Carr30
What would those 'experiences' be SXB? It would interest us all if the limitations of these companies could be illustrated with some personal accounts
Yes, I quite happy to indulge you with some personal experiences, I'll just choose the ones I can remember best.
BA
First one, a few years ago travelling SXB-CDG-LHR-EVN (EVN is yerevan, RYR don't fly there) A least the 1st leg of the journey was AF, maybe the second as well but I don't remember. Given the route I knew the chances of my luggage getting there as well was limited so I had toiletries and two changes of clothing in carry-on. On arrival at Yerevan my luggage wasn't there, nor was it on the list of delayed luggage that the BA rep knew about. In anycase she immediately gave me cash compensation and said even though I was travelling economy (they wouldn't let me travel club in those days) she would compensate me at the Business class rate because they were not equipped with those "emergency overnight kits" that some airlines give you. Bear in mind that I was on a multiple sector trip with different airlines and it wasn't clear where my bag was (side note, I don't know the legal position with luggage on a trip with two different airlines). The BA rep also gave me a lift into the city as my driver never up turned and she'd finished for the night (this is all taking place at about 2.00am)
The BA office in yerevan were excellent, they contacted me everyday but they had no news, nobody knew where my bag was located so I spent 10 days in yerevan constantly getting the hotel to wash the few clothes I had. On the return journey I turned up at checkin and the same BA rep handed me a business class boarding card as an apology.
My bag turned up 3 weeks later and had never left CDG.
More recently I had to begin a business trip from London (following on from another) to Ankara. To cut a long story short my morning flight from Ankara was cancelled because the flight the day before had an aircraft problem. They couldn't get me to Istanbul to pick up another connection because all the Turkish Airlines flights in the afternoon were full. They offered to put me in a hotel for the night and put me on the flight to LHR the following morning. I really wanted to get home that day because Spurs were playing live on Sky so I told them them I really needed to get back that day. After some debate in the office they booked me on a Lufthansa flight to Munich and then from there a direct flight to Strasbourg, a taxi from the airport to home saw me sat in front of the TV watching the pre match analysis. Their only obligation was to get me to my final destination which was Frankfurt.
RYR
Last year travelled with RYR from Baden Baden (I believe they call it Karlsruhe) After waiting for 3 hours was told the flight was cancelled because of bad weather in originating airport. Asked the agent which location that was and "she didn't know" Of course bad weather means no compensation.
Previously to that used them from SXB to Stansted, flight cancelled because of bad weather in originating airport, evening flight full so they offered to book us on the flight the next day. My wife, bless her frenchness, asked them if they could book us on the AF flight to Gatwick later that day
The above experiences illustrate the difference between the two airlines, BA are not stupid, they know I'm a FF with them. I normally use them for longer trips which means I'm travelling Club which means a lot of income.
RYR are a bucket airline flying between fixed points and they are dirt cheap but my experience in using them gives me the impression that they are not 100% with their information. Also I think they exploit a number of their staff and this, in itself, is enough for me not to use them.
My view is that BA are a real airline who fly all over the world, if you have a problem you aren't on your own and that goes for most legacy carriers.
Sorry to ramble on but carr30 did ask for specific examples.
Also, I'm not saying BA are perfect, like any airline they have their problems but my impression is that there is a genuine willingness to help. This certainly is not the case with RYR