With air bridges being announced, many of us are looking forward to a summer holiday abroad in the sun. Ryanair is my go-to budget airline so it’s unsurprising I ended up flying with them; however due to the lack of information available about flying currently, I wanted to share my experience in order to let others make an informed decision on whether or not to fly.

The second positive feature was that all purchases on the plane must be made with contactless methods. Despite this, on the flight back I was informed there were no hot drinks as they involve too much touching from the flight attendants.

Ryanair have not updated their “pre-boarding” policy in light of COVID-19 and in Edinburgh passengers continue to be herded into queues and then left to wait in corridors until the plane is ready. This surprised me as from working in the hub schools we were told that the doorway and waiting areas were the greatest risk – I’m no scientist but it is a point to consider. Bordeaux airport did not employ this policy, perhaps as they are a smaller airport. Interestingly, Ryanair no longer require your boarding pass when entering the plane to reduce contact.

I’m truly not sure why anything surprises me anymore with Ryanair, however you continue to have to pay for seats if you want your party to sit together. When trying to minimise the spread of covid this is especially surprising. I booked a seat with my boyfriend and found the third seat in our row full, despite there being a number of empty rows available. Unlike Easyjet and other airlines, Ryanair are not attempting to socially distance on their planes by keeping middle seats/extra seats empty.

One of the most frustrating parts of travelling with Ryanair was the complete lack of communication. The only emails I received were about their cabin bag policy which remains the same as always (despite advice that luggage should be checked where possible). Any Covid-19 specific information is left up to the customer to seek out. I had researched the French government requirements as well as Scotland and Britain’s requirements, however upon checking in Ryanair informed us we would need to present a form to the authorities in France. We were informed at Edinburgh Airport that e-version of this is acceptable, however this is not made clear anywhere on their website, and it turns out that it was not necessary anyway upon arriving in France. There is no information sent out regarding wearing face masks or other Covid precautions so it is important to do your research before leaving. It’s relevant to note that the country you are visiting may change their rules whilst they are there: France implemented the requirement to use face masks in all enclosed public spaces a couple of days after we arrived, so you need to ensure that you keep up to date with the laws even after arriving.

As for the airports, this will vary greatly between them. Edinburgh was well run and even has information on their website about which shops and cafés are currently open – at the time we were there only WH Smiths and Krispy Kréme were open. In contrast, Bordeaux had terrible access to facilities (I had to walk for 10 minutes to find a bathroom to use), but had all shops and restaurants open.

I’m aware that this is not the most riveting of blogs, however with my blog I try to fill the gaps of information I wish that I had had. At the end of the day, every time you travel you assume risk. I hope that this blog has helped you to gauge the level of risk at the moment and to make a decision about travelling amidst the pandemic.

Don’t forget; if you’re not comfortable travelling abroad at the moment but would like some time away, our own economy could do with supporting. Why not check out my blog post on (in my humble opinion) the UK’s best road trip!