I've used Ryanair and Easyjet before and all I can say is you get what you pay for. For a flight up to two hours it's perfectly acceptable and, to be frank, no worse than the ORD->SEA flights on an MD80 I'd end up doing throughout the year.

At STN, a large proportion of passengers arrive by train. As a result, the queues are much longer for the 10-15 minutes following the arrival of a train. Personally, if I fly from there, I get the train, go and grab a coffee, have a ciggie, then check in. It usually ends up taking the same amount of time.

I agree. The Ryanair and EasyJet 737 planes are not any more uncomfortable than an Alaska Air MD80. The main downside to low-cost carriers is if there is a cancelled flight, which is quite uncommon.

Has anyone had to deal with a cancelled flight on a low-cost carrier?

Not personally - but have heard/read plenty of horror stories, especially about Ryanair.

There is now a web site that is collecting them.

There's this story too:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/lo...icle517434.ece

Admittedly, people do have problems with cancelled flights and lost luggage and check-in times with major carriers also.

...but remember that MXP (Malpensa) is not just round the corner when you´re headed for Venice!!! :D

Ok.. so another question.... 0:-)

If you had to choose between the following, which would you choose? I'm trying to make this flight the least painful for my aunt and her friend she's visiting in the UK (living in west midlands - soliwell)

1) EasyJet - East Midlands to Venice leaving at 1:20pm arriving into Venice at 4:40pm Cost = 42.99 GBP (about an hour drive)

2) ThomsonFly - Coventry to Venice leaving at 1:35pm arriving into Venice at 4:50pm Cost = 64.99 GBP (about 30 minutes drive)

It sounds like EasyJet is decent. How is ThomsonFly in comparsion?