Aer Lingus or Ryanair?

bobblepuzzle

Which airline do you prefer to travel with?

Random

Whichever one is cheaper and has a time that suits me better.

testicle

Ryanair.

Aer Lingus is invariably more expensive, always late, nd the Air Hostesses are far from hot totty.

Rented Mule

I'll pay the 'extra' up front for Aer Lingus rather than deal with the 'cattle call' bull**** that Ryanair makes you put up with.

bobblepuzzle

Random wrote: »

Whichever one is cheaper and has a time that suits me better.

mmm, I'm tempted by Aer Lingus... better service as far as I know... no scramble for seats... and apparently they don't treat customers like crap... also, Ryanair tend to fly you to places far from where you actually intend on going... outlying cheaper landing fee airports

Reginald P. DuM

Aer Lingus is always my choice if possible. They maybe that extra bit dearer but I am willing to pay the money to actually land in the city of my choice, not miles outside it. Cost would be less of a factor in choosing than times of flights too, barring a ridiculous difference of course which seldom is the case. Apart from that there is no real difference between the two I believe. Both charge for refreshments and extra luggage, and both herd us in like cattle (exc long haul Aer L).

Random

All being equal I would pick AL but generally it's not. Ryanair generally have times to suit me better (later at night) and prices that suit me better (€5 -v- €150).

The "scamble" isn't all that bad with Ryanair and the 3 GBP extra for priority is well worth the price too (still keeps it well below AL cost most of the time).

At the end of the day the money rules the way and when RA is cheaper (which it generally is) I'm gonna go with that option every time.

Sunshinegal

In a perfect world, I'd choose Aerlingus everytime, but Ryanair to be fair suit my "needs" nine times out of ten.. Love em or loathe em, they're still the biggest carriers in Europe, so they're doing something right....

bobblepuzzle

The advertising in Ryanairs aircraft wrecks my head.... its not a feckin subway train...

Dacian

testicle wrote: »

Ryanair.

Aer Lingus is invariably more expensive, always late, nd the Air Hostesses are far from hot totty.

3 statements there. 2 can be discounted as personal opinions not backed up by actual facts,in fact probably easy to discount using statistics from the IAA/DAA database.

The Aer Lingus staff at least usually have English as a first language and if you want 'hot totty' go to Stringfellows...........I prefer to pay for a seat on the plane to get me where I want.

GBX

Pringles^IRE wrote: »

The advertising in Ryanairs aircraft wrecks my head.... its not a feckin subway train...

Not pretty, but maybe thats why they can offer cheaper fare's than AL.
Im generally whoever is cheaper and suits my time limitations.

Cessna_Pilot

I fly both as much as each other, and that's quite a lot. They are as good as each other these days in my opinion. I've not been an a Ryanair flight yet that I had any problem whatsoever with the Cabin crew etc.

Not been late with Aer Lingus or Ryanair on any flight in the past two years that was THEIR fault.

Pricing is almost the same although the Shamrock do often beat the Harp on price on my flights to Gatwick.

random_banter

I always do my best to travel with Aer Lingus for a multitude of reasons... two chiefs of which are:

- I can't stand people elbowing each other and pretty much standing on each other to get to the aircraft first in order to get the seat they want (and dont talk to me about that ridiculous priority thing, 50% of the passengers seem to fork out for)

- I REALLY dislike being woken from my mid flight snooze by a blaring advert telling me to buy some smokeless cigarettes or bus tickets or rip off scratch cards or some other cheap crap.

For comfort and actually being treated like a human being rather than a piece of dirt which is stuck on one of their rude cabin crew's shoes, I will always choose Aer Lingus hands down.

who the fug

One has a long memory and no way will I ever give them Gouging bar stewards at air Fungus money if their is an alternative, so Ryan Air for me

sold

Pringles^IRE wrote: »

Which airline do you prefer to travel with?

Aer lingus is 100% better, at least then dont have announcements ever 10 mins and the seats a better. Problem is they are not making money.

sold

Pringles^IRE wrote: »

The advertising in Ryanairs aircraft wrecks my head.... its not a feckin subway train...

Totally right!, I make it a point not to buy anything on the flight other than a drink. (which can;t be carried onto the plane)

spurious

Aer Lingus.

digital_d

For me - It's Aer Lingus if possible:

1) I like being able to understand the crew without having to really concentrate, I've also noticed a few times Aer Lingus crew on the ground and in the air will recognise you from previous flights.

2) I like the way at check in etc. They almost seem happy to deal with/talk to the customer rather than the at times confronational way that Ryanair go about things.

3) I like the way they will try to help you when they can - ie. switch you to an exit row, offer you a move to a seat away from that screaming child, etc.

4) Never been too late with them Aer Lingus - even when a flight was delayed as one of the FA's had collapsed on the previous flight, where as with Ryanair my flight home from work on a friday is often delayed - indeed in the last 6 months by more than 4 or more hours

5) I like having an assigned seat. TBH over the last while I've noticed that boarding an EI flight seems quicker than Ryanair as people go to thier seat and sit down, where as with FR it seems to be slower and messier as the last few hens and familys try to find seats togther

6) I also don't much like standing in walkways on the apron of remote airports in the winter freezing, as the handling agents hold you outside in the cold, before the aircraft you will eventually board has even landed!

Just my two cents - It is a bit of a shame tho that the EI network will probably shrink over the next year or so

Random

1. makes no difference to me either way.
2. checkin seems the same to me. Scan the card and get you on the plane.
3. They have to have someone in every exit row for safety reasons. They're not doing you favours, they're upselling a legal requirement.
4. I've flown out of Heathrow late nights with AL and they're as bad as the late RA flights from other airports IMO.
5. Assigned seat is a better option but feck it .. most flights I go on are nice and short anyway.
6. never been outside but taking Preswick for example there's a lot of standing I'll give you that.

robinph

Never had a problem with FR myself, think I've only actually had a significantly delayed flight once and that was due to weather and FR sorted us out with some free food vouchers during the wait. Always close enough to on time that it doesn't matter, fly to where I want (if they don't then why buy their tickets) and most importantly they are cheap.

My only issue with them is that their hold baggage limit is only 15kg which has made packing tight when I've then happened to be connecting with another airline with a 20kg limit.

Zatman

BUt Pringles you have never flown Ryanair before so does that not make your opinion of teh company that we all know you hate invalid.

Isnt that right Shane;)

billy few mates

I don't mind paying extra to fly Aer Lingus.

OPENROAD

bmi British Midland.

Dacian

who the fug wrote: »

One has a long memory and no way will I ever give them Gouging bar stewards at air Fungus money if their is an alternative, so Ryan Air for me

Explanation?

castie

Aer Lingus have cancelled alot of flights out of dublin today including one to Gatwick.

Ryanair still flew out to gatwick, my minds made up .

Random

castie wrote: »

Aer Lingus have cancelled alot of flights out of dublin today including one to Gatwick.

Ryanair still flew out to gatwick, my minds made up .

Similiar issues here. Trying to find out why AL can be effected so much more than RA who appear to continue on regardless over the Travel forum, but maybe I should have posted it here.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055784143

scudzilla

Pringles^IRE wrote: »

mmm, I'm tempted by Aer Lingus... better service as far as I know... no scramble for seats... and apparently they don't treat customers like crap... also, Ryanair tend to fly you to places far from where you actually intend on going... outlying cheaper landing fee airports

My wife and i flew to Newcastle 2 years ago in January wit Aer Lingus.
Flight out was fine, the return flight on the Monday was a big disaster, as we sat in the Airport the snow got heavier and the airport closed, an hour later they cancelled the flight altogether.
No Problem we thought, flying with Aer Lingus here and not Ryanair, they'll look after us, DID THEY BOLLOX.
They said that we could transfer onto the next available flight out, on the Thursday or we could fly from Manchester.
We said we'd go from Manchester, expecting coaches to be provided, as there was about 150 peeps.
No chance, we had to pay for a train to Manchester, which took 8 hours due to floods everywhere.

Finally flew home the next morning out of Manchester

Wrote 3 letters of complaint to Aer Lingus, never got 1 response

Never again, at least with Ryanair ya know what you're getting

castie

Random wrote: »

Similiar issues here. Trying to find out why AL can be effected so much more than RA who appear to continue on regardless over the Travel forum, but maybe I should have posted it here.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055784143

I could be wrong here but as far as i know, Ryanairs fleet is more modern than Aer Lingus. I remember fog in Cork Airport and Aer Lingus flights being diverted while ryanair actually landed and thats the explanation that was offered to me.

yaeger

Your are wrong castie, both aircraft types operate to the same weather minimums.
The reason one may operate and they other didnt may have depended on the arrival or departure times, i.e the airport might have been closed either end at that time.
If the airports open then they will both go, so its not a case of bravado behaviour of one deciding to go and the other not, and if it was would you really wanna be on a flight light that.

BendiBus

My most frequent route is Dublin-Gatwick on which Lingus & Ryanair compete directly. I always end up choosing Ryanair.

axer

Pringles^IRE wrote: »

The advertising in Ryanairs aircraft wrecks my head.... its not a feckin subway train...

I'll take it you would never travel in a sub way train then.

sold wrote: »

Totally right!, I make it a point not to buy anything on the flight other than a drink. (which can;t be carried onto the plane)

Since when can a drink not be carried onto an airplane? I do it all the time.

I always look at the overall cost of both Ryanair and Aerlingus before choosing a flight (this includes travel costs from the airport etc). I also factor in priority boarding for flight comparison. Generally I have found that Ryanair usually does work out much cheaper and I really like that they are much more efficient than Aerlingus in pretty much every way. I generally will fly Aerlingus if the flight I am looking at is only 10% (or possibly even up to 20%) more expensive than Ryanair (or cheaper) but that rarely happens.

devnull

Whilst I like some aspects of Aer Lingus, for me the fact that Ryanair is quite a lot cheaper normally swings it for me. I also find that Ryanair are more efficent as some others have, and tend to be more on time, and prone to silly cancellations that seem to plight Aer Lingus much more, contrary to some others, I've also found them more flexible on the very rare occasion something does go wrong.

These days I honestly don't know what Aer Lingus is for European Flights, it's not a budget airline, it's prices are generally too high to be in the league of Ryanair and Easyjet, but it's not anything premium either as it offers very little extra than Ryanair.

They're also more prone to somewhat silly delays. I was on a flight recently at 7am that the advertised boarding time was 15 minutes before the departure time and then the cabin crew moaned that our slow boarding meant we missed our take off slot - nothing to do with the silly short length of time allowed I'm sure, totally inexcusable for the first flight of the day for that crew.

Also recently bag tagging and dropping at Dublin Airport has started to become incredibly inefficent with Aer Lingus since the Area 14 closed, they seem to be much slower than Ryanair with less staff on, for instance one of the areas had one desk open with a huge number of people queuing. Ryanair even tend to have a closing flight priority bag tag desk at nearly every hub they have now.

castie

yaeger wrote: »

Your are wrong castie, both aircraft types operate to the same weather minimums.
The reason one may operate and they other didnt may have depended on the arrival or departure times, i.e the airport might have been closed either end at that time.
If the airports open then they will both go, so its not a case of bravado behaviour of one deciding to go and the other not, and if it was would you really wanna be on a flight light that.

Fair enough, was just going something a guy from servisair operations in cork airport had said but maybe thats just regarding fog? I dont know much regarding planes myself.

Terrontress

I prefer Ryanair every time. EI behave like they are a but above and use words like "pur-chase" ad nauseam to make them feel like they are doing something other than hawking newspapers and paninis.

As for non-allocated seating, my wife and I take at least 8 return flights per year on the BHD STN route. She goes to the window, me to the aisle and we rarely have to give up the middle seat. Better than allocated any day.

bladeruner

castie wrote: »

I could be wrong here but as far as i know, Ryanairs fleet is more modern than Aer Lingus. I remember fog in Cork Airport and Aer Lingus flights being diverted while ryanair actually landed and thats the explanation that was offered to me.

Actually if memory serves me correctly, Aer Lingus airbuses are CAT IIIB and Ryanairs 737's are CAT IIIA.
So Aer Lingus can (if the airport is set up for it) land in slightly foggier weather then Ryanair.
Just like buying a new car ,if you want all the gadgets ,you have to hit the options list and MOL didnt .

Also Castie (and this is not a criticism of Ryanair,nor an indication of the conditions,but a general truism around the world) dont always think that the airline that continues in bad weather is the best one...its usually the worst.

Safe Flying

Slice

Aer Lingus, especially on flights lasting in the region of two hours or more - do they have more generous legroom? Definitely more comfortable. They also have more generous hand luggage allowances for sure and their website is a lot easier to understand whereas with Ryanair you never really know the price until the last page. That said, I don't really have a strong preference either way when it's a like-for-like flight.

Terrontress

Slice wrote: »

Aer Lingus, especially on flights lasting in the region of two hours or more - do they have more generous legroom? Definitely more comfortable. They also have more generous hand luggage allowances for sure and their website is a lot easier to understand whereas with Ryanair you never really know the price until the last page. That said, I don't really have a strong preference either way when it's a like-for-like flight.

It is possibly due to familiarity with Ryanair that I find their costs easier to work out from earlier on than I do with Aer Lingus.

Let's be honest, both are fairly awful experiences. Either way you are treated as cattle and every opportunity to try to get a few quid out of you is exploited.

It just comes down to cost and cost alone. I want to go to Berlin and I know the flight is going to be dingy if it is Ryanair OR Aer Lingus. So I just go for the cheapest. Which is always Ryanair.

Dacian

It strikes me that some people here are judging both airlines on a single event in their personal experience.

While FR are usually cheaper, usually ontime, usually less friendly, I'm sure many people have experienced cheaper EI flights, earlier arrivals and/or grumpy unfriendly EI staff.

One airline may cancel flight due weather in Europe as their aircraft are stuck there wihile the other cancels no flights as their aircraft are based in the UK and not affected by the weather. Doesn't mean the first one is less efficient,just unlucky with weather.

Similarly delays are often due to the previous flight. The airline that flies into the busiest airports will encounter more delays due to restricted take-off/landing slots. Am sure many perople have been on a flight to Heathrow and been told that they have to wait 30-50 mins for permission to take off by Heathrow.

Judging either airline on the current perfomance is unfair as these are unusual conditions for Ireland.

In terms of ontime performance you should look at the scheduled flight times for both airlines. To eat my own words above, 2 years ago my flight from Pisa to Dublin was scheduled the same period as the other option of Rome to Dublin,even though there is at least a 45 min difference between the distances. So of course we landed 'early' in Dublin.

As several poster have already stated they use whichever airline suits them in each particular trip. I use Ryanair to visit my mates in Cambridge as they fly to Stanstead,while going to London I prefer Heathrow and Aer Lingus. Going to Paris I prefer Aer Lingus as the journey from Beauvais is a pain,did it once,don't want to do it again. Others may prefer FR to Paris. On longer flights I generally prefer Aer Lingus, reclining seats,seatpockets, less garish yellow. But if Ryanair are significantly cheaper I'ld be stupid not to use them.

thetonynator

Most people seem to believe the idea that aer lingus is the ''nice'' airline where they still like you.

Aer lingus have copied ryanairs every move, but you get a bad service at a high price instead of bad service at a low price.

who cares if you spend 20 mins on a bus and have to leave home 2 hours earlier if you save over €100 on the price??

Terrontress

Ah come on, the Ryanair cabin crew are much friendlier than Aer Lingus. They tend to be mid-twenties Eastern European honies who enjoy a bit of a chat with a few fake-tanned men as opposed to Aer Lingus who tend to employ a load of matronly women who look like Mrs Doyle who you'll expect to twist your ear for not listening to the safety instruction.

Dacian

Terrontress wrote: »

Ah come on, the Ryanair cabin crew are much friendlier than Aer Lingus. They tend to be mid-twenties Eastern European honies who enjoy a bit of a chat with a few fake-tanned men as opposed to Aer Lingus who tend to employ a load of matronly women who look like Mrs Doyle who you'll expect to twist your ear for not listening to the safety instruction.

In my personal experinece (over 20 flight in 2009 with EI) the traditional 'matronly' EI staff have gone,mainly late 20's/early 30's staff on my flights.

donutheadhomer

thetonynator wrote: »

Most people seem to believe the idea that aer lingus is the ''nice'' airline where they still like you.

Aer lingus have copied ryanairs every move, but you get a bad service at a high price instead of bad service at a low price.

who cares if you spend 20 mins on a bus and have to leave home 2 hours earlier if you save over €100 on the price??

passengers with kids care about this

lord lucan

Lol.:D:D:D:D

irlrobins

Aer Lingus, as they fly to Heathrow which is much more accessible to London. Plus the Gold Circle Lounge is handy especially if there are delays. Much easier to pass the time in the lounge in peace then in noise of LHR Terminal 1.

And as someone else has said, they fly to airports closer to the city centres than Ryanair. But not to knock Ryanair, they can still get me to Kerry quicker and cheaper than Irish Rail!

cson

The EI have better/more legroom is a non argument imo. Just pay for priority and snag the emergency exit seats in an FR flight. Bucket loads of room for a fiver more. It's what I always do.

honru

Depends on the context for me. I prefer flying with Aer Lingus where possible, because they fly to major airports and the flights are generally more comfortable; planes are usually less full than the typical Ryanair flight I've been on and the green decor is easier on my eyes than the blue and yellow.

If I have to decide between Ryanair and Aer Lingus over a flight, I always take into consideration a) time of departure... I have a general distaste for really early flights, b) which airport I'm flying to and the additional costs/amount of time in getting to my destination, and c) total price difference. Flying to Barcelona next summer and Aer Lingus won hands down, though on most occasions in the past I would opt for Ryanair since the price was much lower.

testicle

Dacian wrote: »

3 statements there. 2 can be discounted as personal opinions not backed up by actual facts,in fact probably easy to discount using statistics from the IAA/DAA database.

The Aer Lingus staff at least usually have English as a first language and if you want 'hot totty' go to Stringfellows...........I prefer to pay for a seat on the plane to get me where I want.

Personal experience, not opinion. I don't give a testicle what language they speak.......I prefer to pay for a seat on the plane to get me where I want.

irishdub14

If i was going from Dublin to London, then I wouldn't mind going ryanair, but going a longer distance defo Aer Lingus!!

Plowman

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