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.