Budget airlines survey

Not sure why they are called budget airlines actually.

I think Ryanair and easyjet have done a good job in opening up the less accessible routes and it what they have suites then why not?

Ryaniar to Carcassonne and Bergerac in the last few years - no real gripes.
Easy to a few places over the years.

Neither would be my first choice, and I would always check what I call the REAL airlines as well but - hey ho - they can work.

Mind you Cyprus in 2010 - BA business class was £80 each more than Easyjet!!!!!

Very pleasant flight :D

Have flown on most airlines, mainstream and budget, cattle and Business class.
My view of BA was of an average service, with arrogant staff. The staff attitude has changed remarkedly since they were introduced to the real world.

The OP used to put Ryanair and EJ into the same band, changing this view, only when regular users reported good service from EJ.

Have used Ryanair, it took me longer to read the small print than it took to book the ticket. I very much doubt that I would use them for a ski flight, unless I was travelling light. After all,that is their policy.

I am a regular EJ user, more than 25 flights. Sadly they have increased a couple of charges, but this will not affect my view, they offer the best value from Edinburgh. I manage one free return flight per year, plus one/two sub £70 return trips to the alps per year. The hand baggage is free, and, although it is constrained by standard airline size, it can be of any manageble weight. Since on recent flight, my total baggage, including ski boots, only weighed 12.5kgm, I am relaxed about add on costs.

Austrian Airlines are to be recommended. It was Lauder before. The service is really good. It is worth the fare just to be able to watch as you fly into Innsbruck airport!

In general flight offers are largely subject to your location. Edinburgh has great offers. Belfast has, in general, poor offers. Elesewhere, I guess is in-between.

Apart from actual air incidents, I don't get stressed by flights. I prefer to get onto the aircraft, and choose who I sit next to......

Dave Mac wrote:
My view of BA was of an average service, with arrogant staff.

Funny, I always found quite the opposite. Couldn't be the passenger they were responding to could it?

Dave Mac wrote:

Austrian Airlines are to be recommended. It was Lauder before. The service is really good. It is worth the fare just to be able to watch as you fly into Innsbruck airport!

I used them this year for the first time. I assume you are talking about Austrian Arrows as Austrian Airlines have been around a lot longer than Lauda. In fact Lauda are still going with a couple of aircraft that they tend to charter out.

Other airlines fly into Innsbruck as well. You probably knew that though. But it is indeed a fantastic approach.

How loudly you can complain about Ryan Air surely depends on the price you pay. Regularly go to Portugal where my parents now live and RA are often a third of the price of EJ. Last time some jobs worth was checking hand luggage sizes but most staff are reasonable.

Tony_H wrote:

Dave Mac wrote:

Austrian Airlines are to be recommended. It was Lauder before. The service is really good. It is worth the fare just to be able to watch as you fly into Innsbruck airport!

I assume you are talking about Austrian Arrows as Austrian Airlines have been around a lot longer than Lauda. In fact Lauda are still going with a couple of aircraft that they tend to charter out.

Hi Dave Mac and Tony,
I was rather curious about this, so I looked up the history of Lauder and Austrian Airlines:

http://www.austrianairlines.ag/AustrianAirlinesGroup/Profil/OurHistory.aspx?sc_lang=en

http://www.laudaair.com/en/about-us/lauda-air-history.html

It seems that Austrian Airlines was founded in 1957 and Lauder in 1979. The former began buying a stake in the latter in 1997, and completed the takeover in 2002. Austrian Arrows and Lauda Air are now brands of Austrian Airlines Group, with the Lauda brand operating chartered flights.

And in 2009 Austrian Airlines became a member of the Lufthansa Group, together with Swiss.

It is all very confusing :shock:

Ally

Weren't Lauda Air founded by a former F1 pilot?

verbier_ski_bum wrote:Weren't Lauda Air founded by a former F1 pilot?

Yes, you're quite right. If you click on my link to the history of Lauda and scroll to the bottom it says this:

Niki Lauda, born in Vienna in 1949, starts his career as a Formula I racing driver in 1971. Always fascinated by the world of aviation, he wins the Formula I World Championship twice before acquiring a charter concession and founding his own airline in 1979 with two Fokker 27 aircraft.

Oh, and the latest news seems to be that Niki Lauda's other airline, flyniki.com, a low cost charter service to destinations in Europe and the Middle East, has been sold to Air Berlin and that he now has a seat on the Board of Directors of Air Berlin (but it's only recently happened and I'm not too sure about the details).

Ally