If you have a question to ask about your flight, we’ll do our best to answer it.
Anything along the lines of - what can I take on board, can I use this device, what is this airport like for connections, etc.
If we can’t answer it, I’m sure we’ll find someone who can.
I have just got one of those consumer survey stories through, which claims that online consumers will turn immediately to a competitor if they read a bad review. Of course, there is a great deal of truth in this, but any kind of press release on these issues needs to be backed by a bit of credibility. The survey was done by the digital marketing agency Tamar, who are well known on the search engine industry circuit. The problem is that a company like this has a clear agenda to sell “online reputation management solutions” to its clients, many of whom will bite at this kind of story.
The survey claims that if consumers really bad review when they are searching for a travel company by name, then 58% of them would book with an alternative provider, whereas 42% of them would stop their search session. This seems to make the assumption that 100% of consumers who read a bad review will end up turning away from the travel company in question. The survey then goes on to claim that:
”one of the most high-profile travel companies to suffer as a result of natural search results, reducing a plethora of negative reviews is budget airline Ryanair.”
If this claim were true, then surely, Ryanair would have already lost 100% of their business? For all the obvious reasons, Ryanair are still the black sheep amongst large swathes of the travel industry, be it online or offline — just as they are amongst numerous consumer groups, politicians and environmentalists. But just because the airline generates large quantities of negative publicity, does that mean that they should be worried? Clearly, Ryanair’s incessant rise in passenger numbers suggests otherwise.
This does not mean that consumer reviews don’t have their place, but it does mean that expectations have to be managed. People seem to love telling stories about Ryanair, whether they have flown with them or not. Ryanair are the one airline to thrive on the age-old adage that no publicity is bad publicity. The statistics however speak for themselves — Ryanair carry more passengers on more on-time flights than any other airline, and they also lose a few of their passengers’ bags in the process.
So does this tell the whole story? Not entirely — Ryanair tend to use airports which are much less congested, and therefore less prone to delays. Meanwhile, charging passengers to check their luggage in, and only operating point-to-point schedules, also ensures that they have far fewer opportunities to lose bags, compared to network carriers like British Airways.
Would I recommend flying with Ryanair, given a like-for-like comparison on the same route? Such direct comparisons are very difficult to make, as there are very few examples of Ryanair operating flights directly against a competitor — i.e. from the same departure airport to the same arrival airport. I can reach the check-in desks of either Birmingham or Coventry airport within 15 minutes of leaving my house, and as neither these are Ryanair strongholds, their rivals tend to start with a significant advantage. If I’m trying to get to somewhere a little bit more adventurous (both Coventry and Birmingham still offer a pretty conservative choice of destinations, although Birmingham is looking a lot more interesting this summer), then I would look briefly at flights from East Midlands airport, before considering flying from London.
The last time I flew with Ryanair was just over a year ago, when I went with a friend to Palermo in Sicily. On that particular occasion, Ryanair were the only airline flying there, and as the friend in question not only lives within 30 minutes’ drive of Stansted, but also gets free parking there, the choice of departure airport wasn’t really an issue either.
Ultimately, I’ll always pay a bit extra to use more convenient airport, and to know that I can reserve a window seat at check-in. Much as though I think reliability is important, Ryanair’s punctuality can also be counterbalanced by the fact that they generally operate a much lower frequency of flights, and provide very little assistance when things do go wrong.
So should Michael O’Leary be quaking in his boots because Flightmapping says that Ryanair are a long way from being our favourite airline? We very much doubt it — our whole point in existence is to provide route information about which airlines offer flights to which destinations. Any commentary that we provide is always going to lean towards the most direct option, whereas Ryanair are more likely to take you to a field in the middle of nowhere.
One mantra that Ryanair repeatedly spew out is that lowest cost always wins. This might well be true for the vast majority of passengers, but this site has always been much more focused on providing information for people who know where they want to go, and who will value finding the most direct way of getting there above the price they have to pay.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t think the price is important, it is just that we like to look at the whole picture, instead of just the baseline cost, which can often be so misleading anyway. Fortunately for Ryanair, most people don’t think that way, so even if I had decided to go on a massive tirade against them, they would have still filled another load of flights in the time you read this article!
At the end of January, I was invited to take a weekend break in Dublin with an old friend. I’ve flown with Ryanair plenty of times before, so I decided that I’d try out Aer Lingus and Aer Arran and take a look at Cork’s new “Taj Mahal” terminal in the process.
Although late January is not exactly peak time for flights from Birmingham to Dublin, finding good deals on any weekend of the year can be tricky.
High demand invariably means high prices, but Aer Lingus’ early morning flight on the Saturday had a base price of just €3 (€29 including taxes and charges). Former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh went to great lengths to cut the airline’s operating costs and compete with their Irish rivals Ryanair, ensuring that there was very little difference in price between these two carriers. If you’re looking for flights to Dublin from London or Glasgow, then airport choice can be a significant factor, but for Dublin flights from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Manchester, Aer Lingus and Ryanair both use exactly the same airports. If I had to choose between the two airlines, I’d go for Aer Lingus, unless there was a significant price difference. This is purely because of my aversion to the incessant in-flight sales announcements one has to put up with on Ryanair flights.
At the airport
Check in desks for both Ryanair and Aer Lingus were right next to each other, but Ryanair had two agents on theirs, so their queue was moving a bit faster (grrr). I wasn’t too fussed though, because most passengers (myself included), were only carrying hand luggage. Aer Lingus have also copied the budget airlines’ strategy of charging for checked baggage. I experienced horrendous security queues at Birmingham over New Year, but I sailed through in ten minutes this time round.
The flight
Whereas everything about Ryanair follows the pile it high, flog it cheap mentality, the Aer Lingus flying experience was a lot more demur. Where Ryanair tend to have tacky interiors with bright yellow colouring, Aer Lingus have opted for understated simplicity.
We took off promptly, and arrived in Dublin on time, but I had become increasingly perturbed by some of the comments I overheard from my fellow passengers. These included gems such as: “What language do they speak here?” and “Is Dublin in southern or Northern Ireland?”
Still, I can’t hold Aer Lingus responsible for the kind of passengers who fly with them, at least their service was impeccable!
I didn’t have any baggage to reclaim, so sailing through Dublin airport and onto one of the regular shuttle buses into the city centre, was a breeze. The bus journey gives a good overview of the northern half of the Irish capital, and passes under the magnificent Croke Park stadium.
Liked:
· Good value, on time, no messing around
· Pleasant staff
· Clean, uncluttered aircraft interior
Disliked:
· Only one person on check-in desk - Ryanair had two!
Overall rating — 4/5
Selection
Dan and I needed to get from Amsterdam to Manchester in time for Friday evening’s “Versus Cancer” concert at the MEN arena. The headline acts were due on stage at around 9pm, but we had to get to the arena much earlier than this because we wanted to see all the support acts too.
Jet2 and KLM are the only airlines who offer regular multiple daily flights from Amsterdam to Manchester, but KLM are not remotely competitive on one way fares. Although Easyjet offer a much higher frequency of service between Liverpool and Amsterdam, we were keen to try out Jet2, as they are one of the few British-based scheduled airlines that we haven’t yet flown with. If I remember rightly, this route initially started as a three times daily service, but now only operates twice a day. Jet2 do additionally operate cheap flights to Amsterdam from Leeds and Blackpool, but none of these operated around lunchtime, when we wanted to leave. Jet2’s evening flights to Manchester were much too late to be able to make the show, so we ended up taking the 9.35am flight. We booked just one week in advance, and the two tickets cost a total of £95.
Getting to the airport
Amsterdam’s outstanding public transport system is well documented, but I’m not sure how many visitors know that there often easier ways of reaching Schiphol airport than travelling through the main Centraal station. Our hotel was about a mile outside the main tourist area, and just a few minutes’ tram ride from Zuid (South) station. From here, trains run every six or seven minutes to Schiphol airport, with a journey time of just nine minutes. Naturally, as we expected, everything ran completely smoothly, and we reached the check-in desk within about 25 minutes of leaving the hotel.
At the airport
We checked in about 70 minutes before the flight was due to depart, and there was only one person in front of us. It then took us about four minutes to go through the initial queue, which was for checking boarding passes, before entering the main airside departures hall. Although Amsterdam Schiphol airport has excellent waiting facilities for all passengers (including upstairs reclining seats), we took advantage of the lounge access provided by Prioirty Pass, with Dan being allowed in on my card, without any additional charge. The lounge had a limited selection of pastries, together with the usual array of alcoholic and soft drinks, but at that time in the morning some yoghurt and fruit juice would have been great!
With a flight due to depart at 9.35, we started the long trek to the departures pier just after nine. Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has many good points - the facilities are superb, and weary travellers are presented with a plethora of retail and relaxation opportunities, with a whole range of innovations, including an airside art gallery. However, everything is situated within one massive terminal, walking distances to and from gates can be significant.
If you are transferring from one flight to another, then we would probably agree that bigger is better - processing all 40 million annual passengers under one roof means that there is no need to worry about transferring between different terminals - if you’re just travelling point to point, and have no need to spend hours in the terminal, then size really can be a huge disadvantage.
By the time we finally reached the H pier, from which most no-frills Amsterdam flights depart, time was longer on our side! We still had to get through full security screening, and the queue for this was much longer than the original boarding card check. Luckily boarding had only just started by the time we got to the gate.
The flight
Unlike some of the other more bargain basement no-frills airlines, Jet2 do least allocate seats, however cramped their aircraft are! The flight finally left the gate about 20 minutes behind schedule - there was no explanation or apology for this, although it almost seems like standard form at Amsterdam. With the flight to Manchester only expected to take just over one hour, there is usually enough block time in the schedule to allow for minor ground delays like this. So we begin our very slow journey to Amsterdam’s new sixth runway, which feels like it is halfway towards Rotterdam.
Once in the air we got the usual offering of drinks and sandwiches for sale, together with a half-hearted attempt to sell duty free - I think Jet2 probably acknowledge that any serious shopaholics would have done their business in the terminal. The only kind of in-flight entertainment on this kind of no-frills flight is the airline’s magazine. Jet2’s mag was fairly unspectacular apart from the handy city guides.
We didn’t make up any time following our late departure, but passport control and baggage reclaim at Manchester airport were both surprisingly quick, and we got to the arrivals hall within 15 minutes of reaching the stand. We knew that our hotel was in Didsbury, but stupidly hadn’t checked the map beforehand, so we jumped straight in a taxi, only to find out later that the hotel was just 200 yards from East Didsbury station, which itself is just ten minutes’ train journey from Manchester airport.
See hotel review, for more details
Jet2 flights summary
Liked
· Allocated seating.
· Reasonably priced, considering it was a late booking.
· Efficient baggage reclaim at Manchester.
· Both airports extremely easy to get to by public transport.
Disliked
· No mention of, or apology for delay.
· Very cramped seating.
· Huge walking distances at Schiphol airport (but this is difficult to avoid - it isn’t any better with KLM!)
My first priority for getting back to Blighty was to be back in London on Friday evening. My fiancée lives in Hackney, so London City is by far the closest airport to her place. I’ve flown from Amsterdam Schiphol loads of times, and fancied a change. My search for an alternative airport took me to Rotterdam, which is just over an hour away from Amsterdam by train.
The only airline offering flights from Rotterdam to London City is VLM, who operate nine flights a day during the week from Rotterdam to London City, so I was spoilt for choice. I opted for the 6.20pm flight, which cost €95 (£64).
The frequency of trains between the Netherlands’ major cities puts us to shame (every ten to fifteen minutes between Amsterdam and Rotterdam), although it is worth noting that you have to pay with cash (only Dutch cards are accepted at the various ticket machines dotted around Amsterdam Centraal station). The Dutch trains are not as smart as many of their European counterparts, but this is a country where substance thrives over style – so it was no surprise that the train I caught was bang on time at both ends.
Rotterdam’s main station is best described as a ‘work in progress’. Although a huge makeover is taking place, which could be cause for confusion, the signs to the airport bus were very clear. The 33 bus runs every ten minutes from the station to Rotterdam airport; the journey takes about 20 minutes and costs €2.70 (£1.80).
Rotterdam airport is small, but perfectly formed. Check-in was quick, there was no security queue, and the little café in the departures lounge served my favourite Euro-drink, Chocomel (I’m easily pleased). Unlike flying out of Schiphol, which can involve half-hour hikes to the gate, Rotterdam was an absolute doddle – I can’t have taken more than 50 paces from the check-in to the aircraft steps.
The VLM in-flight magazine was refreshingly highbrow, although a feature on watches did make me feel very poor (the cheapest watch on show was £2,400!). My reading material kept me occupied until we finally broke through the grey blanket of cloud cover on the approach into London. The trusty turboprop banked over Battersea Power Station before gliding down the Thames towards City airport.
It can be hard to appreciate the architectural riches of our capital until you fly over the city – I was like the proverbial child in a sweet shop. Such spectacular views are reason alone to use London City, but the airport’s real trump card, especially for its core business customers, is how quick and easy it is to use. From the moment the seatbelt light went off to getting onto the DLR station platform took just over seven minutes (yes, I used a stopwatch!). This is all the more impressive considering that I had a bag in the hold.
Powered by WordPress