Ryanair

Thirteen years ago, a Ryanair flight carried me from the riads of Marrakech to the apple orchards of East Anglia, despite my best intentions. Like now, my only excuse is that the airline made me an offer I could not refuse. Checking in at Arlanda tonight, I witnessed first-hand the extraordinary amounts of “ancillary revenue” Ryanair manages to extract, as almost every other passenger seemed to be paying for checked bags or for having boarding passes printed.

Having booked ten months in advance, our tickets, by contrast, were obscenely cheap – about 400 SEK per person return. Considering that Lufthansa would have cost roughly six times as much, it perhaps just shows that, in the end, everyone has a price.

Though Ryanair has undoubtedly contributed to European integration, its hostility towards labour unions and its opaque airport marketing deals are among the reasons I dislike the company – not to mention that in the event of any IROPs, you are very much on your own. And yet, despite the infamous contracts, the cabin crew seemed noticeably happier than a typical SAS crew. The Latvian flight attendant and I even shared a laugh when her Maltese colleague asked whether I would like a glass for my white wine.