Big news: new routes for RyanAir
 

http://www.ryanair.com/news/newroutes8.html<BR><BR>Rome (Italy) 4 April 02 6 Daily Flights &pound;19<BR><BR>Milan (Italy) 4 April 02 4 Daily Flights &pound;19<BR><BR>Newquay (England) 4 April 02 2 Daily Flights<BR><BR>Eindhoven (Holland) 4 April 02 2 Daily Flights &pound;59<BR><BR>Friedrichshafen (Germany) 4 April 02 2 Daily Flights &pound;59<BR><BR>Graz (Austria) 4 April 02 2 Daily Flights &pound;59<BR><BR>Klagenfurt (Austria) 27 June 02 2 Daily Flights &pound;59<BR><BR>Montpellier (France) 4 April 02 2 Daily Flights &pound;59<BR><BR>Although not listed on the page shown above, they also added BRU-Rome, BRU-Liverpool and Glasgow-Oslo.<BR><BR>The BRU-Rome may be now the cheapest way to get between Paris (by train from Brussels) and Rome.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

wow. This could really be great news if only I knew where Ryan Air flys from. I suppose travelers are supposed to know, but I don't. You've told us where the flights go, but where do they start? Since you've listed prices in pounds, I guess London???

Yes, sorry. From London (Stansted).<BR><BR>I did at least give you the URL so that you could get additional info.<BR><BR>But it's a valid criticism.<BR>

This is just getting more and more amazing. I was surprised how cheap I could get a flight from London to Nice, but these special airlines (also Go, Virgin Express, and Easy Jet for a few) are just making it easier and easier to cover several areas of Europe in a trip instead of worrying about what is conveniently grouped together. London to Rome for less than $30? That is truly amazing. Who needs Eurorail at these rates? Thanks, Rex.

I've never flown from Stansted Airport. How far/difficult is to get from either Gatwick or Heathrow to Stansted? For example traveling from US to London, how much time would I need to allow if I wanted to change airlines & continue on Ryan Air???

Don't kid yourself about Ryan Air. The "Brussels" airport is really in Chareleroi. It ain't Brussels "Sud" the way RyanAir tries to pretend. Charleroi airport is poorly served by mass transit and is used mostly by expats with cars.

To Robin,<BR><BR>There is excellent bus service from Heathrow to Stansted; takes about 80 minutes. With an early morning arrival at Heathrow (from across the Atlantic), you'll get a great little nap - - plush seats, non-stop drive - - it might be better than the sleep you got on the plane over! Of course, a lot depends on the time of your departure from Stansted, or your arrival at Heathrow. Worked well for us, once on a trip to Dublin. The flight was eleven (that's right ELEVEN) dolars - - the bus ride was twelve!<BR><BR>I have also used www.chauffeur.co.uk for a 7 am departure (from a hotel in London) - - they picked us up at about 04:30, I think. the kids (ages 14-22) mostly slept on the way, on the plane or both. In Italy before noon, and energized to put in a full day, til nearly midnight.<BR><BR>For most airports served by RyanAir, you will find fairly good info on local transportation by clicking on "Destinations". For a number of these small airports, RyanAir has negotiated for bus service timed to coincide with their (infrquent) flight arrivals and departures (an example is Brescia, Italy).<BR><BR>The remarks from BTilke are correct - - but hardly a reason to reject the airline. They don't misrepresent.<BR><BR>For London-Brussels the airline of choice would be www.virgin-express.com for a lot of travelers.<BR>

There's a regular bus from Charleroi airport to central Brussels which actually synchs up with Ryanair flights. Make sure you have euros on hand, though, as there is no bureau de change in the airport (there is a conversion machine - NOT an ATM - but it is usually out of order).

Stebe and Rex, The bus service linked to Ryanair flights is a joke. If your flight is late, the bus is gone. Long gone. It does not hang around for delayed flights. Ryanair's customer service is a joke too. If you don't have a car to get to and from Charleroi, then dealing with Ryanair is a crap shoot. The REAL Brussels airport has train service directly from the airport to Brussels three times an hour. Big difference over a bus schedule that is *supposedly* linked to Ryanair flights. If I were traveling from overseas for a trip to Europe, I would not count on Ryanair because the risk of problems (being stuck in Charleroi is just one of them) outweighs the advantages. It's being penny wise and pound foolish.

Okay, okay, BT - - we'll take your word for it. With Virgin Express at Brussels (BRU), I figure that the service into Charleroi is for some specialized itineraries anyway. Still doesn't mean that the new RyanAir routes (or the many, many existing ones) should be dismissed.<BR>

Let me put in my two pence...or whatever. Ryanair, modeled on Southwest in the USA, is a low-cost producer and deliverer of plain-vanilla transportation. No frills. As such, I spotted it a couple years ago, checked out its financials (it is traded on the New York Stock Exchange) and invested. So far, it has more than doubled in value. It recently put in a big order for more Boeing jets, so more of its popular service is coming on stream. It is revolutionizing the cozy cartel that has dominated Euopean air fares. So don't carp about its shortcomings -- salute Ryan's pioneering!

Al, shall we also salute Ryanair's shady advertising schemes--like doing supposedly apples to apples fare comparison ads when in fact they were comparing their lowest rates against Sabena's BUSINESS class rates (and not mentioning that anywhere in the ads)? And Rex says they don't misrepresent themselves? Guess again. They've been called into court more than once for doing just that. The whole campaign to mislead people who are flying Charleroi that they're actually flying in Brussels "Sud" is a classic example of misrepresentation. If Ryanair provides service to underserved airports, fine. But I've known too many people here in Brussels who were burned with Ryanair and will not fly them again if they have any choice in the matter. If I were in the U.S. and taking a vacation to Europe where I have limited time and every day counted, I would not use them. I am willing to cut some corners, but not on my hard earned vacations.<BR><BR>BTilke

RyanAir are the fastest-expanding airline in Europe, I think, - so they must be doing something right! Long may it continue! <BR>British Airways are so scared of RyanAir, EasyJet and the like they set up GO to try and put them out of business.

Thanks Rex. Nice to know that budget airlines are beginning to make progress in Europe. Right now they all seem to be UK based as far as central hubs go.<BR>Any chance that a budget airline serving primarily central and eastern European cities will emerge.<BR>I know eastern bloc nations are beginning to emerge from Communist economic thinking. A friend of mine who lives in Romania is trying to introduce ideas about corporate finance and cash flow that have been old stuff for us since the early 1960's -- like discounted cash flows based on invoice selling.<BR>I am not sure the idea of debt instruments, like bonds, debentures, and <BR>various derivatives, has quite registered yet outside of a few top level bankers and government financial experts.<BR>

BTilke:<BR>My only experiance with RyanAir was last year when they flew me from Dublin to<BR>Stanstead on time and for 19 GBP.<BR>Yes the seating was tight but they<BR>departed and arrived on time and<BR>the flight was less than one hour<BR>long. I think the provide a great<BR>value.

Alan, I'm glad you had a good flight, but I won't use them. I believe service after the sale is as important as a cheap ticket. I simply do not believe a traveler from the U.S. should take the risk on a long anticipated vacation where they have neither time nor money to waste if a problem occurs. The Bulletin, the English language newsmag for expats in Belgium, has been full of detailed complaints about problems with Ryanair, not only in Charleroi but in other airports. <BR>BA just announced fare cuts that will be close to Ryanair prices. And it won't be a half hearted attempt like with GO. They're going to readjust company management and operations to make it work, they say. If BA does as it claims, I'd take them over Ryanair any day--I get FF miles, better service before and after the sale, AND I fly into and out of the REAL Brussels airport, not the phony one.

Our first experience with Ryanair was not pleasant. We were supposed to leave SfO on 9/11. We finally got out a week later. Virgin Express was terrific about working with us. Even though we had non refundable tickets. We were supposed to hook up with Ryan Air in London to go up to our daughters in Londonderry. She called their main office in Dublin. Explained the situation. No way would they make any concession. We had to buy another ticket and scramble for a flight. But yes I would still fly them again in fact will do just that this fall. Trying to get into Ireland there isn't many choices that are inexpensive.

BTilke's local perspective is very valuable - - and I don't want to have my disagreements here misconstrued as carping or questioning the validity of observations about RyanAir - - that I could not possibly know from firsthand experience. I have flown RyanAir, a total of two times (and two other flights from Stansted on other carriers); that makes my experience inherently anecdotal. I do think that it generally matches the experiences of others.<BR><BR>The battle of low-cost airlines in Europe is purportedly still heating up; we here in the United States know (somewhat) what it's like to be in the "cooling off" (conglomerating) phase - - though even that is over-simplification; new airlines are still emerging in the US.<BR><BR>Charges of unfair business practice get thrown around loosely in many industries - - and sometimes they're right on target. I used to be very upset about the practice of pre-announcing destinations (with NO schedules, fares or other information) by "Go" - - the money-losing venture of BA that was supposed to bring RyanAir to its knees. But BA got nowhere with that; they've since cut Go loose, as far as I can tell. And I don't think they did anything but strengthen the public's favorable impression of the low-cost maverick airlines.<BR><BR>Airlines will continue to start up, grow, and sometimes fail on both sides of the Atlantic.<BR><BR>Heck, I'm just tickled to death to have a place like this to exchange information on the various ways to travel!<BR>

I use Ryanair a lot as I live in the UK, and really you have to think of them as a bus service; absolutely no customer service whatsoever. If I had travelled 2-4,000 miles for a special holiday in Europe I don't think I'd trust them and would pay the extra for something more enjoyable, but as a local service for weekend breaks they really can't be beat. Also, I thought it might be helpful to know that the Ryanair flight to "Hamburg" (actually about 70km away) is linked to a bus service that is managed by Ryanair so does wait for late flights, takes approx. 40 mins to get to the city centre and is a damn sight cheaper all told than Lufthansa or BA

Rex:<BR><BR>Thanks for the update on Ryan Air service. And initiating a thread with good feedback. From what I'd heard, I expect their service to be simple & bare bones, ala Southwest Airlines