Monday, May 31, 2010

Lunedi Lunacy - Ain't Air Travel Fun?

Given that
a) I'm afraid of flying
b) you have to be at airports 2-3 hours ahead these days
c) most airports are miles from the city
d) Airline staff get nasty if you don't spend 25 minutes trying to figure out the Express Check-in machines
e) I prefer trains
f)You pay extra for almost everything,

its a wonder that I fly anywhere. But fly I do - Madrid, London, Palermo and Vienna so far this year - and on occasion I've used a low cost airline - some of you may recall the fun I had with my friends at Vueling on my trip to Madrid in January.

Now I know that Ryanair has had a lot of bad press but I must admit the flights I took with them to London - well okay 40 kms outside London - and back were fine. I mean I got there and back. The £5.00 sandwich was almost fresh and the £2.50 coffee with whitener was hot. And I did understand part of the safety announcement the young Russian flight attendant made - I think!

But someone has decided to go head to head in direct competition with them for, if nothing else, cheesy website and obscure city airports codes. Next time I think I'll take:



A left click will take you to their hundreds of obscure destinations and services that give "minimal" a new dimension. As my good friend Benjamin at Vueling told me: "Sir, you have to realize that the minute you book a ticket on a low cost airline you are getting what you pay for. We cut corners, its as simple as that. You can't expect service."

Many thanks to my opera colleague Faye for putting me on to this one.

31 maggio -Visitazione della Beata Vergine

3 comments:

Sling said...

HA!..One thing's for sure,it's hard to be disappointed when they set you up with lowered expectations. :)

Anonymous said...

But at least the flights you took this year were'nt too long.

CP

John said...

I always have to have an employee help me with the express check-in.