'No frills' Airlines what do you think?

[Graham F]

I am keen to find out what peoples experiences are of these 'no frills' airlines do you think they are value for money and would you always use them when possible?

I have only been on one flight with a 'No frills' airline, I found it to be very good. I arrived at the check in desk for Ryan Air 5 minutes after it closed (thanks to French customs for searching the car i was travelling in :rolleyes: )and after all you hear about when its closed its closed I feared I had missed my flight home :cry: but to their credit they took my ticket and bag and let me on with no arguement what so ever!! 25 mins later the flight took off and arrived back at Stansted 20 mins early!! The ticket however did cost me the best part of 300 euros but seen as I only booked it 5 hours before the flight I can't really grumble. ;)

[gazzae]

I think they are great, I can fly to visit a friend in London for only a couple of £, providing I book in advance.

[Chris]

I have only ever experienced EasyJet and I can't fault them. See it for what it is - a flying bus - and you'll have no complaints. You get on, you travel to your destination, you get off. Simple as that. And, if you book a little sooner than 5 hours before you fly, it can be quite cheap too ;)

In comparing EasyJet with Ryanair, I would say EasyJet is more likely to get you closer to where you actually want to be as it relies a little less on provincial airports that can be 75 miles from the city you are allegedly flying to. I have also yet to hear EasyJet grumbling about ways of persuading passengers to fly without checked baggage, which I know Ryanair is actively considering and could turn out to be a complete pain.

[Halcyon]

Well you may not get your own movie Tv screen in the back of your seat, or meals all day long, but they are great for traveling short distances in my opinion.
I've just got my Dad a flight to Paris for £44 and that includes taxes.
If I was travelling to the U.S, Canada, Australia, I'd pick a larger company as I'd like better ammenities, but for short distances they r great.

[danielf]

I'm not that impressed with them. I used to fly BMI regularly on a leg that is now operated by BMIbaby. I find BMIbaby not that much cheaper (unless booking way in advance, they may charge you more than BMI used to charge for Business Class). I also find that I occassionaly have to travel a day early or later in order to get a reasonable fare. All in all, for this specific flight, service has deteriorated, prices have not dropped that much, and delays have increased.

[Chris]

Well you may not get your own movie Tv screen in the back of your seat, or meals all day long, but they are great for traveling short distances in my opinion.
I've just got my Dad a flight to Paris for £44 and that includes taxes.
If I was travelling to the U.S, Canada, Australia, I'd pick a larger company as I'd like better ammenities, but for short distances they r great.

You don't get a movie screen on your seat with BA either, unless you're flying long-haul. And on 'shuttle' services within the UK the 'meal' is usually a soggy apple lattice pie.

[skyblueheroes]

For short distances they are superb. Used BMI Baby and Ryan Air. No complaints both times - superb.

[Graham F]

I bought a nice sandwich on the ryanair flight I took cost £3 and was sooo nice seen as i hadn't eaten all day it was well worth the money :)

[SMHarman]

I have also yet to hear EasyJet grumbling about ways of persuading passengers to fly without checked baggage, which I know Ryanair is actively considering and could turn out to be a complete pain.

Bit more than a grumble

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/news/20040705_01.html

I bet when the winter timetable comes out, they will start charging for hold luggage, carry on or pay policy.

[Chris]

Bit more than a grumble

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/news/20040705_01.html

I bet when the winter timetable comes out, they will start charging for hold luggage, carry on or pay policy.

That page says they are increasing the weight allowance for cabing luggage, it doesn't say anything about checked bags carried in the hold. Personally I think Stelios is too smart to try something like paid-for hold baggage. It would be a PR disaster.

[Mr_love_monkey]

I have a dislike of Easy Jet, but only because my company insists on making us fly with them, when we go to Scotland - the one time I flew with them paying myself, to Liverpool - I couldn't fault them - like Towny says if you take them for what they are, flying buses - I just object to flying on them for business - especially when I've had to get up at 4 to make the flight - least with BA at that time you get breakfast.

[Mike]

I have flown with most airlines.......from Easy jet to BA. I recently came back from a weekend in New York flying BA and I was really disappointed because when I arrived at home there was no orchestra playing in my front garden. I am really tempted to complain under the trades description Act. ;)

[Mr_love_monkey]

I have flown with most airlines.......from Easy jet to BA. I recently came back from a weekend in New York flying BA and I was really disappointed because when I arrived at home there was no orchestra playing in my front garden. I really tempted to complain. ;)
They were playing at mine that day - they only have 1 and you have to book them way in advance... :)

[Chris]

I have flown with most airlines.......from Easy jet to BA. I recently came back from a weekend in New York flying BA and I was really disappointed because when I arrived at home there was no orchestra playing in my front garden. I am really tempted to complain under the trades description Act. ;)

Having flown long-haul with BA in business class, I am really tempted to complain at the suggestion that their 'fully flat bed' is anything remotely like a double bed plus bedside cabinet and lamp, with or without a lifesize Piccadilly Circus as a backdrop.

[etccarmageddon]

I have flown with www.mytravel.co.uk long haul.

they are to be avoided even if you have to pay more to fly with another airline. they are AWFUL.

[SMHarman]

My opinions of these carriers.

Well flying somewhere will still to me come down to a balance of cost and convinience in terms of airport location, flight times and reliability.

So I've paid £180 to get to the south of france on Buzz (remember them) when I could have paid £150 to go on BA because the flight times were earlier out and later back and from STN not LGW (I live between STN and LTN).

I've paid £30 to go to Paris on BA from LCY rather than £28 on Ezy from LTN as this meant I could work in the afternoon rather than try to get to the airport (and a fantastic airport LCY is).

I'll pay £79 to go to Paris on Eurostar in First and have Champagne poured down my throat and a full meal, rather than £49 in standard or £45 on Ezy. This also has the benefit of dropping you right into Paris.

And my last trip to Belfast was EZY. I've no experience of RYA, but Mrs H does, this is a little old because they have had a lot of fleet renewal since then, so it is not fair to comment.

Annoyances with Ezy. Well the last time I flew their checking systems crashed delaying us for 4 hours, no fun, ususally, less so with a 19month old in tow.

Lack of allocated seating. With infants you can pre board. When the finally got around to announcing pre board, we were in the toilet changing his nappy, by the time we got to the gate most pax were on board. We had bought our infant a seat (rather than being a lap pax) and brought on board his car seat (as allowed by CAA regulations). The CAA require a car seat is put by a window, so as not to obstruct other pax in an evacuation. The trouble this seemed to cause the crew (being as every window was taken). They tried to challenge whether I could use the seat on board, chastised me for being late to board (well quiet infant or screaming one with ****ty nappy stinking up the plane - you choose). Went on to explain that they would have to fit the infant seat, then get in a huff when I offered to explain how you fit it "well every seat is different" - "I know, thats why I am trying to explain to you how this one is".

Flight itself fine, frequent flier Master H was asleep before we even left the tarmac, opened his eyes when we landed and fell asleep again until we got to the terminal. He's learning well.

Return. We did board on time, knowing we could not sit in the grey seats, confirmed we could sit in the row behind, a member of crew confirmed we could, watched me fit his car seat checked it and then said, oh you can't sit there either. Duh, what was the question I asked. Then being a domestic flight we had to wait ages for the gate checked buggy along with the rest of the parents as they could not be claimed by the plane (seems to be a problem perculiar to the route).

Jet Blue - fantastic low cost carrier. One day all air travel will be that way. If you are ever in the US needing to travel a route they serve, they come recommended.

Transatlantic American are fab, they have 36in of legroom in economy, compared to BA and Virgins 31-32 in. Make a whole world of difference. You do have to pay $5 a beer / wine / gin though, however they do give frebees to frequent drinkers (and frequent flyers).

Overall a great benefit that has shaken up the market. BA, AF and the like woud be charging sky high prices otherwise. Some room for improvement though.

[andygrif]

Bit more than a grumble

http://www.easyjet.com/EN/news/20040705_01.html

I bet when the winter timetable comes out, they will start charging for hold luggage, carry on or pay policy.

This is actually good news! I remember having an argument with them years ago becuase they insisted on weighing my laptop which was like 1kg more than the ridiculous 5kg limit they have now. They wanted to make be put it the hold - a laptop!

Well you may not get your own movie Tv screen in the back of your seat, or meals all day long, but they are great for traveling short distances in my opinion.

Most of the low-cost carriers only fly short-haul anyway - and no-one gives you inflight entertainment on short-haul (apart from the holiday airlines).

I've flown on many airlines, both long and short-haul - and most of them are difficult to tell apart anyway.

Long-Haul....

British Airways staff are on the whole rude and up their own bottom-holes (!) their inflight service is appalling (I flew to Seattle Business Class and the food was worse than a value-line micro meal).

Virgin's crew are better but too intent on mincing round the aircraft rather than serving customers. Food is OK.

Emirates is good as long as you're in business or first - especially if you get the B777 - the food in business is outstanding - I had a five course meal that lasted almost as long the flight to Dubai! Great wine list too.


Short-Haul......

British Airways is like flying RyanAir.

RyanAir - flight to Dublin - felt like I was in the middle of a commercial - the plane was branded Hertz, the seats were branded Kilkenny and the trays were branded something else. Very cheap though.

Lufthansa - if you like 80's SAAB light grey leather seats, you're in luck! The crew were at their peak around the same time as the seats - and the Fraulines are generally like the one in Austin Powers! The food is absolutely shocking....I was offered this stale ciabatta, which had pesto instead of butter and a rubbery cheese in it. I had indigestion for hours.

EasyJet - on the whole not bad - in my experience the crew couldn't care less, and if they are late (which they usually are) they're not going to keep you informed. Also when flying to Amsterdam expect them to be on the gate furthest away from the entrance!

Swiss - surprisingly good! Crew are excellent, food is well presented and tasty, and generally on-time too.

ScotAir - used to be Suckling Air (LOL) - really good, flown a couple of times from LTN to Paris CDG, all business class, but at econ prices - tiny twin prop craft, great staff, you get a nice full english breakfast just after you take off.

BMI - Not as bad as BA.

LOT Polish Air - ancient aircraft, but lovel crew and food.

There are others but they start to meld into one....the three that stand out for me (for the right reasons) are Emirates ScotAir and Swiss.