easyJet more expensive than B.A.
 

easyJet pilots are increasingly turning to traveling on the nations flag carrier on the grounds of cost alone because of a flawed staff travel system. Crew are finding it cheaper to book published fares on BA than staff fares on easyJet due to the airlines refusal to operate a standby staff travel system. Easyjet prides itself on its flag carrier knocking adverts but when its own crew choose to travel with the flag carrier on the grounds of cost, how long will it be before the public get the same message.

As long as it takes BA Sales & Marketing Depts to get their act together ?

I'm guessing thry probably outnumber easy sales & marketing by 100 : 1 so you have to wonder what they're all doing ?

Bean counter I assume you haven't been watching much TV lately, or looked at a billboard, or opened a newspaper. Anywhere in Europe!

Easy crews are probally only flying Ba so they can get something to eat. One gets a bit bored with cupasoup and crisps!

Can't comment on the Easyjet staff travel system, but I have recently booked two flights on BA because they were cheaper than their low cost alternatives.

Gotta agree with View From the Ground.
I travel LON-AMS regularly, often at quite short notice. Consistently BA are 20-30% cheaper ex LGW than EZ, and KLM or BD 10-20% cheaper ex LHR.
Tried to book LGWEDI with EZ for this morning, returning 2/3...... £35 more than BA's best deal. (both returning on the red-eye).
Probably the exception rather than the rule, but I'll be sticking with the so-called 'Hi-cost' carriers for now.
Cheers
Dixie :)

Just today my travel agent in New Zealand has quoted me a lower fare by BA for AMS-LGW-AMS than I could find to any London airport for the times I wanted on the EZ web site

I do not believe that these examples are the exception at all! I have yet to find Easyjet much or any less expensive than the likes of BA, BD, LH etc. I firmly believe that much of the sucess of the likes of Ryan and Easy can be attributed to public misconception - Joe Public checks Easy/Ryan for fares and often just books believing that they will be the cheapest, without thinking to check fares on BA etc.

And before anyone shouts at me, yes I know you can find very very cheap fares but my experience tells me that these are difficult to find!

Sligo, you probably have'nt been looking hard enough just checked EZY today, single fares, random days selected:

3rd March Monday LTN-GVA £22.50
3rd March Monday LTN-AMS £27:50
LGW-AMS £37:50
14th April Monday LTN-GVA £42:50
14th April Monday LTN-AMS £37:50
LGW-AMS £27:50
25th March Tuesday LTN-AMS £17:50
LGW-AMS £17:50
on line prices all taxes inc.

The earlier you book the better the chances of a very good deal, flexibility in your travel obviously helps too.

Also just for interest GNER (train) price single London to Retford 21 March 120 miles, £23:00.

So no great difficulty at all! Can't understand where the problem is :)

Edited to add LGW prices

Must say that I find Easy relatively expensive compared to BA, Midland etc, but that FR are consistently cheap from STN.

I regularly use the STN-CRL service and it's usually about £25-40 depending how early you book.

The other factor that should be considered in booking low cost is that they can (and in my sometimes experience will) cancel following disruption, without offering any alternatives.

For this reason I will book Ryanair to Charleroi as the Eurostar offers a viable short notice back up, e.g. Stansted Express and tube to Waterloo or back direct from Gare du Midi.)

I will not fly Easy to Athens - BA or even LH would be my choice there, as they will get you there eventually.

When on business, that's an important consideration. It may not be for leisure.

Who wants a single fare though? Try adding return prices in.

14th April BA LHR - GVA return £86.90(incl breakfast)
EZY LTN - GVA return £100

Enough said.

Fares on LCAs are a lottery, surely everybody understands that?

If, like me, you wanted to travel to Nice from Luton on 1 Sept you have 5 flights to choose from. On the 07:10 the fare is £31.50, on the 10:00 and 13:25 departures the single fare is £171.50 but if you travel on the 17:45 or 19:55 services it will only cost you £16.50.

BA fares on that date (ex LHR) ranged from £30 - £46.

For the flight timings I required BA came out at £119 return and easy at £79-90 but on different services on the same dates I could have paid as much as £279.90 on EasyJet - significantly more expensive than the dearest BA option at £130.70

Caveat emptor


edited for dodgy capitalisation

And Cahliban on the same day train journey I quoted you can pay up to £51:00 pounds for a later departure, for the same class, thats a 100% increase!, your point is?. Aviation is not unique in varying yeild throughout the course of a day!

His point is, that that is the reason it can sometimes be cheaper on BA.

By the way, that wasn't always the case - easy made sure that even their top price was cheaper than the competition at the start of their operation.

Few, I know they are, and I know they did!. But its a gross distortion to say that LCA prices are a lottery, no more so than my example of the train fare. And as he says caveat emptor, regardless of who you book with!.
rgds

I think we have all known for years that the LCAs have been a case of brilliant marketing and they have convinced most of joe public that they are cheaper. It is this false perception that BA and the other majors have to overcome.
I travel to AGP from LHR/LGW on a regular basis and BA are always cheaper than EZY.
The only exception is if you are willing to travel all hours of the night and morning both ways with EZY and then there is not a lot in it.

Also there use to be a time when if you booked far enough in advance with EZY it would work out cheaper, not anymore it seems. I have just tried booking in June and July. BA £149.00, EZY £181.00.

BAs marketing and TV ads has been good recently but I am not
sure if the message is getting through. Saying that the loads on AGP always seem excellent but not sure of elsewhere.

a spread of £16-50 - £171-50 (one way, not incl taxes) for a day six months hence sounds like a bit of a lottery to me!

I guess what I meant, jumpseater, is that you cannot predict with any confidence what the fare might be, even booking six months in advance.

The unwary punter who pays £279.90 return on EasyJet (when she could have paid £130.70 return on BA (dearest fares the respective carriers quoted on the dates I selected)) might consider LCA fares to be a lottery - that is my point :rolleyes:

BA's adapting now. Just like mother nature... ;-)

Recent experiment in France : Air France is adapting as well. They're selling cheaper and cheaper tickets. On par with now-dead Airlib low-cost airline and with the TGV train.

At relatively same prices, I would now consider hassle, prices of transfer from airport, onboard services...And would probably choose majors.

Or in France, I would simply go for the TGV which is an absolutely wonderful tool !!! less than 3 hours for Paris-Marseille, city-centre to city-centre, no check-in hassle, no endless security checks, quiet, nice restaurant, no extra expenses to get to and leave from the airport...

It's going to be a very tough task for ALL airlines, to fight the TGV in France especially considering the SNCF's expansion plans...

until 2001 i was surely amongst the most frequent flyers with easy.
Seems like the hole idea was to use the low cost as a weapon against competition on a particular route.
Example: for two years there were 7 operators between LON and ATH. What easy was doing was matching EXACTLY the fares of the 3-4 cheapest airlines on the route, although the competition was flying to more expensive airports, having 5-6 cabin crew in a 734 (!) and a fantastic drinks-meals service. After two years the competition lost badly and had to abandon the route leaving now only 3 airlines on the route, BA, Olympic and....easyjet.
So what easy did right away was to RAISE the prices all the way to just below what the two flag carriers were charging. If you book late you'll find easy is more expensive than both!
Low cost operation gives you the luxury to "loose" money until the competition is totally wiped out, THEN you cash in. Its an attrition war.
THAT WILL NOT LAST LONG
People are begining to realise whats going on.
Apologies for the lengthy reply, it wasn't me typing but the big hole easyjet made in my pocket !

Just flown back from Barcelona over half term for a short city break Sat to Thurs.

BA cost me £207 RTN for two including a nice breakfast and choice of 10 flights, Looked up BMI Baby from EMA (my nearest airport) and it was £688 RTN, crazy really!