Interesting Shamrogue. Problem is Aer Arann need to get a lot higher yield than UK£80 rtn to make a WATERFORD - LONDON route work. These are expensive routes to operate on a pricey aircraft. I admire them trying though. Maybe Waterford is the only place other than the potentially explosive Dublin-Cork market where RE is not vulnerable.

Nedin,

Oh and they do. 80 was just a figure same as getting the £1 figure.

As a figure, over the weekend I did cost comparisons on a few routes, Lingus came out cheapest and FR dearest in 8 out of 10 comparisons and not a £1 fare to be found. So I'm will to put £100 here and now on it. Arann are safe.

Shamrogue

PS. Nedin, perhaps you should join the scare mongering crew over on the EUjet postings.

Let's praise John Smyth at ORK for getting all these great routes - eevn if operationally the place is a mess. Let's praise CityJet as well.

But let's tell the truth! Even when it hurts.

Neidin
You still haven't answered my question. What vested interest have you in having a cut at Irish airports other than DUB and Aer Arann. And why the unusual reference to JS and CityJet? I think there is a story there. To quote yourself tell us the truth even when it hurts. Or are you going to go all quiet again?

easyJet ups the frills!
 

The BBC, on February 9th reports:

"The carrier, which keeps its ticket prices down by cutting overheads deemed unnecessary, operates a non-reserved seating policy.

But after checking in, passengers on flights out of Luton have been able to avoid possible queues and a scramble for seats by paying £10 for an early-boarding privilege.

"Business people might like to have a particular seat so they would be able to leave the plane quickly on arrival," a spokeswoman explained."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4249751.stm



I don't know about you guys, but I for one think that this is an absolutley ridiculous and unworkable idea.

Having experience of how low cost airlines operate I can see that this is set up to fail.

Imagine:

. . . the inbound flight arrives on stand on time (something that happens less often than not), 149 passengers get off, the crew clean and security check the cabin, then the crew get off, then the new crew get on. Meanwhile at the boarding gate, the outbound passengers are already crowding around the gate once the aircraft pulls onto stand - even after announcements by the gate staff asking passengers to take their seats and await the priority boarding announcements.

Then, the gate staff pre-board those that have paid the extra £10, who are presumably business travellers (because this is who easyJet say they want this product to appeal to) but first they have to push past all of the other passengers, including those with children and push chairs so that they can preboard. I don't think so!

Then of course you have the issue of outstations actually delivering the product - once it is fully roled out (easyJet, like any airline wants to offer a consistent product for it's travellers at all airports). Experience shows that many handling staff abroad can not even ask the mandatory security questions for UK airlines, let alone board by the current priority boarding system and NOW something else to police!

Why not get the current procedures to work properly before muddying the waters with something else?

Air Canada have introduced a system where if you pay for the most restrictive fare, you can't preallocate your seat unless you pay (C$15/sector I think).

Seems to be the way things are going, that seat allocation is no longer dependent on showing up or using online services but on paying upfront. Started with the charters and seems to be moving to the LCCs and FSCs.

So how much will easyJet pay me to get off the plane last?

http://whipsnade.co.uk/picturelibrar...r_120_wide.jpg

Allocated seating would be the fastest way to woo the business traveller.... Stops all the other ****e completely!

What if 149 passengers on a full flight all paid the £10 for priority boarding? ;) I guess they'd have to limit how many they sell on each flight?

the only way they'll impress the business passenger is if the boarding card comes with a seat number on it. Looks like they are really scraping into the daft ideas barrel now.

I have used BMI Baby's online seat allocation, unfortunately....
It's FREE :ok:
watp,iktch

chiglet

I agree. One thing I very much liked about V Bird was the free seat reservation thingy on they web-based booking system. http://www.navitaire.com/ has it all!

First experience I had with LCC offering seat allocation on internet reservation was with Jetblue. Then, as mentioned above, V-Bird did the same. It saves a great deal of hassle and with today's technology I don't believe that it increases costs in any significant way. If they want to give the businessmen a better seat option they can just leave the first five rows (or so) blocked to the cheapo fares.

Are people unable of doing things the conventional way?

Queue up!!!!

No. We are talking about the modern world, not Wales :D ;)

WARNING: This is said tonque-in-cheek. Please do not take offence.

Just how much does an airline save by not allocating seats at check-in?

I ask because Air Berlin has been allocating seats ever since they began the City Shuttle services to UK. Pre-booking on the internet costs, but everyone who has not prebooked on the web gets a seat allocated a check-in.

I would have though that giving the passenger one less thing to think about when they board would speed up turnarounds.

the benefits of free seating is a myth nurtured in the offices where beans are counted. Them behind the desks think that it forces people to the checkin and gate early. From this point of view they are probably right. This however, doesn't necessarily ensure the aircraft completes an optimum turnaround. What it does do is p*ss off the people who are most likely to pay more for their seats aka businessmen. There will always be two sides to this argument but if you watch the antics of the average passenger when they board their free-seated aircraft it would seem to unwind any of the advantage gained in the terminal.

Often on a NCE-LGW, BA is about £10 more than Easy but I check in online and print my boarding pass 24 Hours before.
Travelling with no checked bags (BA cabin allowance), all I have to do is to go straight to the gate a T-10 (ie right before closing the gate).
Brillant and I and don't have to put up with Easyjet's childish, not funny but ultimately ridiculous PA's (come one Easyjet cabin crew, try to look professional, specially if you include in your PA that you are primarily here for my safety).
I can do my flat, a taxi ride to the airport, a flight to LGW and push the crew room door in under 3 hours.

Flew with Easy a lot but I don't see them as the business airline, certainly not from a regular normal fare paying passenger.

Still they have a market...

Cork-Budapest air link to begin
 

Malev, the Hungarian airline, is due to begin flights between Cork and Budapest in April, the Evening Echo reported today.

It's believed there will be up to four flights per week to the city using Boeing B737-600 aircraft.

Malev is one of the carriers already operating a Budapest service from Dublin.


(16/02/2005 - 14:40:08)

The President of Hungary is due in Cork on next Wednesday, 23rd February arriving on a Malev 737 so guess there might be something to the Evening Echo story! ;)

I suppose it would make an evening echo story alright!!!

He is after all coming to visit the European capital........... of culture :cool:

What we need in Cork is to get "wizzed". Been to budapest three times in the last 12 months, always went via London with either EZY or wizz. Malev out of Dublin was a ridiculous price. Was always closer to €400/€500 when I priced it. And this was even flying mid week etc.

I wonder what their pricing is going to be out of ORK etc?