Many of us are regularly travelling be it for work, to go on holiday or to visit family and friends, and if these journeys involved air travel, you might have had to ask yourself which airline to fly with.
Most of my own traveling by plane is between Switzerland and the U.K., so besides both countries’ national carriers I have easyJet and Ryanair to choose from. In the early days of low-cost airlines it was relatively straightforward: you compared the price, maybe having to click through to the booking page to get the total cost with the low-cost carriers (extra charges then were often not added before the final step). But most of the time easyJet and Ryanair ended up cheaper than the legacy airlines.
Nowadays it’s much more complicated since easyJet and Ryanair charge you extra if you bring hand luggage bigger than a handbag or a small backpack: take a hand luggage size trolley and for a flight on easyJet from Zurich to London and back you pay roughly an extra £100 for the privilege (admittedly with easyJet this includes a seat upfront and priority boarding). With a trolley included in the hand luggage only price with Swiss and British Airways (the latter even allow you an additional laptop bag), the legacy airlines are often no more expensive or even better value than the so called low cost carriers.
In the biggest sanction issued by the Spanish government’s ministry of social rights and consumer affairs, the carriers easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Volotea have been fined an total of €150 million following an investigation launched last summer after complaints by consumer organisations over “abusive practices” that include charging passengers extra for cabin luggage and seat selection being deployed by the airlines. The ruling only applies to Spain and the airlines can and certainly will appeal, and hence whether the hefty fine sticks remains to be seen.
So while the low cost airlines’ multiple extra charges have been a bugbear of many travellers (myself included) for a while, it’s not the only one: Have you noticed where some of these cheap flights take you? If you take Ryanair from London Stansted to Paris you will land at Paris Beauvais-Tillé, about 85 kilometers (53 miles) from Paris (I know, it would probably be more sensible and take no longer taking the Eurostar right from and to the centre). Or for a flight to Barcelona make sure you choose an airline which flies to the city’s El Prat airport rather than Girona, which is around 90 kilometers (56 miles) from your final destination. There’s even worse: take Ryanair (again) from London Stansted to Frankfurt and you will touch down at Frankfurt Hahn, a staggering 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the city centre. One of the reasons why budget airlines can offer cheaper fares is obviously the use of secondary airports which have lower landing fees and less congestion, leading to lower costs and quicker turnaround times. Nevertheless, low-cost airlines seem to be thriving: Adding new routes and the rise in short-haul travel aligns well with the services offered by budget carriers.
As the summer holidays are upon us, let’s have a look at the world’s best and worst airlines: In the top 10 according to Bounce, a US luggage storage platform (and hence from an American perspective) are mostly legacy carriers with Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways holding the top 3 spots. Notable therefore is Azul Airlines, a Brazilian budget carrier started in 2008 by David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways. Go to the bottom of the table, and you will find the no-frills carriers, with Wings Air, Lion Air and Jetstar Airways ranking as the worst and flydubai, Wizz Air, Ryanair und Vueling not far behind. Certainly unexpected is the fact that Air Canada too figures among the worst.
Do I expect to be pampered on a 90 minute flight from Switzerland the the UK? No, as long as the flight offers good value and is more or less on time I don’t care. And like everyone else I don’t apply the same criteria to a long-haul flight. So the low-cost carriers are definitely here to stay, although taking everything into consideration, they may not always be offering better overall value than the legacy airlines. And if the Spanish fine stands, expect the budget airlines to become creative as far as extra charges are concerned. Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair might start thinking again about a fee to use the toilet on his planes.
The grumpy older man 
For a long time, I traveled by air for work, but rarely first class. Going back to the days when air travel was a luxury no matter what “class.” Just before retiring, I flew so often my “upgrades” and premium lounge membership made business travel almost enjoyable, pleasant at least. Came the flip-flop, beachwear clad traveler, drunken conventioneers, 350-pund center-seaters, misbehaving children, and inconsiderate, entitled adults. Airlines fought profit squeeze with creative add-on charges. Profit squeeze of their own doings, with discounts to fill flights instead of more intelligent scheduling.
I’d love to have rail travel a mid-to-long distance option, time no longer the consideration it once was for me. But when I last checked US rail travel was as pricey as air travel. Here, we’re not blessed with passenger rail infrastructure I see in Europe, especially on the continent. “We,” are not a society of dignified travelers anymore. Boorish, rude, inconsiderate, slovenly, and cheap, we are dealt what “we” deserve by travel providers who, too, are people, part of “we.”
Insightful read. Thank you.
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Thanks for you input! The rail infrastructure in Europe indeed is brilliant… but not cheap either! While some measures are supposed to be taken to make short- and medium-distance travel more attractive by train than plane, often the low-cost carriers are often still better value than the railways. And depending on where you travel from and to, even when landing at an airport out in the sticks you might still get to the city centre before a train. What I love about trains is you get to see some countryside, can walk around and mostly don’t have to go through lengthy security and boarding procedures.
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