Could you imagine Ryan Air doing this??

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They are, quite obviously, doing something right because they make good profits but I think that once the USP gets chipped away at

They benefited from deregulation in Europe in the mid-nineties and the general economics of the mass air travel market that developed.

But once things settle it's all about yield. And that's where you can see the likes of EasyJet refining the business in other ways - a frequent flyer scheme you pay to join, premium seating, flexible premium fares.

And this is where Ryanair are exposed. They've demonstrated that they can operate a very tightly controllled business and brutally constrain costs - but they also have an image problem which potentially costs them iif it affects their ability to increase their yield.
 
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If an aircraft is flying with the minimum amount of fuel required by the regulations... and still finds itself with below-reserve levels... then surely it's the regulations that are wrong?

I don't think it's reasonable to expect airlines to simply assume that the CAA got it wrong and over-specify everything, if the minimum amount is insuficient then the regulations should be amended accordingly.

There is a balance between what is reasonable in terms of safety and what is resaonable in terms of economics.

It's not just about final fuel reserve. It's about the way that an aircraft is operated such that it reaches that reserve withiout having landed. And that's down to planning prior to take off and arising circumstances decisions made after take off.

The regulations do appear to work in practice. Given the huge number of flights that are operated it is actually a noteworthy incident when an aircraft lands with less than the final reserve in its tanks.

When was the last time you heard about an airliner falling out of the sky or gliding in after engines have been starved due to a problem related to this subject? For example - the Air Transat A330 that glided into the Azores lost fuel due to a leak. The 767 Air Canada 'Gimli glider' was misfueled.

The only incident I can recall is the Avianca 707 that went down on apprioach to JFK. And that was in major part down to the interaction between the crew and ATC.

[Edit:]

I noticed this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/avi...ow-fuel-emergency-landings-in-four-years.html

It's a bit oddly stated - it looks like it includes all the events for any airline inbound to the UK and for UK registered aircraft landing outside the UK. So basically one might assume 50 per year from that number. Or about once a week.
 
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And the winner of the "Derailed thread of the year award goes to........................"

:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
And the winner of the "Derailed thread of the year award goes to........................"

:D:D:D:D:D:D

this couldn't go further... unless.... what if Michael O'Leary asked if he could fit HIDs to his planes? :p There are plenty of cheap kits on ebay after all!
 
this couldn't go further... unless.... what if Michael O'Leary asked if he could fit HIDs to his planes? :p There are plenty of cheap kits on ebay after all!

HIS planes?? They are leased....

:D
 
Not so many years ago, I flew with Ryan Air from Stansted to Dublin for a weekend break.

Bad move. Girlfriend (at the time - not any more) was starting a new Job on the Monday. O'Leary decided not to pay his baggage handlers the same rate as all the other baggage handlers were getting. Result - Strike!!

This then spread to all airlines and closed Dublin Airport. Stranded with nowhere to sleep and no possible means of getting out of Dublin it was a complete disaster.

O'Leary refused any refund or compensation preferring to spend money sending out fairly offensive letters telling people that it was everybody else's fault that he had managed to close Dublin Airport. He eventually paid his baggage handlers the going rate.

Girlfriend never got her new job as it involved flying out from Heathrow on the Monday.

Since then I have never flown Ryan Air and advise anybody with any sense to do likewise. The guy is a ****.
 
HIS planes?? They are leased....

They are indeed or the vast majority are from what I understand. But, it's a bit more involved than Ryanair just leasing the craft. It's Ryanair who does the deal with Boeing and places the order. Then when the planes are ready for delivery Ryanair offer them to leasing companies.
 
I've known Michael O'Leary for more than 40 years...he has a wicked sense of humour...he'll love this thread.

And his airline is the biggest joke around………


Unsurprisingly, "Which?" survey puts Ryanair bottom of all airlines - though they state that the move to allocated seating and reduced charges may change this. If O"Leary was as savvy as he is mouthy, he could have seen that these changes were necessary a couple of years ago.

Carolyn McCall made improvements to easyJet since she became CEO - and the result is a wide gulf between public perception of the two competing airlines. It's a gulf that O'Leary will find very hard to bridge.

All the current Ryanair "improvements" are just temporary sound-bites and window dressing to counter some recent bad publicity. They will soon find some new charges to make.

Perhaps a £75 charge for "VIP" status on board (you get a coloured cover on the headrest and the cabin crew occasionally smile at you) or a £35 per hour seat belt rental charge might be the way forward?
 
And his airline is the biggest joke around………


Unsurprisingly, "Which?" survey puts Ryanair bottom of all airlines - though they state that the move to allocated seating and reduced charges may change this. If O"Leary was as savvy as he is mouthy, he could have seen that these changes were necessary a couple of years ago.

Carolyn McCall made improvements to easyJet since she became CEO - and the result is a wide gulf between public perception of the two competing airlines. It's a gulf that O'Leary will find very hard to bridge.

All the current Ryanair "improvements" are just temporary sound-bites and window dressing to counter some recent bad publicity. They will soon find some new charges to make.

Perhaps a £75 charge for "VIP" status on board (you get a coloured cover on the headrest and the cabin crew occasionally smile at you) or a £35 per hour seat belt rental charge might be the way forward?

Just get staff to sell more... from what I remember, most stewards/hostesses on the planes start as temporary interns through an agency - they need to meet a sales target to be allowed onto the permanent staff.

Not sure if it's true though...
 
A few months back there was a documentary on Ryanairs's fuel policy. Management put pressure on the captains to reduce fuel use and what they take on before a flight. They have to justify any fuel over the internal usage guidelines.

This year the number of May Day landings has increased massively, due to lack of fuel.

I've taken 2 flights with them and will never again, nor air france
 
Wasn't there an AA flight that had an issue because they reached the runway with the legal minimum fuel; and due to strong winds had to abort the landing and retry?
 
Is it not Ryanair boss a billionaire now?

He has around 3.5% of RyanAir stock.

Today market capitalisation is 8.59 beeellion Euro - so that makes his holding worth about 300 meeeelllion Euro.

Which is a quarter billion of our UKP.

Nice.

However. Chances are if he sold them all off tomorrow they'd drop like a stone because apart from the effect of that number of shares hitting the market it's highly likely that investors would be spooked by him leaving the airline.
 
For some it's also about service ;)

Yeah but it's pretty abysmal at all arlines/airports imho. I dont fly a massive amount, maybe 5-6 times a year and struggle to see 'real' differences. I fly easyjet, ba, sas, ryanair.

There is small amount of additional hassle flying with ryanair, but flying/airports/transfers is such a drag anyway, that the additional hassle is absorbed amongst the rest of the bs.

Yes given the choice I also avoid them, but many times the price difference is to big not to do it.

People in general are massive snobs about flying with ryanair.
 

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