When you thought there couldn’t be worse than Ryanair!

My Daughter has just phoned me raging. About 3 weeks ago she was due to fly back from Berlin on a late flight to Edinburgh. Literally as she was about to get checked at boarding EasyJet cancel the flight after they had delayed it for about 11/2hours.Not a rep in sight and we are talking about midnight.
Eventually the passengers found a rep hiding in another part of the airport and the abandoned passengers were directed to an airport hotel. Won’t go into the gory details but eventually she made it home. Made a claim for accommodation alternative flights and compensation which was duly paid but she is self employed and the delay caused her considerable amounts of upheaval and loss of revenue.
Move onto yesterday she basically has to take another EasyJet flight as think they were the only ones flying to Bristol from Edinburgh.
She is only going for 1 night so takes a carry on bag she has taken before on EasyJet flights with no issues. Oh not this time, some officious cow with card reader at the ready tells her, her bag is now too big and she is slapped with I think she said a £48 fine.
She is now going to ditch a pair of shoes and something else to get the bag to fit as they are worth less than £48 and she has a return ticket so if she altered that then again more flaming cost.
Upshot, unless it is impossible ie a large expanse of water is involved she is, from now on going to drive wherever possible.
After horror experiences with Ryanair we both said never again. Looks like EasyJet has become just as bad. I am old enough to remember flying being quite enjoyable, with polite hostesses and often quite a nice little meal to pass the time.
Think it is now time for me at least, to pay a bit more for flights if I can be tempted to fly again with all the security hassle etc involved, and actually be treated like a human being rather than going “ cattle class”. You would hope that way things might be better but there again!

 

I've never been on a plane years ago i would watch the news about all the poeple having hasle at air ports i just wouldn't put myself through it

 

Thank you for sharing that I've just booked a holiday in India in January which is heavily reliant on Easyjet providing flights to and from Gatwick! Think just for once, a decent travel insurance policy would be a good idea The money's no consolation for travel plans being messed up, though, is it?

 

I've flown a lot of times between England and France with Ryanair, rarely been any problems, often arrive slightly early. Cheap, though not as cheap as they used to be, and they get you from A to B. Then we have to catch a train to a local town in Norfolk and the worry starts! Will it be running or not? Taxi from the town, price has gone up a lot and often there isn't a taxi because they are all booked by the council for school runs. We take the ferry more often than we used to.

 

I don't think that any insurance can pay back the upsetting anger about not getting the service that was offered and paid for and spending so much time to get there, @noisette47

I can sing a song about going to and from Berlin @hailbopp
Naturally, I use British Airways being closer to Heathrow and especially, it's just along the M4.
With their aggressive price offers, Ryanair and Easyjet have taken over many routes that British Airways used to fly many years ago. Both companies have always cheated on their customers with offering cheapest prices which piled up as soon as you drag more than your body on board. I have never used them.
In August, OH and family flown in from Germany, went to Edinburgh via Heathrow and British Airways and had no problem.

Ryanair is the main user of the Berlin Airport which on its own is already a joke. Due to increased location charge by the German government and combined with less visitors since Covid (Berlin is the only airport in Europe that hasn't reached pre-Covid figures), Ryanair cut the capacity by 20%.
British Airways also reduced the flights to Berlin from Heathrow due to the lack of passengers.

20 years ago, I used to fly back to Berlin on Monday morning first machine at 7, when Heathrow was crammed with business passengers. The machines to Berlin had 80% English business passengers.
Exceptionally, I went this year on a Monday morning first flight to Berlin, Heathrow was crammed as usual, but the flight to Berlin had just tourists.
On the way home, there were 5 English business passengers. Unwillingly, I couldn't overhear where they came from and it turned out that they had businesses in Eastern Europe and used Berlin as a changing point to come back to London.
That tells a lot about the German and Berlin economy.
Ryanair and Easyjet often have to cancel last flights from Berlin, as well as British Airways has to do due to poor usage.

 

@simone_in_wiltshire I expect Brexit could have something to do with it. Also ecology. OH used to travel a lot for his work. He lives in Norfolk and I live in Dordogne so we travel between France and the UK. I have dual nationality but OH doesn't and travelling is a lot more complicated now for him than it used to be. Soon most people travelling between the UK and Europe will need ETAs.

We still find Ryanair the cheapest and easiest, Bergerac, Stansted. We only take a small bag each as we have everything we need in both houses. Ryanair on that route are pretty reliable too.

 

@Busy-Lizzie I can’t speak for other countries and know that the smaller routes are no longer attractive since Ryanair and Easyjet took them over 15 odd years ago, but believe me, the sick man of Europe is sick not because of Brexit.
Germany is a total failure. I’m so relieved that I don’t have to bear that any longer.

 

Back to Goa, @shiney. We used to go out there every January back when we lived in UK. Always intended to explore Kerala but never got round to it. It's fiendishly complicated and expensive to get there as no direct flights from France and have to go via Gatwick, but really don't fancy internal flights or train in India with a grumpy OH who doesn't like travelling and has dodgy knees It's been 20 years since the last time, so expecting a few changes! One of the big plusses with Goa was being able to meet folks from all over India (and Kashmir and Tibet ) who congregate there in high season. With the Christian Goans, too, it's a fascinating mix....

 

Thanks, I'll try my best I'm not sure about 'a nice place to visit'.....it's absolute Paradise compared to northern Europe (or UK) in January. Straight off the plane, there are Bougainvilleas and Oleanders in flower everywhere
The positive changes so far are a speeded-up Visa application process (E-Visa) and no need nowadays for vaccinations or Malaria prophylactics.

 

Great photo@ shiney and sounds a wonderful place to visit. I do have a wee giggle to myself as you would presume you were in some backwater, but maybe not as spy a Vodaphone shop!. Bit like when you visit The Pyramids and MacDoanlds is within easy walking distance!

 

We noticed that. Haven't quite grasped basic sanitation or a stable electricity supply but India's right up there with the essentials