EasyJet vs Ryan Air

Personally I won't use RyanAIr simply because of all the extra charges they sting you for by the tine you get to the check-out.

They want to charge £55.00 for a 20 kilo bag and £5.00 for on-line check-in.

So that's £60.00 per person, per flight for a start, and then they charge and Admin Fee of £5.00 per person, per flight!

EasyJet on the other hand, charge £18.00 for a 20 kilo bag, don't charge for on-line check-in, and there is no 'mandatory' admin fee when booking.

Therefore, when I looked at booking return flights a few weeks ago for our family coming over from Bristol in early July, Ryan Air wanted to charge in total for a family of four: £602.44 plus 'any admin fee', in other words it would have been £622,44

When I looked at booking with Easyjet, the total including luggage was £347.24

A massive difference of £275.20

Needless to say I booked with EasyJet.

So, for me, I vote EasyJet.

PS. I looked today at the same dates, and EasyJet have gone up, the total price is now £477.20...

... but that still saves £145.24

 Don't have the option of flying with Easyjet anywhere near me. Ryanair beat the pants off our local airline (Jet2) with return prices less than half of a single fare with J2. I only take hand luggage, so it isn't an issue and use a Escape prepaid. So a return trip to Murcia in mid July for £62? I have loyalty points with J2 that will go to waste because even their "free" flights with the accumulated points are more expensive than full fare flights on Ryanair.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. If you want champagne, don't pay beer money!

Mark

Well, I keep saying I won't fly Ryanair again but, somehow, still do so.  Generally because of the costs but  I do occasionally get them cheaper.  Easyjet have, unfortunately, pulled out of E Mids so that has cut down the availability but we are still left with BMIBaby and Thomson as competing airlines. Unfortunately, Thomson appears to have stopped operating as a "low cost" airline and their prices are going way up.  BMIBaby wins on the flight timings (mid mornings as opposed to very early like Ryanair) and the lower credit/debit charge fees and luggage fees.  As we usually travel with hand luggage only, this doesn't really bother us.  But BMIBaby can work out cheaper as well plus the added advantage of having numbered seats so there is no queuing 40 minutes before flight opening time.  I think you must be very lucky getting the 62 quid return from Murcia in July as I couldn't find anything with Ryanair below 130 quid each when taxes and checking fees (not including the debit card charge) are included.

The other day, a lot of disgruntled priority boarders as we were bussed out to the aircraft.  Those getting on the bus last had the pick of seats as they were off first.  As the majority of my flights with Ryanair appear to be bussed to the aircraft, I have stopped using the priority boarding system.  Now, I go ahead whilst SWMBO struggles behind with her walking stick being pushed out of the way, on Wednesday actually being overtaken on the steps up to the aircraft before she stuck her stick out to stop them.  Luvverly people.

The other bit was weighing bags at the actual departure gate which I hadn't seen before.  OK, you can't take booze etc through security but a lot of people buy it at Aldeasa stores then stick them in the hand luggage.  Anything smacking of being oversized was measured and then weighed which was a new one.  Even if they were in the size limit, some of those with bottles were overweight and they were being made to pay to put the bag in the hold.  Of course, no weight sharing was allowed.

On the plane, the prices appear to have gone up as well.  I think £2.70 for a cup of tea must be the most expensive on all these flights.  BMIBaby is £1.85 (3 euros v 2 euros).  Even a half litre bottle of water is 3 euros!  And, yes, they've got you because you can't take the cheap stuff through security, you can buy overpriced water at the airport (not as overpriced as Ryanair, though) but it must be in the case and not in a separate bag.  This, of course, could put you over the weight limit and they no longer use any discretion but charge 20 euros a kilo over, no matter how much.  As they also have the lowest baggage allowance going (Easyjet was no weight limit as long as you could lift the bag without assistance) you can very easily be over the limit.

All in all, I will probably use Ryanair occasionally in future but not if a cheaper airline is available.  The trouble is, the car hire is now getting ridiculous in Spain but that's another story.....................

 Monarch....

hi

    we also got flights 11-16 of july for £62,just observe the rules and you cant beat ryanair.

                                                                                                                           regards dominick

Hi Bobaol,

Roy last year coming back  from Spain on easyjet, eyes not to good waiting his cataract operation, they obviously saw he was having trouble getting on the plane. So the air hostess came up to me and asked if he would like the lift to take him of the plane. he was adament he did not want it.  But she said if he does need to do this at any time just to let them know before the flight.

So I might look into that this year at least we would be nearly one of the first on the plane.

Yes as Georgia says try Monarch we use them sometime you can get bargains with them and if you sign up with them and they see you are looking they often email me with discounts of the flights concerned 

I do not know about Ryan air have never flown with them.

Pat

Hopefully, I won't have to fly with any of them again.  With a bit of luck (ever the optimist) someone will buy our house in UK and we will be driving over for good.  OK, we'll probably be flying the other way for visits and things but not so often.  It's getting to feel that we are leaving our home now when we depart from Spain instead of the other way around.  

Mind you, getting back to UK the weather was a lot like Spain although a lot more humid and sticky.  Also got bit to death by something in bed last night, how's that for irony?  Not one little chigger bite the whole time in Spain and about a dozen of them up my side and bum in UK last night!  Plus no pool to plunge in over here when the need comes to cool off!

Nearest Monarch departure airport is about an hours drive instead of the 10 minutes to East MIds, unfortunately.  Plus flights about 100 quid more (for 2) than the others. 

Never mind, just need a nice, first time buyer with cash to buy my house (know anyone?) and away we go.  These car hire costs are getting a wee bit silly at the moment.

We have just flown back from Malaga on Tuesday with Easyjet, we had booked these flights in November for £65.00 return, on Monday my husband who wasn't travelling with us this visit got a message on our home phone from Easyjet to say the flight had been cancelled.No explanation and a number to phone to rebook-I rang from Spain and was given 2 options Tuesday 10.50 or Tuesday eve 23.40 they original 17.00 flight had been cancelled because of problems in Greece???? We opted for the earlier flight as I have 2 young children but they only had 2 seats so we had to go on the 23.40 flight. This was not ideal with 2 children and along with a 2 hour delay we finally arrived back in Liverpool at 3.30am. Its almost like they were doing us a favour putting us on another flight and they don't offer any apologies for all the messing around (car hire/taxis in uk etc)  I will in future try to avoid Easyjet!

i personally dont like flying with ryanair, but still do because of price, and the fact they fly into san javier airport.

i prefer easyjet as their weight restrictions on cabin luggage is better but they only fly to alicante from glasgow.

untill other airlines start competing better with them , then it looks like choosing between the lessser of 2 evils.

We fly from East Midlands airport to Malaga and only use Ryanair as a last resort. If possible we use BMI Baby, who are usually as cheap, but much less aggressive. We try not to take checked in luggage, but when we do, their queues are nowhere near as long and if I remember correctly they allow a higher weight limit too.

For us it has to be Ryanair. Partly beause at our local airport which is only 35 minutes away they are the only ones flying! Nearest airport for Easyjet is 2 hours drive away. But we always play the game - use the right card, only take hand luggage, take our own food etc. We are going tomorrow for £79.98 each into Murcia - could have got it for less but had to go on certain days. Our cheapest ever was £2.50 each one way and £5 return! At our local airport if you buy anything in Smiths you are allowed to carry on the carrier bag with your goodies in as well as your hand luggage.

Hi - we are from Bournemouth and did you know Ryanair announced on Thursday this week that they were cancelling ALL flights  scheduled between 1 November to 1 February to all the destinations they fly to  from Bournemouth including Murcia and Alicante.  Absolute madness.  The nearest airport now is Southampton with the every expensive choice of flying Flybe to Alicante.  I am shall we say a trifle upset about this as it has snookered our plans for a few long weekends over the winter.

Sandra

Yes terrible news - we were aware that something was happening and were worried that they were pulling out of Bournemouth completely, so not quite as bad as we thought. However, VERY disappointing. Like you say, Southampton is nearest but we have looked at flybe and not at all cheap. So that leaves Bristol for Easyjet and Ryanair, but then there is the terrible 2 hour drive to the airport! And for a long weekend, rather spoils it!

Well, just booked another 2 flights to Murcia in October, cost? £83.00 all in paying with my prepaid Mastercard. I always compare the blue and yellow with the red and grey from Leeds because if the difference were minimal, I would prefer to use them. Jet2 price? £167 for the same flight on the same day using Sol/ Electron. Don't really want to pay twice the price for allocated seating. Add to that, Ryanair now don't add the "extras" as standard whereas  with Jet2 you now have to deselect the hold baggage, insurance and premium in flight meal.

Mark

"£83.00 all in paying with my prepaid Mastercard"

Marksfish.. would you recommend any particular prepaid card? I recently looked at some comparisons on web but never realised there were so many different ones to choose from!

I couldn't choose much between them all as various fees seemed to apply somewhere or other e.g. applcation fees, transaction fees, monthly fees etc so seems to be a case of no such thing as a free lunch.

How to you physically preload the card? Is there any cost associated with that or is there a minimum amount?  

Apologies to all if this subject has been covered elsewhere on the forum, if so would appreciate a link to it  ;O) 

I have the Phones4U prepaid card and have had no problems with it, although it does cost £10 to buy and you have to get a £10 credit at the same time. I got one for a friend of mine who lives in Spain and she has had nothing but problems with it, her card always being blocked. Topping up is easy with this card, you go into a Phones4u shop and pay by cash (in multiples of £10), it is credited to the account within 5 minutes. You can also use a BACS transfer which takes about 5 days to be credited. There are other means of topping up (Post Office, debit card, PayPoint, etc) but these all have fees associated with them ranging from 1- 3% of the total placed on the card. There are generally no fees to use the card unless using it abroad (although I think ATM withdrawals are free). The biggest problem is that they are only valid for 3 years, any credit left on the card at that time is lost.

I think the Carlton FX card was meant to be good at one time too, but I know nothing of it. 

Mark

Hi - I have a Caxton prepaid mastercard - no monthly charges, just £10 to  start it off (credit on the card) and minimum £100 top up's from your designated debit card and you can do this all on line.  Newcastle Building society are behind this card.  no usage fees.  I have found it great.  It's called a Global Traveller and they also do a Euro card in euros if you want it.

Sandra

As above - Caxton FX. I have both Euro and World Traveller; totally free to use, top up on line or over the phone and they also give a better exchange rate than the tourist rate. Have used them in cashpoints in Spain with no problem and also used them for car hire at both Alicante and Murcia airports without query. Best of all, though, is you do Mr O'Leary out of a tenner each time you book! Just Google 'Caxton Cards' and the rest is easy.

Steve.

I've used both EasyJet & RyanAir a lot and I reckon you get what you pay for - although both of them can be very pricey, particularly if they have a monopoly situation.

For me the post from Bobao makes a lot of sense.  Monarch are worth paying a few pounds more for and their onboard food is excellent value - £6 for a complete edible microwaved meal.

But I don't believe that either EasyJet or RyanAir care one iota about their passengers.  The comments from Delicloths also refelect my experience in that EasyJet particularly will cancel a flight when it suits them and then blame some reason to avoid paying compensation under the EU legislation.  They know that too many will complain about it but not see things through - the tactics of their wrongly named "Customer Service Representatives" are outrageous !

Richard

Interesting messages on this thread. I think it depends on where you live, where you want to go and what you are prepared to put up with. Neither RyanAir nor EasyJet can claim to employ the best 'customer frendly' people, although many do try. If like me usually travel with a lot of luggage or something 'out of the ordinary' in my case a bike, neither are very good. I now always use BA, who despite their strike problems have a great terminal and systems at LHR and fly to where I want to go.

Have used ESY from Luton and Gatwick but found it was 50/50 if my bike arrived and the additional costs ment it is sometimes a higher price than ESY.

Can't comment on RyanAir as the only time I tried to use them they cancelled the flight and left us stranded.

So as always, as others have posted, it depends on where you live, where you want to go, what you what to take and what you are prepared to put up with.

David