SkymonsterKeep it closed as a bone to throw to the lunies from the climate change brigade perhaps? :p
Andy
SkymonsterI must say I have done 3 return FR flights in recent weeks.
STN – FDH (Friedrichshafen)
BRS – ACE (Lanzarote)
BRS – BGY (Bergamo)TOTAL cost £29.98 …….and I mean TOTAL
Barry
And there lays the problem. Sorry but you shouldn’t be able to do all those flights for that price – it is way below real cost. I don’t condone airlines fleecing customers with excessively high fares or have staff on an easy money gravy train, but one of the ways Ryanair achieve these redculously cheap fares is to have staff working for next to nothing on crap terms and conditions. This is part of what’s damaging the industry and making it a nit nice place to work anymore. And IMHO, in many cases, the behind the scenes “cost” of punters getting these stupid fares is too high – human and for that matter climate
SkymonsterWhat people do not appreciate is that, like it or not, Ryanair have shaped the aviation industry to what it is today. Many people should be grateful for the work that Ryanair put in, however they completely disregard them as an option because of their hatred towards MOL.
Nope, Deano (above) is right – the industry wouldn’t be as much in the mess its in today if Ryanair didn’t exist, and thousands and thousands of people who work in the industry both in the air and on the ground would be better off in terms, conditions and pay had Ryanair not existed. All Ryanair have done is driven the dive to the bottem and accommodated the masses desire for cheaper and cheaper air travel regardless of the cost or implications. MOL isn’t the problem – he’s just the odious head of a nasty organisation.
Andy
SkymonsterMy appologies then… The reference was to a friend of mine (a Ryanair fan 😮 ) who went to quite a bit of trouble to get a Visa Electron card – and now finds that the time, cost and trouble has been largely wasted.
To anyone thinking of getting a pre-paid Mastercard in order to avoid Ryanair’s fees, all I can say is don’t be so stupid to do it just becacuse of Ryanair – they’ll only keep this one fee-free whilst it suits them
A
SkymonsterSome nice nostalgia in there (especially the nose on taxiing picture of the MATS Constellation 😉 )
However, I was disappointed with the number of errors that immediately lept out at me without me having to do any research/checking:
* The picture of Sir Freddie Laker on the first page of the Laker history item has been printed back-to-front – check out the titles on the DC-10 behind him, and which side his jacket the breast pocket is
* Missed several aircraft from the Laker fleet list (missing at least 707s G-BFBS and G-BFBZ – at least one of which was in a photo printed in the magazine)
* Typo on the registrations of several of the Laker DC-10s (G-GGX. instead of G-BGX.), missed one of the Britannia registrations (hardly a difficult reg to find!)
* Iberia Constellation pic captioned as a 749 when it was a 1049
* BOAC Constellation pic captioned as a 749 when it was a 1049
So yes, nice effort (and thanks for using one of my pictures!), but a bit more attention to detail/proof reading would have been nice – happy to lend my proof reading services to the next issue!
Andy
SkymonsterI’m quite happy to use self-service kiosk checkin if its there and if there’s no queues for the machines – most of the time! However, I don’t see the point of it when I then have to stand in another line to check a bag – I might as well just stand in a line and checkin over the counter in the first place. I usually hedge my bets – if there are queues for the CUSS I’ll use the desk, and vice versa. However, as I am gold with star alliance I can usually find a priority desk with short(er) queues, so the desk option often wins out.
I believe, however, that CUSS is an idea that’s largely had its day. The devices are expensive, and cannot complete the entire process, primarily as (a) passengers cannot be left to affix bag tags unsupervised and (b) there is still a requirement to visually match passengers to their form of ID (OK, this can be done elsewhere). Anyways, OLCI is the upcoming checkin method as it offers convenience and simplicity for most passengers without the industry needing to spend on bespoke equipment to install in terminals. The industry will continue to move towards that method and use desks as bagdrops.
Andy
SkymonsterIts BD9341
BD flight numbers…
9 = non-rev
3 = day three (Wed)
4 = ? – I think that’s empty ferry for pax services (different value for other reasons – positioning for engineering, etc)
1 = first flight of type for day
Andy
SkymonsterAppologies if I caused any offence… All I meant to suggest was that the inept management at bmi would be looking for further hand-outs from their new owners – Lufthansa – in Germany (and that they’d already done that).
In my view its sad to see a once great airline – British Midland – being driven into the ground by poor strategy and poor leadship from the top. Hopefully Lufthansa’s influence and direction will help get bmi back in the game.
Andy
SkymonsterMust admit I’m really torn on this one… Clearly the agent was wrong – the airline DOES have a dress code, but it doesn’t preclude people in tracksuits from travelling in any cabin
You’ve paid extra for it. Why should you be subject to stricter rules? :confused:
Actually, this is where I am torn… The guy upgraded – effectively, he was getting into a better cabin than he’d paid money for. OK, so he “paid” for the upgrade with miles (which under accounting rules are not valueless) but IMHO he was getting more service than he actually paid for. Under such circumstances, I do believe that the airline (any airline) has a right to dictate standards when it gives away such upgrades. Clearly in this case the gate agent was wrong and the guy should have been allowed the upgrade because United doesn’t have such rules, but in principal I have no problem with airlines applying rules associated with upgrades (as opposed to people buying original tickets for a specific cabin).
Andy
PS: As someone who is flying to the USA next week, with United and on an already upgraded ticket (upgraded using one of the electronic vouchers I get as one of their frequent flyers), I will NOT by travelling in a tracksuit 😀 If fact, I wouldn’t want to be seen dead in an airport wearing such attire! 😉
SkymonsterAnother important difference is that EasyJet flies to airports that you have heard of!
I don’t have a problem with that as such – its up to Ryanair where it operates to.
However, I do have a problem with the deception Ryanair applies to the names of some of its airports (maybe in collusion with the airport itself, but deception none the less)… For example, Hahn – its no where near Franfurt, so it shouldn’t be called “Frankfurt Hahn”. The Ryanair / Hahn deception means that some casual travellers will be conned into booking Ryanair to Hahn, believing that they are being conveyed to somewhere near Frankfurt – which they aren’t. Of course, there’s a bus to Frankfurt from Hahn (which Ryanair gets an additional ancilliary revenue cut from), but it takes ages and its still a deception
A
SkymonsterRyanAir earns money with leasing out its aircraft. So if Boeing accepts a deal they end up handing out cheap airframes to RyanAir which itself leases it to airlines that otherwise would have shopped directly at Boeing.
Ryanair doesn’t lease aircraft to other airlines. However, Ryanair has in recent years turned over its own fleet (i.e. disposed of them to other airlines) whilst the aircraft are still relatively young – less than five years in most cases. Nothing wrong with that particularly – it helps Ryanair avoid some of the costs of heavy maintenance and aging aircraft.
However, putting significant numbers of relatively new airframes into the second hand market has the potential to divert airlines away from buying new. Again nothing wrong with that in particular (at least not as far as Ryanair is concerned), but it could be naive for Boeing to ignore the impact and effect that the Ryanair-created nearly-new secondary market has on its future ability to sell brand new aircraft to other airlines, especially if Boeing sell large numbers of new airframes to Ryanair at very marginal prices or loss making prices.
Andy
SkymonsterCan somebody please explain what is difference in business practices between say EasyJet and Ryanair. I have yet to see slanging off against EasyJet.
Bentley, to me the fundamental issue is that Ryanair pretty much always leads the way with unsavoury practices – be it “hidden”/extra/ancilliary charges, working practices, etc, typically it will be Ryanair that are the first to find some new or further way to fleece passengers, staff and suppliers. And because the great and the good [sic!] of Europe find low prices compelling despite the consequences or they’re happy to ignore or be ignorant of the consequences (just like they do with Tesco – see above – another company I really don’t like for ethical reasons) then in order to remain in business other airlines such as easyJet have to follow.
Its true that I have more time for easyJet than for Ryanair, and that’s because there’s ways and means to low-cost airline travel. Some European airlines, forced on by Ryanair, have IMHO gone too far. If you want a more “ethical” low-cost airline, you should look more towards the Southwest model (FWIW, WN is a low-cost airline I have NO issues with and no problems flying with).
Andy
Andy
SkymonsterAt the expense of everything and everyone around him, including his pilots & cabin crew? Now other major LCCs are following suite and our terms & conditions are plummeting as a result? The list is endless. That’s just not right Rob.
Deano has the matter spot on – Ryanair has done more to undermine the terms and conditions of the people that work in the industry than anyone or anything else. Yes people get to fly at a much cheaper price (and yes in the past there was monopolistic and cartel-like pricing creating higher airfares than was necessary) but it has gone far too far. As I’ve said before, it seems that the law according to Ryanair is that no one or no company is allowed to make an honest margin on their activities, except for Ryanair – and that now seemingly applies to Boeing, as well as the airports Ryanair operates to, the other suppliers of services that Ryanair uses, and in many cases staff (even if some of the flight deck are paid well – which has always been a thorn in MOL’s side but he can’t sort in his favour for now). Boeing would, IMHO, be mad to acceed to Ryanair’s demands – firstly, every other airline will want a similar deal, and secondly Ryanair turns its aeroplanes round after five years or so, meaning that the second hand market will be grossly increased and potentially erode future new sales.
All he has done is open the window for CHAVS to fly to their chavtastic destinations such as Benidorm, yadda yadda.
I hate Ryanair, but in respect of the above someone on another forum put it rather nicely (and I paraphrase): Ryanair has done wonders attracting the chavs – oiks, roudy hen parties, etc – that would otherwise clog up the other airlines’ flights that I prefer to use, and in this respect long may Ryanair continue! 😀
Andy
SkymonsterAnd yet…..on this forum there seems to be a suggestion airports are wonderful do-gooders being robbed by Dick “Turpin” O’Leary.
Airports have to make a profit too you know… It always amazes me that many folks seem to think its OK for Ryanair to make money, and yet it sometimes seems that no one else is allowed to make money. If the likes of Ryanair constantly seek to drive down what they pay – be that for landing fees, airport passenger handling, checkin, etc – then inevitably if they get their way then the providers of the service to Ryanair et al have to make economies too, or put up other charges. These economies/price hikes extend to but are not limited to things like – increased parking charges, fewer checkin desks and checkin desk staff, fewer security staff, fewer immigration staff on duty (which airports have to pay for), less car park buses, “encouraging” passengers to spend money in airport shops (on which airports get a commission), etc.
Bottom line – the supposedly “grim” experience you suggest passengers are arguably subjected to is a DIRECT consequence of the low-fare airlines driving down what they are prepared to pay to use an airport. Manchester recognised this, wasn’t prepared to process pax at £3 per head or less as it’d cost them more than that to do so, and told Ryanair where to go. The sooner other airports recognise this and start DEMANDING a fair price from airlines like Ryanair for the facilities and services they provide the better things will get.
Andy
SkymonsterIf you want to have a good choice of where to sit then stand in the queue for 20 minutes longer. You’re going to be stood somewhere so it might as well be in the queue. I usually grab a beer and treat the queue as an extension of the bar to make standing there a little easier!
I’d rather get allocated a seat at checkin, and then sit in the lounge drinking gin until just before boarding completes thank you! I guess that rules Ryanair out for me then! 😀
Andy
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