This article on the BBC web site, asking if Ryanair really is Europe’s most punctual airline provokes a few thoughts. The data is suspect on the headline question, but as Charles Babbage said, “Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all”, so there is probably a degree of truth in Ryanair’s posturing.
If I look at my recent flights to and from Majorca, Schipol, Budapest and Geneva on easyJet, none of these were late and you could argue that the return from Geneva was an hour or so early, as I exchanged waiting in a lonely airport for an earlier flight.
When I choose a flight, my criteria are based on a classic objective function, involving several factors.
The choice of airports is important, both at the London end and the destination. although, I’ve used it for years, I tend to avoid Stansted, for no better reason, than I can’t get a good meal before I fly. Gatwick is now very easy for me and I like the quickness of Southend. I think, I would only avoid Luton specifically on an outward journey, although, it would probably be acceptable on a return.
The flight time is important to me as well. If I have a chance, I’ll fly out at a time that is convenient for a relaxed journey to the airport and one that gets me to my destination at a time, where I can get to my hotel with ease.
I only ever these days, carry one small article of hand baggage, so a lot of the luggage conditions airlines apply don’t bother me. So long as my case-cum-briefcase fits under the seat in front, I don’t care.
I actually prefer choose-your-own-seat on getting on the plane, as it makes the boarding process quicker and I can wait until the last minute to get an aisle seat, hopefully next to a pretty young woman or intelligent-looking person, which will enable me to make a quick exit. How about a no-baggage except for a very small under-seat item, discount? After all, easyJet are warning there is not enough space in the overhead lockers.
But the thing I hate is airlines that have a bad attitude, that grates with my normally calm disposition. So I will not choose to fly Ryanair again, until they reform some of their aggressive attitudes. I don’t know whether they still play that awful landing fanfare, as it’s been some time since I experienced their hospitality.
I also value my safety, so their are certain airlines I would never fly.
Cost if only relevant, if it is just too much. Why get the flight for £50, when you fly to an airport miles from the city centre, when you are going to spend say a hundred or so a night on a decent hotel.
I’m intending to fly to Stockholm soon and come back by train. Applying my criteria what do I find.
Three airlines fly at a reasonable price to Stockholm, Ryanair, Norwegian Air and British Airways.
Ryanait get dropped, as they fly to some neck-end airport miles from Stockholm. A friend flew there recently and said it was a long journey.
So I have a choice of two airlines. I think I’ll try British Airways
May 26, 2013
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | EasyJet, Flying, Ryanair, Sweden |
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As I’ve said before I’m an experienced, although no longer current pilot. I’m also an engineer, who has always been interested in the way planes work and also what causes accidents.
I respect airlines like Lufthansa, British Airways and KLM. They have excellent safety records and would in my view do nothing rash. After all, if you took a chance and you had a serious crash, even one without any injuries, your airline would go down the toilet. So when Lufthansa says that they found no damage after flying through the volcanic dust, I trust their engineers to have checked and checked that there is no damage and their spokesman to be truthful and not put any spin on it.
But these airlines are not the problem, as I believe that all A-list airlines would never do anything that would knowingly compromise safety. Suppose though that airliners were allowed to be flown in the current state of volcanic dust, but with certain conditions on flight and maintenance rules. It wouldn’t just apply to the good ones, but to the bad and the ugly too!
Can governments afford for Air Neck-End to have an accident?
Of course they can’t! So they have to legislate not for the best with special rules, but for those airlines that I would never use on grounds of safety. You’ll probably find that it’s all to do with competition rules and you can’t use safety fears to keep new entrants out of the market.
Let’s also at this point put in a good word for Ryanair. They have been more than honest with cancelling their schedules for longer than their competitors. It may be prudent too, so that you don’t have masses of people swilling round the check-in desks. O’Leary is no fool.
But I’m also reminded about a story from Liverpool University. One of my fellow students came from Derby. He told how Rolls-Royce bought time-expired chickens to use for testing jet engines.
I hope that large quantities of the volcanic dust are being fired through something like a Trent.
Note that the engine being tested at Derby in the mid-1960s was the RB211, the engine that bankrupted Rolls-Royce. The Trent is a derivative from that engine and to say it has been successful would be an understatement. The basic design is older than my children.
So we should let the pilots, engineers and air traffic controllers sort this problem out and keep the politicians well out of the way. And if it means we have different rules for different airlines to satisfy the safety needs, so be it!
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0.403362
April 19, 2010
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Flying, Ryanair, Volcanoes |
1 Comment
Sheffield is one of the largest cities in Europe without a major airport.
It did have one, called Sheffield City Airport, and for a time just after it opened in 1996, it was reasonably successful. But it closed a couple of years ago and now it is being turned into a business park.
The reasons it closed was because it was designed to take limited short take-off and landing aircraft like London City. But unlike that airport, it couldn’t sustain the high value traffic that airports like that need for profit and growth.
On a more general point, Sheffield had too short a runway, to attract the low-cost airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet and in any case Manchester, Leeds and East Midlands were all within an hours drive. There is now even the new Robin Hood Airport on the former RAF Finningley.
August 23, 2009
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Airlines, EasyJet, Ryanair |
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It would appear that you can cut costs so far, but there is a limit to how far you can go. There was chaos at Stansted on Saturday, as Ryanair‘s agent Swissport did not provide enough people on the check-in desks.
Who is to blame is unclear, as neither Ryanair or Swissport have appeared to have commented.
It makes me even more certain that I’ll avoid cheap airlines unless I can carry everything on my back or in my jacket.
In fairness I should say that I’ve never been late with Ryanair, but then I’ve never put anything in the hold and always check-in on-line.
August 3, 2009
Posted by AnonW |
News, Transport/Travel | Ryanair |
2 Comments
Ryanair has announced that it is cutting flights at London Stansted this winter.
Michael O’Leary blames the British Government’s Air Passenger Duty and high charges at the airport. He’s probably right to a certain degree, but in the statements of his, I’ve heard, he doesn’t blame the recession.
I do!
I also think that people are thinking much more about their holidays and travel plans. I travel to Holland quite a bit and although, I can fly, I prefer to drive using Norfolk Line from Dover to Dunkirk. It takes a few hours longer, but then I live alone and enjoy a restful drive through the countryside. And if I pick my times right, I can even get across the Dartford Crossing with ease.
You have also to look at the economics.
A typical low-cost flight on Ryanair or EasyJet costs about £70 return, which is about the same as the cost of the ferry. So with the ferry I have to drive perhaps another 600 miles, which costs me about another £70 for diesel. But then it costs me at least £30-40 to park at the airport and then there is the train trip at the other end.
So although the low-cost flight is nominally cheaper, it’s unlikely there is more than about £30 in it. And of course the whole thing is blown apart if I need to hire a car at the other end.
It does take longer, but then I’m in comfort and I haven’t had to get to the airport and wait for a flight at some time that is inconvenient to everyone.
But where it gets interesting is that in my last trip to Holland, the car was quite full, in that I had a couple of boxes and my Brompton bicycle.
Try taking that on Ryanair with their 10Kg limit!
July 21, 2009
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Brompton Bicycle, Cycling, EasyJet, Ryanair |
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Tropea is in Southern Italy and in June 2009, I flew to Lamezia by Ryanair and then took the train south. Incidentally, I was on a two week trip and got everything in my hand-baggage.
It was an area I’d never been to before and the pictures show the town of Tropea, which sits on the top of the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
June 5, 2009
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Italy, Ryanair |
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The Anonymous Widower 