hope for. Given the price that I paid, I feel that I received what I had paid for. Had I parted with a small fortune, then I would have been disappointed yet, that not being the case, I was not left with any complaints.