Review of Ryanair flight from Dublin to Glasgow in Economy

Introduction

Hello again and welcome back to the fourth part of this UK & Ireland series.

After a few days in Dublin city it was now time for us to head off to Glasgow where we would be heading off on a road trip around Scotland and England. 

We had two direct options from Dublin to Glasgow one being with Aer Lingus and the other with Ryanair. We decided upon Ryanair as we simply could not look past the low price for such a short flight. There was also an option with BA, however this involved a 2 hour stopover in LHR which we were not enticed by.

A reminder of the routing…

Check-In & Terminal

Travelling to Dublin Airport from the city we decided to take the Dublin Express. This only cost 12 euros round trip or 6 euros one way per person and involved a 14 min trip from the city centre to the airport. However be aware that if you get on the bus at one of the first stops on the route the trip is extended to about 40 mins.

I would definitely recommend the Dublin Express to anyone looking at getting into the city. It was affordable, comfortable and very easy to catch.

Ryanair departs from Terminal 1 at Dublin Airport which was noticeably very busy upon entering the check in area.

Having already checked in online we headed straight to the bag drop which was also crowded and not very well organised. There were a lot of people wandering around unsure of what to do and the usual suspects with suitcases all over the floor trying to repack to stay within the weight limits. 

We got through with no issues and shortly headed off for security. I checked flight radar at this stage and noticed the aircraft that was assigned to our flight was an hour delayed in Warsaw. So with very little need to rush we entered security which was in even more chaos than check-in. It seemed that a good portion of travellers where unsure what do in security and weren't sue what was required to stay in the bag or come out of it. 

We eventually got through and we checked the departure board, it showed our flight was on time, however thanks to Flight radar we knew our flight would not be leaving for at least an hour after so headed to PRET for a drink and a bite to eat. The sandwiches at PRET are very good however, as an Australian who loves coffee, their coffee left a lot to be desired.

We waited at PRET for a little while before decided to check the departures board again. The flight was still showing on time and showed that gate was closing in 10 mins so decided I'd check flight radar again and in typical fashion one of the few times I try and outsmart the system it backfires and there had been an aircraft change. The flight was indeed leaving on time and gate now closing in 8 mins. We quickly rushed off to our gate and at this point noticed there was a recommended 12 minute walk time to our gate. Starting a half run, half walk we had definitely underestimated the size of this terminal as the departures gates for Ryanair were the opposite side of the airport. 

We thankfully arrived while boarding was still in progress and even got a chance to get a few photos of the tarmac…

Our aircraft today.

And some more views of the tarmac.

The Flight - FR5151

Our aircraft today was EI-DWP a 17 year old Boeing 737-800.

Ryanair fly's an all economy 3-3 configuration with 189 Zodiac Z110 seats.

The aircraft contains 3 bathrooms for 189 passengers equating to 63 passengers per bathroom.

Due to not pre-booking seats my wife and I were split up across the aircraft, I was seated in 15E while my wife was in 33E. 

Boarding seemed a little delayed and we were held at the aircraft door for a little while, which in typical Irish fashion it started to rain in this time. I was not to bothered though as it gave me a good opportunity for photos while standing on the tarmac.

We were on the aircraft not too long after and you could immediately notice that the aircraft had not been cleaned all that well. Almost every seat looked like the photo below with crumbs everywhere.

As far as the rest of the seat went, it was fine for the duration of the flight. Legroom was fine and the seat at minimum features with the safety card printed on the back of the seat in front.

We also had individual reading lights and air vents which is becoming increasingly rare these days.

We took off shortly with no wait involved at the holding point. The pilot shortly announced a short flight time of 40 mins which would be completed at 23,000 feet. 

Ryanair offered a BOB menu with very few takers due the short flight time, however prices seemed ok and for longer flights it would be a good option.

It was a short flight however, very turbulent throughout the entirety of the flight. From memory the seatbelt sign was only off for a few minutes throughout the entire 40 min flight.

We eventually began to descend into Glasgow and had a very rough landing which I understand is quite common for Ryanair?

We de-boarded via stairs and were bussed to the baggage claim.

A final look at our aircraft today.

We picked up our bags shortly after and headed to Europcar to pick up our rental for the next week.

That concludes our brief flight report for today…

with a final look at the route below.