Well, we did the flight today and I am pleased to report that my daughter officially likes airliner travel.
This was our flight:
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-dbcb#ba983ce
Many congratulations on your daughter discovering the joys of air travel! Shame she had to endure an Airbus though, and I find it mind-boggling that you'd not had an Airbus craft before! It had to happen eventually, I have too many Airbus craft in my AFQR for my liking. They're slowly catching up with how many 737-800s I've had, and this is far from acceptable! For what it's worth, this is my list of preferences in order:
737-800
Dash 8
E175
E195 (OK, these two swap places every time I have one of them!)
787-9
Anything Airbus
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I've recently been on a Ryanair 737-800 on the October Half Term to Faro from Man Airport. Lovely weather and all that.
I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but it's been a long while since I've stepped aboard an airline (the last one was BA) so I may be come across as 'that dirty amateur'. However...
The seats aren't really that bad, are they. Ok, so I'm not adult sized yet (guess later) but my legs seemed to fit fine, and the chairs were of average comfort (I don't mind most seats on transport). The lighting was all well and good in the night flight, but by golly, the colour choices must be one of the worst for aircraft I've ever seen. The combination of bright 'slap in your face' yellow and bold blue made it seem like a kids play area. Also, yellow plastic is really not that nice...
I've seen some pictures of how they would look like when they are refurbished and I'm super impressed. Can't wait for that as I'm probably gonna be flying more often soon.
Some nitpicks though. The safety announcer sounds a bit bored and forced. Actually, just listening to her drone on sucks the soul out of me, no offence. And the safety cards? Please please please don't eat me on the head for saying this but, y'know, I could draw better than that......
Still, decent for a first ride in a long time and the crew were really nice, which goes a long way!
That's a fair and balanced view of Ryanair, and please do share more of your experiences in the air when you get another chance. Quite, I would say this applies to everyone, maybe even generate some trip report threads so the rest of the community here gets a chance to see them?
I like the blue and yellow, always have done. I have yet to properly look at the refurbished examples, but I'm not in a rush to do so. The Ryanair crews take some beating in my experience, I have had worse from the supposedly superior airlines. Depending which crew you get on Flybe, Ryanair can beat even some of them!
Quite, I can't wait to fly Ryanair again!
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FWIW, as someone who travels to Oslo semi-regularly, I have no problem with Norwegian (and I'm 5'10" or so) for that distance (wouldn't want to go much further, though!), and frequently choose their direct flights from EDI–OSL in preference to going from GLA–LHR–OSL or GLA–AMS–OSL. I'd definitely choose them in preference to Ryanair!
When it comes to 789s, it sounds like they have the same seats as BA's A380s, which I at least found fine (well, as far as economy seats on a long-haul flight are!), so I may well just end up doing that. Apparently half an inch wider than Aer Lingus's A330's!
Unfortunately, thanks to my less than pleasant experience with Norwegian back in March 2016 (I discussed it on this thread at the time, and I posted my long complaint in a review on TripAdvisor), I treat them as the enemy and will avoid them at all costs. So does my mate I went to the USA with. I re-read my review yesterday, and the comment I made that sticks in my head the most is how even Ryanair pre-seat allocations would have shaken their heads at Norwegian's operations. I don't remember if I posted the full complaint I sent to Norwegian, who very much brushed it off weeks later with not even an apology or anything, to this thread but if anyone needs it I will post it later.
Ryanair is my favourite airline, so I will choose to fly with them very happily. Yes Norwegian fly 737-800s but I will not endure their useless crews or service again!
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BA Review
OK, last post from me for now on this thread gang, my long-awaited review of BA. I've already hinted to bits of it in Day 1 of my Tech's In Vienna trip report in my usual thread, but here goes for the full low-down:
This trip had been highly anticipated for 6 months since it was booked in early May 2016, my first time on British Airways (BA) and I had heard various things, good and bad, about BA. However I knew I was in for a better time than on Norwegian, and flying with a premium airline meant I expected nothing but excellence. Let's start with bag drop at Gatwick Airport, North Terminal. Please note from January 2017 it's all change on BA, amongst other things they're moving to South Terminal at Gatwick Airport. We'll come to the other big change soon enough:
Bag drop was nice and easy, with virtually no queue on our visit, although I'd imagine in peak holiday season this is a very different experience! Even with some systems issues, the BA staff were friendly and I unfortunately forgot to note the name of the man who manned our desk as he was very good at his job. We're through here in just a few minutes, and security was also a breeze (again, a very different experience in the summer holidays I would imagine!) and the staff very friendly and helpful. Compared to Stansted Airport, and for that matter Birmingham Airport, this was a welcome change!
Eventually we get informed the gate is number 574, and the staff here have no problem getting us marked off on their lists and we're boarding in no time. Our seats were allocated to 9A and 9B, a window and middle seat respectively. I'm a Boeing fan by nature, so getting on an Airbus plane made me feel like a traitor, and this was an Airbus A319. Give me a Boeing 737-800 any day! This was especially noted with the legroom on these planes, it was virtually non-existant. My fellow traveller had it worse, as he has longer legs than me! This was made even worse when the woman in front of him went to full recline on her seat, which she thankfully decreased the recline of which after being ordered by flight crew when she didn't want to do it after our own request. Even so he had a bad experience, so I tried to book exit row seats which had superior legroom for the return journey, however this was only possible for one of us so I couldn't do it.
So, the world famous in-flight service of complimentary drinks and refreshments that BA offer. Until 11th January 2017, it is formed of free soft and hot drinks (not that the hot drinks are actually advertised!) as well as some alcoholic drinks. I went for one of them on the homeward flight (BA2659) a few days later, but they had no Amstel and we were the first row to be served on that flight so I was disappointed. The refreshments were only packets of sea salted crisps on BA2658 on 14th November 2016, which were nice but I would have preferred more variety. Apparently the only other choice of snacks was a packet of lemon biscuits which they eventually found some of apparently. I settle for a coffee, and wow my cup was just about only half full, what happened here?! That and it was utterly rancid stuff, only just about drinkable but I've had bargain basement supermarket coffee that tastes better! It barely quenched any thirst whatsoever, and I felt like we were lucky to get anything, as if they didn't want to give anything to anyone but had to.
The service was hardly any better on the way back, with the same rancid coffee and the crisps were decent enough and actually much needed at that point. The same uncomfortable seats, the same rubbish legroom and by the time we alighted the plane it was more than welcome to get the legs moving again! Worth pointing out bag drop and security at Vienna Airport were nice and easy, once you understood what the signs were telling you.
Overall, I didn't think anything overly special of BA, and as I've mentioned to other people since BA2658 I prefer Ryanair which is unusual and eyebrow-raising to almost everyone. I'd rather pay less for my flight and pay money for a decent size and drinkable coffee, not to mention take my own choice of food and drink from the airport post-security with me on the plane. Ryanair crews are much more attentive and happier to answer questions than BA crew, which I also found surprising to be fair. Still, it has to be said that I would definitely fly BA again over Norwegian! Mind you, I'd also fly Manx2 (who I think are now called CityWing or something silly like that) over Norwegian. Aer Lingus who also use Airbus planes take priority over Norwegian, as do Flybe with their excellent planes, I could go on!
From 11th January 2017, except from London City Airport for some reason, complimentary refreshments will be a thing of the past on BA. Marks and Spencer are being teamed up with for food on BA, and to be honest the complimentary refreshments are a waste of time having so let's have the new era on BA now, let's not wait until January!
Travel Tip: For your own sake, pay the extra to reserve your choice of seat! Don't leave it until the last minute either!
