Flying transatlantic with Zoom

[Fandango 1,439]

The one thing I detest about RA is the locations of the airports are in BFE in relation to the cities. Dublin's not too bad but don't EVER go to Frankfurt Hahn if you're looking to get to Frankfurt

Yeah, at least Dublin flies to THE airport... the worst one I had was when I flew to a place claiming to be Verona with Ryanair. The airport turned out to be in the middle of nowhere, even by Ryanair standards. One two and a half hour bus ride later (with no traffic at all, so I can't even blame traffic for making the journey so long - it was the very large DISTANCE that made the journey so long!) I arrived in Verona. Ryanair always seems a great idea for a weekend away somewhere, until you realise you have to spend most of that weekend getting to and from the airport!

But I love Ryanair too, incidentally. If I can fly somewhere for a penny each way, I'm not complaining. And I'll take my own lunch, rather than pay £6 (or whatever it is) for a KitKat Chunky and a cheese roll. Cold pizza, last time - yum. (Oh, handy Ryanair hint.... two singles is quite often cheaper than a return to a lot of their destinations, because you'll often end up paying less tax if you do it that way... has worked for me lots of times!)

FF Hahn is exactly as you described Verona. In fact David contends the 'hahn' stands for 'not' lol

And we usually eat at the airport before we leave. D's very much a 'let's get there early and have a stress free departure' which includes finding the pub and just chillin very leisurely. I'm the type that when the counter people say 'ANY MORE FOR FLIGHT 1234?' I'm at the back of the massive line sayin 'us!!!' cos we ran from the car to the terminal and arrived 1 min ago, hahahaha.

Your def right it is travel in a whole new light. Hubby couldn't believe that we could both fly London Stansted to Milan (return) for less than the cost of a carton of cigarettes> as fsaar as location goes sometimes its actually better Staqnsted was far easier for me than getting to LGW or LHR did the Turin or Milan trip many times as sister lives North Italy. I just pray that a no-frills airline picks up the UK routes dropped out of Pittsburgh by USAirways and of course if they flew to Stansted that would just be an added bonus :dance:

The concept of RA is so frickin amazing tho...especially to an American cos we're not dead close to all these fabulous European cities. Many times D would give me his cc and be all 'book a weekend anywhere you want' That's how the Frankfurt debacle happened, btw, lol. But I'll never forget the time he flew us to Dublin for dinner at my fave restaurant there. Incredible! God Bless that airline! hahaha

[truffles 2]

[b]I think it depends on the destination....if i was flying small distances i would probably go low budget - I know BA takes abashing at times but i have flown BA to Seattle 2 times per year for the past 3 years and i can honestly say that i have always been completely satisfied. Ryan Air however was a difference experience - boarding the flight 45 mins late and then to add insult to injury the check in staff being rude to the passengers! My first time with Ryan Air - and it really is a case of first impressions counting because i will NEVER fly Ryan Air because whilst i agree it was budget that does not mean the staff can take pot shots at there customers [/b]

[Fandango 1,439]

[b]I think it depends on the destination....if i was flying small distances i would probably go low budget - I know BA takes abashing at times but i have flown BA to Seattle 2 times per year for the past 3 years and i can honestly say that i have always been completely satisfied. Ryan Air however was a difference experience - boarding the flight 45 mins late and then to add insult to injury the check in staff being rude to the passengers! My first time with Ryan Air - and it really is a case of first impressions counting because i will NEVER fly Ryan Air because whilst i agree it was budget that does not mean the staff can take pot shots at there customers [/b]

Funnily enough, I've never gotten attitude from any of the RA staff. And usually the stewards/esses seem to always come up to me to ask how everything is.

[Dr_LHA 3]

Funnily enough, I've never gotten attitude from any of the RA staff. And usually the stewards/esses seem to always come up to me to ask how everything is.

I've flown RA a few times between Stansted and Italy, and was always pretty impressed by them and their staff. In fact I've been more impressed by them that "full price" internal flights in the USA.

[GnG 0]

Thanks to everyone for pointing out the flaws in my idea. At least I'm better informed now!

As for 'no-frills' ... given the choice, I'd fly Virgin every time, they have the right idea of customer service.

But it's hard to splurge on transatlantic tickets for your airline of choice WHEN YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE WON'T LET YOU EARN A DAY'S WAGE!

Thank F the EAD just came through, maybe I'll treat myself to a Virgin flight after all.

[Lou Lou 1]

I think watching the people running to the plane is hilarious. So it's not without entertainment.

I used to watch that too. Heck let's face it, people run to the gate even when they do have allocated seats. Why oh why would you want to spend more time sitting on a plane waiting for everyone else to board? Now that you can't carry your kitchen sink with you to put in the overhead, I'm sure it has stopped some of that craziness.

I just pray that a no-frills airline picks up the UK routes dropped out of Pittsburgh by USAirways and of course if they flew to Stansted that would just be an added bonus :dance:

I am too waiting for that day. As much as I hate USAir their Envoy class is quite OK, and the bonus that they flew PIT-LGW was a dream. Flying in and out out of Philly is a nightmare.

[britty 1]

How could air travel get any more 'no frills' than it already is?

Tight uncomfy seats, lumpy pillows, microscopic bags of snacks, atrocious meals - all while being herded like cattle by abrupt and unfriendly personnel.

I guess maybe someone decided to charge us less for being treated like #######?

You have obviously never flown Ryan Air !!!!!!!! No frills means no seat allocation (first boarded first grabbed) no meals, snacks nada nada ! Personally it always amazes the level of service on planes ......... all I want is a seat and to get from A to B as cheaply as possible. It amuses me that with train travel one accepts no personal service and standing for hours but somehow in a plane we want all the things put right Rebecca lists above - not I cheap cheap cheap please more money for duty free

oh how right you are !! Luckily I only ever flown from with Ryanair from London to Dublin so I could take the cattle herding, no drinks, squashed in seats for the 50 min short flight. God help those poor souls who venture further afield on Ryanair. Actually my husband and I are going to London to see my family in August and taking a short trip to Ireland to seem some relatives. I booked with Ryanair for 0.02 pence per return flight - what a bargain! However, there is an additional 20 pound for each flight in taxes, and they actually charge you extra for carrying luggage. We didnt want to check in bags so taking a small cabin bag and they are charging us an additional 5 pounds each for that luxury !!! Then they add an additional 5 pound booking fee so basically we could have flown BA and not been any worse off !!

I hate economy travelling transatlantic though. Its just a horrible experience. Luckily my job in London required me to travel extensively and my husband travels all the time so we have enough air miles to get us upper class points flights when we travel with Virgin. I pray we never run out of air miles. Its money though isnt it - I certainly wouldnt pay the business class fares from my own money so when the miles do eventually run out I will have to just grin and bear it.

[John & Annie 0]

How could air travel get any more 'no frills' than it already is?

Tight uncomfy seats, lumpy pillows, microscopic bags of snacks, atrocious meals - all while being herded like cattle by abrupt and unfriendly personnel.

I guess maybe someone decided to charge us less for being treated like #######?

You have obviously never flown Ryan Air !!!!!!!! No frills means no seat allocation (first boarded first grabbed) no meals, snacks nada nada ! Personally it always amazes the level of service on planes ......... all I want is a seat and to get from A to B as cheaply as possible. It amuses me that with train travel one accepts no personal service and standing for hours but somehow in a plane we want all the things put right Rebecca lists above - not I cheap cheap cheap please more money for duty free

oh how right you are !! Luckily I only ever flown from with Ryanair from London to Dublin so I could take the cattle herding, no drinks, squashed in seats for the 50 min short flight. God help those poor souls who venture further afield on Ryanair. Actually my husband and I are going to London to see my family in August and taking a short trip to Ireland to seem some relatives. I booked with Ryanair for 0.02 pence per return flight - what a bargain! However, there is an additional 20 pound for each flight in taxes, and they actually charge you extra for carrying luggage. We didnt want to check in bags so taking a small cabin bag and they are charging us an additional 5 pounds each for that luxury !!! Then they add an additional 5 pound booking fee so basically we could have flown BA and not been any worse off !!

I hate economy travelling transatlantic though. Its just a horrible experience. Luckily my job in London required me to travel extensively and my husband travels all the time so we have enough air miles to get us upper class points flights when we travel with Virgin. I pray we never run out of air miles. Its money though isnt it - I certainly wouldnt pay the business class fares from my own money so when the miles do eventually run out I will have to just grin and bear it.

You can get some pretty good Premium Economy fares from Virgin if you get the email updates. At this point we will not fly anything but Virgin across the pond. We are bring Annie's parents over from Ireland for Thanksgiving, but they do not want to transfer, so they get our second choice, Aer Lingus. Which I think has the best fares for economy.

[homesick_american 1]

A Dallasite's only options for a direct DFW/London flight are American Airlines and British Airways. There's not a whole lot of difference between the two but BA's fares to Dallas are usually a little bit cheaper, so I flew with them more frequently. BA's equipment for the DFW/LGW run is nicer; they use a 777 with great IFE whereas last time I flew with AA, they were still using a 767 with outdated IFE. The food is usually better on BA too.

BA also does much better domestic/EU service than the budget airlines; I wouldn't fly RyanAir if you paid me. A 26-inch seat pitch is torture, while BA's seat pitches on its European 737s are a luxurious 33 inches. There's just no comparison.

[Otto 83]

How could air travel get any more 'no frills' than it already is?

Tight uncomfy seats, lumpy pillows, microscopic bags of snacks, atrocious meals - all while being herded like cattle by abrupt and unfriendly personnel.

I guess maybe someone decided to charge us less for being treated like #######?

Don't ask... Remember a while back when 'they' (Airbus) wanted to put in upright seats in some sections of their airplanes? Can you imagine?....

or this new suggested configuration..

[Lou Lou 1]

or this new suggested configuration..

That is hideous. Collect your airmiles for upgrades, people.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

FYI, I was able to generate a dummy-booking by pretending to be a resident of Canada.

(so it may be possible to buy the ticket by using the address of a relative/friend in Canada and then having said relative/friend courier it over to US--or maybe YOU can pick it up on a visit to Canada?)

[Fandango 1,439]

FYI, I was able to generate a dummy-booking by pretending to be a resident of Canada.

(so it may be possible to buy the ticket by using the address of a relative/friend in Canada and then having said relative/friend courier it over to US--or maybe YOU can pick it up on a visit to Canada?)

Why in the world would you advocate this?

[Amby 490]

ugh I hate ryanair. those bright blue and yellow planes inside. thank god the only trip we ever flew ryanair was from newcastle to dublin and it only lasted an hour. never again on a discount airline for me.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

FYI, I was able to generate a dummy-booking by pretending to be a resident of Canada.

(so it may be possible to buy the ticket by using the address of a relative/friend in Canada and then having said relative/friend courier it over to US--or maybe YOU can pick it up on a visit to Canada?)

Why in the world would you advocate this?

Read through the thread and found HA had beaten me to it anyway.