Ryan Air

[cairngorm]

Rely on Ryanair

WHEN IT comes to making a fast buck at any cost you can rely on Ryanair.

The company charged ?200 to fly a dead teen?s SUITCASE home from Tenerife. Nineteen-year-old Allan Milligan died after falling from his hotel.

His devastated friends packed his case and went to get their flight home but were told by some robot at check-in that although they had Alan?s ticket, because he wasn?t there in person they?d have to charge ?200 for the case.

The fact he was dead made no difference.

The airline stated the usual line about ?company policy? but later had a change of heart and refunded Alan?s pals.

All very petty from yet another company that seems at times to treat customers as irritants.

this is really sick they dont deserve customers

[Proctor]

Any airline that charges ?6 for a tiny can of pear cider when you can buy four large cans for ?5 in Victoria Wine is not worth giving buisness to. The mentality of that company is that you are getting a cheap flight so you shoulb be greatful and shut up.

[TheKarl]

Booked return flights to Birmingham for 2 quid, he's not complaining.

[Yngwie]

You'll complain when it gets into trouble mid-air and you need to insert a credit card to activate your oxygen mask!

[CaleyD]

I'd say his mates were worse....it doesn't get much lower than stealing a dead blokes belongings.

[PullMyFinger]

It's not like he's going to miss them is it?

[Mick]

Ryanair to make passengers stand

i wonder what other weird and wonderful ways O'Leary will think of to make money, flying on cheap airlines is uncomfortable enuff without having to sit on a "bar stool"

[SMEE]

that O'Leary is fooking wired to the moon! :D

[PullMyFinger]

Maybe so, but look at how his business is performing compared to his competition. I'd use them as the price will be a steal and the emissions per passenger will be halved from what they are already which is already a fraction of the flights scheduled by the big companies.

[Scotty]

Maybe Latviaman can clear up the question I have which is "Is it safe?"

On any flight I have been on over the years, the flight attendants are extremely paranoid about anyone getting up from their seats when the plane is moving except when it reaches its cruising altitude. We all hear the clicks of seatbelts being released as soon as it touches down and most will have seen the steely glare of an attendant looking at you wondering if it was you making the sound .... also, all your belongings have to be in the overhead bins or under the seat in front in case they move during takeoff/landing ..... so how does it compute that a bunch of people can stand during the flight and not cause the same or higher risk than a handbag, briefcase or bag of duty free ???

Found a couple of links that suggest Ryanair are not the first to think of this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/technolo...4iht-seats.html

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/sta...atless-flights/

I did read about the Yemeni plane crash last week and according to people who have flown with the airline concerned, standing on flights in that region is nothing new ... In the article I read, the "safe" plane went from France to Yemen with people in their seats as normal, but the passengers were then transferred to a plane that had been banned from European airspace for its final leg to the Comoros Islands.

[Scotty]

couldnt resist this one either .... a suggestion from a German firn that designs plane interiors to replace some of the bathrooms with urinals !!!

http://www.spiegel.de/international/busine...,553277,00.html

[CaleyD]

I don't suppose it's much different from allowing standing/loose luggage on buses and trains.

Such things don't cause accidents, they only increase the risk of injury when you do have an accident. Since flying is statistically safer than going by bus or train, then there's probably a very good argument that it should be acceptable to stand and carry loose luggage on planes.

[Scotty]

thing is though Don, you dont have to have an accident for there to be a problem on the plane ..... turbulence for example can throw people and things around and I believe it is a statistical fact that the most often injured people on planes are the flight attendants, who by the very nature of their jobs are standing and walking around most of the time.

Oh well ... at least standing might reduce the risk of DVT !!!

[CaleyD]

Wonder how statistics for Bus/Train conductors would compare to Steward/ess figures for planes?

Replace turbulence with pot-holes and stopping and starting and I reckon in the overall picture it would pretty much balance out.

[The Fly]

Since flying is statistically safer than going by bus or train

Yep, getting to the airport or carving the Sunday lunch is probably more dangerous. Having said that, I had a serious accident flying... waiting in the queue for check-in at a Greek airport years ago, stumbled backwards over my suitcase and nearly broke my backside

The standing/perch seat idea sounds safe enough, if people are strapped in properly. Don't fancy it myself though, just about every time I fly is very early or very late and I want to sleep!

[latviaman]

Sorry for the latte reply Scotty, but.

I first checked the date just in case it was 1/4

Have heard about African airlines having people on short internal flights sitting / standing but do not believe it would be allowed by the aviation powers that be.

I Always say in a nice way to passengers do NOT undo your seatbelts until the sign says so, ie cruising altitude if we are warned of or forecast turbulence again I insist, seatbelts must be worn.

As for Mr O'leary who I have met, a shrewd but crude operator, wants everything on his own terms .. threatened to pull out of Riga if his low landing fees offer wasnt accepted, oh dear too bad never mind.

New el cheapo started called Wizzair a friend got a return to Luton for 25 gbp all in

[Charles Bannerman]

As for Mr O'leary who I have met, a shrewd but crude operator, wants everything on his own terms .. threatened to pull out of Riga if his low landing fees offer wasnt accepted, oh dear too bad never mind.

O'Leary is a complete cowboy who seems to expect everybody else to reduce their prices to him so he can cut his costs whilst attempting to fool the travelling public into believing that his service is cheap. In practice it is a serial scam but it seems to be too much to hope that the travelling public will see through this Arthur Daley of aviation. Mr O'Leary would appear to have acquired the diplomatic skills of the building site. The unfortunate thing is that he appears to have got a hold of a number of routes which leave the decent travelling public with few alternatives but to use him. Personally, I would prefer to walk and swim.

[Kingsmills]

A bad experience flying with this particular carrier Charles ? !

[Scotty]

Sorry for the latte reply Scotty

New el cheapo started called Wizzair a friend got a return to Luton for 25 gbp all in

LOL - I have heard of flight delays but this thread is 9 months old

A new cheapo starts ... just as a cheapo/charter over here ends ..... SKYSERVICE bit the dust yesterday or is at the very least going through its death throes

The reason for the collapse seems to be that its major stakeholder called in loans after both Sunquest (a division of Thomas Cook) and Signature vacations (a division of TUI [First Choice]) cancelled their contracts with the company. Sunquest is going to use Enerjet and Air Transat until the end of April and then Westjet for the summer season. Signature merged with Sunwing last year and will simply use Sunwings fleet of planes from now on.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Scotty--your knowledge base rather stuns me. I enjoyed reading the articles in English for "Der Speigel" attached to that link you posted. Very insightful. The one I liked the most was about the huge , grotesque bonuses now being paid by the U.S. Banks to thier top guns which has enraged Obama who now wants to impose huge fees on the banks. Good! Can't come too soon for me.

here is one for you .... www.neptunecanada.ca.

This research of the ocean project is run by the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island, in association with several other world Universities. It has taken years to come to fruition and involves the transmission of date collected via probes embedded into the sea floor and camera images by the use of fibre-optic cables back to base. Any member of the public can participate in this project. Some of the images from thousands of feet down in the Pacific Ocean where the Canadian continental shelf sea floor suddenly drops down some 15,000 feet are stunning.

Allegiant Air in the North West of the U.S. waits until you get to the counter on the away flight to tell you that luggage carrying costs are not included in the ticket. That one cost my wife and her grown son some $77 each for the away and return flights---just to carry a total of one suitcase each! It pays to research every step of the way if you are going on a trip and take nothing for granted. THE GREYHOUND BUS COMPANY IN NORTH AMERICA LOOKS MORE AND MORE ATTRACTIVE FOR INTER-CONTINETAL TRAVEL THESE DAYS. UNLESS YOU ARE UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO GET ON THE BUS WHERE A NUTCASE CUT OFF ONE OF THE PASSENGER'S HEADS WITH A KNIFE . I think the security may have changed since then though!

In Western Canada the only two airlines that seem to be still flying to Britain are Air Canada and AirTransat with the latter being the cheaper of the two. Zoom went zooming down the tubes and is now defunct.

[latviaman]

At least it proves I read the posts Scotty!!

A friend flew Cryan air from Prestwick to here, He had a suitcase and a shoulder bag and was charged 60 gbp for the shoulder bag, no discussion he said the soor faced oik at check in just sat shrugged her shoulders and carried on chewing gum.

But as O'leary pays peanuts he gets monkeys!!!

[PullMyFinger]

At least it proves I read the posts Scotty!!

A friend flew Cryan air from Prestwick to here, He had a suitcase and a shoulder bag and was charged 60 gbp for the shoulder bag, no discussion he said the soor faced oik at check in just sat shrugged her shoulders and carried on chewing gum.

But as O'leary pays peanuts he gets monkeys!!!

One item of luggage per passenger at the base rate up to 15Kg I think and additionaal items incur an extra charge and the weight restriction applies to the total weight of all luggage whether checked in or not. Go over the weight allowance and penalties apply. It's all in the terms & conditions. If you don't like it don't use it. One flying bus is the same as another to me.

[Charles Bannerman]

A bad experience flying with this particular carrier Charles ? !

I have never flown with this despicable bunch of rip off merchants, hope I never will and MIGHT only do so if they were the ONLY means of getting somewhere I urgently needed to access.

O'Leary attempts to bully his own suppliers such as airports into dancing to his particular Irish Jig of selling their product to him at knockdown prices to save his costs. Then he advertises flights at "prices" which verge on the fraudulent since, with the extortionate "extras" which are frequently essentials, it costs in practice a great deal more than he would have us believe.

Indeed Mr. O'Leary's operation is revealingly reminiscent of the one run by the cowboy builder of the same name in Fawlty Towers.... on mention of which I feel strongly inclined to place a Ryanair 737 where Basil was on his way to place the garden gnome at the end of the episode in question.

[latviaman]

Pilot says: "Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I am going to switch the seat belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but please stay inside the plane till we land...it's a bit cold outside, and if you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern."

[TSTtiger]

A bad experience flying with this particular carrier Charles ? !

I have never flown with this despicable bunch of rip off merchants, hope I never will and MIGHT only do so if they were the ONLY means of getting somewhere I urgently needed to access.

O'Leary attempts to bully his own suppliers such as airports into dancing to his particular Irish Jig of selling their product to him at knockdown prices to save his costs. Then he advertises flights at "prices" which verge on the fraudulent since, with the extortionate "extras" which are frequently essentials, it costs in practice a great deal more than he would have us believe.

Indeed Mr. O'Leary's operation is revealingly reminiscent of the one run by the cowboy builder of the same name in Fawlty Towers.... on mention of which I feel strongly inclined to place a Ryanair 737 where Basil was on his way to place the garden gnome at the end of the episode in question.

thats business for you.lots of firms use inventive marketing tactics, some of which you could view as misleading, but theres nothing illegal or new here.

the guy has done well for himself regardless of the way he does it, good luck to him. before the arrival of the budget airlines the public were being ripped off to a much greater extent by the likes of B.A

Edited April 3, 2010 by TSTtiger