Ryanair and Easyjet

[hantsman1205]

If the flight isn't full do they ever reduce the ticket prices close to departure time?

They do but generally its rare, the early you book its pretty much always cheaper.

 

[Tetchytyke]

If the flight isn't full do they ever reduce the ticket prices close to departure time?

Probably not reduce, but certainly not increase. As I said, I got a £60 fare four hours before departure, during disruption, last month. I know it had been around the £60 mark for ages.

Easyjet have a (very badly publicised) guarantee where they'll reimburse you the difference if the fare drops after you book it, so I doubt Easyjet reduce very often.

 

[telstarbox]

I suppose neither of them want to get a reputation for regularly dropping fares close to time, as some passengers would then leave it later to book.

 

[WestCoast]

It depends on their yield management model, fares are increased or decreased depending on many factors such as demand forecasts, historical data, time frames etc. I've noticed with Ryanair, they often first load the fares at a higher rate and then reduce them about three months before departure as part of a "sale" campaign (which are as frequent as DFS!).

 

[Greenback]

I suppose neither of them want to get a reputation for regularly dropping fares close to time, as some passengers would then leave it later to book.

I don;t think any company would be very keen on that, but as I understand it, at least some of the business models rely on a comparison between predicted sales and actual sales. If the prediction is exceeded, then the price will rise, if the number of booked seats is lower than the predictions, the price will drop.

I'm not an expert by any means, but at least that explains why prices vary so much, and why they can go down one day and up the next, or vice versa, because there has been a group booking at some point that has distorted the algortihms involved.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

There is also the issue of if you keep searching for the same flights via the same browser the prices will rise regard-less of demand

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is also the issue of if you keep searching for the same flights via the same browser the prices will rise regard-less of demand

While they *could* do that I don't believe they actually *do* do that. The prices are the same for everyone, they are not personalised.

You will see that effect simply because others have purchased the flights causing them to go up.

 

[Tetchytyke]

While they *could* do that I don't believe they actually *do* do that. The prices are the same for everyone, they are not personalised.

Ryanair used to use cookies to inflate prices if you leave the website and then return at a later date. They don't do this anymore, as part of O'Leary's desire to be seen as a cuddly leprechaun rather than a grumpy Irish git, but they definitely used to do it. I saw it with my own eyes, as I have two different browsers on my PC, both of which showed different prices.

Plenty of companies still do. Yes, I'm looking at you Europcar.

 

[anme]

Ryanair used to use cookies to inflate prices if you leave the website and then return at a later date. They don't do this anymore, as part of O'Leary's desire to be seen as a cuddly leprechaun rather than a grumpy Irish git, but they definitely used to do it. I saw it with my own eyes, as I have two different browsers on my PC, both of which showed different prices.

Plenty of companies still do. Yes, I'm looking at you Europcar.

I've also noticed this with car hire companies - if prices start rising suspiciously, try clearing cookies or using a different browser.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

You are NOT paying for most of their trip. This idea that Business Travellers subsidize leisure travellers is so pre low cost airline thinking. Without leisure travellers, there would not be the route network that you crave for. You have to pay top dollar because you require turn up (almost)and go travel. That is the nature of your job and your business travel budget reflects these high costs.

I don't crave for a route network. I fly between cities that have been linked by air for many decades. I also don't require (in most cases) turn up and go travel - I can usually book at least a week or two in advance.

Without yield management, the average fare might be higher, but the fare paid by those who currently pay far more than the average would be lower.

 

[edwin_m]

You are NOT paying for most of their trip. This idea that Business Travellers subsidize leisure travellers is so pre low cost airline thinking. Without leisure travellers, there would not be the route network that you crave for. You have to pay top dollar because you require turn up (almost)and go travel. That is the nature of your job and your business travel budget reflects these high costs.

A few years ago I had a series of meetings in Dublin every couple of months, when each one also agreed the date of the next one. I was therefore able to book on Ryanair from East Midlands well in advance with no baggage, and actually got the <£5 fares on more than one occasion. I actually thought this was rather unfair on leisure travellers who have to pay for luggage and often also for sitting together.

 

[miami]

I've also noticed this with car hire companies - if prices start rising suspiciously, try clearing cookies or using a different browser.

Or just go to private browsing mode. Ctrl-shift-n in chrome for example.

 

[185]

On short haul, I use Ryanair 15-20 times a year for my travels - I swear by them. Choose them over Easyjet anytime. The two-bag hand luggage policy is the winner for me.

Easyjet I found to be a mess, often chaotic at the gate, food service issues, and much more expensive. Shame as some years ago had many, many good flights with them, but reluctantly switched to Ryanair over price differences.

Ryanair have considerably improved over time, and now they are usually the only carrier checked for prices, don't even bother with Easyjet anymore.

 

[WestCoast]

On short haul, I use Ryanair 15-20 times a year for my travels - I swear by them. Choose them over Easyjet anytime. The two-bag hand luggage policy is the winner for me.

Easyjet I found to be a mess, often chaotic at the gate, food service issues, and much more expensive. Shame as some years ago had many, many good flights with them, but reluctantly switched to Ryanair over price differences.

Ryanair have considerably improved over time, and now they are usually the only carrier checked for prices, don't even bother with Easyjet anymore.

I use Skyscanner to compare all fares, Ryanair are usually pretty cheap but they were £30 dearer than Norwegian and £10 dearer than Vueling on a trip from Birmingham-Barcelona. They also charge a fortune if you need to check in a bag on some routes for an extended trip.

I've flown 40 times with Ryanair and about 25 with easyJet and would still choose the latter. All down to personal experience, but I had a poor experience with Ryanair last month involving crew that struggled to deal with an abusive passenger and told a passenger "what do you want me to do about it" when they complained that there was no hot food left. It's a stressful job so I can see their perspective and wouldn't dream of complaining since it was probably a one-off, but easyJet staff seem perhaps a little more trained/experienced at handing issues IMHO. .

 

[anme]

It's interesting that people talk about "choosing" between Ryanair and Easyjet. There's actually not much competition between them - only 3% of Ryanair's routes between airports overlap with Easyjet, and only 7% of routes between cities (for example, STN-CRL and LGW-BRU) [1]. The number of passengers choosing between them is low.

On the same website, there's an interesting graph of the average revenue per passenger - i.e. how much it actually costs you to fly one way with each company once all their charges are paid. For 2014, the figure for Easyjet is 85 euros, and for Ryanair 63 euros, so Easyjet is substantially more expensive (although note that these numbers might be affected by any differences in the average route length between the companies). It's not stated whether this includes taxes.

[1] source: http://centreforaviation.com/analys...-as-head-to-head-competition-increases-208098

 

[northwichcat]

It's interesting that people talk about "choosing" between Ryanair and Easyjet. There's actually not much competition between them - only 3% of Ryanair's routes between airports overlap with Easyjet, and only 7% of routes between cities (for example, STN-CRL and LGW-BRU) [1]. The number of passengers choosing between them is low.

Some people will live roughly equidistant from two Airports so they may have a choice of Easyjet from Luton or Ryanair from Stansted or alternatively Easyjet from Liverpool or Ryanair from Manchester. While if there's a big price difference or one operator has unattractive flight times some people will choose to not use their nearest Airport. Also there may be a choice of Airports at the other end, if you're going to Marbella does it matter if you land in Gibraltar or Malaga, while if you're going to Siena does it matter if you land in Pisa or Florence?

 

[richw]

It's interesting that people talk about "choosing" between Ryanair and Easyjet. There's actually not much competition between them - only 3% of Ryanair's routes between airports overlap with Easyjet, and only 7% of routes between cities (for example, STN-CRL and LGW-BRU) [1]. The number of passengers choosing between them is low.

Your missing a key factor though, which was my case last year, if it would cost me £200 to fly from Gatwick, but £400 from Bristol, Bristol is closest suitable airport for my destination (approx. 300 mile round trip), however the travel to Gatwick (plus in my case a night either side of the flights from Gatwick, 600 mile round trip) plus the Gatwick flights was still considerably less than £400 plus travel to Bristol.

Roughly for 2 of us.
Gatwick Flights £200 (EasyJet- daily flights)
Premier Inn (night before outbound) £35
Travelodge (night of inbound) £30.
Travel to Gatwick £50 (megabus to Victoria - train Victoria - Gatwick)

Total £325

Bristol Flights £400 (twice weekly flights Ryanair)
Travel to Bristol airport by public transport £30 (megabus to Bristol plus Bristol city centre to airport bus fare) in addition the 6am flight would have required an overnight stay I didn't price up. Alternatively could have drove to Bristol for roughly £40 petrol plus £40 car parking

Total £430 + hotel, or £480 taking car.

 

[PermitToTravel]

Some people will live roughly equidistant from two Airports so they may have a choice of Easyjet from Luton or Ryanair from Stansted or alternatively Easyjet from Liverpool or Ryanair from Manchester.

The majority of people who live in Greater London are likely to not care about the difference between Luton, Stansted, or Gatwick, even if one is much closer than the others

 

[edwin_m]

The majority of people who live in Greater London are likely to not care about the difference between Luton, Stansted, or Gatwick, even if one is much closer than the others

However there is a large and fairly densely-populated area surrounding London where some of these airports are much more accessible than others, due to the radial nature of public transport and to some extent motorway links. From Nottingham Luton is pretty convenient, Gatwick and Stansted are much less so. So for example Ryanair flies to Dublin from both Stansted and Luton and Easyjet flies to Madrid from both Luton and Gatwick.

 

[miami]

The majority of people who live in Greater London are likely to not care about the difference between Luton, Stansted, or Gatwick, even if one is much closer than the others

85% of the country live outside greater London (not that you'd know that from TV)

 

[anme]

The majority of people who live in Greater London are likely to not care about the difference between Luton, Stansted, or Gatwick, even if one is much closer than the others

As a London resident and regular traveller, I strongly disagree with that. The time and cost of getting to, say, Stansted is very different to the cost of getting to, say, Gatwick.
If you are in the minority that live in central London, it might be more true, but outside the centre, some London airports will be much cheaper and more convenient than others.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Some people will live roughly equidistant from two Airports so they may have a choice of Easyjet from Luton or Ryanair from Stansted or alternatively Easyjet from Liverpool or Ryanair from Manchester. While if there's a big price difference or one operator has unattractive flight times some people will choose to not use their nearest Airport. Also there may be a choice of Airports at the other end, if you're going to Marbella does it matter if you land in Gibraltar or Malaga, while if you're going to Siena does it matter if you land in Pisa or Florence?

All true, but the point is that there is surprisingly little competition between Easyjet and Ryanair, not that there is no competition.
For example, Easyjet do not fly to the Republic of Ireland. Ryanair fly to five airports.
Easyjet fly to one airport in Poland, Ryanair to eleven.
Easyjet fly to two airports in Scandinavia, Ryanair to nine.
Easyjet do not fly to Romania, Ryanair fly to two airports.
Easyjet fly to one airport in the Baltic states, Ryanair to five.

 

[radamfi]

I live near Three Bridges so you would have thought I would use Gatwick almost exclusively. I recently visited Utrecht so the obvious flight is Gatwick to Schiphol. But I flew back from Eindhoven to Stansted. Why? The fare was so much cheaper.

 

[anme]

I live near Three Bridges so you would have thought I would use Gatwick almost exclusively. I recently visited Utrecht so the obvious flight is Gatwick to Schiphol. But I flew back from Eindhoven to Stansted. Why? The fare was so much cheaper.

Compared to how many times from Gatwick? If that's the only time you went to Stansted, you might still use Gatwick "almost exclusively".
Of course, I'm not arguing that people never make long journeys across London to distant airports, just that for most people in and around London, some airports are much more convenient than others, and this will influence their choice of flights.
As a sometimes very regular business traveller, I have used Heathrow, Gatwick and City hundreds of times in total in the course of my current job. I think I have been to Luton 3 times, and I have never departed from Stansted. I have arrived there a couple of times, but only when flights to other airports were cancelled.
I might consider your route, especially for leisure travel, but the end to end saving would have to be pretty large given the extra time and inconvenience.

 

[radamfi]

Compared to how many times from Gatwick? If that's the only time you went to Stansted, you might still use Gatwick "almost exclusively".

In the last few years I've mostly used Gatwick, although I've been flying less generally. But before that I was using Stansted a lot, because of the very cheap fares that were available then.

 

[PermitToTravel]

As a London resident and regular traveller, I strongly disagree with that. The time and cost of getting to, say, Stansted is very different to the cost of getting to, say, Gatwick.
If you are in the minority that live in central London, it might be more true, but outside the centre, some London airports will be much cheaper and more convenient than others.

From anywhere that isn't on the line of route to an airport (eg where I live in Northolt, if we can ignore Heathrow as it's not relevant to this thread) it's a similar distance around the M25 to Stansted or Gatwick. Luton is much closer but in the grand scheme of things the time difference isn't enough to justify choosing that over the others if it happens to be more expensive to fly to

By train, they're all similarly inconvenient due to the need to go into Z1 on the Underground and then back out again. I appreciate that this won't be the case for folk on the route to an airport, or south of the river where railways are denser and better connected; but I don't think it's wrong to say that to most Londoners it's much of a muchness

 

[anme]

From anywhere that isn't on the line of route to an airport (eg where I live in Northolt, if we can ignore Heathrow as it's not relevant to this thread) it's a similar distance around the M25 to Stansted or Gatwick. Luton is much closer but in the grand scheme of things the time difference isn't enough to justify choosing that over the others if it happens to be more expensive to fly to

By train, they're all similarly inconvenient due to the need to go into Z1 on the Underground and then back out again. I appreciate that this won't be the case for folk on the route to an airport, or south of the river where railways are denser and better connected; but I don't think it's wrong to say that to most Londoners it's much of a muchness

Having lived in many parts of London, there were always one or two airports that were much more convenient than the others (e.g. in south London, Gatwick was much quicker, west London, it was Heathrow, etc). I'm struggling to think of a place in London, other than maybe zone one, where it's "much of a muchness".

 

[northwichcat]

Compared to how many times from Gatwick? If that's the only time you went to Stansted, you might still use Gatwick "almost exclusively".

For around 5 years I mostly flew from Liverpool despite it not being my local Airport because there were a large number of cheap flights to destinations I hadn't been to. For instance when Easyjet had a Gibraltar route from Liverpool I paid around £75 return from Liverpool, when if I'd travelled from Manchester using Monarch it would have been around £80 one way.

All true, but the point is that there is surprisingly little competition between Easyjet and Ryanair, not that there is no competition.
For example, Easyjet do not fly to the Republic of Ireland. Ryanair fly to five airports.
Easyjet fly to one airport in Poland, Ryanair to eleven.
Easyjet fly to two airports in Scandinavia, Ryanair to nine.
Easyjet do not fly to Romania, Ryanair fly to two airports.
Easyjet fly to one airport in the Baltic states, Ryanair to five.

None of those appear to be the most popular countries for tourists and both Easyjet and Ryanair operate flights between EU countries outside the British Isles which aren't relevant when talking about whether people in Britain choose Ryanair over Easyjet or vice versa.

Ryanair are also infamous for claiming you can visit Vienna (Austria) using them but their flights land in Slovakia from where you can take a bus to Austria.

 

[fowler9]

I don't like Ryanair that much. I am sure like many though I choose who is cheapest. Flying with them from Manchester to Riga in a few weeks (A free lift from Liverpool to Manchester at a reasonable hour was a bit of a sweetener. Ha ha). My flight before that was Wizzair from Manchester to Tallinn, very pleasant, again a free lift to the airport helped. The trip after Riga looks like being Blue Air to Bucharest from Liverpool. New airline for me. Review to follow. Ha ha. I would prefer to fly Easyjet over Ryanair but in general they don't tend to fly where I want to go from Liverpool. That said my sister starts working for Easyjet this year so if there are any family deals I may change my mind on where I want to go. Ha ha.

 

[Iskra]

I fly with Ryanair about 6 times a year. It's a pretty uncivilised business to be honest and there is no need for it. Unfortunately, they are the only airline to fly direct to the airport I need from somewhere vaguely convenient in the UK (Stansted-still 2hours away!). Using Easyjet or anyone else would leave me a 6 hour drive in Italy. My flight is up to 3 hours, so I find headphones are an absolute must to drown out the constant sales announcements. Unreserved seating just created chaos, especially with large Italian families who all boarded last minute but still expected to get seats next to each other, resulting in epic arguments and ultimately delays.

Easyjet is a much more pleasant experience, and there is some attempt at providing customer service. So next week when I fly to Amsterdam, I chose them. I'll continue to choose them over Ryanair at every opportunity where I have the option and the price is reasonable even if it's more expensive.*

*Apart from very short flights, like Dublin.

 

[richw]

Unreserved seating just created chaos, especially with large Italian families who all boarded last minute but still expected to get seats next to each other, resulting in epic arguments and ultimately delays.

Both EasyJet and Ryanair have ditched unreserved seating, and you will now be allocated a seat on check in.

 

[Iskra]

Both EasyJet and Ryanair have ditched unreserved seating, and you will now be allocated a seat on check in.

I know, that sentence is in the past tense.

It took them a very long time to ditch it though.