Ryanair

I experienced absolutely shambolic boarding procedures and general unhelpful staff on a recent London Stansted to Belfast City return. Two of us were travelling, yet only one of us was able to 'check-in' (and I use the term loosely) online. So we queued in the woefully understaffed check-in line with the reference number to get Passenger 2 their boarding card, only to be told in very rude fashion after much waiting in line that, unbelievably, we needed to 'buy' a ticket. What? We had bought a ticket surely? We have the confirmation number - sufficient to check-in on any airline normally. Not Ryanair it would seem. They have a new policy where you have to pay 3 GBP for each person to issue a handwritten 'ticket' at the airport, despite buying a ticket online. So we left the check-in queue and had to join another queue at the ticket desk. Just as well that one of us had a credit card as they don't accept cash for the 3 GBP ticket either. Absurd. So after lining up again and finally checking in, we get to the boarding gate. Now another problem. Seemingly there was a problem with the online check-in that one of us had 'succeeded' (again, I use the term loosely) in doing. Again we experienced quite rude staff who tried to give the impression that we were somehow in the wrong for having incomplete information printed from the Ryanair website (even though it was verified by their own check-in staff). After lengthy discussions we were eventually allowed to board after the staff giving us the impression that we were somehow 'very fortunate' for this treatment. To cap it all we were refused check-in for the return flight after arriving 40 minutes before departure with only hand luggage. The check-in desk insisted it was actually 39 minutes before departure and therefore we had to buy a ticket for a later flight. We did - on easyJet. All in all, Ryanair was a discourteous and disorganised shambles and I won't be in a rush to fly with them again!