Flight Review: Malta Air (Ryanair) on Boeing 737-200 MAX
Flight#: FR2989
From: Copenhagen (CPH)
To: Bergamo Orio al Serio (BGY)
Flight time: 2h 10min
Aircraft: Airbus Boeing 737-8 MAX
Believe it or not, I had not flown Ryanair for more than 10 years. This was part by chance (during all those years I didn’t fly that often those routes in which they have a more prominent presence) and also, in part, deliberate, since I had a bad customer service experience last time I flew with them, with one of their ground crew charging me extra unfairly for something I should have not paid for, at the very last moment before boarding.
Back then I thought (and said publicly) that I didn’t think providing a consistently bad experience was a viable business proposition over the long term and, to my surprise, shortly after the Irish airline started to make a bit of a pivot and amend some of its most dreaded practices.
Although I could see some aspects of the user experience, such as the website, had got significantly better in recent years, it was left for me to try it out and see whether there had been any noticeable improvement.
Read this flight report to see how it went!
Pre-flight experience
One of the first things to highlight is how much better the Ryanair pre-flight experience has become in this decade since I last flew with them. Of course, a lot has happened in this time in areas such as apps, but not everything is technology, the user experience has also improved in some respects.
In this case, rather than book direct with Ryanair, I purchased two consecutive Ryanair flights on Kiwi.com, using ability of this online travel portal to offer self-connections on several low cost airlines.
The two flights cost me less than €50 together and there was also the chance to purchase self-connection additional services, such as insurance in case the connection was missed (the so-called “Kiwi Guarantee”). Prices were so low and the stopover time long enough that I didn’t think it necessary, but it is great to know that these services are out there!
What’s more, Kiwi.com provided me convenient updates in the days and hours prior to the flight, taking away some of the anxiety that I had tended to associate with the Ryanair of prior days (“what if I forget to enter some detail online and I get charged a hefty fee later on?”).
Ryanair is also flying from quite a few major airports in Europe and this was quite convenient, since Copenhagen is a great airport to fly through. Ryanair departs from one of the sides of the terminal in what appears to be a recently built extension. It looks more Spartan and basic than other parts of the airport, but I actually liked it, because it is ample, spacious, modern and there is few people around.
The boarding process was strictly by boarding groups and the ground staff enforced it rigorously and throughout.
Malta Air or Ryanair?
This particular flight was operated by Malta Air (not to be mistaken for Air Malta, the flag carrier of this small island nation and a totally different entity!), which is a 100% subsidiary of Ryanair.
So it was quite curious to see how Ryanair uses a multi-brand strategy (it has another carrier in Poland, called Buzz, that it operates in a similar fashion), even if the product and distribution is the same for all (aside from some cosmetic differences that we shall soon see!)
I am not sure what is the logic for Ryanair to operate all these brands and AOCs within the EU and the single European common aviation area, but I guess if such a rational, optimizing airline does it there must be some good legal, accounting, financial reason to do so…
This trip was also a chance to experience the Boeing 737 MAX in Ryanair configuration. The Irish carrier uses a particularly dense configuration with over 200 seats, which is calls the “B737-200 MAX”.
The Flight - Passenger Experience
The first thing that stands out, if you have flown Ryanair before, is that it is not only the exterior of the plane that looks different when the flight is operated by Malta Air, but also the cabin interior: instead of the traditional blue and yellow, it is mainly red and grey (with a touch of yellow).
Broadly speaking, I found this combination on colours way better than the very strident, traditional one. The tones are warmer and more subdued and, overall, it gives a more “premium” impression, even if the seats and product appear to be the same.
More Malta Air branding (above) next to a touch of the “classical” Ryanair! (right)
The seats are just the typical LCC stuff, slim and non-reclinable, although it must be said that the cabin was impeccably clean and didn’t find the seat pitch terribly bad (perhaps time has somehow distorted memories of my prior flights on Ryanair!)
During the flight the crew passed with the food and drinks trolley and (surprisingly because some other airlines no longer do it) duty free offerings and, this is a Ryanair speciality, the lottery sales.
The safety card (plus some advertising) is the only thing you see right in front, there was no back-seat pocket of any sort of compartment to leave things, neither a menu card to choose food and drinks from.
However, there was (surprise! I don’t recall this being in the older B737s, but I might as well be wrong on this one) a hook to hang your suit or coat (a truly small detail that has an oversized return in terms of convenience).
As expected from a latest generation aircraft, the cabin comes with mood lighting.
There was no IFE of any sort onboard.
Here you can gauge the spaces better
And this is one of the emergency exit seats, which cost extra because they have a much larger seat pitch
Our take:
I kind of liked the experience of flying Malta Air. It is still a pretty basic product, but there were those small details that made it feel a bit like a “Ryanair+”.
Part of this is, no doubt, attributable to the MAX and the fact that it is much quieter and smooth aircraft to fly than previous generations of aircraft.
But, still, can’t escape the feeling that, whether with the help of technology or not, Ryanair has managed to streamlined some of the most dreaded aspects of its flight experience, with the pre-flight process being a case in point.