However, SAS are ridiculously expensive (although I'm not paying, I strill see the invoice), the planes are precisely the type you get on budget flights - ie no food, no entertainment - they're usually significantly older than Ryanair or easyJet's fleet, and I really do fail to see why anyone would travel with them through choice.
SAS dropped the food first, to try and compete with Ryanair. BA then followed not long after.
I know SAS is expensive (my wife, who is Swedish, will rarely use them because of this), but BA has fallen in price quite a lot. It's possible to get a flight to Arlanda for £20-25+tax in advance, and Arlanda is 15 minutes from her parents.. unlike Skavsta or Vesteras, which are 1.15hrs or 1.45hrs from Stockholm and 30 minutes from town to her house. That has to be factored in too.
I don't disagree that Ryanair is going to be cheaper than SAS and BA a lot, perhaps most, of the time - but I just can't be bothered to play the game anymore. Five years ago, I'd be using Ryanair 4-5 times a year minimum (and just for social travel, not business). I can assure you, I base all of my comments here on actual experience.
I have never told anyone not to fly Ryanair. I have never said I wouldn't fly Ryanair EVER again (if it was the only possible option) but I can, and will, recommend people don't until they've been made aware of what can go wrong. If you're up for the game, fancy a bit of a gamble, so be it. When things go to plan, they're great. I would add that Ryanair is always spoken highly of by people who say it's so cheap, but what about the many people who must be on every flight that paid £200 or more, to enable those cheap seats to be offered. What service do they expect when they're paying as much as they would on a 'flag' carrier?
Do you actually have any experience of easyjet flights going wrong though?
Erm yes! Gatwick, February, going to Barcelona. Computer problem meant most flights delayed (and later cancelled). Stuck at Gatwick from midday to about midnight.
Cutting a VERY long story short, the poor person that had to come out and hand out bits of paper to people saying what to do. He was on his own and was clearly unhappy given all the people (and I mean HUNDREDS) demanding answers and help. He just repeated OVER and OVER that you had to take this form and read it.
I spoke to him later on and he said he hated his job, and had worked in aviation for many years. He then confided in me that he had handed in his notice as he couldn't do this anymore. This was a rather exceptional event, but it wasn't the first time he had been made to just palm people off with a bit of paper.
He was actually a nice guy and told me a lot about how easyJet work, how well his boss gets on with the easyJet staff (they merely operate on behalf of easyJet from Luton, as a sub-contracted firm) and how staff turnover is so high because enough people want to work there - hoping it will lead on to bigger things - that nobody tries to keep you on.
This is why I've said before, I'd rather fly from Luton than Gatwick as I believe easyJet has a bigger presence there than Gatwick - at least when things go wrong and you're faced with someone from Menzies who is put in charge.
I was shocked at how everyone was simply left stranded. No hotels, no transport.. The idea was you just sorted yourself out and could then make a claim later (all detailed in the A4 bit of paper that had been photocopied so many times, it was hard to read). They don't even make it easy to claim, and it has to be 'reasonable' costs, so people are going to be worried about spending any money - or, more likely, not actually put in a claim for all the costs. Still, they can't say they're not offering to abide by the rules - they just don't help you one bit.
Their system assumes you have the sort of money to sort yourself out taxis, hotels and other flights, and can then satisfy them that you got the best deal, and not to be too upset if they refuse. They also assume you have the time and willpower to let such an incident drag on for what could turn out to be months.
Believe me, you
don't want to be left stranded by easyJet or any other low cost airline. These things are what made me simply decide to pay more to fly with a bigger airline, and leave those nice 'poisoned' cheap seats for everyone else!
Still, I have to be fair and balanced, so I will say that I flew back with them from Barcelona and everything was perfect. It was as I'd always experienced easyJet before, and would hope to always experience them (but sadly not, given their policies).
I accept that problems are rare, but who cares when it happens to you? Nobody wants to hear someone say 'cheer up, doesn't happen often'.
(And for the record, I do now recall that easyJet is more flexible than most on changing flights)
