Everyone hates this airline. Here’s why I love it (well, almost love it)

“Treat this like short-track ice-skating,” instructs my husband to our two daughters and me as the door opens to board the Ryanair plane waiting on the tarmac, bound for Dublin. The night before we had tuned into the event’s gold-medal races in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and witnessed how those who led the pack were the ones who emerged from the melee still on both their feet.

As we prepare to manoeuvre our way to the front, I wonder if this is what flying Ryanair has become? An experience that needs to be approached with a strategy akin to Olympic competition?

Somewhat ironically, we are flying the airline everyone loves to hate from Toulouse, the French city that has witnessed so many incredible aviation milestones (the first Concorde flight, the first A380 flight, Qantas’ first ultra-long-haul plane), to visit my husband’s family in Mullingar, a town in the Irish midlands. It’s a fairly unremarkable place that claims three famous townsfolk: singers Joe Dolan and Niall Horan, and Ryanair’s much-derided chief executive Michael O’Leary.

O’Leary makes no apology for tearing up the aviation playbook in his quest to disrupt the industry (some of his more headline-grabbing ideas include standing-room-only flights and paying for toilets), although one area where he doesn’t seem too keen to cut costs is electricity. The lights are blindingly bright for the entire flight and are only dimmed, as required, for take-off and landing when the cabin fills with the soft glow of electric blue, like we’ve swapped a hospital operating theatre for a dodgy late-night disco.

Yet, in an era when most of Europe’s national airlines are adopting budget-airline behaviour, including charging extra for luggage, seats and food, the question is: do we really need a seat pocket to store our phones and laptops in, or wide boarding stairs (I’ve never seen any quite so narrow as the one we walk up to the plane) if going without means travellers can book fares from the UK to Montenegro, for example, for $40?

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve flown Ryanair in the 20-odd years since I first moved from Sydney to France. Of course, low prices are a huge draw: travelling between France and Ireland, as our family of four does at least twice a year, fares can be half the price of the competition, Aer Lingus. That often equates to significant three-figure savings.

Yet, Ryanair has more than price going for it. The fleet is younger than that of the average airline, and they fly routes other airlines simply don’t serve (such as Rome to Sardinia, a flight a recent Traveller reader was reluctant to book because Ryanair was the only choice).

I also get a laugh from Ryanair’s sense of humour (its social-media accounts are among the sharpest of all travel brands). For instance, as the wheels touch down at Dublin airport, the sound of a trumpet rings out through the cabin, part of a ritual to celebrate our on-time arrival – something which, in fact, about 90 per cent of its flights manage.

You do need to be aware of its rules, however, especially when it comes to luggage allowance. If you’re travelling hand-luggage only, make sure your carry-on is within the size limits. Chances are staff will check at the gate. Also, be warned that making last-minute baggage bookings at the airport are much pricier than on the app. And you obviously need to be prepared to spend some time standing in a queue to get on the plane.

As I checked in for our flight in the lead-up to our departure (on the app of course, or risk paying about $140 at the airport as boarding is now paperless), a Valentine’s Day pop up appeared on the screen with the message: “Gift the gift of flight to someone you love”.

I’m a fan of Ryanair and fly it with no hesitation. But, I also know there are better tokens of affection out there than a Ryanair gift voucher. And, when I cop an elbow in my side amid the battle to board in Toulouse, I realise that love is perhaps too strong a word to describe my feelings for the airline.