Mytravel lite v FR - DUB-BHX

[Dewdrop]

Mytravel lite are starting three flights a day DUB-BHX at the end of Sept saying in their press release that FR and Air Lingus are operating a "cosy cartel".
Tim Jeans returning to MOL's back yard. Let the games begin !

[TwinAisle]

Games indeed.... I have often speculated, in an idle moment, about the relationship between Mr J and his former boss, MOL.... I can't work out whether it was a cordial split, or one that led to a great amount of time in the confessional.

Don't know whether you caught the BBC4 programme last night on the lo-cos, called "Revolution in the Sky". TJ and MOL both featured on there, and managed not to say anything nasty about each other. In fact, MOL failed to mention TJ at all - perhaps he doesn't trust himself not to swear?

MOL has a very interesting turn of phrase - the line about "as much use as a condom in a convent" amused me, as did the way the BA spokesman repeated it - like watching HM the Q at a swearing contest.

TA

[brabazon]

Is that the same programme that was on BBC2 a while back? I think the condom quote was in reference to the Air Transport Users Council and it was their spokesman who repeated it - mind you the camera did catch MOL looking rather sheepish after some of his comments. Will he change his ways once he's married? What does his fiance think about his language?

As for the TJ/MOL link - it's surprising he wasn't forced to sign a "no competition" clause!!

[TwinAisle]

Brabazon

My dodgy memory strikes again - it was on late! You're quite right, it was the AUC spokesman, not BA. I think it was on BBC2 some time back - most things on BBC4 seem to be repeats!

But MOL looking sheepish at his language?? Nahhh. :D

TA

[brabazon]

Let battle commence....

MTL's lead-in fare is £1; Ryanair is now offering €0.50.

['PlaneHappy]

FR and EI are price-fixing and keeping prices artificially high on their BHX-DUB-BHX routes? Their prices are certainly vastly different.

What were FR's prices like prior to the announcement of MYTLite on the route? I recall seeing fares of 0.50 Euros each way on its website for travel in September.

[robinlance]

BBC2 ran a 1/2 hr Money Programme a few months ago but this BBC4 programme used the original 1/2 hr and added more material to it. Overall it seemed well put together and relevant.

[In trim]

I agree with robinlance.....the original Money programme was essentially all about RYR just after they'd announced their recent half(?)-yearly results. This used all of that original material but was a much broader programme dealing with the wider loco market. All in all it was pretty good.

[U/S President]

Ryanair’s Head of Communications, Paul Fitzsimmons said: “Ryanair welcomes competition. This is not the first time an airline has announced a Dublin route and it won’t be the last, and like all the others, they won’t beat Ryanair on price, frequency or punctuality. Ryanair’s fares to Birmingham start at €0.99 – that’s half of MyTravelLite’s best fare, and Ryanair has twice the frequency – 4 daily return services. Ryanair’s fares will always be half the price of MyTravelLite, with twice the frequency.” Ryanair’s response (http://www.ryanair.com/press/2003/aug/rte-en-110803.html)

Ryanair lie No 1

Ryanair are telling a blatant lie in saying they have FOUR daily returns. They have THREE: FR664, FR669 and FR673 (for both Summer and Winter). Some of the flights go at a different time of either Saturday or Sunday, but if they think that this allows them to describe it as a 4 times daily operation then they’re deluding themselves.

Ryanair lie No 2

At Monday’s 1200 press conference, MyTravelLite predicted that Ryanair would engage in predatory pricing and cut it’s lead-in fare to half of that offered by MyTravelLite. It took until 1600 on Monday for Ryanair to do just that. However, they’ve hidden the ‘saving’ in their higher taxes.

Ryanair states that it’s DUB-BHX lead-in fare is €1.00 less than MyTravelLite’s. However, Ryanair’s taxes are €13.52 compared to €11.13 for MyTravelLite. So MyTravelLite’s lead-in fare is really €1.39 LESS. Travelling BHX-DUB, Ryanair claims it’s lead-in fare is £0.50 less – but its taxes are £14.86 compared to £13.83 for MyTravelLite, so again MyTravelLite is cheaper.

And in any case, differences of a few pence or cents are pretty meaningless: the real test is seeing what kind of fare you can actually find on the websites for a day that you’d actually like to travel. I’m sure pax are more influenced by other factors – like that MyTravelLite times are better suited for BHX originating business pax.

P.S. brabazon: TJ did sign a non-competition clause. It’s now expired.

[GK430]

Take a look at the VZ website today...........looks like the battle is hotting up.

[bmibaby.com]

I have always wondered why Ryanair immediately tried to crush Go on flights to Dublin from two airports in Scotland that Ryanair didnt serve and then when the same situation came around with bmibaby from East Midlands Airport, Ryanair never once tried to launch flights between EMA and DUB.

Why is that?
Will Ryanair touch down at EMA soon as a member of the Kiss ground handling team keeps telling me they are?

[positive]

Nice to see MyTravel Lite starting a route from Dublin as one gets sick of listening to MOL constant moans about Dublin and not starting any new routes etc. until he gets his way.I know there are quite a lot of problems with the way the airport is run but Aer Lingus has no problems starting new routes.Let hope it works out for Mytravel Lite.And before it starts I'm not bashing Ryanair as they have done a great job for the Irish aviation scene.

[U/S President]

Don’t give Ryanair 50p, fly in style with Lite for free! (http://www.mytravellite.com/)

Loads of free flights available between BHX and DUB between 1st Sep and 31st Jan. Did MOL really think MyTravelLite would shirk from a scrap if he wants one.

Will Ryanair take that next step along the path to price-war and lower its ‘charges and fees’, or even start a “we pay the taxes for you” offer. Watch this space I guess ;).

MyTravelLite freebies are also available to NOC and BFS, plus there’s still some of the 100,000 £1.00 specials available on all the other routes (including all the TFS ones) :cool:.