MoiIsInTheHouse

Which airlines in Europe (outside of BA) do you like for short intra-European flights, say London to Munich or Milan? Why? And which have the best fares generally?

Oh, and which ones do you dislike and why? Thanks!

alanRow

I like the ones that don't charge much money door to door - see www.whichbudget.com for details.

An airline I dislike is Ryanair because they are the biggest chiselers in the book and will try to screw money out of you at every opportunity. They are extremely good at adding "optionals" to the cost of flight tickets and even if you follow their VERY strict rules they can leave you in the lurch

losttime

Munich Airport is a 40min train ride away from the city, a bit like London Stansted.
Talking of which! We have a German airline, Air Berlin, which operates from Stansted. I've never used them, but I heard a lot of good things and they are supposed to have a very extensive European Network.

www.airberlin.com

I use Easyjet quite a lot. Despite the moans and groans about them, I've never had a problem with them. Book well ahead to get the best fares.

KLM get around a bit, but you'd have to fly from London to Amsterdam first.

I agree with alanRow. If you decide to use Ryanair, read their website very carefully.

W9London

My choice will ultimately depend on who offers direct flights between particular routes.

My personal favourites are Swiss (esp out of London City), reasonable fare, I find Geneve/Zurich pretty efficient, nice touch for Movenpick ice cream they serve on some routes.

Luthansa and BMI are my other preference. Both are efficiently run with good schedule.

Not a big fan of Alitalia and Iberia, I find their inefficient/slow check-in process and lack of web check-in add unneccesary stress before departure.

I've done Air Berlin to Muenster, because noone else flew directly there from London. Out of Stansted, short and efficient services. Had only a carry-on, so luggages aren't issue.

kenav

Thinking of flying Ryanair from Paris to Barcelona in Dec (seems to be the only airline that does that route at that time of the year).

Besides the fight price, taxes and additional fees for check-in luggage, what else do they charge for, if anything?

I'm asking this because of previous poster (alanRow) who mentioned how they are the:
"biggest chiselers in the book and will try to screw money out of you at every opportunity. They are extremely good at adding "optionals" to the cost of flight tickets and even if you follow their VERY strict rules they can leave you in the lurch."

Scaring me!

GSteed

Anecdotal nonsense! Ryanair lays it all out before you sign. Read the website. It is now the biggest carrier in Europe! If you are concerned with price they have the lowest fares. You buy a seat. You don't pay for someone else's beer or their mountain of luggage. They use secondary airports because landing fees are lower. Use search and compare prices.

rkkwan

You also need to pay for using your credit card, not that you have any other options if living in the US.

Those are the mandatory things you have to pay. Others like boarding first, drinks, etc, are optional.

alanRow

<<< Anecdotal nonsense! Ryanair lays it all out before you sign >>>

Why is reporting things accurately "Anecdotal nonsense!".

They are the biggest chiselers in the business, they do leave you in the lurch when things go wrong, they do add things to your booking that you didn't ask for, they do make it difficult for you to remove them, they do apply rules to the letter, they do charge a CC fee PER PASSENGER PER FLIGHT, they do make it difficult to get refunds even if they cancel the flight, they will refuse you your legal rights...

I do agree that the information is on their website - and better laid out than most - but it doesn't affect the fact that you've got to count your fingers and check your wallet is still there after doing business with them

wally34949

Click Air out of Barcelona does not have the stingy baggage allowance that Ryan Air has. They fly out of Barcelona. Air Berlin is good, too.

GSteed

Credit card companies collect at both ends! They allow a grace period to users then impose hefty interest charges on overdue balances. They charge merchants fees for underwriting extending credit. An early Visa and Mastercard charge was as high as 6%. I paid 5% to AX. Ryanair is simply recovering lost fees.

alanRow

<<< Ryanair is simply recovering lost fees. >>>

Ryanair seems to be unique in applying a fixed fee per passenger per flight - ie if there are four of you doing a return flight that's EIGHT CC fees.

I would seriously doubt that the fee that the CC company charges Ryanair is £2 for each passenger/flight especially as much smaller companies seem able to charge far less.

rkkwan

Problem is that there is no alternative for many than to use credit card. I don't see a "pay at check-in" option with no fees involved, do you? Or "address to send check".

kenav

Well, we're planning on going to Barcelona from Paris in December. I've noticed that certain small airlines (European) like Air Berlin and Vueling, don't have booking dates beyond October 2007. I e-mailed Vueling to ask if they fly those cities in December as I hadn't seen it on their website beyond the October date. They replied that they update their schedule every six months - March and October - and that I could look back in October for December flights.

Anyone else run into that? I really don't want to wait until October to book the flight - especially as I'm coming from U.S. and need to book my open jaw (NY to Paris, then Barcelona to NY) waaaay before October. So I need to know that I WILL get a flight from Paris to Barcelona before I book my open jaw.

ANYWAY - Ryanair has flights in December scheduled already, so that's why I thought I'd go with them. Any comments?

alanRow

<<< Problem is that there is no alternative for many than to use credit card >>>

Actually there is - a debit card is only 70p per passenger per flight which I suspect is a lot closer to the true cost to Ryanair

Cowboy1968

kenav,
I'd seriously reconsider to go with Ryanair from Paris to Barcelona.

I agree with some prior postings, that all of Ryanair's special regulations can be found on its website or during the process of booking a flight online. So, read the small print carefully.

But there are more important reasons from my perspective:

"Barcelona" means for Ryanair the aiport of Girona (not BCN airport) - add 70min for the bus ride to Barcelona and Eur 21 for a round trip ticket for the bus.
Ryanair has only 15kg per person allowance for luggage (not 20kg as most other airlines I know), and they charge quite a bit for every kilo above that.
Ryanair is infamous for blatently ignoring EU Travelers' Rights: no assistance, meal vouchers, etc. if flights get canceled (and that does happen quite often) or delayed. They are forced to do so by law, but just don't do it.

Check out the website which is monitoring Ryanair's behaviour and decide for yourself:
http://www.ryanaircampaign.org/

I got stuck in Madrid once for 4 hours and the airport authority tried to convince or force Ryanair to do what is mandated by the EU directive - but they did nothing. Never again.

kenav

Cowboy - Thanks for the heads-up on Ryanair. Had no idea their airport was in Girona - not Barcelona.

Will reconsider - and hope that other low-cost airlines go there in December.

alanRow

Also "Paris" is really a small town called "Beauvais" which is about an hour from Paris.

kenav

How's Easy Jet ? I see they go from Paris to Barcelona too.

GSteed

Airline fares signal their class of service. Airlines using price as a marketing tool obviously cut out services that others provide. Travel now! The World population is now over 6.6 billion. It is presently increasing at a rate of 1%. Airlines have 5.5 million potential passengers appearing each month. Travel now...

alanRow

Easyjet use "real" airports - ie the ones that DO serve the city they claim to serve. Easyjet are more likely to treat you as a customer rather than a mark