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Just to warn you all about one of the giants of low cost European travel. I can say this because I always, when possible, fly Ryan Air to the UK as I thankfully live near to an airport they use. My son uses Easyjet as it is the only low cost airline from the airport he lives nearest to - but this is the last time I will give that company any money. Just recently the snow has again caused cancellations for European flights, I was due to meet my son in the UK but snow caused his flight to be cancelled, Easyjet refunded that flight but refuse to refund the return flight on the 1st January 2011 - even though they could not offer a suitable alternative to him to get to the UK in reasonable time, that is they offered a flight 4 days later.
They also said the same about the volcanic ash and yet when i paid an extra 100$ they could amazingly get him on the next flight out of Gatwick - no free exchange onto the next available flight.
As I said I fly Ryan Air at just about the same time, a little earlier on the inward flight to, and a little later on the outward flight from Gatwick. So what did Ryan Air do on the very similar occasions - we are taking 4 hours different on flight times? Well they, free of charge put me on the next flights both times within 24 hours of flight space being open. The other difference is they do limit hand luggage to 10 kg which I love because everyone can get their luggage in the overhead lockers so to me this is an advantage.
Easy jet so much worse than Ryan Air
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Sorry for your son's negative experience but
according to contract of carriage
Acts of God are usually not the airlines fault
and it is not fair to blame them for all of this.
I like www.easyjet.com far better overall for me than Ryanair
which nickels and dimes me to dealth
putting in pay toilets soon according to Michael Leary CEO.
I do not like how far away many of the Ryanair
airports are away from city centers like
they go to BVA in Paris which is not in Paris
talkes almost 2 hours to get to city centre.
They are far more likely to charge you on weight also.
To be fair have gotten great deals on them but
overall prefer EasyJet.
Trip Insurance is always wise for me and cheap
might be agoof idea next time.
Is the pay toilet idea serious? I just assumed it was one of his ways of getting some free publicity. I've only used easyjet once as they don't fly near me (they were fine), but I've used Ryanair many times, mainly Dublin to Luton (both of which suit me fine), also in 2010 Dublin-Porto-Girona-Dublin which all worked out well. They are usually on time (as we are always informed on landing). My main dislike of Ryanair is that they don't assign seats, so there's always a rush to get on the plane. I wonder why they don't assign seat numbers, it would make for a more civilised boarding, some of us wouldn't even mind paying a small fee if we could choose our seats.
I know Beauvais is further from Paris than CDG, but reports I've read suggest that as it is so much smaller it's often quicker to find your way in and out.
Sorry about your bad experiences.
Both airlines (as well as others like Aer Lingus) sell their tickets as individual contracts based on one-way fares.
So if the inbound flight gets cancelled, it does not automatically affect also the later outbound flight.
I doubt that Ryanair would have reimbursed you for your flight from the UK back home if your travel situation had been identically to your son's. You made it to London, he didn't.
Free re-booking is a voluntary perk in situations the airlines are not responsible for, e.g. airport closures, ATC strikes or similar. Legally, those situations simply nullify contracts - you don't have to pay, they don't have to deliver. Period.
So in this field, Ryanair did indeed score better than Easyjet. So far Ryanair always offered free re-booking during the several "crisis" there were (winter 2009/10, ash cloud, winter 2010/11) -- but only for the flights that were directly affected. Not for any later "return flights", though.
Personally, I like Ryanair better as they do NOT assign seats. So I can board the plane after everyone else did and can choose with whom I wish to share a row.
This is not well known, but years ago, Hitler flew Ryanair and had some bad experiences:
http://triphunter.co.uk/hitler-ryanair-rant/
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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie
In the 2010 Ash cloud "crisis" my wife's outward Ryanair flight to England was cancelled. I don't think the return flight was cancelled but she was able to re-book both out & back flights for a week or 2 later