Is the day of the cheap flight over?

R

RMCF

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I have not flown for a couple of years now, but have a lot in the past with the likes of Ryanair, Easyjet, Aer Lingus etc and managed to get to many places around Europe for sometimes little money (have had plenty of €20 flights in my time).

I have read and listened to many work colleagues and radio reports in recent times complaining about charges etc, and I have just witnessed it 1st hand.

I have just booked flights for a mate and his wife and 3 kids (using my credit card), and I could not believe the charges.

For the 5 of them to fly, the return flights were £500. Thats fair enough, peak flights in August to Portugal.

The rest scared me, and makes me think I won't be flying anywhere soon myself.

Here's a rough breakdown of the rest:
Tax - £140 (fair enough, not airlines fault).
5 x online checkin's outbound/admin fee - £25
5 x online checkin's inbound/admin fee - £25
3 bags outbound - £70
3 bags inbound - £70
Use of MasterCard - £50

Thats an extra £380 on top of the flights. Scandalous.
 
I would always far prefer to get the train. It's considerably less stressful than flying. You also end up in the middle of what ever city you want to get to. Sounds like it's also (generally) cheaper.

Now that various airports are insisting on getting those naked scanners in, it looks like I'll be frequenting the skies even less.
 
Why not?

I've taken train journeys all around European cities. It's great getting on a train in the evening, having a civilised meal, going to bed and waking up the next day in middle of a new city, ready and refreshed. The cost of an overnight train is offset on a night's accommodation in a hotel.

I'd rather that than the nightmare flying has become. I actually enjoy the stress free journey.
 
RMCF said:
I have not flown for a couple of years now, but have a lot in the past with the likes of Ryanair, Easyjet, Aer Lingus etc and managed to get to many places around Europe for sometimes little money (have had plenty of €20 flights in my time).

I have read and listened to many work colleagues and radio reports in recent times complaining about charges etc, and I have just witnessed it 1st hand.

I have just booked flights for a mate and his wife and 3 kids (using my credit card), and I could not believe the charges.

For the 5 of them to fly, the return flights were £500. Thats fair enough, peak flights in August to Portugal.


The rest scared me, and makes me think I won't be flying anywhere soon myself.

Here's a rough breakdown of the rest:
Tax - £140 (fair enough, not airlines fault).
5 x online checkin's outbound/admin fee - £25
5 x online checkin's inbound/admin fee - £25
3 bags outbound - £70
3 bags inbound - £70
Use of MasterCard - £50

Thats an extra £380 on top of the flights. Scandalous.
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I've no arguments that some of the charges Ryanair charge are painful but at the end of the day you are looking at 5 flights for €880, that equates to a return ticket to Portugal for €176 at peak times or €88 one way. That doesn't sound bad to me
 
Whatever about the cost, I am just sick of the associated hassle with flying. I travel a fair bit with work so now I think I am allergic to airports. Staying at home this year for my holiday.
 
Mpsox said:
I've no arguments that some of the charges Ryanair charge are painful but at the end of the day you are looking at 5 flights for €880, that equates to a return ticket to Portugal for €176 at peak times or €88 one way. That doesn't sound bad to me
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Fair enough overall, but lets be honest £140 to take on 3 bags is OTT. They used to let you do it for nothing not that long ago.

And a £50 charge to use your credit card !! How can they justify that? I think they get charged a couple of quid, so this is just pure profiteering, plain and simple.
 
RMCF said:
Fair enough overall, but lets be honest £140 to take on 3 bags is OTT. They used to let you do it for nothing not that long ago.

And a £50 charge to use your credit card !! How can they justify that? I think they get charged a couple of quid, so this is just pure profiteering, plain and simple.
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would you prefer if they didn't charge you for bags but built it into the price of the flight and then if you weren't traveling with a bag you'd be charged anyway?

I'm not defending Ryanair and detest flying with them, but at least they are up front about what you will pay
 
The mastercard fee is a rip off. That I will agree upon.
I have no issue with the baggage fee. Don't check in a bag and you won't have to pay it.
 
VOR said:
Don't check in a bag and you won't have to pay it.
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2 adults & 3 kids heading to the sun for, I assume, 2 weeks.
Checking in a bag is not a choice.

Some months back, I was browsing to see if I would take the kids to London for a day during the school holidays. For fares that were advertised as 1c or €1, the overall cost headed quickly past €100. Which knocked that idea on the head.
 
RMCF said:
Here's a rough breakdown of the rest:
Tax - £140 (fair enough, not airlines fault).
5 x online checkin's outbound/admin fee - £25
5 x online checkin's inbound/admin fee - £25
3 bags outbound - £70
3 bags inbound - £70
Use of MasterCard - £50

Thats an extra £380 on top of the flights. Scandalous.
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Tax - unavoidable
£50 check in fees - avoidable if booked early
£140 in bags - What about the five pieces of hand luggage? Better to use that and buy a few bits and pieces out there? Even take one bag and five hand luggage. Surely that is enough for a family of five?
£50 MasterCard - avoidable with a prepaid MasterCard.

If you want a cheap flight on Ryanair you can do it. It just depends on how cheap you want it to be.
 
DB74 said:
What train do you get from Ireland to Spain please?
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My wife and I had a journey worked out by train from Donabate to Novi Sad in Serbia. The only non-train element was to be the HSS from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead but the trains either side are timed to coincide with that.

We once flew into Vienna, stayed a three nights there, took the train to Bratislava, stayed two nights and then took the train to Budapest for three nights. We did first class on each train journey.

Travelling by train in Europe is a rail luxury (sorry).
 
TarfHead said:
2 adults & 3 kids heading to the sun for, I assume, 2 weeks.
Checking in a bag is not a choice.

Some months back, I was browsing to see if I would take the kids to London for a day during the school holidays. For fares that were advertised as 1c or €1, the overall cost headed quickly past €100. Which knocked that idea on the head.
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Not true - I took a flight via the UK a couple of years ago so I had 4 stages to my flight + we all had to do airport check in, so my bag ended up costing about €200....I said never again.

Now we all have a bag which matches the Ryanair size & we just did a 18 day holiday with hand luggage. Had to rinse out a few things over there, but nothing major. Kids love the idea of having their own bag & are great at pulling them along. Buy all my creams and lotions locally.

The check in bag for Ryaniar is only 15kgs - the hand luggage is 10kg. If they really have to bring some of their own creams, one checked in bag should be enough.

Also, you don't need to pay the credit card charge if you use a pre paid mastercard.

So with no checked in bags and not CC charges, the 5 of them are getting to Portugal for about €150 return...
 
sam h said:
.. a bag which matches the Ryanair size .. Had to rinse out a few things over there, but nothing major .. Buy all my creams and lotions locally.
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Having to limit what you can bring - clothes, books, electronics - not what I'd call a holiday.
 
TarfHead said:
Having to limit what you can bring - clothes, books, electronics - not what I'd call a holiday.
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Yeah, and then spend the entire time on the beach in only a pair of togs while the full suitcase of clothes is never worn.

Any electronics that can't be put in your pocket - iPod, PSP, Nintendo DS - are not worth bringing.

When my wife and I went to Thailand, she had bought so much stuff that she ended up posting a load home!

You could bring out five empty hand luggage bags, buy the clothes you need out there for the holiday for the same price as Ryanair charge for the luggage and then come home with the new gear!

Ryanair are right on this one!
 
TarfHead said:
Having to limit what you can bring - clothes, books, electronics - not what I'd call a holiday.
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We all had more than enough clothes (I actually had a few things I didn't wear). We all read and brought about 3 books each, one of the kids actually had 5 !!! The kids all brought their NDS, I brought the sat nav, we had 3 different phone chargers.

We all had about 3 sets of swimwear, 5/6 t-shirts, 2/3 shorts and a couple of evening outfits, 2/3 pairs of shoes. The only other thing I'd have brought with checked in luggage would be a few large bottles of suncream (but I did have about 4 * 100ml Piz Buin Once a day to get us through the first few days.

If you have the right size bag and you pack it properly, it is easily doable. I used to bring loads of things I really didn't need. I'm happy to pay less for my ticket by not bringing a checked in bag.

And by the way - we had a fantastic holiday.
 
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