Did anybody watch that Ryanair / Easyjet documentary?

It's no surprise that Ryanair basically only break even on the ticket prices and make their money on the extras - in the end they average around £6 profit per passenger. A bit of a risky business model but it works for them. Not sure if it was a joke but their chief exec said in a few years it may be possible for Ryanair to offer flights for free as they will make their money elsewhere.

This got me thinking, I wonder if this approach could be used in football? Have a base ticket price which is next to nowt but then charge for extras - for the bogs, for a guaranteed seat next to whoever you've gone with, for a better view, late arrival fee, for taking your own sandwiches in, early exit fee, an express queue for the snack bar etc etc...

Bit of a p*sstake this but if, for example, it was only a fiver a game at Oakwell - we'd surely be hitting capacity crowds regularly, so not only have you sold more tickets, but then you've got 20,000+ people to rob money off at every opportunity.

 

Do you believe in the tooth fairy?

 

They carry other cargo as well as the passengers though.

 

I don't really get Easyjet these days, budget airline yet on some of their routes it's cheaper to go with the traditionally more expensive airlines like Lufthansa. That Stelios bloke isn't involved in the running of it now, although he is the major shareholder, and word is he's not happy about the direction they're going in.

Don't get me wrong, you definitely know you haven't paid a lot when you go on Ryanair and I gather it's a shock to some people the first time they fly with them but they don't hide the fact that it's 'no frills' and who cares when you can get to Estonia or Latvia and back for 30 quid. Only thing that winds me up is the distance the airport is from the city it apparently flies to, if you factor in the additional travel costs at the destination it can often be cheaper to go with a non-budget airline to the city's main airport and save you a load of time as well.

 

I travel regularly between Manchester and Hamburg and there's nothing in the prices - sometimes Lufthansa are cheaper sometimes Easyjet. Refreshments including alcohol are free with Lufthansa and a rip off with Easyjet, backing up the point about making money from "extras"

 

Done a lot of traveling with both companies never had a problem with Ryanair. Easy Jet on the other hand ...rip off merchants if you aren't careful. Mind you I have to laugh at those who pay for priority boarding, then find themselves boarding the bus( to the plane) first, only to be last off it when they let the rest of us board, just to stand in front of them.

 

I've never understood this "priority boarding" crap. I could fathom it if there were 100 seats available and 150 passengers, but in fact the plane doesn't take off until everyone is on board anyway.

And another thing. Has anyone ever bought one of those daft scratchcard things on an Easyjet flight?

 

Flew RyanAir to Knock in Ireland recently. Only issue was a 1 hour delay at East Midlands. What a feckin god awful airport that is! Other than that I thought they were fine. Not sure I'd want to use them on a much longer flight than that though. Paid extra for 1 check-in bag, and they seemed to be really strict with people over the size of their carry-on which some people were complianing about but I was pleased to see...the number of people who take the piss when it comes to carry-on.

Used Easy Jet from Liverpool when we went to Krakov. Thought they were great, both flights were on time and Liverpool is a nice little airport. We went on a Sunday so it was fine to get to...not sure I'd fancy going from there if it was during the week.

 

I once flew with Al (Journo) from Leeds to Dublin. We flew on a Tuesday morning and returned on Wednesday afternoon. The flights and taxes were free but we had to pay for the credit card surcharge. I paid a total of 4 quid for return flights to Dublin. You can't complain at that, even if you're sitting in the cargo hold.

Personally, I like Jet2; decent, cheap and Leeds is a cracking little airport.

 

I agree. Totally meaningless. I prefere to board last, as I find it more comfortable to wait in the Terminal, rather than in a uncomfortable airplane seat (at least when you travel with the likes of Ryan air etc.).

 

I once spoke with someone on an Easyjet flight and asked why she paid for priority boarding. She said that she never checked in a case because of the extra cost, so she took the largest case allowed as hand luggage. Because lots of people did this, there was never enough room on board for all the hand luggage. Therefore she paid the speedy boarding charge to ensure she got space for her bag in the locker.

 

Not literally of course, as that wouldn't be allowed with the restriction of liquids in carry on!

 

When we flew with EasyJet once the priority boarding lot went through the gate first and on to their bus which set off towards the plane. The rest of us super cheapskates then boarded the second bus which followed on behind. When we arrived, we were rather surprised to see the speedy boarding lot still on their bus. It quickly became apparent that the doors on their bus were jammed. Then, to our enormous amusement, our bus doors opened and we were let on the plane first, with the speedy boarders still stuck inside their defective bus. Best tenner I've never spent!

 

We commented on that once, what happens if everyone buys it?!

It's like when you take a package holiday and the holiday rep in the resort tries to get you to pay extra for seat booking on the way back as it's "the only way you can guarantee being seated together" - aye ok, we'll take our chances until you deliberately start seating people away from each other!

The RyanAir flight was strange without even a seat number when you boarded though - free for all, but fortunately the flight was only half full.

 

The moment easyjet allocated seating, speedy boarding became pointless.

Always my intention to be the last on the plane so my legs aren't squashed for 20 minutes more than they need to be!

To be honest I've never had a problem with easyjet or Ryanair. You know what you're getting and it's not bad. The further you book in advance the cheaper it is and it cuts a lot of the pointless rubbish out of air travel.

So good on em I say

 

To be fair, on the odd occasions we've used easyjet and Ryanair since we became parents, they've been really helpful in ensuring that we've managed to get seats together.