Ryan Air Pt. 2: It's a small price to pay for a small price to pay

One of the most thankful moments I’ve had on this trip came as Joyce and I stood in long, winding line to check in for our flight to Madrid at Ciampino Airport. I know what you’re thinking. You’ve seen long lines at airports before, and if I’m a seasoned traveler enough to blog about my journeys, I should expect such snake like lines.

If this line was a snake, it’d be an enormous anaconda. There was one attendant for about eight flights. I estimated at least 100 people in front of us at one point. Just as I was spiting everything from Ryan Air to Ciampino to myself for not pushing us out the door earlier, God came in and said, this is how things work in Rome. Translated into action, an attendant walked by us asking for people checking in for Madrid.

“Yes! Yes!” She directed us to go to booth 25, where one party of four was checking in. I bolted toward the line telling Joyce to keep up since I expected half the anaconda to swing its body to where I was going. Joyce, being the more calm traveler, trailed me by a few steps, but my haste was all for naught. No one was behind us, and no one was ahead of us.

As I thought about it, the idea makes sense. Employ one person to check in everyone for all the flights. To take care of tardy travelers, they open a side booth temporarily. This way, Ryan Air only pays one person to check in all the early people and one person to rescue those who are hanging by a thread. I imagine the savior person roams to another job once all the stragglers are taken care of.

I must say, thank you God for helping us successfully board our last Ryan Air flight. It’s a tad bit of a head spinner, but like I said, that’s a small price to pay.