Nevertheless, Gross praised Air Berlin ("a spanking new Airbus A320" in which "the air was so clean I could smell the high-tech filtering system"...and "for the first time, I
had a personal flat-screen") but gave thumbs down to its codeshare partner, Fly DBA ("the airline's 737-300 exuded shabbiness"). Jet4You had "the highest fares and the oldest planes." He praised FlyBaboo (right)for its waiting area, aircraft and on-the-ball flight attendant, and EasyJet for its flexibility. Wizz Air's cabin, he reported, "was overpressurized and its flight attendants a confused as the color scheme." As for the pioneering RyanAir, he called it "not just the cheapest but the chintziest." Other airlines whose names he dropped but which he did not fly were Vueling, TUIfly, and Sterling. Italy, he reports, "has a host of tiny carriers that focus on random and disparate cities."Low-fare arlines can offer cheap tickets by publicizing only the base price. Rockbottom fares often require advance booking or other restictions. They often fly from distant airports. Add-ons include taxes, fuel surcharges, high excess baggage fees, airport security charges and other miscellaneous fees. Forget frequent-flyer miles, but then, with low enough fares, who needs them?
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I was looking for a Manchester-Dublin flight, and with RyanAir, I could get something at 70$USD, round trip, during the high season. TAX INCLUDED ! These are nice. I wish we could have such cheap airlines in Canada. We have WestJet, who covers the US too, but they're never as low as european prices.
ReplyDeleteValerie - The availability of cheap fares and alternatives to mainstream carriers is mostly a function of government policies. Open-skies regulations are hard on old-line carriers that have huge infrastructures, union contracts that they must adhere to and other barriers to flexibility.
ReplyDeleteOpen skies and a more competitive environment extract a price from the industry, however. We've seen airline mergers, takeovers and banktuptcies. We've seen some markets become underserved because they are not as lucrative for trditional airlines. Sometimes, new low-fare airlines come in to fill the void. And sometimes, they don't.
I don't know where in Canada you are, but Buffalo, Detroit and Burlington hve some low-fare airlines, and Skybus, a new Columbus-based airline, will soon start service to Bellingham. (See my May 31, 2007 post).
If you are within a reasonable distance of any of these northern US cities, you might find some better fares -- unless, of course, you are looking at routes within Canada.
Very useful information.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!! I enjoy your site very much and find very interesting posts and information, though not all are relevant for my locale. Nonetheless a fabulously informative site that I will no doubt find handy in my future travel planning.