Before they pulled the base, the BHD-based crew did a daily turn to PIK. On my shortest trip, that clocked in at 21 minutes tarmac-to-tarmac, and the crew completed a full bar service, even sold a few scratchcards. :D

Ryanair, yyyuuukkkkkk! Why would anybody willingly want to fly from Stansted rather than T5?!

And they're not cheap, my folks are travelling to HAM with them, well i say HAM its not actually there obviously as that is a proper airport! But anyway they have paid about £10 more to go with them than i have with BA, with all the extra fees and charges and such like they arrive not at the destination city for a Christening and are sold something every 5 minutes!

BA all the way, as i say if BA dont fly there dont go there!

I hold that view too ...

... but perhaps you should delete the Virgin reference in your profile, unless that's not airline-related? :D

Must admit, I just don't get LCC's, having flown with both EZY and BE this last weekend. I would have paid dearly to fly a full service carrier but they just don't exist on this route. The biggest PITA was the luggage where you'r eleft feeling all they want to do is mug you off with an excess charge wherever they can.

FlyBe have 4 different bag charges you have to select FFS. We rarely check bags, but the carry on limits were punative to boot.

The whole lot of them can go to he1l as far as i'm concerned. They make travel a far more stressful experience than it ever needs to be.

I'm sure it'll make my next flight - in BA F - all the more enjoyable however...

I would rather not visit somewhere if the only choice was Ryanair, and I say this from having had a poor experience with them several years ago when my children were much younger and they still boarded 'families first.'

The scrum at the boarding gate was so awful that even though I had my daughter's hand in mine, I couldn't actually see her, there was an abandoned wheechair there and on the walk to the bus, I was overtaken by an old lady desperate to board before us.

I can't bear the whole hard sell with what is essentially a captive audience, the fees for everything, and if you get it slightly wrong, ie you've misunderstood their T's & C's - possibly because they aren't overly clear, then you end up paying more at the airport and you have no recourse.

Because not everyone lives in West London! FR also fly from LGW and LTN in the London area btw.

MY flight DUB-PIK-DUB this week was €37 all in
I flew out to Stockholm Skavsta a couple of weeks ago for €10, I then flew back on BA because the timings suited me better. FR fares are generally pretty cheap.

No idea why so many people are blinkered over the LCCs...they serve parts of the country that have now been all but abandoned by the likes of BA on everything but flying to London

.

Ryanair has its place, but it's certainly not my top choice. I have used them a few times, mainly for day trips from London. At £20 return, all-in, you can't complain. The flight costs less than the Stansted Express.

I did once book a one-way on Ryanair that was completely free - €0,00 - including on-line checkin (back when it was optional but not always free). I ended up not using it, partly concerned about the carry-on policy (see below).

They're the worst when it comes to carry-on policies. If you dare try to get around the limits (one bag, limit of 7kg) then not only might they force you to check it (and pay extra plus a "payment fee") but they reserve the right to cancel your entire itinerary as punishment for having the gall to try to beat the system.

Pre the family trip mentioned in my previous post, hubby & I did a weekend trip to Dublin and the fare was 1p with a few quid, literally, in taxes. We checked a bag each, didn't pay anything additional for that, and had hand luggage, didn't pay anything additional for that.

The family trip mentioned was to Spain, Girona airport as I recall, it was the Xmas of the Asian Tsunami and the last time we flew with Ryanair.

From reading several different review sites and forums, the complaints over all the additional charges are such that I don't even look at their web-site anymore. I would use Easyjet at a push, although I'm not sure they're necessarily much better, but I would look at other LCC's, such as Thomson, Monarch and have indeed used them for short/mid haul holiday flights.

I live 20 minutes drive from STN and would rather travel to LGW and use a different airline than Ryanair.

+1

I've only once ever chosen EDI BA via LHR over a direct EDI LCC flight and that was when I needed the TPs to requalify for Silver.

As it was, my EDI-LHR flight was cancelled and BA put me on a direct BMI flight and I retrospectively got the points. I guess making that point is a tad ironic as there's no way the LCC would have done that, but I like to throw caution to the wind now and again :)

I believe gingivitis is the world's favourite ailment :)

Being MAN (and soon to be GVA) based, I have used EZ for around 100 s/h flights in the last 3 years, which unfortunately is about 80 more than taken on BA! :(

Having flown FR once, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. However with EZ, and a "standard issue" Samsonite roll on, I get a good deal for what I pay. Key things are:

1) Direct service from the North West to Europe - and main airports
2) Less "nickel and diming" than FR and even Thomson, Monarch IME
3) Genuinely cheap fares - it's not often that I pay more than £120 r/t (including all fees - I've stopped thinking of them as separate as they're not really avoidable)

Having said that, the boarding is a real scrum and beyond 90 minutes the comfort (lack of) is noticeable.

If BA flew direct from MAN / LPL (!) to more locations I'd be happy to stump up the extra, but for those "up north" the difference between 1.5 hrs direct and 4 hrs including connection is probably the biggest turn-off. Especially when on MAN-LHR-GVA the 1st leg went tech requiring a Park Inn stay! In both directions!

+1- don't knock it 'till you've tried it. I've tried it, a few times, and I won't fly with them again. Easyjet, yes if I must, flybe -yes, and my favourite LCC is Monarch. Nice airbus s/h aircraft, pleasant crew, good 36" pitch with extra legroom ^

I would rather go via somewhere on a legacy carrier than go direct on FR. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel. I don't do ryanair, end of! There are some hotels I won't stay in, period. Even if they paid me, I wouldn't stay at some hotels. Same with some airlines.

Have you ever flown them??

No I didn't think so...

I live near Oxford for LHR or LTN are even for me and if I need to fly to say DK sometimes FR have a better airport for me.

Don't just say no way if you don't compare. Yes if I needed to fly from LON - the centre of CPH then and BA was a good price then of course BA all the way but if I needed to be in Billund then FR have an advantage.

In my younger years I used to fly with Ryanair about 20-25 sectors a year.

Fortunately I haven't flown a Ryanair sector in a few years.

:D