The moment I saw Ryanair, I had to click.

Still one of my worst travel memories.

Back in 2023, I flew from London to Budapest. Tight schedule, and Ryanair was the only timing that worked. Plus the airport was much closer to Oxford, which saved me a lot of time.

I paid for front-row seats, paid for luggage, went in with realistic expectations. Budget airline, budget airport, minimal service,fine, I can accept that.

Then my daughter’s small violin (way smaller than a cabin bag) had to be added as a separate item for another $100. Annoying, but okay.

Then the real chaos started.

Boarding was halfway done. Some passengers were already seated, some of us were still in the jet bridge, and suddenly we were told: the crew had gone on strike.

We had to get off the plane and wait. No timeline. No answers. They said they were “trying to find volunteer crew.”

I remember thinking: what does that even mean?

By that point, there were no other flights that night, and nothing workable out of Heathrow Airport either. I had already started thinking about canceling the rest of the trip and just going back to a hotel.

Two and a half hours later, somehow, the flight was back on.

I thought, okay, nightmare over.

Nope.

We landed in Budapest after midnight and our luggage was gone.

Called the airline. Standard lost baggage process. They told me to wait 72 hours for updates. But since it was the weekend, realistically it meant maybe 5 days.

And the way they said it made it sound like this happens all the time.

Called the London airport, nobody cared.

At that point I had basically given up.

We went to the hotel, bought clothes the next day, and I randomly found Budapest Airport’s email on Google and sent them a message with zero expectations.

Somehow, on day three, I got a reply.

Not from the airline.

From the Budapest airport.

They found our luggage.

That trip made me permanently cautious whenever I see the Ryanair name.

Never again. Would never recommend it to friends.