20thOctober
Why I love RyanAir…sorta
When I first came to the UK, I was pretty skeptical of RyanAir, the revolutionary low cost leader of flights in the UK. As a matter of fact, I made fairly disparaging remarks about them in a previous blog during a different time. Since then, however, I have taken so many Ryanair flights, I have come to love it like I love cutting my nails…and by cutting my nails, I mean scooping out the toe jam and spreading it on toast. Just saying…
Earlier this year I did a finance programme at LBS where we examined RyanAir as a case study. Wow. 15-20% margins for an airline (even Southwest and Jetblue are in the single digits) A Dumb-arsed CEO that won’t take out leverage for the company. A hard-arsed CEO that had a college intern build the reservation website to be brutal with expenses (the website is fugly). A company known for asking its own staff to bring in stationary. A flying experience full of advertisements and no joke…lottery ticket sales during the flight.
So why do I love it?
1. Yes, it is cheap. And by cheap, I mean dirt cheap. And by dirt cheap, I mean sometimes it’s even free. By free, I mean you still pay a bunch of charges for things outside of the ticket. Here are the prices for my last set of tickets purchased, including one this past Sunday when my mates ODJ and KokoBWare come into town in November.
Here are some of my last trips:
1. London Stansted (STN) to Pisa (Florence) (PSA) – 18.99GBP out of pocket. (1-way)
2. London Stansted (STN) to Hamburg Lübeck (LBC) – 25.80GBP for two people
3. London Stansted (STN) to Carcassonne (CCF) – 4.84 for two people
4. London Stansted (STN) to Tours Loire Valley (TUF) – 4.84 for two people
5. London Stansted (STN) to Belfast (City) (BHD) – 4.84 for two people
6. London Stansted (STN) to Shannon (SNN) – 112gbp for four people
2. It is always on time. Apparently RyanAir staff are judged on their timeliness. By doing this, RyanAir has been able to achieve the title for the most on-time airline in the world.
I understand it’s not perfect…but neither are my nails for that matter. Perfect would be no toejam. I have toejam. Ce La Vie.
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