Flight Review: Ryanair – Nador (Morocco) to Marseille (France)

Flight: Ryanair FR6012 Date: 25 Nov 2008
From: Nador (NDR), Morocco To: Marseille (MRS), France

When I’m in Europe I always look at the Ryanair map and see if there are any airports near where I’m going to be. It’s a fun map to play with because they have so many destination airports.

[Ryanair Destinations (2008)]

I had not heard of Nador before booking this flight. I figured that it looked close enough to Fes, which is where I was ending my travels in Morocco. Nador is also near the border of the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

Ryanair fly from Nador to Marseille, France. I had never been to Marseille and it was close to my next destination, so this was an easy flight choice.

Ryanair Free Seat Sale*

I booked this ticket during one of Ryanair’s many free seat sales*. There is always that conditional asterisk for the taxes and charges. This was the breakdown of the fare, in Moroccan Dirham:

****0.00 MAD Total Fare
***99.00 MAD Taxes, Fees and Charges
**114.00 MAD Passenger Fee: BAG
***57.00 MAD Passenger Fee: Airport Check in
***57.00 MAD Passenger Fee: Debit Card Fee
**327.00 MAD Total Paid (about €29/$42USD at time of booking)

Still very cheap – asterisk or not – for a 2 hour flight.

Nador Airport

Nador airport is about 20 kms from Nador and there is no bus, so you can only get there by taxi.

Smoking is something of a national hobby in Morocco so they have this smokers box for those that need it.

[Smokers Box – Nador Airport]

The flight departed on time and it was goodbye to Morocco, until next time.

[Aeroport Nador Al Aroui]

How Ryanair pays for cheap flights

Ryanair have introduced in cabin advertising as a way of making more revenue. The overhead bins now offer advertising space.

[In-Cabin Advertising]

And how to recover selling tickets for free plus tax? Sell water for more than you buy fuel.

[Ryanair Drinks]

Before the flight there is an annoying jingle that is played over and over as they spruik duty free goods and lotto tickets. This annoying jingle is now a single: Mr Superfly

[Mr Superfly]

Out The Window

I always try and get a window on short flights, and here are the identifiable landmarks that I spotted.

[The Spanish enclave of Melilla.]

[Sierra Nevada mountain range, Andalucia.]

[Flying over Barcelona.]

[Frioul Islands – Where the character in The Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned.]

Marseille Airport

Marseille Provence Airport has a terminal for budget airlines, MP2. There is a bus that runs from the airport to central Marseille, for €8.50 (as at Nov 2008).

[MP2 Airport Marseille destinations.]

Flight review

Overall there were no problems with the service or times. The ads on the flight are cheesy but I consider this a flying bus, so I can’t complain given how cheap the flight was.

Flights to Marseille

I search for cheap flights with Skyscanner, which includes Ryanair in their search results (not all flight search sights do).