Ryanair certainly came through on price for a trip down to Venice for a four day break - they were £500 cheaper than the nearest rival (Jet2) and travelling from LBA and not wishing to travel from Manchester did mean it was always going to be Ryanair over Jet2 as the latter did not offer the exact dates I was looking at.
Checked in online and charged for it. Must say at ths point, I just wanted them to get me from A to B safely with a smile or two along the way! - I paid for a bag (must remmber 20kg is not needed!) as 15kg would have done and that alone would have saved me £20.
Arrived at a windy Leeds/Bradford, who thought about putting an airport at the top of a hill?! It was 9am so had a couple of hours to play with. The bag dropped off (no smile) and it was through security (always quick at LBA) and into the departure lounge. Now I love Leeds/Bradford, small enough to care and an ever growing list of destinations now that Jet2 and Ryanair are fighting it out!
The departure lounge has seen better days but those that know LBA will now that a new terminal is hopefully not far away so I guess we cannot expect investment with all that happening.
Flight called through Gate 5 at 1055 (right on time) and it was at this point that I wish I had paid for priority boarding....up some stairs, boarding pass checked, hand baggage checked and then back downstairs and across the windy tarmac to the aircraft. Boarding was conducted through the rear stairs until that was taking too long, so everyone behind me was moved to the front stairs - so that was me at the back of the queue!
Welcomed on board with a smile (of sorts) to find the first 8 rows blocked off so took my seat on the aisle. The flight was not full only 108 on board, so the back 5 rows were also blocked off.
Airborne 10mins late but with a flight time of 1hr50mins an ontime arrival was advised. Once airborne the Ryanair show began with smokeless cigarettes to purchase (who uses these!) followed by the magazines, scratchcards, snacks/drinks and then duty free - it was one big sell all the way to Venice.
Snacks and drinks were offered for a second time a little later on. With flights coming into Marco Polo until December as Treviso is closed this helped with the transfer on arrival -landed at 1425, a whole 20mins ahead of schedule and arrived to the famous Ryanair music, which is played on every flight that arrives on time, this was closely followed by lots of clapping from the passengers!!
Disembarked into the Italian sun and into Venice really quickly. A solid flight from Ryanair, the crew were not overly friendly but it did what it said on the tin........
). You know what you're getting beforehand (and it all costs extra) but they can be a relatively inexpensive option to places like Venice (fabulous place that it is too 
).
