Re: 'No frills' Airlines what do you think?
 

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.

Re: 'No frills' Airlines what do you think?
 

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!

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.