That’s because they are relatively new.
You could probably run a new 737 for 10 years with no maintenance other than fluids before it would become literally unusable.
All airline travel is horrible once you are old enough 
Club/Business Class is a lot better but the cheap airlines don’t do it, obviously.
Peter wrote:
Club/Business Class is a lot better but the cheap airlines don’t do it, obviously.
Sat on a Jet2 flight at Heraklion a few years ago. Couple came up steps and asked if an upgrade would be possible. With a gentle smile the stewardie politely noted that this was an economy flight only. The faux leather seats are very uncomfortable on any journey over 30 minutes.
Michael O’Leary knows his market and human psychology.
He knows that most people will choose ‘price’ over comfort and even convenience.
He is reputed to have said: “Ryanair flights are full of passengers who swear they would never fly with Ryanair again!”
His rightful criticism of NATS salaries is that they don’t earn what they are paid for.
In his case, his success justifies his salary in a competitive market.
Peter_G wrote:
passengers who swear they would never fly with Ryanair again
I am that guy. It’s very hard to argue against a direct flight from where I live to where I want to spend my vacation if the proper airlines want me to drive 200km to Munich or Frankfurt or even fly via Schiphol.
Peter wrote:
All airline travel is horrible once you are old enough
Yep… managed to avoid any of this since my retirement 6 years ago. Having one’s own flying machine obviously helps going places on your schedule, and comfort level
BeechBaby wrote:
Well not according to the millions they carry every year. It serves a market. He runs a very successful carrier, which appears to remain profitable in an incredibly tough market.
There is always a market for poor quality stuff. That doesn’t change the fact that it is poor quality. Ryanair is surprisingly good in delivering you to your destination in one piece, but that’s about the only good thing about them. (And yes, I have made trips with Ryanair. Once to try them out and a second time because someone else booked me on Ryanair. Four flights in all. I hated it all four times.) The old joke about pax being self-loading cargo is no joke when it comes to Ryanair.
Have flown possibly over a hundred flights. One year I commuted to London from Milan (albeit Bergamo) averaging around €10 per flight! If you accept you are self loading luggage they provide extraordinary value and quality for money. At one point had over 2 million BA air miles, BA has stranded me in some exotic, unattractive locations over the years sometimes for several days. Never had a problem with Ryanair.
Airborne_Again wrote:
There is always a market for poor quality stuff.
Yes but is it poor quality? Easyjet used to be better but frankly I think they are now worse than Ryanair. IMO.
Cancelled flights, difficult web booking navigation (without getting stung), delays etc. I think Ryanair may now pip them in the overall quality stakes.
What does that say about the market? Someone on the radio has just stated that the Paris bedbug problem is quote – ‘down to poor people’. Personally I did not think bed bugs could differentiate a persons wealth or status, but an interesting debate is always about opening up the mass travel market. I will stop digging here, but you kinda can guess.
I think he has to be a bit hard, too hard at times, but he takes no nonsense.
It would be strange if the Paris bed bug problem was down to poor people as many of the kind of hotels, suffering the problem are expensive.
Every time I fly Ryan air and am stuck waiting on a metal staircase for 20 minutes waiting to board, I say never again. But often there is no convenient altenative especially if you take into account both the price and they are one of the top airlines in terms of time keeping.
Peter wrote:
That’s because they are relatively new.
That is part of it. One may call O’Leary all the names in the world but he is not stupid. He knows, and his counterparts in Easy, Wizz and most other LCC’s too, that his safety record has to be second to none, as there are MANY vultures circling and hoping for one of their planes coming to grief, so they can point fingers. For them, safety is an even more existential question than it is for legacy carriers who often get away with massive accidents and survive.
