Ryanair's 737-8200 "Gamechanger" (aka Max-8)

[Cloud Strife]

I've just flown to Dublin from Wrocław and back, via Luton on the outgoing flight and via Stansted on the return. Some observations:

- My first flight was on Wizzair's A321ceo. I was lucky enough to get an exit row seat, so absolutely no complaints here. The downside was a howling toddler nearby for the entire flight, not helped by the parents who apparently had brought absolutely nothing to entertain the kid with. There was also a howling baby, but in this, the baby was only a couple of months old and nothing would have helped except actually landing. Landing was as soft as a feather too, although I have the impression that the pilot may have slightly overshot the landing zone.

- The onward flight to Dublin was with a traditional Ryanair 737-800. I got allocated a window seat, just to the rear of the middle exit rows. No issue at all here as well, the 737-800 on Ryanair has always felt quite roomy. Usual traditional hard landing from Ryanair.

- The two return flights were both with new 737-8200's. I was sat near the back of the plane on both flights, and I can only say that the seat pitch was absolutely intolerable. It's apparently 28", but compared to the 737-800, it felt like a prison in comparison. I'm normally indifferent to seat pitch, but this just felt cramped and uncomfortable. The planes themselves also seem to be more 'twitchy', although taking off feels much better and smoother when compared to the 737-800's. Landings were also much more gentle, which surprised me given Ryanair's 'get it down on the ground' safety-first approach.

The engines are much quieter on the 737-8200, but my strong advice to anyone travelling with Ryanair on them is to make sure to book a seat with extra legroom.37

In general, the 737-8200 feels very very cramped in comparison to the 737-800.

 

[cactustwirly]

I've just flown to Dublin from Wrocław and back, via Luton on the outgoing flight and via Stansted on the return. Some observations:

- My first flight was on Wizzair's A321ceo. I was lucky enough to get an exit row seat, so absolutely no complaints here. The downside was a howling toddler nearby for the entire flight, not helped by the parents who apparently had brought absolutely nothing to entertain the kid with. There was also a howling baby, but in this, the baby was only a couple of months old and nothing would have helped except actually landing. Landing was as soft as a feather too, although I have the impression that the pilot may have slightly overshot the landing zone.

- The onward flight to Dublin was with a traditional Ryanair 737-800. I got allocated a window seat, just to the rear of the middle exit rows. No issue at all here as well, the 737-800 on Ryanair has always felt quite roomy. Usual traditional hard landing from Ryanair.

- The two return flights were both with new 737-8200's. I was sat near the back of the plane on both flights, and I can only say that the seat pitch was absolutely intolerable. It's apparently 28", but compared to the 737-800, it felt like a prison in comparison. I'm normally indifferent to seat pitch, but this just felt cramped and uncomfortable. The planes themselves also seem to be more 'twitchy', although taking off feels much better and smoother when compared to the 737-800's. Landings were also much more gentle, which surprised me given Ryanair's 'get it down on the ground' safety-first approach.

The engines are much quieter on the 737-8200, but my strong advice to anyone travelling with Ryanair on them is to make sure to book a seat with extra legroom.37

In general, the 737-8200 feels very very cramped in comparison to the 737-800.

Would be interesting to compare one to a A320Neo.
They are the same as the CEOs, except for quieter engines.

The twitchiness could be the MCAS system?

 

[Snow1964]

I recently flew Ryanair from Bristol to Dublin, only about 45 minutes although hour in timetable (outward flight was nearly 2 hours late, return flight 2.75 hours late).

Had one of the 737-8200 on return, wasn’t cramped, but not much room, tolerable for short flight but wouldn’t want to do a 2-3 hour flight in it. I agree it is quieter than the older 737-800s. And the ceiling mood lighting is a bit of a gimmick (but nowhere near as quiet as a 787 Dreamliner)

The 737-8200 is basically a 737 (max) and the 200 comes from cramming in nearly 200 seats, so they have double emergency exit doors over each wing. And for those not familiar with airline rules, need minimum one flight attendant for every 50 passengers, so they have tried to maximise seats per the 4 attendants. Ryanair have 210 of them on order with deliveries continuing until 2925

 

[Cloud Strife]

The twitchiness could be the MCAS system?

I was wondering about this. It was very noticeable on both flights, and I've never experienced anything like this on the Ryanair 737-200/800 fleet.

I recently flew Ryanair from Bristol to Dublin, only about 45 minutes although hour in timetable (outward flight was nearly 2 hours late, return flight 2.75 hours late).

Had one of the 737-8200 on return, wasn’t cramped, but not much room, tolerable for short flight but wouldn’t want to do a 2-3 hour flight in it. I agree it is quieter than the older 737-800s. And the ceiling mood lighting is a bit of a gimmick (but nowhere near as quiet as a 787 Dreamliner)

The 737-8200 is basically a 737 (max) and the 200 comes from cramming in nearly 200 seats, so they have double emergency exit doors over each wing. And for those not familiar with airline rules, need minimum one flight attendant for every 50 passengers, so they have tried to maximise seats per the 4 attendants. Ryanair have 210 of them on order with deliveries continuing until 2925

Yes, the Dublin-Stansted flight was tolerable, but 2 hours from Stansted to Wrocław was pushing it. Ryanair are already using them on 4h+ runs, which would be absolutely intolerable.

The thing that surprised me was just how cramped it felt compared to the 737-800. I had the new 737-800 Sky interior on the outward Luton-Dublin flight so I had a direct comparison, and the only thing I can conclude is that the 2" seat pitch makes a huge difference in practice.

As an aside, Ryanair have only gone with 197 seats to save on the extra flight attendant. It seems that the Max-8 can hold up to 210 passengers, which sounds absolutely horrific.

 

[Huntergreed]

My advice to anyone considering travelling on a 737 is to get an A320

In all seriousness, the pitch difference is very noticeable. My favourite Ryanair Aircraft to travel on has to be the 737-8NG which has the newer lighting (it doesn’t make a huge difference but feels more ambient) and the old layout/pitch.

I have although found the extra legroom seats on the max to have plentiful legroom!

 

[Snow1964]

As an aside, Ryanair have only gone with 197 seats to save on the extra flight attendant. It seems that the Max-8 can hold up to 210 passengers, which sounds absolutely horrific.

Ryanair had looked at the max-10 version, which is basically a max-8 with extra 4.28m (14 feet) of body length, but same size of wing.

Effectively an extra 6 rows of 3+3 at 28 inch pitch. However the extra 36 seats would have required a 5th cabin crew. And of course might not have been that many extra seats as need to allow extra crew seat, and possibly an extra toilet.

Negociations were dropped in September 2021, and currently it looks like the max-10 won’t be certified by end of 2022, which is the end of the grandfather rights (the airline industry uses different terminology, but it wouldn’t get a same type rating for pilots if later). There is talk of max-10 being cancelled.

Perhaps we should all be grateful Ryanair never chose the max-9 (a max-8 with extra fuel tanks for longer duration flights)

My advice to anyone considering travelling on a 737 is to get an A320

There is a stretched version of the A320, the A321

The A321neo can carry 220 with standard doors, or 240 with revised doors (door 2 is dropped, replaced by double over wing exit, instead of single, and door 3 is moved further back, door 4 is the rear door).

Of course these longer versions take longer to board and alight which doesn’t make them sensible choice for short journeys and quick turnarounds

 

[Cloud Strife]

In all seriousness, the pitch difference is very noticeable. My favourite Ryanair Aircraft to travel on has to be the 737-8NG which has the newer lighting (it doesn’t make a huge difference but feels more ambient) and the old layout/pitch.

Absolutely the same here. The 737-800s with the new cabins are quite fine to travel with regardless of the seat. I've done plenty of 3-4 hour trips on them with no complaint whatsoever.

Negociations were dropped in September 2021, and currently it looks like the max-10 won’t be certified by end of 2022, which is the end of the grandfather rights (the airline industry uses different terminology, but it wouldn’t get a same type rating for pilots if later). There is talk of max-10 being cancelled.

I really do hope that it doesn't happen. Ryanair's 737-8200 is bad enough, and the Max-10 would just be too much. Based on this experience though, a Max-8 with a more reasonable seat pitch (say 30") seems like it would be fine.

I have although found the extra legroom seats on the max to have plentiful legroom!

Lesson learnt here! I didn't bother because these are short flights, but in future, I think I'll pay regardless

 

[virgintrain1]

Aerolopa has some great seat diagrams. E.g on a FR 737-800 avoid A-C seats in front of emergency exit rows.

FR Boeing 737 - aeroLOPA | Detailed aircraft seat plans

Ryanair has a streamlined fleet with over 300 Boeing 737s in operation. New deliveries of the Max 8200 began in summer 2021, with this type currently based at London Stansted

www.aerolopa.com

737 Max seat pitch:
Rows 2-16 ABC seats: 28.5" (TBC)
Rows 3-16 DEF seats: 28.5" (TBC)
Rows 17-18: 35"
Rows 19-27: 28"
Rows 29-35: 28"


Vs

737-800. (Of course depens if you have the slim seats)
Seat pitch:
Rows 2-15 ABC seats: 29.0"
Rows 3-15 DEF seats: 29.5"
Rows 16-17: 35"
Rows 18-33: 29.5"

 

[Scotrail314209]

They have also created space for extra seats by removing the toilets and moving them into the rear galley, thus slicing it in half and putting a smaller bulkhead instead (where the toilets traditionally are)

 

[Cloud Strife]

Rows 3-15 DEF seats: 29.5"

Aha! This might explain my discomfort: I'm normally taking seats in exactly that area. With the slim seats, I suspect it's more than 29.5".

It is a tremendous shame, because the -8200/Max-8 seems to be much more stable than the -800. The engines, however, are obnoxiously big, and it's quite striking when you're stood next to them and there's a standard -800 in the next stand.

 

[dr140]

I've just flown to Dublin from Wrocław and back, via Luton on the outgoing flight and via Stansted on the return. Some observations:

- My first flight was on Wizzair's A321ceo. I was lucky enough to get an exit row seat, so absolutely no complaints here. The downside was a howling toddler nearby for the entire flight, not helped by the parents who apparently had brought absolutely nothing to entertain the kid with. There was also a howling baby, but in this, the baby was only a couple of months old and nothing would have helped except actually landing. Landing was as soft as a feather too, although I have the impression that the pilot may have slightly overshot the landing zone.

- The onward flight to Dublin was with a traditional Ryanair 737-800. I got allocated a window seat, just to the rear of the middle exit rows. No issue at all here as well, the 737-800 on Ryanair has always felt quite roomy. Usual traditional hard landing from Ryanair.

- The two return flights were both with new 737-8200's. I was sat near the back of the plane on both flights, and I can only say that the seat pitch was absolutely intolerable. It's apparently 28", but compared to the 737-800, it felt like a prison in comparison. I'm normally indifferent to seat pitch, but this just felt cramped and uncomfortable. The planes themselves also seem to be more 'twitchy', although taking off feels much better and smoother when compared to the 737-800's. Landings were also much more gentle, which surprised me given Ryanair's 'get it down on the ground' safety-first approach.

The engines are much quieter on the 737-8200, but my strong advice to anyone travelling with Ryanair on them is to make sure to book a seat with extra legroom.37

In general, the 737-8200 feels very very cramped in comparison to the 737-800.

Completely agree that the seat pitch is much tighter compared to the 800, although the 800's with the new cabin are some of the best in Europe! I recently flew Edinburgh to Dublin and it was alright for a short flight but was still glad to get off. We've got loads of them based in EDI now (5 of the 10 based aircraft I think), but they are mainly using them on all the longer flights, particularly to the Canaries which are normally around 4h+ (Presumably to take advantage of the improved fuel efficiency) Those flights I'll definitely be avoiding...
Overall can't really complain about Ryanair, they keep expanding at EDI and fares are still reasonable most of the time which I can't say about many other airlines out there.

They have also created space for extra seats by removing the toilets and moving them into the rear galley, thus slicing it in half and putting a smaller bulkhead instead (where the toilets traditionally are)

I do feel a bit sorry for the crews on these planes. The rear galley was the one place they could have a seat mid flight and something to eat and drink. Now they've got passengers walking through and blocking it all flight using the toilets.

 

[Jamesrob637]

I flew on a Max MAN-DUB in May. My, it was smooth and quiet compared to the regular 737 on the return that evening!

 

[185]

Was on a Ryanair Max last week. Crew hate them.. half of the back galley is now toilets and the extra exit mid plane requires one of the crew to sit at it during takeoff / landing.

I'm assuming that if the ratio rules are change, that crew seat may eventually come out, however I don't see those terrible back toilets moving anytime soon.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Was on a Ryanair Max last week. Crew hate them.. half of the back galley is now toilets and the extra exit mid plane requires one of the crew to sit at it during takeoff / landing.

Yeah, it’s a nice cabin. But some of the logistics weren’t thought out.

 

[najaB]

The twitchiness could be the MCAS system?

Unlikely. The main purpose of MCAS is to hide the nose-up tendency when power is applied to those massive fuel/noise conversion units at low speeds.

As far as I am aware, it doesn't operate during cruise, nor does it do anything in the roll or yaw axes.

 

[cactustwirly]

Was on a Ryanair Max last week. Crew hate them.. half of the back galley is now toilets and the extra exit mid plane requires one of the crew to sit at it during takeoff / landing.

I'm assuming that if the ratio rules are change, that crew seat may eventually come out, however I don't see those terrible back toilets moving anytime soon.

Isn't the toilets situation the same as the A320s

 

[185]

Isn't the toilets situation the same as the A320s

Never been on an A320 Neo, but I think the toilet is, albeit on the opposite (LH/ie starboard) side.

 

[cactustwirly]

Never been on an A320 Neo, but I think the toilet is, albeit on the opposite (LH/ie starboard) side.

BA have that configuration on all of their 320s.
Not been on the oddballs like Delta Kilo and the ex GB Airways aircraft to comment