Ryanair and Easyjet

[telstarbox]

Nearly all of my flights over the past few years have been with the two low cost giants Ryanair and Easyjet.

Although they're both 'no frills' I've generally found Easyjet flights a more pleasant experience with friendlier staff and less of a money-grabbing feel. However I've just been on a return trip to Europe with Ryanair and found it much more comparable to the orange outfit than previous trips.

There are fewer sales announcements and the 'on time' jingle has been binned as well.

The new cabin baggage policy (a second cabin bag for free with some of the cabin suitcases checked into the hold) seemed to go down well with fellow passengers (didn't hear any complaints) and allocated seating before boarding means there's no 'race' to board the flight. The 'charm offensive' improvements have led to increased sales for Ryanair.

Finally on both airlines I've never seen more than a handful of empty seats so they must be doing something right.

I would be interested to hear other members' views on the two airlines.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not used the blue team in a while, but I've generally been happy with the service provided by the orange team - except the new seating in the A320s which is painful unless I pay for the front or exit row as they have fitted an extra row in.

And their CEO Carolyn McCall is a very pleasant lady - even after I told her at Geneva (not knowing it was her at that point) to stop pushing in in the Speedy Boarding queue and to go to the back! (She did, as well, having had an interesting conversation about allocated seating, which of course itself solved that problem).

 

[headshot119]

I flew with Ryanair in June and they did have the on time jingle. Is that recent change?

I must admit I didn't see much difference between the two.

 

[Clip]

Last time I had a morning flight with Easyjet they had ran out of hot food by the time they got to me in the middle. Not very good when they would've known it was going to be full of mainly English people coming home and should've had enough.

Not been with Ryanair for a while but never found them to really be any worse than EJ

 

[gazthomas]

I think they are both quite similar now. In the case of Ryanair I think their management recognised they bad taken the no-frills too far and have soften their stance

 

[WestCoast]

Ryanair had a change of strategy in 2013 and they seem to have made a lot of improvements to their customer services and experience since then. They do still have the on-time jingle but it's quite subtle now (it's a pre-recorded message starting with "thanks for flying Ryanair").

I've done around 30 flights on Ryanair and 25 on easyJet in the past five years and still think easyJet has the slight edge. The aircraft, especially the newest A320s with the slimline seats are good for flights up to 4 hours or so. BA's new shorthaul cabins with tighter legroom are not much more comfortable.

Ryanair's aircraft interiors, while not inherently uncomfortable, require sunglasses due to vast swathes of bright yellow everywhere. The cabin crew are usually pleasant on both airlines, but easyJet seems to be a little bit more polished IMHO. I've also found easyJet to have lower baggage charges, and if you want to select a seat, it's slightly cheaper than Ryanair. They also don't charge you if you forget/can't check in online.

It still does kind of depend on where you're going a lot of the time. There aren't that many routes where easyJet and Ryanair actually directly compete, it tends to be easyJet vs BA/Norwegian/Monarch out of Gatwick to Leisure Destinations or Ryanair vs Wizzair if you want to fly from the UK to Eastern Europe.

Norwegian is the best low cost airline I've flown on in terms of the actual onboard experience, with the mood lighting and free Wi-Fi on their 737-800s.

I had a choice next week of easyJet or Flybe and I'd love to say Flybe won because of the schedule or the price, but no it was because one was a boring A320 and the other a Dash 8 That's to me like the difference between catching a Chiltern 168 or a 68+Mark 3 Mainline set.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I flew with Ryanair at the end of July to Dublin and they did have an on-time jingle, although it was an awful lot more muted than the old one.

As for baggage, there are pros and cons. The new Ryanair baggage policy is better, allowing two bags on to the plane is better than Easyjet where they still argue with you at the gate about a small satchel or an airport shopping bag. But the cost of that is Ryanair have started forcing you to put some baggage in the hold. Coming back from Dublin it took the idiots at Luton Airport 45 minutes to get the baggage on to the carousel.

Having flown Easyjet to Glasgow and both Ryanair and Aer Lingus to Dublin in recent months, I'd say Aer Lingus was still the nicest carrier but Ryanair is definitely better than EasyJet. More room, for one thing, and ending the baggage nonsense is a great win. I found the new Easyjet seats very cramped; legroom was fine, but my head was wedged right up against the bulkhead because of my height. Not comfortable. The older planes were fine though.

 

[Techniquest]

I've only ever flown Easyjet once, Liverpool to Isle to Man, a couple of years ago. Ryanair I've had probably 12 flights with (would need to check my Flightdiary page) if not more, across a few routes.

Why not Easyjet more often? I like orange but the adverts in your face on the seatbacks really got on my nerves, even on such a short route. There's also they go nowhere I want to go from Birmingham! Oh and they've been more chingy in the past at least than Ryanair.

Plus point on Ryanair is their use of Boeing 737-800s, which I do like!

 

[Mikey C]

I had a choice next week of easyJet or Flybe and I'd love to say Flybe won because of the schedule or the price, but no it was because one was a boring A320 and the other a Dash 8 That's to me like the difference between catching a Chiltern 168 or a 68+Mark 3 Mainline set.

I would have thought the Dash 8 Q400, with the droning noise of the turboprops was much more like travelling in a DMU, with the quieter A320 being the loco hauled stock

 

[radamfi]

For me, cost and punctuality is paramount, so I preferred the ultra-low cost Ryanair. I was prepared to jump through the hoops, getting the required bank cards etc. I got many 1p/£1/£5 fares. I don't care about the flight or airport experience, as long as it is safe and on time. I used to travel to Stansted a lot, despite living near Gatwick. Now, I use easyJet most of the time as Ryanair is no longer the bargain it used to be.

 

[ivanhoe]

Not a cigarette paper difference between them in my experience. When I get bargain priced tickets, my expectations are not too high. All of my flights have been for pleasure. I have found that the seat pitch is best on Jet2 , when comparing similar airlines.

 

[radamfi]

I like the fact that Ryanair and easyJet don't have reclining seats, so you don't have to worry about the person in front reclining the seat.

 

[WestCoast]

I would have thought the Dash 8 Q400, with the droning noise of the turboprops was much more like travelling in a DMU, with the quieter A320 being the loco hauled stock

Quite true I personally like smaller aircraft (<120 seats) such as the Dash, but also Embraers, on short-haul flights up to a few hours. I think boarding and alighting is significantly quicker and less stressful for all. Plus no middle seat. The Dash is pretty quiet if sat at the back, and is an incredible looking plane
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I like the fact that Ryanair and easyJet don't have reclining seats, so you don't have to worry about the person in front reclining the seat.

Reclining seats have their time and place, but budget airlines are quite right to leave them out IMHO.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Why not Easyjet more often? I like orange but the adverts in your face on the seatbacks really got on my nerves, even on such a short route. There's also they go nowhere I want to go from Birmingham! Oh and they've been more chingy in the past at least than Ryanair.

Plus point on Ryanair is their use of Boeing 737-800s, which I do like!

Some of Ryanair's seatbacks have adverts just above the safety card, but they've removed the adverts on the overhead lockers. Also the lack of seatback pocket got on my nerves on flights to Canaries (4.5 hours), as there's nowhere to store a book or bottle of water except the floor. I've always thought easyJet looked much smarter but you might get a little more room on Ryanair. Apparently Ryanair are getting an all new interior on new aircraft from next year, expect slim seats.

 

[Techniquest]

Oh dear, slim seats would potentially ruin the experience. No seat pockets is an issue yes, and aye I'd forgotten the adverts on the overhead lockers. Those little ones along the top of the safety information stickers are much less intrusive than Easyjet, that's for sure!

I have a flight in 13 days time from DUB-BHX which is with Ryanair, I'll be discussing my experience on it in my trip report thread later this month.

 

[edwin_m]

Flown this evening with Ryanair from Riga to Manchester. Most uncomfortable flight for some time, due to having to put my bag in the footspace and also being next to a rather large bloke and just in front of one of Eastern Europe's most screechy toddlers. No jingle but the "witty" cabin crew member sang it out for us.

Last time with Wizzair wasn't much better although I did get my bag into the locker (maybe they're onto something with charging for "large cabin bags"?). I've also flown with Easyjet on similar length flights recently (Madrid) and there is nothing to choose between the three of them.

 

[Bald Rick]

Squeezy every time. Have flown with them well over 50 times, never had an issue, and they even sorted us out for minimal cost when Mrs BR forgot that her passport was out of date until we pitched up at departures at Luton.

The other lot, though, were in my experience cowboy merchants of the first order. Booked with them twice, sharp practice on the first, even sharper on the second sufficient to result in a cancellation and refund (eventually, even though it was their fault) and a boycott that lasts to this day.

 

[ScotGG]

Flown with both many times. Never had a problem with either but better punctuality with Ryanair - and the stats back that up. Staff are the same. They almost always smile and are polite when boarding and leaving - what else is needed on a 2 hour flight?

Easyjet is still about 50% more most of the time so I don't fly with them if there's ever a chance to take Ryanair.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Charging for large cabin bags is silly. What they should do is *not* charge for the first checked bag. The rock bottom price competition is over, time for it all to grow up.

 

[jopsuk]

the new 737s Ryanair have on order (at the very least, the MAX200s- but it's now an option for and can be retrofitted to to the NG800s) will have the redesigned overhead luggage bins that can actually fit one standard cabin bag per passenger.

 

[radamfi]

Charging for large cabin bags is silly. What they should do is *not* charge for the first checked bag. The rock bottom price competition is over, time for it all to grow up.

But doesn't it cost the airline to check baggage in? That cost would then be passed onto passengers who don't check a bag in.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Charging for large cabin bags is silly. What they should do is *not* charge for the first checked bag. The rock bottom price competition is over, time for it all to grow up.

Except the baggage handling costs money, which will be passed on to passengers in increased air fares, even those who have no desire to check a bag into the hold.

That said, Ryanair's current situation- where half the people have to put their baggage in the hold anyway- still passes the cost on.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Except the baggage handling costs money, which will be passed on to passengers in increased air fares, even those who have no desire to check a bag into the hold.

That said, Ryanair's current situation- where half the people have to put their baggage in the hold anyway- still passes the cost on.

And those who haven't planned to put a bag in the hold are forced to do so on a large number of flights and not charged to do so, while those who would happily plan[1] to do so can't without paying a fee.

Because you aren't going to have a flight with no hold luggage, hold luggage handling is part of the cost of operating the flight. It won't go away. Therefore, a separate charge is just creating inconvenience for no good reason. Everyone benefits from bags being placed in the hold rather than carried on, not just those who put them in. Thus everyone should contribute to the basic operational cost of the existence of the service. It's not like food and drink, where only those consuming it benefit from its provision.

[1] I don't want to gate-check because my hand luggage contains valuables. If I know I'm checking a bag, I will carry on board only a small hand luggage bag with just the valuables in it. Much easier for security. I guess, though, that Ryanair allowing two bags will allow this split in hand luggage, thus saving time.

 

[jon0844]

No seat pockets is an issue yes

On a recent Germanwings/Air Berlin flight, I had a seat where the (hard) 'pocket' was up top - above/behind the table. Quite a clever place I thought. There was also a small stretchable pocket further down too.

And as for easyJet vs Ryanair. I was for many years very anti-Ryanair because of the way it tried to extract as much money as possible by catching you out (even the most clever seasoned travellers would likely get stung by some new charge/cost at some point) but now it seems to have realised it has to offer some decent customer service - especially now flights are rarely a penny, and they certainly haven't (AFAIK) done any promos where they pay the tax for you - thus meaning you could could fly for just a penny or 50p etc.

I would now fly Ryanair again quite happily, although I do wish they'd settle my claim for a flight that was over three hours late and they're refusing on the grounds that it was out of their control (that control being the incident they caused at Stansted by letting inbound passengers mix with outbound passengers, shutting the airport).

 

[Bletchleyite]

On a recent Germanwings/Air Berlin flight, I had a seat where the (hard) 'pocket' was up top - above/behind the table. Quite a clever place I thought. There was also a small stretchable pocket further down too.

Swiss have fitted that type of seat to some of their A320s and it's quite good.

I would now fly Ryanair again quite happily, although I do wish they'd settle my claim for a flight that was over three hours late and they're refusing on the grounds that it was out of their control (that control being the incident they caused at Stansted by letting inbound passengers mix with outbound passengers, shutting the airport).

The difficulty with the compensation thing is that you never want an airline to be financially motivated to run an unsafe flight. So the criteria are rather less generous to the passenger than, say, Delay Repay is. In that instance the airport should morally have to cough up, but I fear FR is actually technically correct.

 

[jon0844]

My delayed flight was down a delay caused by them. I am pretty certain they didn't rush anything and put anyone in danger - they just messed up so much that tens or hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled that day.

My flight was therefore incredibly late to arrive and turn around to go back (I was flying back from Sweden to Stansted that day).

What's funny is that they didn't tell anyone in Sweden what was going on, knowing the flight hadn't taken off from London obviously, and then when we arrived at Stansted the ground crew were joking about not only it being their fault, but even saying who had done it.. before being VERY quickly told to shut up when it was apparent passengers could hear.

The next day, we all got emails saying they weren't liable as it was circumstances outside of their control.

It is costing me nothing to pursue a claim, but I suspect their letter (correct or not) put most people off trying.

Nevertheless, I am generally happy with Ryanair in terms of the service they provide. As ever, it's when things go tits up that suddenly many of these low cost airlines don't save you a lot of money or help keep blood pressure down!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Nevertheless, I am generally happy with Ryanair in terms of the service they provide. As ever, it's when things go tits up that suddenly many of these low cost airlines don't save you a lot of money or help keep blood pressure down!

I've flown easyJet a lot (over 200 times) and have had a few disruptions, and they have always been handled as well as I could reasonably have expected and not (other than a meal once when put up in a hotel that I didn't bother claiming from them because it wasn't worth the faff) at any out of pocket cost to me.

 

[Hornet]

Have used Ryanair regularly for around 25 years (300 flights). They were using BAC 1-11's in the early days. I've not had a problem with them. They do what they say on the tin. As a regular London Dublin flyer I find them no worse than any of the competition. 90% of my flights have been on time with them, compared to 65% with Aer Lingus and 50% with the now defunct BMI (whose delays were so bad I was given a couple of complementary free flights, plus upgrade a few times as a frequent flyer). Not a fan of the 737-8. The 320/321 cabin is a far nicer place to be when i'm in the air. But it's horses for courses. As for Easy, well i've had a few flights with them. They are the only airline i've travelled with who discovered that there were more passengers (4) than seats on the plane, once everyone had boarded, leading to the Captain pleading for volunteers to take the later flight (to Toulouse), complete with a promise of a free flight and cash compensation. We finally left an hour late after the cock-up was rectified.

 

[stut]

Never really had a problem with either airline. I like that you can pay for front row seats (I'm pretty tall) without having to shell out for business class. I like the simplicity of the offering.

The bit I don't enjoy is all the queueing if you want to have a chance of using the overhead lockers. But hey, I'm not going to pay an extra £100 to avoid this.

 

[DelW]

The other lot, though, were in my experience cowboy merchants of the first order. Booked with them twice, sharp practice on the first, even sharper on the second sufficient to result in a cancellation and refund (eventually, even though it was their fault) and a boycott that lasts to this day.

My opinion too.

After my first trip with Ryanair in 2008 I vowed never to use them again. I didn't do enough research to find out that they would land us at an 'airport' so far from our destination that the bus transfer took longer than the flight, and added considerably to the cost. On the return, we had to catch the only bus about 5 hours before the flight departure time. The aircraft ambience and flight crew attitude were also way below what I would have expected.

Unfortunately in 2013 I booked a long weekend trip from a newspaper offer, only to find too late that it used Ryanair flights. This time they just made us stand for an hour on the pier steps at Stansted (in addition to the time we'd queued at the gate). A girl just behind me who was flying home for back treatment was in real distress, so I carried her bag to the plane for her, only to get roundly abused by a steward who accused me of exceeding the baggage allowance, without bothering to find out the true situation first. As expected with Ryanair, there was no apology for any of this.

I've flown Easyjet, Air Berlin, Germanwings, Icelandair and Norwegian long-haul, and other budget airlines as well as many traditional carriers, and none were anything like as unpleasant as Ryanair. They might have improved a bit since, but from such a low point that I have no intention of ever using them again to find out.

 

[jon0844]

If it's any consolation, I do think they've improved a lot of late. They had no choice.

It was very much a case of 'first they came for the xxx and I said nothing....'

People defended Ryanair and derided those that moaned about hidden or excessive fees, saying they should just get the right prepaid card, check in well in advance, carry the right bag, do this, do that.

Eventually, even those who played the game probably got caught out. Thus, enough people said enough was enough.

And now Ryanair has woken up and realised. Pushing Michael O'Leary into the background (something I think he decided to do himself) was probably very smart.