AerLingus or Ryanair family trip pricing query

Jamesyboid88

Hi I will be travelling to london gathwick in March with my girlfriend and two children aged 3 and 8 months. Ryanair are priced at €192 and airlingus is €239 but which is the better airline. We will be bringing a buggy with us also

HeidiHeidi

Better how?

For a short flight like that they're much of a muchness.

I'd be going with whoever has the times that suit best. Followed by price.

d1980

Jamesyboid88 wrote: »

Hi I will be travelling to london gathwick in March with my girlfriend and two children aged 3 and 8 months. Ryanair are priced at €192 and airlingus is €239 but which is the better airline. We will be bringing a buggy with us also

For 1 hour or less in the sky, id go for the cheaper option, no real difference

MarkAnthony

Absolutely no difference other than one uses Boeing (Ryanair) and the other Airbus (Aer Lingus) aircraft. Both have excellent safety records, both offer about the same level of service which is pretty poor/no frills both even allocate seats now.

For these sorts of short hops it makes no difference, enjoy your flight.

If you're nervous flying it *might* push you over to Aer Lingus as they *might* have slightly better CS in Dublin Airport.

Jamesyboid88

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Better how?

For a short flight like that they're much of a muchness.

I'd be going with whoever has the times that suit best. Followed by price.

I heard ryanair have all these hidden costs etc

MarkAnthony

Jamesyboid88 wrote: »

I heard ryanair have all these hidden costs etc

No more than Aer Lingus tbh. Just be careful using (anyone's) website. Make sure you have your own travel insurance the airlines can be expensive.

HeidiHeidi

Jamesyboid88 wrote: »

I heard ryanair have all these hidden costs etc

Once you've paid for your flight (and all costs have to be shown before you press the "pay now" button), anything else you pay for is your own choice.

What hidden costs do you think they might have?

You certainly won't be getting any freebies with either airline, that's for sure.

It's less than an hour's flight.

Pick whichever one suits best timewise, unless there happens to be a huge price difference between them for that time slot.

Quazzie

Flew to the UK at the weekend. Flew over with Ryanair and returned with Aer Lingus. I'm usually pro-Ryanair, but I have to admit, the seats in Aerlingus were much more comfortable.

grimm2005

nearly €50 difference so it's a no brainer imo. You could spend the extra on front row seats and get extra comfort if you wanted although for the length of the flight it's not worth it imo. I'd just pocket the money instead.

Jamesyboid88

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Once you've paid for your flight (and all costs have to be shown before you press the "pay now" button), anything else you pay for is your own choice.

What hidden costs do you think they might have?

You certainly won't be getting any freebies with either airline, that's for sure.

It's less than an hour's flight.

Pick whichever one suits best timewise, unless there happens to be a huge price difference between them for that time slot.

Im just worried they will charge a mad price for the buggy and car seat.

Morgase

I'd always go for Ryanair over Aer Lingus, as the past few times I've gone with Aer Lingus there's been a delay. Maybe it's just been bad luck.

Otherwise, I find them equally comfortable and I perceive there to be similar levels of spam in terms of refreshments trollies / sky shopping.

MarkAnthony

Quazzie wrote: »

Flew to the UK at the weekend. Flew over with Ryanair and returned with Aer Lingus. I'm usually pro-Ryanair, but I have to admit, the seats in Aerlingus were much more comfortable.

I love Ryanair because they don't go back, that's helpful because I'm 6'2" and the muppet infront can't jam into my knees.

grimm2005 wrote: »

nearly €50 difference so it's a no brainer imo. You could spend the extra on front row seats and get extra comfort if you wanted although for the length of the flight it's not worth it imo. I'd just pocket the money instead.

OP can't for clarity because of the baby - well maybe row 1 at bulkhead which might be nice with the baby.

mfceiling

Jamesyboid88 wrote: »

Im just worried they will charge a mad price for the buggy and car seat.

Buggy will be free. Chuck the car seat in your bag (is it a booster/bum seat?).
Ryanair all the way for me - 50 notes in your arse pocket is not to be sniffed at.

Quazzie

Just to note. I remember when my son was just 18 months myself, him and my wife flew to Edinburgh with Ryanair. The tickets were extremely cheap and we got tickets for €18 return. The funny thing was though that due to Ryanair policy at the time he wasn't allowed to book a seat and we had to pay a €20 fee to bring him on board and he had to sit on my knee. Funny that he cost more and didn't even get a seat.

Not sure if that's still policy for under 2 year olds but it's worth looking into.

grimm2005

MarkAnthony wrote: »

I love Ryanair because they don't go back, that's helpful because I'm 6'2" and the muppet infront can't jam into my knees.

I'm 6ft6' so I know exactly how you feel

OP can't for clarity because of the baby - well maybe row 1 at bulkhead which might be nice with the baby.

Ah right, I didn't realise there were certain rules for babies. I suppose you have to be able to help out in case of an emergency landing in an exit row. Makes sense!

OP, there are no hidden fees. Just add on whatever extras you need when booking and you can see the price before you book.

mfceiling

Quazzie wrote: »

Just to note. I remember when my son was just 18 months myself, him and my wife flew to Edinburgh with Ryanair. The tickets were extremely cheap and we got tickets for €18 return. The funny thing was though that due to Ryanair policy at the time he wasn't allowed to book a seat and we had to pay a €20 fee to bring him on board and he had to sit on my knee. Funny that he cost more and didn't even get a seat.

Not sure if that's still policy for under 2 year olds but it's worth looking into.

Yep still is...it's mad alright. You'd probably pay full price for their own seat just to give them somewhere to sit and for somewhere to give you the tiniest bit of peace!!

Quazzie

mfceiling wrote: »

Yep still is...it's mad alright. You'd probably pay full price for their own seat just to give them somewhere to sit and for somewhere to give you the tiniest bit of peace!!

At the time we tried and when I rang to query it I was told that he'd have to be sat on my knee. We wanted to buy a seat because we wanted the additional carry at the time, but we were told, he'd have to sit on my knee, and also that he'd have no carry on, but we could bring a buggy/stroller which would be put in hold as we boarded and given back to us as we exited.

gustafo

ryanair any day of the week,

i travel to the uk and back a lot and being from cork there are not many flights with ryanair anymore so don't have many choices but to go with aerlingus - i hate those regional planes that they use which are run by stobart air they are tiny with no leg room

Indestructable

MarkAnthony wrote: »

I love Ryanair because they don't go back, that's helpful because I'm 6'2" and the muppet infront can't jam into my knees.

This!! I am 6'5'' and its a right pain on Aer Lingus as the person in front always seems to recline their seat. I find Ryanair to be more comfortable for any short haul

MarkAnthony

One thing that has also sprung to mind is:

Is it cheaper to fly with one going and another coming back?

FLCP

From memory, which is always a little dodgy, Ryanair every time with kids. Aer Lingus is 1 x pushchair and no Hand luggage at all. Ryanair is 1 x pushchair, 1 x car seat or travel cot plus 5 kg hand luggage for the infants.

Quazzie

FLCP wrote: »

From memory, which is always a little dodgy, Ryanair every time with kids. Aer Lingus is 1 x pushchair and no Hand luggage at all. Ryanair is 1 x pushchair, 1 x car seat or travel cot plus 5 kg hand luggage for the infants.

That wasn't the case 3 years ago, so it must've changed since.

From the Ryanair website

There is no cabin bag allowance for an infant (aged 8 days to 23 months) travelling on an adult’s lap; however a baby bag up to 5kg may be carried by the accompanying adult in addition to their own cabin bag allowance

* A baby bag up to 5kg may be carried by the accompanying adult in addition to their own cabin bag allowance when an infant (aged 8 days to 23 months) is travelling on an adult’s lap.

delthedriver

No difference.


Flew to Lanzarote recently with Aero Lingus and back with Ryanair. The reason was the suitability of flight times.


Enjoy your trip.

Jamesyboid88

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR REPLYS GOING TO GO FOR RYANAIR AND SAVE A FEW EURO

spurious

Investigate the different ways of getting from Gatwick into London. There are very big price differences. Myself, I book the easyjet bus in advance and get it usually for well under a tenner return.

keithclancy

The boarding is the same
You can use a boarding pass on your mobile phone
The seats are the same except for the color

The only difference for me is that Ryanair don't fly from Cork to Amsterdam :pac:

Saying that Ryanair can be much cheaper, the missus had to visit home and got a return flight from Dublin - Eindhoven for 35 euros return.

I was going to Dusseldorf so paid the 110 return to Amsterdam and then got the ICE from Amsterdam to Dusseldorf

So in short, the only deciding factor for me is times and routes (as one poster said already)

Fagashlil

Jamesyboid88 wrote: »

Im just worried they will charge a mad price for the buggy and car seat.

There'll be no cha go for either, you can bring 2 pieces of baby/infant equipment for free.

Fagashlil

Quazzie wrote: »

Just to note. I remember when my son was just 18 months myself, him and my wife flew to Edinburgh with Ryanair. The tickets were extremely cheap and we got tickets for €18 return. The funny thing was though that due to Ryanair policy at the time he wasn't allowed to book a seat and we had to pay a €20 fee to bring him on board and he had to sit on my knee. Funny that he cost more and didn't even get a seat.

Not sure if that's still policy for under 2 year olds but it's worth looking into.

Every airline charg s for infants, they don't get a seat as it's not safe, hence why they're required to sit on your lap. The infant and any accompanying buggy/baggage are still counted in the aircrafts weight, hence the charge for the infant.

munchkin_utd

just for info, it seems Aer Lingus does carry multiple pieces of child equipment and they are now also doing 50% off pre booked seats and bags for kids which they are calling "family first".
https://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/family-first/

spurious

I'm not sure the seats are the same. If I drop something on the floor in an Aer Lingus seat I have room to bend down and pick it up. Not so on Ryanair. I think there is a little bit more room on the Airbuses.