Ryanair v Easyjet

[ragdollabbi]

Hi

Just wondered what everyone's thoughts are on Ryanair. We have never flown with them before, having used Easyjet/Jet 2 in the past. Looking for cheap flights for October (hopefully) from Scotland/North England and Ryanair, even with the high baggage charges, are looking not too bad at the minute. OH says he will not fly with them! All the airlines seem to have really high baggage charges now and I know that Easyjet are one of the cheapest and we have found them to be very good but the flight prices have increased and whether or not they will go back down in price is another story!!!!!!

 

[kate1]

My OH goes overseas a lot for business (although not to Mallorca - elsewhere in Europe) - he has always flown with Easyjet but just recently has done a few flights with Ryanair (having also sworn in the past that he would never use them!) He has actually been very pleasantly surprised. I would also point out that there seem to be serious concerns at the moment about Easyjet's punctuality (hope they don't sue me for saying that! - but it has been widely reported in the press) and while we personally have never had a flight delayed more than half an hour, we are hearing that things have changed.

 

[Grandad]

Both companies are about the same for service, make sure you take your own water and snack on either as the costs of both are outragious. In fact I would say Ryannair seats are slightly better than easyjet but just no difference to notice. Also according to Ryannair their punctuality is better and I think I can agree with that.

 

[Smiddy]

Flown with Ryanair 3 times in a row there, no problems at all, all the flights arrived ahead of schedule, prices great! Don't listen to all the negativity, they're fine. Think we all convieniately forget about the problems we've had with Thomsons, Thos Cook etc, over the years, i've flown with most of them and they are no better than Ryanair! You are correct, Easyjet, apparently have a worse punctuality record than Air Zimbabwe! You can sue me Stavros ,if you want, but even you can't get blood out of a stone

 

[sws97sdg]

We have just started using Ryanair mainly because we want to fly from Stanstead, always used Easyjet and would do again, not much to choose between them really, Ryanair slightly cheaper, as Smiddy says dont listen to all the negativity, try them yourself and see.

 

[mike_dublin]

Ryanair

Can't comment on EasyJet as choice from Dublin to Palma is either Ryanair or Aer Lingus.

If I'd go for a short term trip with hand luggage only I'd go for Ryanair.

If I'd go for a longer trip which requires check-in luggage I'd go for Aer Lingus.
Also, if you're travelling with a child or children you'd be grateful for the pre-allocated seats and the pouch on the seat in front of you and pay the higher price.


I might not agree with the way Ryanair generate their money with all those extra charges (for credit card payments, check-in luggage, on-line check-in), but it might save me 100's of Euro on the overall price of the flights.
Then I'd overlook the inconveniences, dash for the available seats, grind my teeth and balance out my happiness by spending the savings in PP.


Ryanair
+ very punctual
+ lower fares / good promotions (can require a deal of flexibility)
+ efficient operation

- lower fares booked out quickly
- promotions apply for awkward flight times
- only one item of hand luggage allowed (sometimes very strictly enforced)
- credit card charge, on-line check-in charge, etc.
- no alloacted seats (even for priority boarding)
- no pouch on the seat in front of you

 

[favie]

Just checked a one way flight from Glasgow Prestwick to Palma with Ryanair, great price £52.50 BUT £25 for checked luggage as opposed to £10 with Thomas Cook They also have a cheek to charge £1 for email confirmation!!

 

[sws97sdg]

Is there something you are not telling up Favies, one way flight?

 

[pollensa]

We have flown both from Stansted but nearly always go Ryanair now because the times of their flights suit us. As said above all although the extra charges annoying when you actually compare the totals for both, Ryanair nearly always come out cheaper (for us).

So far we've had no punctuality problems & when we had the ash cloud issue their site was more up-to-date with cancellations & it was much easier to transfer flights when cancelled. We had previous issue with easyjet when their site wasn't allowing transfers & we ended up booking extra flights to get home.

We weren't keen to use them at all at first but now we use them for Palma nearly every time.

 

[alcanadakid]

We have flown Easyjet from Gatwick with return every month for the last 6 years. We have only been delayed 4 times in that time, once for French air traffic, once for a medical emergency and 2 for Easyjet lateness. We only take hand luggage and so get the best price. Planes are always clean and the crew usually pleasant and efficient. Sometimes we eat on board, and the prices don't seem to be too expensive. For us they seem the best option.

 

[ragdollabbi]

Thanks for all your comments, most of which make me think that perhaps Ryanair are not as bad as everyone makes out. So far we have never had any issues with flight delays with Easyjet and have always paid for priority boarding which I have to say was very visibly enforced on our return from Palma recently. At least we had not paid the money for nothing! Don't know if I would bother with priority boarding with Ryanair as their extras are expensive enough without adding PB onto the price. I just need to talk my OH into agreeing to fly Ryanair! That may prove difficult

 

[ryansclan]

For a variety of reasons I've used both recently. Only choose Ryanair when they are the only airline flying that route eg to some parts of France. In my experience Easyjet a little bit mote expensive...also in my experience Ryanair prone to changing schedules, sometimes at very late notice. For example this year, one of our bookings was cancelled because they stopped flying the route (for operational reasons?) with 5 weeks notice even though the flights had been booked 6 months in advance. Having re-booked to a different arrival airport the flight time was then brought forward 7 hours (to 7.15 am) requiring and overnight stop. This confirmed my impressions that you get what you pay for. I know that others have voiced complete satisfaction but I'm with your OH.......never book Ryanair if there is a reasonable alternative, even if it costs me a little more.

 

[onceroundthemarina]

ryanair v easyjet

Tend to use easyjet as fly from Stanstead....in 20 years or so have only had 2 major delays with them but have used Ryanair, not much to choose from although Ryanair do seem to charge for every little thing and the baggage allowance is slightly better with Easyjet. Both airlines on board facilities can be a bit basic, although more out of stock on Ryanair, so we do tend to take eats and drinks on with us now. The way we look at it its only a 2 - 21/2 hour flight so not too long to be in the air.

 

[star81]

We have now used Ryanair for the last 3 trips and will be using them again in a couple of weeks time.

Personally, I have no problem with them. Yes, when you look at the ‘extra’ costs they look expensive but if then you look at the total price including them I generally find I can’t fly cheaper with any other airline.

You can avoid the £10 admin charge by getting a pre-paid mastercard and if you fly hand luggage only can also avoid the baggage charge.

The flights I have been on have always been on time or early arriving & I have only paid pre-boarding once and have always got seats together. On our trip in March my babies pram got damaged and they paid out for it very quickly. So I have no complaints with them.

What I think is weird though is the way everybody rushes to queue up at the boarding gate age before the flight is even called as if there might not be enough seats on the plane for everyone !!!!

Also, I don’t think the £1 charge mentioned above is for email confirmation, is that charge not an optional one if you want a text reminder ?

 

[Smiddy]

Depends on how you look at it, but i find the priority booking a waste of money. Just be alert and make sure you join the queue promptly.

 

[sws97sdg]

Priority booking only works out at £8 per person return, we pay the extra so you dont have to join the inevitable scrum, we have had to sit apart before and its not ideal.

 

[eleanor]

emmm -what a very good reason not to book priority! lol

 

[suemo]

My hubby and I swore we wouldn't fly Ryanair again! It was our first time flying with them at the beginning of last month. When we got to the check in desk at Leeds/Bradford hubby and I were informed that our cases were overweight by 2kg each.

Now I will accept that it was completely my fault that I did not realise that the limit was 15kg, we have always flow with Jet2 in the past and their limit is 20/22kg and I made a daft assumption that it would be the same.

My argument was with the Ryan Air lady who checked our luggage in. She was very abrupt and told us that we would have to either take something out of our cases and put it in hand luggage or we would have to pay £120.00

HER suggestion was that we should go over to the shop and buy a cheap bag (as I didn't have any hand luggage) and take out 4kg from our cases into the hand luggage. She told us to leave the luggage with her whilst we went to buy a bag. The queue in the shop was lengthy and by the time I had bought the bag and got back to the check in desk she has checked the luggage in!!!! This didn't give us any other option but to pay the £120.00 as the luggage had gone down the carousel.

I know we shouldn't have been overweight however we were livid that on HER suggestion we went to buy a bag and then she just decided that she would check the luggage in!

On the plane on the way back we spoke to a family and the same thing had happened to them and they were charged £256.00!!!!

This really put me off flying with them again, but there prices do come out cheaper and I will know next time that the limit is 15KG!!!!

A lesson learned!

Sue x.

 

[sws97sdg]

It is very annoying and easy to fall foul of the fact the every airline seems to have their own different hand and hold luggage weight limits, it would so much easier if they all were the same so we knew where we were.

 

[Alcanada]

I used to avoid Ryanair like the plague purely out of principle! But recently I have used both them and Easyjet out of Stansted and never had a problem with either. I often fly out to Mallorca with one and do the return trip with the other depending on flight times and prices.

This morning I booked for me and my family to fly to mainland Spain in August. Easyjet were a lot cheaper than Ryanair by the time I added on luggage and golf clubs. Incidentally you now have the choice of luggage weight with Ryanair - for £40 you can have the usual 15kgs but you also have the option of 20kgs and paying £60.