I know that I don’t post much anymore and when I do it’s usually a boring trip report, but there’s some things I usually need to get off my chest! Below is a brief recount of a recent long weekend I took with my betrothed:
Friday 13th Jan 2004
IOM-LTN, British Airways, BAe 146-200
Very straightforward flight to Luton, notable only for the disgusting old man sitting in the row in front of me. He was smartly dressed and was reading the FT. Half way through the flight he sneezed onto the pink pages, and ignored the big piece of snot! He then turned the page and I could see the impression of the mucus. Stomach turning!
Caught the coach to Stansted, which was a drag. Connecting LTN-STN was not much fun to say the least.
STN-REU, Ryanair, B737-800
My normal tactic when checking in is to walk up to the checkin desk with the smallest queue, regardless of what the information screens say. For the first time ever, on any airline, they refused to check us in. Had to wander over to another bit of the terminal and queue again. The queue management was a little un-coordinated to be honest.
The flight to Reus (“near” Barcelona) was quite good. The bits which really annoyed me though were the simple things.
The interior of a fairly new aircraft was ruined by the in-your-face bright yellow trim of the headrest of the seat in front. There were no seat pockets and no inflight mag, even though the cabin crew kept referring to the menu being in the inflight mag. None were handed out. I felt the interior was deliberatey and needlessly stressful.
Monday 16 Feb 2004
BCN-LGW, Easyjet, B737-700
Arriving at REU, we faced a lengthy coach joruney to Barcelona. When we got to the city, the coach stop was very dingy and full of homeless bums. I was tired, stressed, and fed up.
To make the return REU-STN flight, we had to be at the dingy coach stop by something like 6am. We just couldn’t face it, so I used our hotel’s internet terminal to book a return journey from Barcelona’s main airport.
I wanted to fly BCN-LHR with BA (I’ve flown a lot, but never on a 767, which I really wanted to try!). But BA refused to sell me a ticket. Their UK website only allows you to select departures from the UK. Their Spanish website was (d’oh!) in Spanish, although I managed to select my flights OK. But the still refused to sell me a ticket, because the site insisted that the credit card had to have a Spanish billing address. Expedia were useless – they just told me the booking could not be completed due to airline rules.
My only real choice to get home was Easyjet! I feel this is disgusting on BA’s part – a betrayal of loyal patronage and a major inconvenience.
The flight on Easyjet was fine, about the same as Ryanair but without the obnoxious in-yer-face colours.
16 Feb 2004
LGW-IOM, British Airways, BAe 146-200
Another poor flight. The horrid old, old 146 they use needs replacing badly. It looks ancient inside. It was absolutely full, as usual. Why can’t they put a proper jet on this run? The 735 would do nicely, certainly it wouldn’t be too big. They use the 735 for the LGW-JER route, and JER is actually a slightly shorter runway than IOM.
By: Airline owner - 29th February 2004 at 09:00
I am listening LBA RULES but like i say my personal experiences that is all.
By: Mark L - 28th February 2004 at 19:43
Never had a problem with either, both have slightly different business philosphies, and all my LoCo flights have been on time or early. Pity I can’t say the same for BA.
By: LBARULES - 28th February 2004 at 19:20
Why you thanking me? I just know your not gonna listen to me no matter what I say. Also my two flights with FR were 10 and 20 minutes early.
By: Airline owner - 28th February 2004 at 19:18
thank you lots LBA RULES
By: LBARULES - 28th February 2004 at 19:14
Ok Ill stop arguing my point now.
By: Airline owner - 28th February 2004 at 19:14
just my experiences that tell me that
By: LBARULES - 28th February 2004 at 19:10
Yeah but that doesent mean every flight is. They have a better ontime record than EZY so how can you say ‘never on time?’
By: Airline owner - 28th February 2004 at 19:09
Originally posted by LBARULES
So…. ‘Never on time’. Thats why they have one of the best on time records…. better than EZY? No publicity on TV… Does it matter as long as they are getting it? ‘Cheap and tacky service’ Yeah exactly the same as EZYS and its actually very expensive 😉 And the colour scheme makes them a bad airline?
Like i said in my opinion.
However my flights were with Ryanair were 1 hour and the other was 4hours delayed.
By: Duesseldwarf - 28th February 2004 at 19:07
I think you will find that Ryanair are ‘on-time’ much more often than easyJet, according to the stats that they both publish on their respective websites each week.
Also, does a fantastic colour-scheme really help an airline to be better??
By: LBARULES - 28th February 2004 at 19:06
So…. ‘Never on time’. Thats why they have one of the best on time records…. better than EZY? No publicity on TV… Does it matter as long as they are getting it? ‘Cheap and tacky service’ Yeah exactly the same as EZYS and its actually very expensive 😉 And the colour scheme makes them a bad airline?
By: Airline owner - 28th February 2004 at 19:03
Right here we go:
Ryanair:
Cheap and tacky servecing on board.
No publicity on TV which does no help.
never on time (well some are.)
IMO i do not like them
Easyjet
better service
flown with both twice and on both counts EZY was best
Good Publicity
Fantastic colour scheme
By: LBARULES - 28th February 2004 at 18:57
Originally posted by Airline owner
Ryanair is such a bad airline whereaseasyjet is grrreat!!!
What makes EZY great and Ryanair ‘So Bad’?
By: Hand87_5 - 28th February 2004 at 13:53
Originally posted by Airline owner
Ryanair is such a bad airline whereaseasyjet is grrreat!!!
I won’t say that they are a bad airline. You get with them what you pay for. Not more not less.
I don’t really like their commercial pratices such as this scandal of chrging for a wheelchair.
As for an airline they take you from A to B safely and on time. That’s the most important for me.
By: Mark L - 28th February 2004 at 13:51
Going to bother justifying that bald statement?
By: Airline owner - 28th February 2004 at 13:44
Ryanair is such a bad airline whereaseasyjet is grrreat!!!
By: Jeanske_SN - 28th February 2004 at 13:00
Originally posted by Mark L
Interesting report Mongu, I would really send off an email to BA, they still have some of the most RIDICULOUS policies.1. Like you said, no way fo booking a ticket starting outside of the UK
2. Return ticket to BCN = £89, Single ticket to BCN = £178
WHERE IS THE LOGIC IN THAT?!?!?!?!?!
Saw one man at MAN last week who wanted a single and was just getting the sales agent to book him on the cheapest return “don’t care when it is”.
Why he didn’t fly BMI I don’t know, I’m amazed they get half the business they do sometimes :rolleyes:
That happens with almost every normal carrier! Sometimes even thrice the return ticket. It’s better to book a return ticket and just ignore the return flight.
Don’t understand the logic in that either; it’s just stupid.
By: Mark L - 28th February 2004 at 10:46
Agree with everything there Mongu except for the mainline out of MAN bit. BA mainline only operate out of LHR and LGW, the biggest plane at MAN (excluding the 767 that goes to JFK) is an RJ100. At the moment I believe some flights do operate with the ERJ though?
By: mongu - 28th February 2004 at 10:36
Originally posted by Mark L
Sorry yeah, the guy next to me was going to LHR.BTW I would expect the 146s to move on soon, BACX want to get rid of the 2 single ac bases (IOM and INV) but the problem lies in the fact that CX and BA ARE 2 seperate companies, and they have never ever exchanged routes before. However like you say the IOM flights from LGW (although not LTN I gather) are full, as are the INV ones pretty much, and the jump from a 146-300 to a 737-500 is not that great and would make for a more sensible business plan.
The LTN flight is wierd – only once a day, and I don’t think BA actually serve LTN from anywhere else do they? They pulled out of LPL ostensibly for that very reason (ie. silly to keep a base open when you only fly to one destination) so I would imagine LTN can’t last much longer.
People in the IOM genuinely believe that BA dislike them. If you’re ever at LGW or MAN, watch how the IOM flights are always the ones that get delayed. Then, there is the perception that BA use their C-grade cabin crew and D-grade aircraft on the IOM runs. Although you say it is really BACX and not BA, the fact remains that from a customer’s perspective its all the same thing, ie. mainline BA.
The preferred solution amongst the Manx travelling public and even the Manx Government, would be for BACX to close the IOM base and for mainline BA to serve IOM from only MAN and LGW. I believe BA think the same, and this will eventually happen.
5 flights a day to MAN is good, but sometimes there is only 3 or 4 and it is only a little Dash 8.
LGW only has 2 or 3 flights, which is nowhere near enough. It just about eliminates and connecting traffic, as nobody wants to hang around 7 or 8 hours at Gatwick! As I said earlier, go to 4 or 5x with a 735 and the bottom line will transform itself for BA.
By: mongu - 26th February 2004 at 21:55
Easyjet from LPL is a non starter. Their flights leave too early for an IOM connection and arrive too late for the onward flight to IOM.
They do have some better times at a higher price level, but they were expensive – about £2 or £3 less than the cost of flying BA or Iberia from MAN or LGW. I didn’t think it was worth doing at such high prices.
I note the comments about booking by phone rather than online. My reaction is threefold:
1. It’s a hassle and seems a backwards step.
2. It’s expensive.
3. Much as I like airports, I like my fiance more! I don’t want to eat into valuable holiday time messing around with travelling to the airport just to get a ticket.
Frankly I much prefer BA to Easyjet. But if BA don’t find me worthy of custom (by refusing to sell me a ticket) they can get stuffed. My attitude towards them is not helped by the dreadful LGW-IOM “service” they have.
They have to realise that I am not forced to spend my cash with BA. I do have other options and I intend to avoid BA from now on. Starting with the tickets I booked this evening to Melbourne, with Emirates! I also paid off the balance of my BA American Express credit card and have cut it up!
By: Bhoy - 26th February 2004 at 15:15
I’ve had that problem before trying to book flights with BA, I was trying to get a LHR-GLA return flight, to connect with the LX ticket I already had BSL to LHR. I couldn’t do it online, but got it issued no problem at the BA ticket desk at BSL. Ok, it meant going out to the airport specifically to book the ticket, but well, take a camera with you and stop off on the way back near the runway…
I think the reason he never tried EZY to LPL was that he already had his BA flight LGW-IOM booked, and didn’t want to throw it away.
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February 25, 2004 at 10:25 pm