Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On 12 Oct 2009 08:43:40 GMT, Adrian wrote:

"Ian F." gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

Did you have a bad experience, or are you just reacting to the
chattering campaign about them?

I've had a couple of bad experiences - herded around like cattle, talked
at by snotty-nosed ground staff like I was a piece of ****, shown no
respect whatsoever...

I'm a reasonably frequent flyer and I'm too old and dyed-in-the-wool to
worry about saving a few pennies to be treated like that. I'd far rather
spend the extra and be shown some degree of care. And this is not just
me - I know dozens of friends and colleagues that feel the same way.

I have always found easyJet to be far superior in every way to Ryanair,
although, understandably, not on a level with the major airlines. I
would travel with them like a shot, but I will never, ever, ever travel
Ryanair.

I've never flown Ryanair - nor do I ever intend to, mainly because of
their attitude to quoting a cheap fare then chiselling every penny out of
you in compulsory "extras" - but I've also sworn off SleazyJet after
direct personal experience about ten years ago.

I was meant to be flying back from Schiphol to Luton, on a late evening
flight. The plane had a technical problem, so wasn't available for
boarding. It happens. What SHOULDN'T happen is all the passengers being
left at the gate with no staff, no information, no access to refreshments
- for SIX HOURS. We finally got to Luton at about 3am, IIRC.


I used to commute weekly from Heathrow to Schiphol in the late 1980s.
I had a similar experience with BA, involving a five hour wait at
Schiphol on a Friday evening, with the aircraft still not having left
Heathrow on the preceding flight. No attempt was made to transfer us
to KLM, which would have saved several hours, and only after many
complaints were refreshments provided.

I decided to reject BA in favour of BMI (called British Midland in
those days). It happened twice more with BMI, once with a four hour
delay and once with a seven hour delay, meaning I arrived home in West
London about 2:00 AM. But the overall service of NMI was so much
better than BA that I stayed with them. Plus, it was only two flights
in around 50, so it wasn't too bad.

My point is that flag carriers such as BA and "full price" airlines
such as BMI have similar problems to the low cost, as do rail
operators. What they all share is that they are all spectacularly bad
at dealing with them, in most cases. However. it was one area where
GNER absolutely shone.

Er... this was 20+ years ago. How can you compare your experiences with
modern flying trends. The airline industry and regulations have moved on
enormously since then. Budget airlines were still only a twinkle in the
eyes of a lot of the current budget airline bosses.

I have flown almost exclusively with BA in that last 8 or 9 years and have
never had a problem with them apart from one occasion when we had to wait
for 2hrs, onboard, before we could depart. However, the crew were very good
with refreshments etc... during that time. Had I been sat on a Ryanair
plane I somehow doubt the "FREE" refreshments would have bee so forthcoming.
The only times I have ever had reason to complain was when I have flown with
budget airlines. One time was BMI Baby the other Thomas Cook Airlines.

MC

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:36:40 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I always thought Brussels Airlines regarded themselves as a full service
carrier. They used to do codeshares with BA (when BA still flew from
regional airports up to about a year ago), and are a member of one of
the three big FF clubs.

The advertising I've seen positions them as a budget airline. They do
have a 'premium' fare class, which probably equates to full service.
On the Manchester-Brussels flight, FWIW, they were code sharing with
BMI and accepting Diamond Club cards.

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

In message , at 18:40:32 on
Mon, 12 Oct 2009, Paul Corfield remarked:
I would rather have needles stuck in my eyes than fly Ryanair.

Did you have a bad experience, or are you just reacting to the
chattering campaign about them?

Am I allowed to say I have never travelled with them and never will?

So 100% prejudice. Glad we got that out in the open.

This is based on what you'd probably call an irrational dislike of their
business model and of dear old Mr O'Leary. He's a clever bloke but I
don't like his business methods or attitudes whereby Ryanair are always
right and everyone else can go hang.

If I want to experience bus travel then I'll use a bus thanks very much!

Or quite a lot of trains. Indeed, Ryanair's planes are mainly pretty
new, and not bad to travel on at all.
--
Roland Perry

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

wrote in message
...

Same here. I also find getting to Heathrow a lot easier than Stansted or
Luton, for example.


Unfortunately the time from touchdown to hire car is longer than the
flight from schipol when you go via Heathrow.

You will have to get used to it, the trend from the 60s onwards is for air
travel to become functional and the term 'jet set' is probably meaningless
to the majority, certainly not
bringing to mind upper class exclusive travel.

Give it a few years and Business Class air travel will be the same
concept as the business class section of the underground trains.

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

In message , at 20:21:37 on
Mon, 12 Oct 2009, Mr G remarked:
I always thought Brussels Airlines regarded themselves as a full service
carrier. They used to do codeshares with BA (when BA still flew from
regional airports up to about a year ago), and are a member of one of
the three big FF clubs.

The advertising I've seen positions them as a budget airline.

They can't make their mind up. But codeshares with a full service
airline are the give-away.

They do have a 'premium' fare class, which probably equates to full
service. On the Manchester-Brussels flight, FWIW, they were code
sharing with BMI and accepting Diamond Club cards.

--
Roland Perry

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
That's North Korea.

The poster did not state which part of Korea he was referring to.

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

"Bruce" wrote in message
...

I disagree with your damning the whole Korean nation on the basis of
simplistic and highly unreliable racial stereotyping, yes.


One might view 'feisty as a compliment.

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

In message , at 20:33:23 on Mon, 12
Oct 2009, Buddenbrooks remarked:
That's North Korea.

The poster did not state which part of Korea he was referring to.

He mentioned flying a Korean airline. As North Korean ones are
apparently banned from these parts, that only leaves South Korea.
--
Roland Perry

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

Paul Corfield wrote on 12 October 2009 21:19:24 ...
On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:31:22 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 18:40:32 on
Mon, 12 Oct 2009, Paul Corfield remarked:
I would rather have needles stuck in my eyes than fly Ryanair.
Did you have a bad experience, or are you just reacting to the
chattering campaign about them?
Am I allowed to say I have never travelled with them and never will?
So 100% prejudice. Glad we got that out in the open.

Sure. I'm not aware there is a rule against 100% blind prejudice. Anyway
Mr O'Leary won't give a toss about not having me as one of his customers
so I'd say we're about quits ;-)

This is based on what you'd probably call an irrational dislike of their
business model and of dear old Mr O'Leary. He's a clever bloke but I
don't like his business methods or attitudes whereby Ryanair are always
right and everyone else can go hang.

If I want to experience bus travel then I'll use a bus thanks very much!
Or quite a lot of trains. Indeed, Ryanair's planes are mainly pretty
new, and not bad to travel on at all.

Well yes but I would not call a decent Inter City train a bus. Eurostar
does not resemble a bus. I travel on buses all the time and they're fine
for their job as are plenty of trains and plenty of airlines. Even
jammed full Class 378s are not buses - they're high capacity trains
doing their job.

I don't feel I have lost out by not travelling by Ryanair. I would hope
Mr O'Leary's planes are pretty new given the huge rate of expansion that
he has managed with his airline - doesn't stop them having faults nor
having pilots that cannot find the correct airport though nor the
operation being run on an absolute shoestring. Even if I was to
discount half of the negative comments and reports I have read about
Ryanair I would still not travel with them.

I think that's a rational attitude, and I share it. There comes a point
at which the volume of informed negative comment is so great that one
can't ignore it. It's not "irrational", nor is it "blind prejudice".
It's a valid risk assessment based on available evidence.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

Wafted from paradise to Luton Airport
 

wrote:
Buddenbrooks wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 00:17:30 on Mon, 12
Oct 2009, Miles Bader remarked:
Why settle for surly when for a little more you can have surly and
condescending.

Ha! If you'd fly a Korean airline, you could have violent and
insane too!

What a strange remark. Are you a xenophobic? I've been to Korea and
it's a much more civilised place than the UK, despite rumours to the
contrary. Their airport frequently wins awards, too; and deservedly so.
--



Well apart from being banned to fly to any country in the EU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Koryo

That's a North Korean airline, which is still flying Tu-154s anf Il-62s.

Thought that they're looking to purchase Airbusses these days.