Is British Airways now worse than Ryanair?

Couldn't agree more I'm a long time BA supporter BAEC since it launched in around 1989 many years in Gold over 9000 tier points etc.currently hanging on to Silver as retired.
I tried Ryanair a couple of times and quickly aabandoned it years ago but BA do seem to working hard to replicate the Ryanair model in Europe at least. CE seating gone from 34" down to 29" in a couple of years. I'm 6'4" tall so even 34" is a stretch if the person in front reclines. 29" means sitting sideways!

 

Yes - I think a Ryanair trip report from someone who had sworn off them would be great!

 

Indeed, I'm only 6 foot and it can be a squeeze. My taller friends have a terrible time on either airline if the flight is longer than a couple of hours.

 

You'd have to pay me quadruple or more to do a Ryanair trip report!

I'm still in shock over taking a domestic LATAM flight and finding out that they don't have a lounge for domestic flights and so I had to sit round with the riff raff for 2 hours before my latest flight. I did have some nice lady ask if I wanted to sign up to collect LATAM kilometres.

Seriously though. "In the air" might be fairly similar, but between Stansted and the lack of on-the-ground facilities, I have very little use for Ryanair unless they happen to fly exactly where I want to go from exactly where I happen to be and there is no Oneworld or *A option available.

 

I'd still rather fly BA from Heathrow than Ryanair from Luton or Stanstead. However, that's mostly about the airports, and the lounges, rather than the airlines...

Out of Heathrow, I'd much rather fly most other airlines, especially OneWorld ones (got a BAEC gold card to keep!). In fact, I often do... Most of my recent BA flights have been:

• Avios redemptions short-haul, where RFS made enough of a saving to put up with poor BA short-haul service
• Avios redemptions for long-haul with an Amex 2-for-1
• Ex-EU flights where BA was quite a bit cheaper than the alternatives (plus I get a tonne of extra avios when flying BA as a tier bonus)

Back when I started flying a lot, flying BA was something to look forward to. Now it's "hmm, guess it looks like BA today" rather than anything special

 

Haha, what a terrible situation! I hope you've recovered from it. I endured a similar indignity at JFK when my Priority Pass apparently didn't grant lounge access during evening hours. I had to watch the end of the Super Bowl with the unwashed masses! (I don't know much about American Football, but that was a hell of a game!)

 

That's a very fair point actually - I quite like flying from Leeds and don't mind Manchester and Liverpool (my nearest 'major' airports), but Luton was awful the one time I've been there (and that was just arriving). Heathrow can actually be very pleasant when it works properly and the BA lounges might not be world-class but they certainly aren't bad.

 

Old topic, but I felt I had to throw my tuppence into the ring.

BA is definitely worse than Ryanair / Easy Jet. Recently I flew return flights from London to Toulouse in business.

Business is now what Economy used to be. Same size seats, same food, free drink, only difference is, that they put a table in the middle chair. If you're in a newly created row, you will not get the air vent or light above you. Not too much of an issue, but it's nice to have when it's roasting hot.

Now if I was to fly Ryan Air:

Seats: Could have paid for more leg room
Food: Could have paid for much better food (BA meal was coronation chicken, with a side of chicken)
Lounge: Could have just used Priority Pass to use a much better lounge.

By simply adding on the relatively cheap extras from Ryan Air / Easy Jet, you can create a better product than BA Business at a fraction of the cost, without the risk of your luggage being lost or your flight cancelled.

I will be avoiding BA wherever possible, they have simply given up on being a premium airline and have become a budget airline, just without budget prices.

 

First of all - welcome to InsideFlyer! With views like that on BA short-haul Business Class, I'll think you'll fit in pretty well here

On the serious point, I think you're right - if you pay a few quid for an extra legroom seat etc, bring some nice food and have Priority Pass, flying low cost carriers can be perfectly enjoyable and very good value.

That said, I've been denied entry at the last 4 PP lounges I went to because they were too busy...

 

I try to avoid any cheap flights ( Ryan, Wizz). Easy is still ok.

 

I am one who avoids BA and has for many years, since ryanair made changes I avoid them too.

 

Nothing worse than Ryanair and their policy of deliberately splitting up families.

 

Flew with easyJet for a business trip recently and was pleasantly surprised: seats were comfortable and (dare I say it!) looked classy, and the snacks for purchase were reasonably appealing. I've also flown with Ryanair and Wizz several times in the past year, and can't really complain - a pretty basic experience, but if you pay for a seat near the front and priority boarding it improves the experience, and overall, I guess you pays your money and takes your choice. For me, the main downside with flying any of the budget carriers is having to fly via Luton or Stansted, partly because of the time it takes to get to/from the airport from central London, but particularly in relation to the outbound flight, because it involves having to go through security. Have bought fast track security the past couple of times, and at Stansted it lessened the pain, but at Luton it was still pretty slow...

 

Yep - I've found EasyJet to be surprisingly decent as well over the last year or 2. Genuinely not much difference at all to BA short haul - even the drink and snacks selection is fine and not horribly priced.

Being 'up North', Leeds and Manchester are extremely convenient for me - and Liverpool, East Mids, etc, aren't too bad, so I'll almost always fly with a budget carrier on short haul.

Price is certainly a factor, but usually it's the time of the flights and ease of getting to/from the airport that decides my purchases - particularly if you're just popping across to somewhere for the weekend.

I don't think I've ever flown with Wizz - better or worse than Ryanair would you say?

 

I have to say that I've been

I have to say that i've also been pleasantly surprised with EasyJet when I flew with them a few months back - it was actually less stressful that BA is now that there's the mad rush for everyone to find a space for their carry on luggage.

I would definitely consider flying with EasyJet in the future as I really can't see much difference on short haul flights - plus if it's cheaper then I'm only missing out on some airmiles...

Would love to here some feedback on Wizzair as am considering them for a flight at the end of the year.

 

Wizz Air is a budget carrier and overall they’re very similar to Ryanair in many ways, with the same kind of add-on charges for things like seat selection and speedy boarding, but to my mind Wizz is somehow much more likeable! Maybe they had a bad rap a few years back - I don’t know - but I’ve flown with them a number of times over the past couple of years and in my experience they’ve been absolutely fine. They’re based in Budapest, and they’re an interesting airline to use for connecting to and exploring Eastern Europe and beyond. If you’re able to plan in advance there are some amazing fares to be had. In the UK they fly from several airports but in most cases only to a couple of (pretty niche) destinations. However, their major UK airport is Luton, from which they fly to lots of interesting places.

From Luton there’s Budapest, of course (and at time of writing, you could fly in early December 2018 to visit the lovely Christmas market there for less than £50 return incl. taxes!), but you could also explore one of many interesting emerging destinations across Eastern Europe:

https://wizzair.com/en-gb/flights/map#/ (Desktop map)
https://wizzair.com/en-gb/flights/#/ (Mobile and desktop list)

They also have something called ‘WIZZ Discount Club’ where for an annual subscription of €30 per year you get a guaranteed minimum discount of €10 per flight (on all flights of €20 or over) during the year, along with a minimum of €5 discount on bag fees. In a nice touch, these discounts also apply to the Discount Club member’s travelling companion (when made on the same booking). Probably the Discount Club is primarily of interest to people who would travel frequently on Wizz from Luton or elsewhere, but I thought it worth mentioning because I don’t think many people know about it - and in fact it could more than pay for itself on just one return trip for two people with bags...

https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/wizz-services/wizz-discount-club#/

Overall, the Wizz flight experience is undeniably budget - pretty indistinguishable from Ryanair. You’ll want to bring your own snacks and in-flight entertainment. The key selling points are great prices and very interesting destinations. As long as you know what to expect, they're very good to fly with, and I'm very happy to recommend them.

Enjoy!

Richard

 

Nice info Richard - cheers for sharing!

 

As for me RyanAir only for short flights.

 

Thanks for sharing Richard