RYANAIR - if they withdrew services from your area, how would it affect you?

I thought I would chuck a glance into the Convention on International Civil Aviation and see where Ryanair stand. In fact they are pushing the rules to the line according to Annex 2 – Rules of the Air if they carry a short load of fuel deliberately. There could be questions Annex 8 – Airworthiness of Aircraft raises if they began to make mayday calls to get preferential landing.

I have made my choice not to use them and really do not want to get into the minutiae of arguments about times, reliability, cost and so on but it is MY view that as a company they are going to undermine the entire economy flight business if anything ever goes seriously wrong and regulations are changed. If they are going to do these things then O'Leary should not be so cocky that he has to tell the entire world.

i'm not a fan of fiction, so the Dan brown attempt at ridicule is lost on me. By the by, did anyone actually compare search pages for the two carriers?? Doubt it, we're more into sarcasm and nudge nudge than fact checking round here.

Zoe...it was a good one liner....

really Carol, I found it lacked substance.

See...we all have different experiences...with Air Canada I nearly went down when caught in a hurricane... same again when the plane I was in had one engine faulty....3 times they attempted take off before we said no more...that was BA.....had some pretty awful flights...delayed blah blah blah.....but put it down to circumstances...dont have any airline I wouldnt fly....I work on the assumption they all have bad days...

like! to Ian's comment

Ian,

google ryanair tail strike... then google british airways tail strike... look at the difference. A plethora of articles about ryanair tail strikes on one page... and on the other, stories about other companies tail strikes, or pages about BA, but none with both in the same headline.

Then go ahead and do the same for lightning strikes... you'll see a full page of ryanair strikes, and only one story of a BA flight.. where the pilot was actually bgurned, so we know it was a real strike, and not a play to get on the ground quicker than other planes

Sheila, never heard of Jet2, and after hearing that, I'm glad i haven't.

The minimum amount of fuel required means they are scrimping on safety. It means if it was legal, they'd fly with even less. Thirty minutes of flying time is not a lot of after flying into a serious headwind, there is a stack at the airport.

The mayday signal,and bullying their way into landing is what bothers me. Basically, all the other planes have enough fuel to stay in the air, and, because the other pilots don't want to cry "mayday", they are forced to move aside and let a pilot who has signed off his plane as being good to go, and taken off knowing he is going to end the flight with a mayday signal if it ever happens there is a diversion, or stack, or even heavy headwind.

news items pop up all too often of ryanair being singled out as having problems, when other operators don't.

http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-212132.html

so BA have a special arrangement with the birds and also lightning, Dan Brown maybe has some new material content, as for BA not scraping tail on the ground - how would you know??

Zoe, no more "reply" options so I'll start again from here. I don't think most of us who fly to/from France see it as a thing of glamour. What could be glamorous about sitting in the plastic bright yellow seats of Ryanair!

My eldest daughter flew out here last year with Jet2 from Belfast to Toulouse. The flight was delayed by over 2 hours which meant she sat in Departure Lounge in Belfast with a 9 month old baby and an active and bored 4 year old, and had to argue with staff to get baby's bottle heated, etc.

By the way, Ryanair flights take off with the minimum amount of fuel required, which by law means they must have enough fuel to stay airborne for an extra 30 minutes. This saves a lot of money in not having to bring extra (and usually un-needed fuel) and also means that they can bully their way into landing before other airlines' planes (and therefore on time) by sending a may-day signal if they are kept in a holding pattern above the relevant airport, and are approaching that "30 minutes' fuel left" mark.

Zoe, I think we are basically singing from the same song sheet. I too am a stickler for time and just want to get on the plane and off as fast as possible, which is why Ryanair suits me down to the ground, (if you'll pardon the pun!!). It does just that. No hanging around after check in, no wondering will it be on time, will I get my connecting flight etc.

We have used Ryanair so many times over the past 2 years since buying our place in France and no probs (so far)!!

Carol, I'm generally lucky when flying... apart from ryanair, and virgin blue/virgin pacific

Even as seen as a bus, I i detest public transport. That's all flying is, to me. Some see taking a flight as a thing of glamour, for me, it's just using dirty public transport. Enjoy your trip, Phil.

I just want to know what time I'll get on the plane, and what time I'll get off...because I'm such a stickler for "time", I want it to be called for what it is.

If the TGV is late, it's late, and they announce it, but at least they don't say a one hour trip will take an hour twenty minutes to make you feel better about it.

The point is Zoe, that the Ryanair flight doesn't take the 2 hours, it is usually within the 1 hour 40 mins bracket, but allowing the 2 hours, gives us the leeway to make our connecting flight back to the IoM without worry, except that is unless Flymaybe goes tech, or to be fair, if we have fog on the Island!!

I can only speak from personal experience and can say that I have not been subjected to any of the hazards that have hit your flights!!

Living on a Island, we tend to view aeroplanes as buses with wings, there to get you from A to B, to serve a purpose to get us quickly to our destination.

Anyway, each to their own way, I suppose, which ever cap fits the best! lol.

PS Off to Carcssonne end of October - £37.99 return!!

Think you were just extraordinarily unlucky Zoe...Ive flown them too many times to count...and no probs. The time in the air from Bergerac to Stanstead usually around 1hour 40 minutes...no complaints there then....

Phil, if you're happy with a one hour forty minute flight taking two hours, that's wonderful. I like to spend less time in the tin can, and more time on the ground.

Flybe... Haven't used them, I use Aer Lingus for flights home, and will be flying to London this year with BA. Expensive as BA is, I just trust them not to scrape their tail along the ground on take off, run out of fuel, get hit by lightning, suffer a birdstrike, and call mayday for no reason, all in the same flight. lol.

Zoe, we live on the Isle of Man and Flybe is our main operator to the UK to various airports. They have the reputation of being Flymaybe and not without reason.

When we fly to Carcassonne from Liverpool it is definitely not safe to connect the same day going out just in case Flybe are delayed or "gone tech", happens too often. Coming back is fine as you know Ryanair will be on time (albeit a 1 hour 40 min flight being scheduled to arrive in 2 hours, at least we won't miss the connecting flight home).

So for me, it's hats off to Ryanair, so far, they do what they say on the tin!!

whatever the reason Ryanair are on time.....this is a bonus and a plus point...like you ....I detest lateness......FlyBe are too frequently late. My friends were here last year...and both flights...FlyBe again, were late...just not acceptable. I am flying Ryanair tomorrow...and I guarantee we will be on time.

Ryanair flights are on time because when the pilots go, in the morning to argue their flightplans, Ryanair exaggerate the time NEEDED to fly between two points. that is all. All planes, all busses, all trains, and all drivers can be late (lateness is my serious pet hate, almost intolerable, and if ever I find myself late, I feel the twinge at my heart.) I'm rarely disappointed while flying.

We bought our best friends tickets for a 60th birthday present.....they hate Stanstead...3 hour journey so we got them a flight from Southampton...we did tell them that FlyBe are often delayed...and Ryanair isnt...well in Bergerac Ryanair are very reliable. They rejected Ryanair....and arrived an hour late on the 8th September and were nearly 3 hours late arriving home on 15th....all Ryanair flights were on time both days......