Easy Jet and Ryan Air

[FiftyBelow]

Hello CP,

This August I will be flying out to Europe and plan on flying between 5 different countries. The itinerary I have planned is London - Copenhagen - Geneva - Madrid - Lisbon - London. Would it be reliable to use Easy Jet or Ryan Air to get to each destination? I'm meeting people in all of these places and its a tight schedule so I don't really want to use a carrier that can't guarantee if my flight would arrive reasonably on time. Am I risking too much by placing my whole itinerary in the hands of a budget carrier?

I don't really care about amenities or anything like that. As long as the carrier gets me from point A to point B safely and on time then I'm happy. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance to the fountain of knowledge that is Calgarypuck!

[Lee of Red]

http://www.skyscanner.net is very good for finding the cheapest budget flight between European cities. Bear in mind Ryanair and Easyjet will charge you to check in luggage. Ryanair is insane for this.

You could consider a rail journey for Madrid to Lisbon.

[Dan02]

I can't speak about their on time rates, but I can say Ryan air will be the least pleasant flight experience of your life on a plane you didn't think was flown anymore commercially outside africa.

errr nm seems they only fly the 737-800 now. I must be thinking of one of the other low cost euro airlines i flew on recently.

[Hack&Lube]

If time is not a concern, I would consider training it around Europe. It can be quite fun and cheaper.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Dan02

I can't speak about their on time rates, but I can say Ryan air will be the least pleasant flight experience of your life on a plane you didn't think was flown anymore commercially outside africa.

Did we fly on Ryan air in spain? I don't recall...

[TheFlamesBoeing]

Hi FiftyBelow, I flew an almost similar route with friends a while back: London - Oslo - Madrid - Rome -Athens.

If its a choice between EasyJet and Ryan, go EasyJet, their services are much friendlier, their pilots don't fly as if they just finished training and in most cases they are less expensive, I like to think of them as the WestJet of Europe. But if it was me I would go KLM 100%.

[billybob123]

Many Euro airlines have obscenely low luggage limits if they even allow luggage for "free" (part of your fare). Ryanair rarely will fly to and from the airport you want. They also charge fees for everything including check in and you'll have to check in in person because you have a Canadian passport (or so I remember).

Sometimes the luggage+other fees+cost to get to "alternative airport" outweigh the cost of a "legacy" airline like LH, BA, Air France, KLM, SAS etc. You're not going to be getting a much better experience on many of those airlines; however some of the low-cost airlines like Air Berlin and Germanwings are not as ugly as Ryanair.

Make sure you check very carefully about the luggage and other fees before you buy. They weigh your hand luggage. I'm not kidding.

The other thing to think about if on-time is necessary is that Ryanair (and perhaps Easyjet, I don't know) do NOT interline you if their flight is delayed or cancelled. The risk is entirely up to you.

[sa226]

With out knowing the details of your itinerary I can only offer vague advice.

I wouldn't choose an airline solely on the premise of OTP (on time performance) most carriers these days have average OTP....no extremes in either way.

If you are on a tight schedule then do your homework. The low cost carriers are yes "low cost" but there are inconvieniences related to that ie: if you are flying into Heathrow, you will have to allow a 5 hr connection time to make your way to Gatwick\Stansted\ or Luton. The express buses cost 20 pounds to connect to those airports. Not cheap and frankly a pain in the behind.

If you want a simple yes\no....avoid Ryan Air. They are criminals. Extra bag fee? 40 pounds....Oh ya and if your name is say Stephen Harper and you registered online as Steve Harper, mandatory name change to match your passport is 100 pounds.

Check sites like Kayak.com for prices. You would be surprised how cheap non "low cost carriers" can be. I recently flew London-Lisbon-Faro-Edinburgh-London on three separate airlines, interestingly Ryan Air was the most expensive.

So short answer: Do your homework and avoid Ryan Air.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by sa226

If you are on a tight schedule then do your homework. The low cost carriers are yes "low cost" but there are inconvieniences related to that ie: if you are flying into Heathrow, you will have to allow a 5 hr connection time to make your way to Gatwick\Stansted\ or Luton. The express buses cost 20 pounds to connect to those airports. Not cheap and frankly a pain in the behind

This is all too true, not just for London, but for almost all European cities. They all have smaller airports out in the sticks (think flying to "Calgary" via Ryanair, but the actual airport Ryanair will land at is in Okotoks).