Obviously, you get what you pay for

7sefton

Apologies if this sounds like a bit of a rant - and maybe it is - but after reading through some of the posts on this forum I need to get something off my chest:

When will people learn that, in general, budget airlines are CR*P and actually a complete paradox. You/we are supposed to be a bunch of Money Savers, so please wake up to the obvious fact that in 99% cases budget airlines should be ignored.

They are NOT budget when you consider all the 'extra' charges. Even if you try to get round every extra charge, you end up causing yourself more stress than it's worth and do without somewhat essential comforts. Some charges you simply cannot avoid, like the transfer from the airport to the actual city you intend to get to (and which the airline advertises as serving). Not to mention the time wasted jumping through the airline's hoops to grab that elusive £1 fare.

Furthermore, when things go wrong (which in the airline industry is fairly regularly) there is absolutely no backup. They flagrantly disregard EU regulations because they simply don't care. They are degrading their passengers as citizens of the EU and lack common values of fairness and understanding. What amazes me is that the lack of customer support amongst budget carriers is almost universally known about by anyone who travels fairly frequently, and yet you still have the balls to come on boards like this/write to Sunday newspapers complaining and looking for ways to grasp back any compensation/airport tax you can. Then you get even more outraged when they take the p*ss out of you by charging an admin fee that is more than what you are claiming back!

Sure, some budget carriers are better than others. Tbh, I am mainly talking about Ryanair here.

And you know what, there is a way to avoid all this agro. Simply choose to fly with a traditional flag carrier. They usually have far less hidden charges, make flying easier for you, and actually treat you like a valued customer. Plus when things go wrong, generally you will be listened to and helped as best as possible. Of course in the past perhaps some major airlines were greedy and charged too much for too little. The budget airlines did scare the flag carriers and they have made changes in response. Lufthansa fly to Munich from Manchester for £49 one way all in. Air France fly Manchester to Paris cheaper than easyJet flights from the more provincial and less pleasant Liverpool airport. Now, all charges considered, I regularly find that some flag carriers are cheaper than Ryanair et al.

Sadly, some people seem too stuborn to acknowledge this, or too stupid to realise that they are being taken advantage of by budget airlines.

Nordictat2

You have quite a few people on here who love Ryan Air and see no wrong in lfying with them but I am not one of them. I find with all their fee's for this and that..for a bit more if not the same who you can fly with another company. If people keep flying with the budget airlines the major ones could vanish one day and personally I perfer flying with the normal airlines except the budget airlines - Norwegian Airlines as I find their staff friendly and prices usually quite reasonable.
Ryan air has the highest fees and prices for food onboard too so by the time you pay for this and that on board..you could of got better food included in the flight if you would of flown or atleast booked a bit in advance with a reg. carrier. I fly often and I try to avoid R.A like the plague and the OP and I aren't the only ones...if I got 5 quid for everytime I saw someone complaining about Ryan Air..I'd be rich hehe sooooo one of these days I hope R.A drops their fees for those who REALLY need to fly with them and can't afford anything else and change their "tudes" because their personalities sure need a revamp!

I'm sure you will get some more replies to your post and surely ones defending them hehe.

old_motters

Nordictat2 wrote: »

I'm sure you will get some more replies to your post and surely ones defending them hehe.

Not from me.

Pollycat

7sefton
heard it all before.

I look at the bottom line when booking flights - i.e. how much is it going to cost me.

I'm not suckered in by low headline prices.

I'm not too stuborn to acknowledge your point about 'traditional flag carriers' - if it's cheaper to fly with a 'traditional flag carrier' I'll book with THEM, rather than a budget airline.

Budget airlines are not taking advantage of me.

sandiep

You get what you pay for and it's all about expectations. If you're flying Ryanair, don't expect a lounge, expect a delay at somepoint, and expect to be bombarded with "sell" whilst you're in the air.

Fundamental question is though,

How and Why should you expect to take a flight for pennies? Do you think that you're paying anywhere near a fraction of the cost that the airline is incurring in transporting you?

Price is linked to cost, and if you're paying less than cost, then you should expect somewhere, somehow that the supplier will look to generate extra profit off you.

Unrealistic expectations frequently lead to disappointment.

foxy-roxy

Never been with Ryan Air but i have been with Jet2, which i have no complaints about, maybe i was lucky, maybe not, but if i am going somewhere long haul, i will go through a travel agent, but if its just a trip to spain then i will do it online.

zzzLazyDaisy

If a traditional charter flight is about the same price or just a little more, I'll book with them for the convenience. I recently booked a charter flight to Turkey - I could have gone with a low cost carrier, but by the time all the add-ons were factored in, they were actually more expensive.

But equally, I recently flew to Dusseldorf with Ryanair on one of their £5 offering, and even with the transfer, it was still the cheapest way, by far (but we did it with hand luggage and electron, so no add-ons).

It depends what you want. As another poster has said, it is the bottom line that counts. But you get what you pay for, and often a trip abroad with Ryanair works out cheaper for me than a return train trip to London, so I can't complain!

Altarf

7sefton wrote: »

Apologies if this sounds like a bit of a rant

It is. Ryanair, and that is who we are talking about here, have two sorts of passengers.

People who know the game and and are willing to play the game. They booked a special offer (with an electron card), take hand luggage only (of the right size and weight), have checked in on line, and have no expectation of getting their £5 ticket price back if they decide not to fly. And they know that they are playing "Ryanair Russian Roulette" and if something goes wrong, then they are screwed.

And then there are the people who either don't know the game or know the game and think that they can bend the rules. They moan about the credit card fees, they want to check in luggage, they don't read the rules on size and weight limits, they don't check in on line, etc. And above all they expect BA style customer service when they have paid the price of a bus fare.

I guess you fall into the second category. And actually you are the sort of passenger that Ryanair wants. They don't want people like me, who would never dream of paying Ryanair more than £10 all in for a flight to anywhere, they want people who don't just book the special offers, who want to pay for that checked in bag, etc.

My favourite O'Leary quote is - What part of no refund don't you understand? You are not getting a refund so !!!! off.

And if you think that he is bothered, another quote of his - I'm probably just an obnoxious little !!!!!!!!. Who cares?

Pollycat

Altarf wrote: »

It is. Ryanair, and that is who we are talking about here, have two sorts of passengers.

People who know the game and and are willing to play the game. They booked a special offer (with an electron card), take hand luggage only (of the right size and weight), have checked in on line, and have no expectation of getting their £5 ticket price back if they decide not to fly. And they know that they are playing "Ryanair Russian Roulette" and if something goes wrong, then they are screwed.

And then there are the people who either don't know the game or know the game and think that they can bend the rules. They moan about the credit card fees, they want to check in luggage, they don't read the rules on size and weight limits, they don't check in on line, etc. And above all they expect BA style customer service when they have paid the price of a bus fare.

I guess you fall into the second category. And actually you are the sort of passenger that Ryanair wants. They don't want people like me, who would never dream of paying Ryanair more than £10 all in for a flight to anywhere, they want people who don't just book the special offers, who want to pay for that checked in bag, etc.

My favourite O'Leary quote is - What part of no refund don't you understand? You are not getting a refund so !!!! off.

And if you think that he is bothered, another quote of his - I'm probably just an obnoxious little !!!!!!!!. Who cares?

Amen to that! :rolleyes:

Bob_the_Saver

I've just checked, I have 36 flights booked for the next 6 months going as far away as Australia. All but 2 flights are with low cost/budget airlines

10 are 1p Ryanair flights (TOTAL PRICE I PAID)
5 more are £1 Ryanair flights (TOTAL PRICE I PAID
Other Highlights are,
India to Macau for £7.50 (TOTAL PRICE I PAID)
Singapore to Bangalore (£5 Total PRICE I PAID)
KL to Bali £12 (Total price I paid - oh I just noticed that's the price RETURN)

I do similar each year. Because I can spell my name, because I leave a good gap between flight, because I arrive at the airports early, because I don't pack an AK47 or bottle of water in my hand baggage and because I actually READ the airline's website I never have a problem.
I love it when people rant about Ryanair and say they won't ever use them again because that means more cheap flights for me.
The deals don't come knocking on your door you have to look for them, remember that when your freezing in Gordon Brown's Britain this winter, I'll raise my glass to you from the beaches of Bali, or Oz.
:beer: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Moonchild

To be fair, you're probably ranting on the wrong forum. Ryanair flights are the cheapest going, and people on this site have worked out how to 'play the game' and will even provide assistance in doing this. Very few people reading this site will get ripped off by Ryanair.

It comes down to personal choice. I like to think I would rather eat my @rse than fly Ryanair (again), and although at some point I might have to if i'm flying myself for business, I would never book my family on them. Often book my mum to Faro, and refuse to book her on Ryanair - she flies Easyjet all the time, just because I know she'd struggle to play Ryanair's game if she had problems.

But yeh, can't argue that Ryanair Democratise Travel for the Masses.