dublin 3-3-08

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Member for

16 years 5 months

Posts: 6

hi all i flew to dublin on the 3rd of January. i departed from Gatwick with Ryanair EI-DPT. as i walked in i saw they had more rows than easyjet and most other low fare airlines. so anyway i went to sit down and i thought GOD these seats are crampy. the fake leather was horrible. the landing was terrible. any way good day planespotting at dublin. aer lingus was what i flew back on. it was absolutely brilliant. it was really comfy and the food is MUCH CHEAPER THAN RYANAIR. it was A320 EI-DEC. i flew back into Birmingham. so any way there was my day.

RYANAIR:

EXPENCE 1/10 prices for food! 1 being poor 10 being excellent 5 5 being avarage
SPACIOUS 1/10
COMFORT 1/10
STAFF 6/10
FLIGHT 5/10
:mad:

AER LINGUS

EXPENCE 10/10
SPACIOUS 10/10
COMFORT 10/10
STAFF 10/10
FLIGHT 10/10

:o

NEXT FLIGHT BHX-MLA-BHX BRITISH JET IN ON FEB 1ST

Original post

Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 2,495

I cant deny I prefer to fly with EI as I think the expierence is alot better, hence why I paid the little extra to fly with EI for my upcoming trip to Brussels.

But I have to defend FR a little here. There is nothing wrong with the seat pitch, Im 6'2 and find both FR and EI equally comfortale.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 459

I Agree With You On The Aer Lingus,
I Flew With Them From Manchester To Dublin And Back,
And I Found Them To Be A Comfatable Ride.
Because Of My Good Expierience With Aer Lingus
Im Not Even Going To Try Ryanair
With All The Bad Press And Numerous Issues Surrounding The Staff And Safety It Just Seems As If Aer Lingus Offer The Better Service :)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

I have flown with both Ryanair and Aer Lingus. In my experience, there was little or no service provided by either airline, and with Aer Lingus in particular, I felt that I was robbed of £50, especially when Ryanair were offering an almost identical product for considerably less! Having paid £29 for my first flights with Ryanair and just 2p for the second, I was still a satisfied customer. For such a pathetic sum of money, cramped seating, overpriced drinks and snacks and terrible service was what I was expecting!

Do you think the fact that Ryanair 737s have more rows than an easyJet 737 or A319 could have had something to do with the fact that the 737-800 is longer than those 737s used by easyJet? Surely, a longer aircraft is going to have more rows. What do you think?

In response to your 'crampy seats' comments, I flew from Luton to Bergamo back in June 2007. Whilst the outbound flight was in an exit row with ample legroom, I was very comfortable in a standard seat on the return. The leather, whether real or not, was not an issue for me either.

Your review is full of nothing but negativity and criticism of Ryanair, and praise for Aer Lingus (this airline cannot really have been worthy of full marks for every aspect of the trip that you marked them on!). I suspect that you were expecting a British Airways kind of service at a Ryanair price.

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

I think you'll do well to fly on Britishjet, bhxboy, they won't be around then!

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 5,530

Your review is full of nothing but negativity and criticism of Ryanair, and praise for Aer Lingus

While everyone has their own opinions, mine is that I completely agree with you! Anyone who complains at Ryanair's seat pitch should try flying on TAP (yes, a national airline). The seat pitch On their A319/320/321 and A310 always seems to be less than the vast majority of other carriers I regularly fly with. I've never flown on Aer Lingus but I can't imagine they're much different in terms of seat pitch to any of the other national airlines, who generally tend to be very similar (TAP seem to be the exception).

Frankly, I'd find it extremely difficult to get wound up about most things on such a short sector. You're on the thing for less than an hour. Even if the seats were that uncomfortable (and I really don't think they are), is it that much of a problem on such a short flight when you've paid so little? I guess you never experienced Ryanair's old 732's. Just getting a seat that functioned as a seat was a challenge, but it did add to the fun.

Also if I'm being honest, if you are going to compare the two and put your opinions across in even a vaguely credible way, I'd personally like to see it done in more than just 5 or 6 very short and vague sentences.

Paul

Member for

16 years 4 months

Posts: 203

I must seem like a Ryanair cheerleader but I'm not,indeed I'm infuriated that their online check-in cannot be accessed more than 2 days prior to flight meaning you have to pay check in fee if you can't get online while you're away.They're almost impossible to contact other than online as well.Nevertheless,I think this constant drip of criticism of lo-costs (with veiled insinuations over safety) is outrageous from a group who benefit more than any other from an ability to pursue our hobby at prices a tenth of what they'd have been with mainstream airlines if they'd continued to rule the roost.Someone in the industry said the other day,when a watchdog criticised the "extra costs" with Ryanair etc,that people still don't grasp the idea of the lo-cost business model and insist on comparing it with other modes of travel.How true!........but what a shame enthusiasts in the very area concerned are guilty as well.Statistically,Ryanair have the best on-time record in Europe and NO European lo-cost has yet lost an a/c.I can think of one or two "majors" who have in recent times.Finally,I'd have to add that as far as I know EI have become a loco themselves on their Europe network for the very reason they can't survive the competition AND are serving so called weird places like Poznan for one.

Barry

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 2,343

I think you'll do well to fly on Britishjet, bhxboy, they won't be around then!

Indeed, I was thinking this as well!:)

Malta Bargains (the company behind Britishjet!) have agreed a seating allocation on Air Malta (KM) flights, so you may well find it will be an KM aircraft, which could be a 737, A319 or A320.

We have just had the summer timetable in the last week for KM's flights from LGW, and I know that they will be operating the MD-80 that Britishjet had...up until April I think, so it might also do the occasional BHX-MLA-BHX sector, but cannot be 100% sure!

Am not sure if Air Malta will go to the expense of having the MD-80 painted in their own livery!

Member for

19 years

Posts: 848

EXPENCE 1/10 prices for food! 1 being poor 10 being excellent 5 5 being avarage

Do you really think any airline could stay in business if they had 1 penny flights and tesco prices for the food/drink
f
And the legroom may not be perfect but i've been on much worse.

Member for

19 years 2 months

Posts: 51

Like bhxboy, I flew an outbound with FR and then inbound with EI, a little while ago.

Ryanair had a clear vision of what level of service they wanted to provide - it was budget travel, plain and simple.
Aer Lingus didn't seem sure what they wanted to be - low cost or full service.

The most noticeable difference was the quality of the inflight service that EI provided - it was genuinely warm and represented the nationality of the country - as you might expect from a flag carrier. FR were decidely unimpressive.

On the ground, the service from the EI staff was patchy - some good service from someone whose job was to help out with the check-in process, but the service by the airside groundstaff of EI did not match up to what I had experienced with FR (who had contracted out their services)

As for food prices... not much between the two, if I remember correctly, Aer Lingus were a little cheaper.

FR operated more punctually.

I found the comfort levels on FR better than EI (seat comfort similar, and leg room as good or better)

Overall there was little to choose between the two.

Taking a balanced overview of the whole experience, then EI were the better operation - the single factor winning it for EI over FR being the excellent inflight service.