 Poster: A snowHead
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Ryanair boss Micheal "Pikey" O'Leary has announced that a number of early winter season routes will be cut including Stanstead - Salzburg to protest against "paying rapists... any money". He described airport bosses as "tw@ts" for imposing a 10 pound per passenger charge. However he was buoyant about the prospects for his airline in the forthcoming recession claiming that "Since the British invaded India, nobody has stopped travelling during a downturn. People are incredibly reluctant to give up their annual holiday."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jul/18/ryanair.theairlineindustry
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
He described airport bosses as "tw@ts"
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Pot.
Kettle.
That man really is a thoroughly offensive little tit.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Lizzard, Maybe but we have all benifited hugly from his airling!! He has reduced prices right across the industry
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'd rather risk offence than listen to the mealy-mouthed rubbish emanating from most corporate types.
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£10 charge per passenger?
So that's ski carriage going from £50 return to £60....
Luggage going form £8 to £10 and debit card charge (????? so either you pay premium line rate over the phone, or you pay card charge over the internet..) going from £4 to £6...
All cost recovered...my heart's bleeding for them...
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If I were at BAA I would charge more to ryan air and less to other low cost airlines after that comment
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If people who charge more and add surchrages to make profits are "Tw*ts" and "rapists" then O'Leary has just defined himself.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DB, O'Leary has never claimed to be anything but low fares with paying for the extras he has often said if you book online and take no luggage you can get from A-B for .1p or whatever the fair is.
He has a no bull approach to things and is always honest which is more than I can say for the people who run Dublin Airport (Anyone flying in or out last week will know what I meam)
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Ordhan,
Yes but isn't he moaning that others put up their costs while hew does the same?
| Quote: |
Ryanair will earn more than £100 million this year from the extra charges it imposes on passengers, a Daily Telegraph investigation has revealed.
Last month Ryanair raised fees for checking in luggage by a third to £4 online and £8 at the airport. This represents a rise of about 70 per cent on last year, when it was the first airline to bring in the baggage levy. Initially, it charged £2.40 for each bag booked online and £4.80 when payment was made at the airport.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1&xml=/global/2007/04/07/etryanair107.xml
Doubt his abusive / aggressive behaviour will help his business in the long run ......
| Quote: |
Controversy, arrogance and use of foul language
O'Leary has a somewhat fiery reputation among both his competitors in the airline industry and regulators. He has been described in many press articles as arrogant and has on numerous occasions stooped to gratuitous rudeness and foul language in his public statements. His no-nonsense management style, extreme cost-cutting and meanness towards staff , provocative advertising , and his deliberate targeting and scathing criticisms of competitors, airport authorities, governments, and unions have become a hallmark. He has been reported to have been aggressive and hostile in dealings with a woman who was awarded free flights for life in 1988 and abusive and prone to outbursts when dealing with staff and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern . Recently he was forced to retract a claim that Ryanair had cut emissions of carbon dioxide by half over the past five years. O'Leary has been reported to have impersonated a journalist in an attempt to find out what information an airport authority had passed on to a newspaper following a safety incident on a Ryanair flight. In a press conference discussing Ryanair's new transcontinental service, O'Leary described the luxurious first-class travel experience as including "free beds and blowjobs."
Registration of private car as taxi
In 2004 he purchased a hackney plate for his Mercedes-Benz to enable it to be classified as a taxi so that he could legally make use of Dublin's bus lanes to speed his car journeys around the city. A press report suggested that he was stopped driving his own taxi. In 2005 the transport minister of the Republic of Ireland expressed concern at this abuse by O'Leary and others.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O'Leary_(Ryanair)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Rumour has it that EasyJet will be cutting alot of routes, expect an announcement soon.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Its not the airports, its the airline! The fact a lot of people only ever fly Ryanair ONCE then swear never to do so again is catching up with him.
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Winterhighland, Evey one complains about them but at the end of the day they are nearly always the cheapeast to fly with if you book in advance. O'leary is a genius he had a group of scouts or some such complaining to an Irish phone in show about being stranded in France somwhere and he called in with the argument of what do you expect for a tenner!!!
Ryanair are the most punctual airline in Europe they are also the airline that loses the least amount of bags
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You know it makes sense.
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I guess everyone knows what the man is like and then choose if they want to line his pockets, because it saves them and couple of quid.
I choose not to.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Ordhan wrote: |
he had a group of scouts or some such complaining to an Irish phone in show about being stranded in France somwhere and he called in with the argument of what do you expect for a tenner!!!
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after I have paid for the privilege of Ryanair transporting my bags, being able to check in and everything they add on I don't expect to be stranded anywhere, regardless of the price of the seat! T*sser 
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've been using Ryanair regularly since about 2000, back then a flight (inc taxes, bags, fees, etc) could be had for £20. In those BS (before skiing) days I had some good weekends in Arles, Nimes, Marseilles, Avignon and Strasbourg. I accepted that at that price I would put up with quite a lot in the way of poor service. Now the same flights are 3 to 4 times that price I'm sorry but to me it isn't acceptable anymore.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks, my apologies.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Cheap Airlines are dead 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Cheap airlines, such as Ryanair and Easyjet, are alive.
Expensive airlines, such as KLM and Swissair, are dead.
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laundryman, not true. I am very happy with my Swiss flight from London City with ski carrige included in december. The price may be similar in the end to cheapies but I booked it well in advance for peace of mind and at £118 I have no compliants.
Edit, sorry , misread Swissair in laundryman's post
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sat 19-07-08 10:43; edited 1 time in total
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The Low cost carriers aren't always that cheap though... couple of times in the last year or so, BA has been the cheaper option for me. Not necessarily the better one. My fault for only being near London airports I guess.
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| Ordhan wrote: |
Winterhighland,
Ryanair are the most punctual airline in Europe they are also the airline that loses the least amount of bags |
Do you work for Ryanair PR, you seem to have all the credentials. Firstly Ryanair being the most punctual airline in Europe is open to debate - they definitely aren't the most punctual in the UK.
Ryanair along with some other airlines do not release lost baggage figures, so how can you claim they lost the least bags?
| Quote: |
| RYANAIR was officially Ireland's most complained about airline last year, making up a third of all complaints examined by the aviation regulator. |
source
| Quote: |
The two airlines in Ireland together attracted more passenger complaints last year than were given to any other EU nation's carriers, the European Consumer Center said Thursday.
Flying with Europe's biggest low-fare airline, Ryanair Holdings PLC, and rival Aer Lingus Group PLC led to 612 angry passengers complaining to the European Commission's consumer outreach offices about lost or damaged luggage, flight cancellations, delays and other problems.. |
source
And here are their latest stings:
| Quote: |
| In response to rising costs – notably the price of fuel – Europe's leading no-frills airline has dramatically increased some of its fees - meaning that a family of four will pay a total of £32 for the privilege of paying by debit card for a round-trip flight on Ryanair...The fee for infants has risen to £16 per flight, which raises the scenario that under-twos will pay more than their parents for the same flight – even though the baby occupies no seat. Also, the fee for changing the name on a booking has risen to £80 |
source
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| laundryman wrote: |
Cheap airlines, such as Ryanair and Easyjet, are alive.
Expensive airlines, such as KLM and Swissair, are dead. |
They are alive ... just. I would put money on one of them failing way within 18 months ( and Ryanair wouldnt be top of my list), nothing to do with oil prices. Cash is 'king' ( not just in aviation, same as in many businesses at the moment) so those who have overstretched in recent years are in trouble.
KLM didnt fail ... they were bought by Air France, and for many years the so-called 'cheap' airlines have been no cheaper than the so-called 'expensive' airlines on a route-by-route basis.
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I would put money on one of them failing way within 18 months ( and Ryanair wouldnt be top of my list)
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If an airline goes bust people who have bought tickets are presumably unsecured creditors and would probably get zilch????????? 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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pam w,In the past , Customers of IATA airlines ( the traditional ones) have been bailed out by their co-members (due to the way IATA retains funds through the clearing house) . Customers of other airlines would become unsecured creditors in that event.
In other words, if I got a sniff of a 'low-cost' airline imminently failing then I wouldnt book with them ... but that's me.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We have booked with Ryanair twice in the past 3 years. Both sectors of both flights were drastically changed MONTHS after booking and payment. We managed, with great difficulty, to organise other things around the changes to the first set of flights (including accommodation) - after giving them a chance to redeem themselves by booking again, those changes meant we had to cancel the trip as, on a 3 days visit to Venice, we were losing a full day. We would never book with Ryanair again, not so much BECAUSE of the changes, as we accepted they could happen with any airline, but because for their cavalier attitude and complete lack of customer service. They may well be cheaper than others (but not always), however, their behaviour towards customers is often derisory at best - it will be this and the apparently universal dislike of Michael O'Leary that will be Ryanair's downfall.
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Many year's ago after seeing and listening on the TV, to O'lady's front bottom talk about his passengers, I made a decision to NEVER travel with his company. I'd go so far as to say I would consciously pay more for less service than fly with that buttwipe 
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You know it makes sense.
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Well show me an airline company flying from the UK that covers Italy so well, there isn't one. Ryanair have served me very well thank you very much. I know what I'm getting when I book, always read the small print, try to fly Tuesdays and Thursdays, keep luggage to a minimum (I know that's hard when skiing, though they had a skis for 1p or whatever it was offer last season) and there's no-one that can come anywhere near them for price. Allows me and the OH probably 10 trips a year to Italy, what a terrible airline company.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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It does surprise me that there is a near-universal perception that "low cost airline" means low cost to the consumer.
No...not quite.
It means low cost to the airline. Quite a difference I think...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ryanair are the most punctual airline in Europe
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Liverpool to Dublin last August - eight and a half hour delay going out, five and a half hours coming back. Never again.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Grimsby Ranger, agreed about Italy. But low cost it ain't.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Corky, I must have been on 40-50 flights with Ryanair so far and I've had 3 issues with them. Would you class that as good, bad or just lucky?  . The worst issue was a cancelled flight from Rome, an air traffic control strike. Ryanair decided to cancel the flight to East Midlands, we had the choice of flying to Stansted late at night (where we'd just be dumped) or come back tomorrow to see if there was room on the East Midlands flight the next day. It cost us £100 each to fly home later that day with Easyjet. The other 2 were a 5 hour delay when the incoming plane developed a fault and they had to send a maintenance team to fix it. The other was a 3 hour delay when a member of the cabin crew fell ill on the way to Pescara and they had to land at Pisa before completing the journey with a new crew member to Pescara, it was a hospital job. I don't class that as too bad.
stoatsbrother, I guess the price depends on when you fly. It's no frills more than low cost. If you're flexible with flying mid-week and out of school holidays then it can be very cheap. Weekends at prime time can be very expensive. We've foregone our Italy trip this July as the price hasn't dropped at all throughout the weeks we can go, it would have been best part of £200 each so I'm not bothering. Though even including the new charges I've just booked return flights for Rome over new year for £78.90 exc. bags each. I've just ordered a Visa Electron, if I'd had one the cost would have been £70.90 not bad over New Year. I got 1 way tickets to Pescara flying 1st Sep for £11.19 exc. bags each a few months ago, I can't get a taxi to Cleethorpes for that! It's sometimes cheaper to book the offers just for one way when they come up and pay separately in Euros for the return trip. It just takes some work and flexibility. If you're a family flying weekends in school holidays they aren't going to be cheap, in fact they can be very expensive. I guess that's what's paying for the cheap trips.
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I don't have a problem with all the charges being separated out as with Ryanair. If you take less luggage you pay less etc. I rarely take much luggage - why should I pay for someone else to take extra bags of makeup and outfits or whatever?? I've only flown with Ryanair once and it was fine, once with Easyjet and it wasn't (they forgot to employ a second pilot and we had to wait for the on-call guy to get from his home to the airport). Always look at all the options and buy the one that suits you best - in my case the cheapest. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| easiski wrote: |
| Always look at all the options and buy the one that suits you best - in my case the cheapest. |
Exactly the same for me Easiski, if I couldn't get so cheap flights there's no way I'd have been able to do what I've done with getting a place together in Italy and doing it up. I wouldn't have been able to afford to do it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have flown many times with Ryanair - have experienced dismal customer service on the ground and in the cabin (when I flew to Dublin last month the cabin crew were just hilarious, it was like Fawlty Towers with Eastern European accents, in fact they might as well have spoken in their language as English was dire, thankfully there wasn't an emergency and the flight crew were Irish).
If there is only a few pounds difference I would choose to fly with other carriers but they do offer very cheap fares (LGW-DUB return £30 Thurs to Mon with one bag checked in). I'm generally prepared to chance it as long as not travelling with young children or my elderly mum.
No frills is fine by me, but no communication sucks!
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Reminds me of my first ever flight with Ryanair, back in 2000, from Stansted to Aarhus (Denmark). After we all boarded there were several recounts of the passengers followed by an announcement asking whether anyone wasn't booked on that flight. This was followed by a "will Mr & Mrs O'Leary (made up name) please make themselves known to cabin staff". This didn't work and was followed by a very agitated anouncement that Mr & Mrs O'Leary should make themselves known as the plane they were on was going to Denmark not Dublin. At that point 2 embarrassed passengers stood up and left the plane. Security wasn't quite as strict back then but makes you wonder how they got that far.
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ryan air fly to salzburg from stanstead early in the morning and back late at night.. (apart from mid dec of course!).. they have nearly always got me there and back on time the biggest delay being waiting for luggage at stanstead which i assume is down to BAA.. the cabin staff are shocking and the constant adverts tedious but i listen to my ipod for the duration .. they only way that could get better for me is if they flew from southend..
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| stanton wrote: |
| Rumour has it that EasyJet will be cutting alot of routes, expect an announcement soon. |
Where is this rumour from?
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| paulio wrote: |
| stanton wrote: |
| Rumour has it that EasyJet will be cutting alot of routes, expect an announcement soon. |
Where is this rumour from? |
They have already announced some routes to be axed:
| Quote: |
Easyjet is scrapping its flights from Belfast International to Berlin Schonefeld later this year due to poor ticket sales.
A spokeswoman for the no-frills airline said flights to the German capital from Belfast would be scrapped at the end of October.
She said: “Easyjet will not operate to Berlin from Belfast this winter due to low demand for the route.” |
source
But, on the other hand:
| Quote: |
No-frills airline easyJet revealed no major cuts to its winter schedule for six regional airports yesterday, despite ever- increasing oil costs.
Unveiling flight plans at Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool and Stansted airports, Luton-based easyJet said there were no major cuts "outside of seasonalities", when some summer routes are switched to take advantage of popular skiing destinations.
The winter schedule, which so far does not include flights from Luton and Gatwick, boasts two new flights from Manchester to the skiing gateways of Sofia and Geneva. |
source
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FAQ
