"cheap"er flights

[britalexis]

I know the reasons for airlines like ryanair/easyjet/vueling to have such cheaper flight costs compared to the bigger airlines because of things like no snacks/meals or the seats etc etc... but am i still as safe flying on these smaller airlines. I've never flown with smaller airlines always with either AirCanada/Lufthansa/Continental.. Honestly, when i see that i can fly from vancouver (yvr) , to london(gatwick) for $509 inc tax (with flyglobespan).. and for september.. like months away...it makes me a bit concerned. hmm

[pointofnoreturn]

You'll be fine. I had no problems with them whatsoever and the flight was comfortable, clean, quick and efficient. Yes, there are no meals on-board and you're required to pay for one if you want to eat something.

They're just like any other airline, except for the following things:

• Boarding is pretty much first come, first serve - except for priority boarding. So you'll all be scrambling for seats. I don't really get this concept - you're all going to get on the plane eventually LOL.
  
• Tickets are also first come, first serve. The earlier you buy them, the cheaper they are.
  
• Bag weight limits - usually 15-20 kg and usually only one checked item and one carry-on.
  
• Erm... that's all I can think of!

[WillTravel]

These budget airlines are serviced by the same mechanics as Lufthansa, KLM, etc. So you are not getting cut-rate safety if you use them. Ryanair and EasyJet have had no fatalities (I don't think any of the others have either, but I know those haven't.)

Does anyone know, now that airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet charge for speedy boarding, whether these airlines still have boarding separated by groups, according to time of check-in? I took EasyJet this summer, and they had priority boarding, but I have already forgotten what happened with the rest of us. Boarding is truly no big deal.

[herrbert]

The EU has a black list of all airlines who don't meet the standards of safety. These blacklisted airlines can't gain access to European airspace. So count on it that every commercial airplane flying in the EU meet all the necessary safety standards of the EU.

to add a few:

A lot of the cost reductions has to do with:
- not selling paper tickets (now very common)
- less staff (that you will notice on check-in.
- no 'free' drinks or meals. (you can buy them}
- making money by selling 'junk' on board
- more seats in an airplane (less room for your legs, than normal)
- and believe it or not: newer airplanes (less fuel consumption)
- a faster turn around (the time between landing, and taking off again.

Making you pay for priority access is my favourite one. I wonder what would happen if everybody on board buys such a ticket! Did you ever notice people rushing out of the airplane? That's something I also don't understand, because everybody will be waiting at the bagageclaim! or even worse, if you don't dock to a gate, they are waiting for the bus, to drive you to the terminal.

Also keep in mind that the number of cheap seats are limited, if you want to book a flight at the last moment, you need to pay much more (sometimes even more then at lufthansa or iberia etc. but some people don't look close enough, and automaticly assume that easyjet and ryanair are always cheaper, and book these overpriced seats.)

[pointofnoreturn]

EasyJet does have priority boarding (PB) as well as speedy boarding (SB). I've always gotten priority boarding but found that most of the time, it's not really applicable if you're taking a shuttle - because everyone gets on the plane together.

But if the plane is lined up at the gate, connected through a walkway, priority boarding does really help - much to everyone's disappointment that I'm boarding the plane ahead of them hahaha.