I also use very often Fr as my company policy is pretty strict to budget and this is the only alternative to long car trips.
Anyway I would like to add to your considerations that
a) price of food and drinks is high, but at the end of the day it's exactely what you would pay at the cafe in the airport. Also the quality is pretty much the same.
b) Fr is not making transoceanic flights, I think longest one is a couple of hours and if you wanna play the game of buying cheap flight you could also try to resist a couple of hours without snacks.

Redefining airport locations
 

Heh heh heh! Or "Stockholm". Ryannair use Nyköping airport, which is 120km south of Stockholm city. And they call it "Stockholm South" ;)

Makes for a greeat connecting bus trip!

I wouldn't touch Ryannair, or EasyJet, with a bargepole.

EasyDeath usually flies to reasonably convenient airports and on the face of it is a very good choice. Until you visit this thread that is :eek:

Deliberate 'Cattle Classing' in FR
 

Have flown FR quite a bit over the last couple of years, mostly out of Karlsruhe Baden (formerly out of SXB) but occasionally also from Hahn. Have always wondered why they block off the first couple of rows of the aircraft - have asked before and was always just told it is 'company policy'.

Was on a flight from Jerez back to HHN in December, and the number of passengers in the lounge appeared to be about 40-50% of capacity. We were amongst the last to board (no point in ducking flying carry-ons in the attempt to secure a 'good' plastic seat). When we boarded the plane from the rear, the entire cabin appeared to be full, apart from the back 3 or so rows. We were told we could not sit in these, as they were 'reserved'. Walking up the aisle, we were about half way up the plane looking for a seat when we realized that the front six rows were also completely empty. We plonked ourselves into row 6 before any of the cabin crew could realise what was going on.

Not 30 seconds had elapsed when we were approached by a cabin attendant, who requested that we kindly re-seat ourselves, as rows 1-6 were blocked off for this flight. I stood up and looked around at what was a full aircraft behind me, and questioned the flight attendant over her rationale. I was told that it is company policy to block off the first six rows in cases where there are less than 60 (not 100% sure on the number, but about that) passengers booked on the flight. I gave her a look and promptly sat down again. She disappeared up the aisle, and her superior came back a couple of minutes later and told us that she would allow the exception in this case, but that we really shouldn't be sitting in these seats, company policy, and so on. Now keep in mind that we were two travelling together, all the middle rows were completely crammed, rows 1-6 and the back three were completely empty (ryanair first class and a smoking section on a non-smoking flight???) and I don't know where we would have found a seat in the back, certainly not for two people travelling together.

What on earth is going on here? As I mentioned above, this is not the first time that I have encountered such FR 'company policy' - merely the most extreme example. I have one possible explanation - Ryanair sell 'cheap' flights, and are 'successful' at doing this. Now, a cheap flight should be uncomfortable, and a successful airline should always be full. So, when you have a 50% passenger load, close off 50% of your seating, and cram everyone together. The passengers may be uncomfortable, but they will go home talking about how Ryanair are doing really well, how the 6am flight was full to the brim, and so on (how often does the average passenger stand up from their middle seat during a flight to check if the front section is as full as where they're sitting?).

I did toy with the idea that this potentially makes cleaning the aircraft easier. But as their new aircraft interiors are also designed with such in mind (no seat back pockets, vinyl seating, emergency cards stuck to the back of the seats infront etc), I can't imagine too much of a time saving in this, maybe 3 minutes or so?

Ideas???

Hmm.

Could it have something to do with number of crew and their attendance at exits in an emergency?

Don't think so - wouldn't this entail nightmarish scheduling issues (i.e. we have a full flight HHN - XRY so we bring four cabin crew, ok, we only have 50% XRY - HHN so we fly two back, oh ****, we have a full load back again HHN - XRY, anyone need a job?)

Don't know the regs. I believe there were four cabin crew on this 737, which seems fairly standard...

Weight distribution ?
 

Maybe it is related to weight distribution ?

On a recent FR flight, I also noticed the front 5 rows or so being empty. The crew allowed passengers to sit there, except for take-off and landing.

I faced the same when flying with ryanair from Hamburg to Milano. Apart from the fact, that it was Luebeck-Bergamo in the end, FA's blocked first 6 and last 5 rows. Rest of plane was completly packed in the 737 - no adjustable back rests, no seat pockets etc.

Asking for a FA told us, that this makes service easier (what service?).


Some more details proved, that Ryanair is like going by public transport, but a nightmare for frequent flyers. Luebeck gate is a rough-and-ready tent. In Bergamo the plane stopped at a finger gate. But PAX had to deplane through stairway and enter the arrival gate by stairway - this saves some Euro for the airline.

No, flying Ryanair was no fun at all. Just very cheap.

yup, not wrong there! we paid a grand total of 71.74 EUR for 2 pax, HHN-XRY-HHN:


PAYMENT DETAILS
********23.96 EUR Adults
*********0.00 EUR Fees
*********6.70 EUR Service Charges
********13.12 EUR Ins/whcr Levy
*********0.00 EUR UK Air Duty
********16.60 EUR Government Tax
********11.36 EUR Airport Taxes
*********0.00 EUR Car rental
*********0.00 EUR Insurance
********71.74 EUR Total Paid

btw, the way to avoid the 5 EURO credit card booking fee is to select Visa debit card from the dropdown menu of card type. I always select this and put in my Visa credit card number in anyway, the system doesn't know the difference, and it hasn't failed me yet...

;)

My strongest criticism of Ryanair (because I have not suffered them yet, knock on wood) is the pricing model. Americans think that they are modeled on SW but the best feature of SW is that they have an inexpensive full fare ticket.

On Ryanair it is always non-ref and on a sliding scale based on demand. The one time I considered using them the ticket was about SEK 1200 one way for MMX-Hahn. CPH-FRA was fully booked in all classes on LH/SK. It was a Sunday after midsummer. Not exactly cheap. But I didn't want to buy a non-ref ticket because my plans were uncertain and subject to delay. Then 4-5 days out it was close to SEK 2000, so I said to hell with it and took a train CPH-FRA. (At least I didn't have to schlep to/from Hahn and Sturup.) But that train ride was no picnic, I tell you!

Best time to buy Ryanair ticket?
 

I have read this thread on just how awful Ryanair can be. Still, they have a flight from Nimes to Luton in July that is by far the fastest and easiest way for me to get from Avignon to London (yes, there are several other train/plane combinations, but the schedules are such that Ryanair's flight gets me in several hours earlier).

The flight is currently selling for around 150 euros, whether one-way or round-trip. Do Ryanair fares start out high and drop as you get a few months closer, or is this likely the best fare I'll see?

I've never heard of it happening. Your typical Ryanair customer books much further out than a full-service carrier customer, I reckon, so it could well be that a popular route (France, in July... school holidays...) would already be mostly sold.

No-Frills? What is this?
 

I am Eruopean and I don't like RyanAir, nor do I like any other No-Frills. AirBerlin is an exception. Why? No-Frills usually fly to airports far out of reach. I really don't want to invest hours in order to reach the nearest No-Frills airport just to save some few pence. What else? No-Frills are hardly ever much cheaper than established network carriers. And last but not least, I want to have lounge access or food/drinks for free.

**** RyanAir
 

I flew only twice RyanAir. When I checked in they insisted on a reference number. I told them to look up my date in their computer but they refused. Hahaha, what is this! I had to go to another counter and get my booking number there. When I was back at the check-in, the stupid lady didn't want to see my booking number anymore, she checked it in her own system...

Debit Credit Visa
 

Thank you for this advice. It might be useful in future. Who knows, maybe the traditional air lines soon also want to introduce such a "credit card service fee".