Originally posted by RichardMannion
It's about personal preference in reality. In my eyes, the LCC's have a horrible image and poor attitude to customer service - my prior observation to 'Airline' affirms this. Yes they are cheap (sometimes, see later) but then there is a reason they are cheap.
The flight times on the whole are not that great, and in all honesty I would rather pay not that much more to fly with a reputable scheduled carrier, be it BMI/BA/LH. The amount of times I have seen tiny differences between the aforementioned and LCC fares, or actually the other way round where the LCC's are actually more expensive. Yeah I might be able to get a £2 flight +taxes if I go at 4am in the morning from STN which is a long journey, or for a bit more I can go at a more sensible time from LHR.
Again, it's down to personal preference. I just don't do LCC's. But then on the flipside, I don't do Economy for flights over 4 hours now. Again, I would rather not go on holiday. Some of you may see this as harsh or elitist, but it's my choice. I like to spend my money on luxury travel. It's my raison d'etre; I don't smoke, or drink.
Thanks,
Richard
Valid points your grace;)
And I admit that I also often wondered about the hype of "cheap" fares on LCC's when with a little foward planning you can get a full service airline over the same route for a lower price.
I used to fly Birmingham to Edinburgh weekly on BA, and by booking overlapping APEX tickets I flew for £79 all inclusive week in week out, in the days before LCC's were even invented.
I will however say that LCC's help keep the rest of the industry honest.
There is a sorry lack of LCC's in this part of East Asia, and that means I can pay as much to fly the 1 1/2 hrs to Shanghai from Seoul, as I do to fly the 12 hours from Shanghai to London.
Also when back home Luton happens to be my most convenient airport (20 minutes drive), making EasyJet a very good choice for many destinations. Plus I have friends I regularly visit in central France and a tin pot little airport 30 mins from their house is served daily by RyanAir, (sadly from STN).
So I guess we are going to have to agree to differ on my opinion that most people are happy to suffer the crap service for a low price between convenient airports. But I will stand by my opinion that the CC seem a whole lot more cheerful than Full Service Long haul crews.
Also, you are an intelligent guy... You must realise that controversy sells TV, and I'm sure "Airline" is carefully edited to make the most saleable TV!
The last time I flew EasyJet was the day of the Buncefield fire, which due to smoke and traffic chaos around LTN affected a lot of schedules. I was in CDG waiting my flight and the ground staff were superb at keeping us informed. Once on the flight the crew were great and exceedingly appologetic. Hardly worthy of TV.
