Ryanair to make ANOTHER take-over bid for Aer Lingus

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Competition is good.

One of the reasons Aer Lingus is now fairly competitive on prices is because of competition from Ryanair.

I can't see why people are getting excited about that competition being removed.

...and where there's no competition on a particular route, Aer Lingus does what it did pre-Ryanair, i.e. robs people blind.

I have been a frequent traveller to the UK (flight most weeks) for the last few years and have always specified a preference for Ryanair (where there is the option e.g. Birmingham or Manchester early mornings). My rationale for this is:
1. They fly when they say they will - I recall even during the snow that I went to the airport and heard an announcement that Aer Lingus flights to Birmingham were cancelled...the airport was in turmoil, yet I went down and boarded my Ryanair flight to Birmingham.
2. If you check a bag - it is our on the belt quickly. experiences with AL are very poor, even T2 had "Last bag delivered XX:XX (time)" and belt stopped an hour waiting and still no bag (it did eventually come out).
3. Boarding is understood, you queue up, and get on in the order of the queue (Priority first then all others). With AL, you have seat numbers and zones and Gold and all others....
4. Was on a recent flight to USA (3 weeks ago) and had a very rude AL hostess...so perceptions of an airline that cares...well gone now, while this is not a pro for Ryanair, my point is that where people think there is a difference in service standards. And from regular UK flights, I don't see any difference.
5. So what it Ryanair tries to sell stuff - what I want is to get where I'm going, cheaply and safely. I agree with an earlier posted who said that sometimes Luton or other are better options, this is very true for me, I don't look for flight transfers so Heathrow is a pain - longer delays, car hire (you have to get a bus to it), traffic problems getting there etc.
6. Arrived at airport (Gatwick) and tried to change my AL flight to the earlier one as I finished earlier than expected and there was a ridiculous fee to change flights (can't remember exactly - but something like £145)...so no diff that Ryanair...
7. Injured a leg and couldn't take a flight to Rome with my wife - on refund from AL of taxes of €126 only got €46 as the rest was eaten up in Admin fees to process the refund...great eh!

In terms of the future - if there is the opportunity, new players will enter the market. This is the American model, bigger players buy smaller ones, and new smaller ones start leaner and on the good/profitable routes.

Air transport costs are only going to go one way - with the rise in the cost of fuel - so accept the cost of the real low-cost, cheap travel will be a thing of the past. What people will need to do for travel is get smarter:
Book earlier
travel lighter
Don't change anything - and if you do, understand it will cost so don't think your story is more worthy etc....just accept it
Buy only what you want - ignore what you don't want. I have heard the complaint that "Ryanair try to sell you everything" (or such words) and yet the same people love the buzz of places like Bangkok and other bustling places that have loud vibrant markets (and try to sell you everything and anything - you have a choice to ignore).

I think that Ryanair are to be admired, AL were never a great airline (yes, there was comfort and all that - but not for the masses) - what do we want from them, get where we want, on-time, safely and cheaply.

Safe travelling ;-)

pazza wrote: »

6. Arrived at airport (Gatwick) and tried to change my AL flight to the earlier one as I finished earlier than expected and there was a ridiculous fee to change flights (can't remember exactly - but something like £145)...so no diff that Ryanair...

I had the opposite experience. Got into Heathrow in January hours earlier than planned due to an early connecting flight so a lovely lady at check-in bumped me forward two flights gratis and then when boarding another lovely lady offered me an emergency exist aisle seat instead of the seat on my boarding card.

Prior to that I'd flown Ryanair probably four times a month for three years but since then I've moved to Aer Lingus. I used to quite enjoy playing the Ryanair game - do everything exactly as you should and you'd get a bargain flight. Trouble is they've changed the rules too much in the past few years. Now there's next to no price differential so I'm going with Aer Lingus, a company who at least pretend to value my custom.

Beefy78 wrote: »

I had the opposite experience. Got into Heathrow in January hours earlier than planned due to an early connecting flight so a lovely lady at check-in bumped me forward two flights gratis and then when boarding another lovely lady offered me an emergency exist aisle seat instead of the seat on my boarding card.

Prior to that I'd flown Ryanair probably four times a month for three years but since then I've moved to Aer Lingus. I used to quite enjoy playing the Ryanair game - do everything exactly as you should and you'd get a bargain flight. Trouble is they've changed the rules too much in the past few years. Now there's next to no price differential so I'm going with Aer Lingus, a company who at least pretend to value my custom.

This makes it worse, that depending on who you get...I did miss a flight back from Heathrow recently and to get on the next flight with AL cost £86...but can't believe that they sometime allow passengers to get earlier flights ... and just not me....its a conspiracy (...I'm all for conspiracy theory, I met a senior Director in AL socially on day, and asked why it takes so long to get my checked bags when I fly with AL, and then next week on a flight to Manchester, my bag took almost an hour to get our...in Manchester. I think this is personal...certain conspiracy at play here ;-) ).