Author Topic: Lerners are Cheap - 2017  (Read 26562 times)

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Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #200: March 22, 2017, 12:23:41 PM »
Link please.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1263905/Ryanair-toilet-charges-phased-in.html - Ryanair (as stated a few posts earlier) was planning it in 2010 but backed off.

Don't be surprised if someone else tries it again in the near future = British Airways started charging for food and drink (including water) on European routes the first of this year (and has caught holy heck on it in Skytrax and TripAdvisor for it), and SAS and a number of others are doing this now too on short-hops. Airlines nowadays are run by the kind of people who, if they owned a pub, would charge their own mothers for a drink.

Offline MarquisDeSade

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #201: March 23, 2017, 08:58:25 AM »
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/Green/paying-pee-airlines-critics-call-ryanairs-fee-inhumane/story?id=10355139. <=== RyanAir, and I don't think they have any flight longer than about 4 hours. It's all short-ish flights.

A few years back, USAir tried charging for water and soda, that didn't work out too well (even though Spirit and Frontier do exactly that now).

A few years back, paying for a seat assignment was unheard-of....now it's becoming the norm, at least on discounted "economy minus" fares (delta and now AA do it, and WN has always been open seating).

The airlines will be as cheap as people let them. And the American public does shop for airfare on price so there will continue to be a race to the bottom.

You can avoid all of that by flying first class, which is what I do on all flights now.

Offline Ray D

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #202: March 23, 2017, 09:44:34 AM »
I can't imagine this happening on domestic flights.
Ok on overseas flights though?

Offline Ray D

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #203: March 23, 2017, 09:49:59 AM »
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1263905/Ryanair-toilet-charges-phased-in.html - Ryanair (as stated a few posts earlier) was planning it in 2010 but backed off.

I've never heard of Ryanair before, and reading this article, it sounds like a clown airline ("By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight")   either that, or this is fake news.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #204: March 23, 2017, 10:05:36 AM »
I've never heard of Ryanair before, and reading this article, it sounds like a clown airline ("By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight")   either that, or this is fake news.

They are now actually one of the largest airlines in Europe.

Offline bluestreak

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #205: March 23, 2017, 10:14:55 AM »
I've never heard of Ryanair before, and reading this article, it sounds like a clown airline ("By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight")   either that, or this is fake news.

This is a fairly major European airline. I don't try to fly them, but I accept this model can work for people who want to fly in the cheapest possible way, and don't care about their experience, comfort or sanity. I don't have a huge issue with ala carte services, but the bathroom thing is awful for folks that have medical issues that require easy toilet access. Just seems cruel.

Offline bluestreak

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #206: March 23, 2017, 10:17:09 AM »
You can avoid all of that by flying first class, which is what I do on all flights now.

Seems to be an expensive way to avoid paying for a 3 dollar soda... ;)
[I am being completely tongue in cheek. I understand the sentiment]

Offline NJ Ave

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #207: March 23, 2017, 10:21:22 AM »
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1263905/Ryanair-toilet-charges-phased-in.html - Ryanair (as stated a few posts earlier) was planning it in 2010 but backed off.

Don't be surprised if someone else tries it again in the near future = British Airways started charging for food and drink (including water) on European routes the first of this year (and has caught holy heck on it in Skytrax and TripAdvisor for it), and SAS and a number of others are doing this now too on short-hops. Airlines nowadays are run by the kind of people who, if they owned a pub, would charge their own mothers for a drink.

Frankly I wish that we had airlines like this. I just looked up a flight from London to Barcelona. $28 one way for a 2 hour 15 minute flight. Considering the length of most of their flights, this seems reasonable. It's less about the bathroom income and more about being able to eliminate bathrooms through decreased demand and putting in a couple more seats.

I wish I could fly to to cities within 2.5 hours for <$100 roundtrip.

Offline Elvir Ovcina

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #208: March 23, 2017, 10:22:54 AM »
They are now actually one of the largest airlines in Europe.

By some metrics (including passengers flown), they're THE largest airline in Europe - even when you consider AF/KL, IAG (BA, Iberia, Aer Lingus and subs) and Lufthansa's group as being single airlines, which they aren't.

Frankly I wish that we had airlines like this. I just looked up a flight from London to Barcelona. $28 one way for a 2 hour 15 minute flight. Considering the length of most of their flights, this seems reasonable. It's less about the bathroom income and more about being able to eliminate bathrooms through decreased demand and putting in a couple more seats.

I wish I could fly to to cities within 2.5 hours for <$100 roundtrip.

They don't do this kind of promotion any more, but when I lived in England I once flew to Belfast for the weekend for 2 pence.  The promotion covered even the taxes, and I had the right kind of debit card to avoid the card charge.  And we sorta do: Spirit is pretty close to the Ryanair model, but they just aren't as cheap. 

Offline NJ Ave

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #209: March 23, 2017, 10:24:26 AM »
What's the closest we have in this country, Spirit Airlines?

Offline DCFan

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #210: March 23, 2017, 10:25:17 AM »
What's the closest we have in this country, Spirit Airlines?

Or Jet Blue.

Offline Elvir Ovcina

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #211: March 23, 2017, 10:27:37 AM »
Or Jet Blue.

Not even remotely comparable.  JetBlue has more legroom than the legacy carriers in coach, seatback DirecTV, flies two different plane types (one of which has no middle seats anywhere), has fully assigned seating, free beverages, and flies primarily to major airports.  Ryanair has none of that.  Hell, the seats don't even recline (although I prefer that).  Ryanair's original model was based off of the old Southwest style - secondary airports (e.g., BWI instead of DCA), though both have moved away from this somewhat.

Offline bluestreak

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #212: March 23, 2017, 10:30:33 AM »
Frankly I wish that we had airlines like this. I just looked up a flight from London to Barcelona. $28 one way for a 2 hour 15 minute flight. Considering the length of most of their flights, this seems reasonable. It's less about the bathroom income and more about being able to eliminate bathrooms through decreased demand and putting in a couple more seats.

I wish I could fly to to cities within 2.5 hours for <$100 roundtrip.

It will never be that cheap in the US unless city to city rail develops to be significant competitors to airlines like is the case in Europe.

I think Spirit is the closest we have to the Ryanair model. Jet Blue has WAY too many amenities built into the base ticket price. It's the anti-Ryan.

Offline bluestreak

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #213: March 23, 2017, 10:43:06 AM »
To bring it back to baseball, do the Nats still give away free scorecards?

Offline dcpatti

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #214: March 23, 2017, 10:45:41 AM »
To bring it back to baseball, do the Nats still give away free scorecards?

there is a scorecard/score sheet inside the free Inside Pitch magazine you get when you're on your way into the ballpark.

Offline mitlen

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #215: March 23, 2017, 10:46:16 AM »
To bring it back to baseball, do the Nats still give away free scorecards?

There were scorecards in the free "Inside  :w:  Pitch" handout at the gate last year.

Offline dcpatti

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #216: March 23, 2017, 10:55:25 AM »
Frankly I wish that we had airlines like this. I just looked up a flight from London to Barcelona. $28 one way for a 2 hour 15 minute flight. Considering the length of most of their flights, this seems reasonable. It's less about the bathroom income and more about being able to eliminate bathrooms through decreased demand and putting in a couple more seats.

I wish I could fly to to cities within 2.5 hours for <$100 roundtrip.

Some of these fares will go up a fair bit post-Brexit; they are still artificially low, given the overall weakness of the pound and the Euro compared to the dollar.
Plus you have government subsidies (although here in the US, the taxpayers have absorbed more than their fair share of airline bankruptcies, especially when it comes to pensions) and real competition from a fairly competent rail system that help keep fares low.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #217: March 23, 2017, 10:57:12 AM »
Peasant.  I only travel in my private rail car. 
You can avoid all of that by flying first class, which is what I do on all flights now.

Offline mitlen

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #218: March 23, 2017, 11:02:50 AM »
Peasant.  I only travel in my private rail car. 

Eat ish goud to be Czah.   :)

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #219: March 23, 2017, 11:56:24 AM »
You can avoid all of that by flying first class, which is what I do on all flights now.

...or Premium Economy (such as BA's World Traveller Plus) - 39in legroom vs the 31in of regular tourist class, plus a bit better catering. It's the way I usually fly to Europe.

Offline dcpatti

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #220: March 23, 2017, 12:30:34 PM »
There is no age limit for joining AARP, just pay the fee and you can access all their shopping discounts. One is a decent discount off of BA flights, although it's not as generous as it used to be.  I think it's $200 off of business class now (used to be $400) and $100 off coach (used to be $200), and it's money right off the top, so if you hit a BA sale, you can get IAD-LHR in business class for around $1600, sometimes less. Not chump change by any stretch but considering coach fares have been running $700-900, it is definitely worth the price difference.  BA's business class is not bad, slightly better than the USA-based carriers but not in the same league as Virgin (although it's rare to find business class fares on Virgin for under $2k on that route) or the Asian or Middle Eastern carriers. 
 
With my husband being British, we've been using that AARP discount for years to avoid coach when going to visit his family. I was kinda pissed when the travel bloggers started promoting it because people started abusing it, and then they cut the discount back.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #221: March 23, 2017, 12:36:51 PM »
I thought one had to be 50?
There is no age limit for joining AARP, just pay the fee and you can access all their shopping discounts.

Offline MarquisDeSade

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #222: March 23, 2017, 02:21:10 PM »
...or Premium Economy (such as BA's World Traveller Plus) - 39in legroom vs the 31in of regular tourist class, plus a bit better catering. It's the way I usually fly to Europe.

Even on transcontinental flights I just pay for the 1st class upgrade.  Leg room is great in Premium Economy but you're still crammed in a tiny seat dealing with the peasants. 

Offline dcpatti

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #223: March 23, 2017, 02:24:43 PM »
I thought one had to be 50?

Nope, the only requirement is pay the money.

Offline Ray D

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Re: Lerners are Cheap - 2017
« Reply #224: March 23, 2017, 03:00:36 PM »
Nope, the only requirement is pay the money.
They'll catch up with you eventually.