British Airways vs easyJet vs Ryanair – who is really the cheapest?

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• Paul says:

  1 Jul1 July 07:37

  What would be really useful is seeing the load factors on each of the above examples.

  BA problem is not just that it is a legacy carrier but its legacy failings. Neither Ryan air nor easy jet have required tents outside their home hubs nor have they suffered the images of thousands sleeping on floors. BA tend to over promise then under deliver not just on short haul but long haul also.

  I think people are now much more canny about flying and do take into account the costs referred too such as getting to the airport. I use LHR and BA ( though increasingly less so ) as any other departure point would require me to drive past LHR first.

  I have used easy jet as it flys to cities not served by BA or others from LHR but on principle I would rather walk than fly Ryanair.

  I think that what we have is a lack of competition especially at LHR where capacity restraints and BA acquisitions have all but removed genuine competition. The results are clear, degradation in product, lack of innovative new products and fare hikes so high they affect monthly inflation results.

  There is a desperate need for a new superhub to redress this imbalance.

• erico1875 says:

  1 Jul1 July 07:40

  First off, what a brilliant advert for Ryanair, who were consistently cheaper for all 3 destinations for flights departing 12 April over the 6 week period.
  Why 12 April? Surely a proper survey would have more flight days. 1 flight day just isn’t really enough other than to produce a “Sun” type headline.

  • Lakin says:

    1 Jul1 July 08:55

    To be fair, the bbc do explain (though in a footnote) that the aim was not to actually compare prices of the three airlines:
    “We picked one flight per airline per destination. Every day for six weeks prior to departure, we recorded the lowest price available for that flight on the airline’s website
    The aim was to track how fares moved, rather than to compare prices”

• whiskerxx says:

  1 Jul1 July 08:25

  “You also need to factor in the cost of getting to different airports. Assuming that you aren’t prepared to take a bus, it is cheaper to get to Heathrow on the tube than it is to get to Gatwick or Stansted via National Rail.”

  ermmmm………. just as a reminder……not everyone lives in central London!

  • Rob says:

    1 Jul1 July 08:54

    True, but the same principle applies!

    • trickster says:

      1 Jul1 July 12:30

      Indeed it does.

      Several years ago, before they started tacking on lots of extra charges, we flew from Liverpool to Oslo (Torp) for a few pounds with Ryanair. If I recall correctly it cost over £25 each (return) for the 2 and a half hour coach journey from the airport to the city center.

• Matt says:

  1 Jul1 July 08:41

  When will people realise – Ryanair is cheaper because the quality of the experience is significantly less! I had to take Ryanair for business to Eastern Europe recently – the flight was almost £300 (booked 3 weeks before departure) and the experience was awful. You cannot compare like to like on price as it’s not the same product. Also Ryanair have a lot of very bad flight times, so for me living just inside zone 2 in relatively central London to get home from Stanstead on train and tube after landing at 11PM is a nightmare, and your only other option is a £110 taxi… So sometimes any price savings you think you may have are wiped out in other ways. Ryanair has been a great marketing success but unless I can get a flight for £10 return then I’m not going to bother, and I think due to the UK APD those kind of fares are long gone now!

• Susan says:

  1 Jul1 July 08:53

  An interesting if flawed comparison.

  Using hand-baggage only fares will massively skew the price benefit towards Ryanair – it’s possibly fairer for BA v Easyjet as the latter at least has a hand baggage allowance which allows more than a toothbrush and pair of socks. However for the comparison it would have been more reasonable to include a checked-baggage item in every fare.

  There’s also no mention of whether these are return flights – legacy carrier one-way fares are notoriously expensive to the extent that a return can work out cheaper than a single whereas the LCCs tend to do a straight return=2 x o/w. But most of us need a return so comparing just the o/w fare is again going to skew the results.

  Flying from “the provinces” can means a direct flight with a LCC but connection with BA (don’t get me started;-()BUT for those of us needing to connect because of destination then the security of a single ticket on BA (or in my case KLM) is much preferable to the discrete ticketing of Easyjet or Ryanair.

  Still an interesting exercise.

• Howard says:

  1 Jul1 July 09:42

  I just used the E90 in economy with BA and what a good economy seat this is. My hand luggage looked large and I was asked almost apologetically could I please place in the tray to see if it fits and it just did. With Ryanair my daughter had the same experience just prior to boarding and they rushed her to the extent that she panicked and placed at an angle and it did not fit. The guy would not let her try again and said £50 or you are not flying!!! She paid by debit card as she had no choice. When she got home we went for a charge back. Did a letter to the bank explaining duress. Bank investigated and put the £50 back into her bank account.

  Moral of the story is that its not just about price. If its a little dearer on BA I wold rather always travel BA than Ryanair. Having said that using points for travel in Europe with BA is still good value.

• sdfbailey says:

  1 Jul1 July 11:38

  It would also be interesting to see more airlines in the comparison. What about Lufthansa / Germanwings / Iberia / Alitalia / KLM / Air France / Flybe – even if you have to connect via a European hub to get there?

• Jane Easthope says:

  1 Jul1 July 13:37

  I live half an hour north of Stansted. When I go on a plane I have some downloaded Radio 4 programmes on my phone and have a doze. I don’t care where I sit and I’m not particularly fussed about getting a free biscuit with my cup of tea or bag of crisps with my coke (the offer last time I flew BA to BCN). Sure, BA were very accommodating when I cocked up with timings one time and arrived for a flight home after bag drop had closed, but it was my own stupid fault and I wouldn’t have blamed any carrier who’d penalise me for it.

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