 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Ryanair. Their whole business model seems to be, it doesnt matter how much we p*ss off our customers, there will always be more. Surely they must be running out now?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Already being discussed here.
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You get what you pay for - you may not like him or the package - but as a business man he is a genius. He took over a bankrupt airline 15 years ago and in Jul and Aug this year Ryanair carried more than a quarter of a million passengers a day.
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I have flown with them a couple of times - both totally horrible experiences, the final with additional charges at the airport through no fault of my own (their online checkin system was broken) - so I said I'd never fly with them again, and I haven't, and hopefully never will again.
I know everyone goes on about how crap they are, so all they need to do is book with somebody else, and they'll soon go bust - then the world will be a much nicer place all round!
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snowsteve, Agreed 
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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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I went to Rimini for a weekend away last year.
Departed Friday afternoon
Landed at the airport (on time) less than 2 miles from the town center
Stayed till Sunday afternoon (took off on time)
Took only hand luggage
Total cost of flights for me and Mrs W = £93 inc taxes and charges
Flew Ryan Air
Seemed OK to me
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mr Marmot, can't see it at work, but I'm guessing Fascinating Aida? very funny
I'm flying to Salzburg next week with RA (2nd time). I would prefer not to, but:
1. they are going where I want to go, when I want to go (come on Easyjet, lets have a year round service..)
2. they have flights where I want to depart from
3. they were still cheaper than BA or Luftahansa, even with an extra bag and all the spurious fees
4. the flight is direct, unlike BA or Lufthansa
I did read everything about 6 times so as not to make a mistake and I've saved my boarding card pdf on my laptop (unlike sunday when I managed to book an easyjet flight for the wrong date  )
If RA folded it would be expensive and inconvenient for me so I suppose it's in my interest to keep using them.
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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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Mr Marmot, It epitomises my experience and loathing of them.
If I repeated comments made by pilots of other airlines that won't let their families fly on on RA lawyers would be instructed. For me it was just distasteful and unpleasant, but hats off to them, that's more or less what they say on the tin. 
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You know it makes sense.
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Do do folk know we have a RyanAir pilot on snowheads? He's a thoroughly pleasant chap
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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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holidayloverxx, its one of the Youtube subtitled "versions" of the German film Der Untergang (The Downfall) and is really funny in a perverse sort of way. I prefer the Fascinating Aida take on O'Leary's and Stelios' Cattle Airlines.
I gave up with the cheapies after totalling all my additional costs after a particularly disastrous pair of flights to and from Stansted. We decided that it was cheaper AND more pleasant to drive through the night from Munich, even for a long weekend. Only requirement a minimum of 2 drivers. Way cheaper and we could load the car with as much as we wanted in both directions. So crates of Andechs and Steigl beer was bought over, empties returned along with loads of food naughties like proper Extra Mature Farmhouse Cheddar and Stilton cheese, and gammon joints.
I'll be doing it again this Autumn as well to stock up on traditional British goodies for Chrimble as well as making my beer deliveries and ordering a Welsh Dresser which will be picked up sometime in the New Year on another Cheap trip.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Samerberg Sue, I've seen that one too, also very funny
we need to make a plan for next week....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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holidayloverxx, I occasionally eat fish and chips on Fridays 
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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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Samerberg Sue, Were they really cheap (compared with alternatives)? Or once you've bought the flight, paid the booking fee, bag, credit card fee, tea, coffee, water on the plane were you still ahead? 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Jivebaby, eh
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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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holidayloverxx,
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| Do do folk know we have a RyanAir pilot on snowheads? He's a thoroughly pleasant chap |
He's a real person and I'm criticizing the airline not the pilots, although they are famous for working up to the maximum hours: RA have a reputation for treating passengers and staff more or less equally. That isn't good 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Jivebaby, yebbut what's that got to do with fish & chips?
Sure criticising the airline doesn't necessarily criticise the people, I just mentiioned it is all.
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I accept that Ryanair can often provide a fair service at a good price. But I never book with them having full confidence that everything will go smoothly or that they won't just suddenly hit me with one of their 'scams' that I hadn't been able to foresee. So it is never a pleasurable experience booking with Ryanair. I also believe that they once pulled an amazingly devious scam that cost my party about £120 and provided us with a lesser service! I won't even bother describing the scam - unless anyone here is interested!
I now always avoid Ryanair wherever I have a cost-effective choice, but I will use them if I must.
Last years court case where Ryanair won a judgment forcing a guy to take down a website that was called 'I hate Ryanair', or something similar, only succeeded because the guy was earning a small income from advertisements from other airlines. I believe the judge indicated that Ryanair's case would have failed otherwise. Until the time of that case I always thought that O'Leary was a just a bit of a clever operator, and I had a slight admiration for some of what he had achieved, now my opinion of him is of someone who cares absolutely nothing for his customers but doesn't like it when these customers tell others of their poor Ryanair experiences. So much of what Ryanair do, seems to me, to be sneaky, devious and underhand. It might be be harsh, but it is my opinion.
Ryanair care nothing for me so I now care nothing for them. If they went bust tomorrow I'd cheer - as long as an airline with a bit more customer care would take their place!
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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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| Mr Marmot wrote: |
| ..... If they went bust tomorrow I'd cheer - as long as an airline with a bit more customer care would take their place! |
Given the current financial climate, I very much doubt that that could happen.
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Jivebaby, They were the only ones whose flight times matched my requirements. Now it is a lot cheaper, easier and flexible using my car as I have wheels in the UK as well. RA have the unsocial hours at Salzburg and EJ have them at Munich. Depending on where I am working I could manage a full day at work and still get to the airport on time. But the transport situation from Stansted for late night arrivals is abysmal, without a hire car you are stuffed. In the long run the flights were cheap and not cheerful, but the add on costs of transport in the UK was prohibitive.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I find it hard to differentiate between Ryanair and other 'budget' airlines. They all charge for baggage, and have fees for payment. So what's people's issue with Ryanair?
No company survives delivering rubbish services. Ryanair's success is that they focus on providing the VAST majority of customers with exactly what they want - flights at a reasonable price to plenty of destinations. Clearly their model includes selling stuff to customers when they are on a plane! Shocking! Yes it doesn't pay them to load and off-load bags, so if you want a bag tracked loaded, and unloaded then you pay extra - imagine!
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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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When you've managed to alienate so many potential customers that they either never use you out of principle or only use you as a last resort then doesn't anyone at RA ever think - how much more money could we make if....
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
I now always avoid Ryanair wherever I have a cost-effective choice
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that's almost certainly true of all their many millions of passengers.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I think skiers are likely to have a particularly jaundiced view of RA given their very high ski carriage charges and low luggage limits (on top of their other irritations). I don't get particularly wound up by them but tend not to use them anymore. I haven't flown with them for about 4 years whereas I used them a couple of times a year for many years.
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barry it is right that you promote your opinion of Ryanair because it wouldn't be fair if it was only us who have a negative image of Ryanair's business model who were allowed to voice opinions here on SnowHeads. But I can only think you have not yet been 'shafted' by Ryanair. Which is fair enough; you can only tell it as you experience it. Others recount their bad experiences as a warning to others in the altrustic hope it might save them some grief.
I disagree that it is only a few SnowHeads who feel that Ryanair are the worst airline for customer service, the media is full of negative opinions about them and the person who spent the time producing the YouTube video above certainly knew about the complaints many customers have about Ryanair. I would also be amazed if the person who started the 'I Hate Ryanair' website was a Snow Head. No, I believe the general opinion of most Ryanair passengers is that they use them only because they are cheap and in the hope that they manage to avoid a 'shafting' in some unexpected way.
I'm sure O'Leary is laughing all the way to the bank, but it wouldn't surprise me if the laughter is actually just a quite snigger in the hope that no-one recognises him and smacks him in the mouth! Like dw832 above, I also wonder if Ryanair could make even more money with a business model that had fewer people complaining about them?
By the way, just in case anyone thinks that I only ever moan about bad service, I can confirm that I have just returned from a cruise by Royal Caribbean and it was nigh on perfect in respect of customer service and value for money despite a few inconsequential hiccups 
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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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| Quote: |
Arguably the catalyst for low fares today (in EU at least)
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*A* catalyst. Ryanair aren't unique, and weren't first. Copied a model used by airlines in the US (South West Airlines?)
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And i think we would all share the general (snowsports enthusuiasts') view that low fare airlines have played a huge part in allowing us to pursue our interest!
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Prefer the term "no frills". There were already package deals beforehand, where the effective flight cost was ridiculously low (compared to BA, etc.). SO I'd add a few words so it says...
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...played a huge part in allowing us to pursue our interest independent of travel agencies and package tour operators!
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Cheap/Low-Fare now includes major "incumbent" airlines too. My next flight on Lufthansa is similar to the price an airline such as Ryanair could offer, but Ryanair can't even come close on convenience. 20min travel to airport by bus vs. 1hr45 bus followed by 30min train. I know which I'd pick even if there was 50quid to be saved.
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andy, not unique but pretty much first in EU as I actually said, therefore being the catalyst in this part of the world no?? And your last point makes the point beautifully - the major airlines have had to follow suit or falter (eg Aer Lingus have pretty much faltered, they tried to come down somewhere in between, Ryanair spawned from aer lingus too through Tony Ryan initially), with a couple of exceptions I suppose who have manged to stay towards the higher cost end (BA?)
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