3 days ago
You named Ryanair the world's worst airline. This is why it's actually the best
This week, Ryanair turns 40. Yet I fear that The Telegraph threatens to cut short the birthday celebrations, after our readers decreed it to be the worst airline in the world in the 2025 Telegraph Travel Awards.
This result echoes the findings in The Telegraph 's study into the world's best and worst airlines, conducted last year, in which we crunched data in categories including seat pitch, luggage allowance, customer service and so on. Out of 90 airlines, Ryanair ranked 81st.
I would never question the wisdom of our readers, nor the veracity of the research conducted by my colleagues. But, I must confess, I have a deep-rooted admiration for Ryanair. And, indeed, I often find myself flying with the airline out of choice.
I empathise with people who take the opposite view. Ryanair is a wind-up merchant. Over the years, CEO Michael O'Leary has uttered the following words: 'You're not getting a refund so f--- off.' Charming. 'People say the customer is always right, but you know what – they're not.' Delightful. 'The best thing you can do with environmentalists is shoot them.' Ahem.
We all remember the threat to charge passengers to use the toilet. Or, indeed, the suggestion of introducing a standing area at the back of its planes to squeeze in more passengers. These were all PR stunts, of course. But clever ones, because they help to create this broad sense that you really are getting the cheapest possible service.
The booking experience tallies with this brand image. If you make the smallest mistake, or want any added comfort, Ryanair will make you pay. The airline charges up to £160 to change your name on a booking if you have made a mistake of four characters or more. Checking in at the airport, rather than online, will cost you £55. The online booking process, with the incessant offers and add-ons, is an assault on the senses.
Do things get better on board? Absolutely not. Boarding is a shambles (Which? ranked it the worst of all airlines in its 2025 study). You will have no seat-back pocket, food is expensive (a basic meal deal is £12.50), seat widths are narrower than competitors, and the cabin crew will attempt to lure you into buying scratchcards.
Good luck if you have any complaints. The social media team appears to follow a simple mantra of 'you should know what to expect by now'. On Twitter, they frequently tease passengers who are unlucky enough to be assigned the infamous 'window seat' that doesn't actually possess a window. Indeed, any complaint tends to be shot down with a droll one-liner. While this makes for fun scrolling from the sidelines, if you've just coughed up £60 to check in your marginally oversized bag at the gate, or been forced to pay for the privilege of sitting next to your toddler, the laughter stops.
Hi @Ryanair booked a window seat but no window - what am I suppose to look at? #Shocking
— David Fraser (@David__Fraser) July 4, 2023
So this is quite the trench I find myself in. What positive is there to say of this most audacious airline on its 40th birthday? Well, beneath the nasty persona, the bravado, the add-ons and the stunts, Ryanair gets the three most important things right. It is very cheap, it has a vast network, and it is highly reliable.
Ticket prices have been competitive since the early 1990s, when the airline pivoted towards an ultra-low-cost model, inspired by Southwest in the USA. By flying into more obscure regional airports, which rarely charge much in the way of landing fees, Ryanair has been able to keep air fares down. O'Leary also cleverly bought up a haul of cut-price Boeing 737s in the wake of 9/11, when nobody else was buying, which put the airline on course for a profitable start to the new millennium.
And reliability? In 2024, one in every 607 Ryanair flights was cancelled. Compare this to easyJet (one in 110 flights), Wizz (one in 133 flights) or British Airways (one in 44 flights). Its on-time performance is broadly on par with its rivals, too, with its delays averaging 18m 57s last year. When compared to Tui (23m 26s) and Wizz (24m 35s), Ryanair starts to look positively punctual.
Ryanair's network is exhaustive, spanning 230 airports across 37 countries, bigger than all its direct competitors. And, probably the most important thing of all, after 40 years and more than two billion passengers, Ryanair can proudly say it has never suffered a fatal accident.
I understand why Ryanair ranked last in the Telegraph Travel Awards. But, after further consideration, I don't think the Irish airline will cut short its 40th birthday celebrations after all. If anything, the news will probably elicit a 'hooray' from the execs. The masterplan – to be cheap, efficient, well-connected, but unapologetic with its add-ons and blunt customer service – remains firmly on track. Whether you like it, or not.
