-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Which is the worst airline in the world?
- Thread starter whatsinaname
- Start date
Comfort is absolutely expensive and absolutely isn't a necessity (which is why people pay £10 for an uncomfortable 8 hour bus to London rather than £80 to get a slightly comfortable 4 hour train or £170 for a comfortable 2 hour flight)
With airlines, more comfort can add a lot, or it can add a little, that's contextual. They fluff these fees all the time. You might get lucky and business class is £20 extra. The same flight later that day might be £150 extra.
But safety? Wtf are you talking about? Air travel is the most safe in the world. All options on that list will be 99.99999% safe.
The best thing about Southwest is when the plane is half full. You can get an entire row to yourself.
Lmfao again! Cheap! Y'all have no idea how expensive it is to fly or travel here even domestically. Y'all have it good in Yurop
You're not really explaining here. I didn't get your post was about relative cost. So in Canada is it like there are only a few big airports so they push the prices up? Or is it just because the place is so damn massive (like most of the landmass of Europe)?
It's just massive landmass and increased costs due to that and a multitude of other travel taxes and crap like that. And there aren't as many airlines overall as well. There really isn't a Ryanair equivalent here. Maybe Porter? But even that shit is expensive too.
Anyway I guess my main point is that trash airlines don't deserve the business. I wish there was a better alternative to Air Canada. It's just so embarrassingly bad.
Even noted Canadian wrassler Lance Storm Agreess
I've done this flight. Top tier garbage from the moment you attempt to check in.
Wrong. Where the fuck is Spirit/Allegiant/Frontier/Ryanair?
You at least know what you're sort of getting with Spirit and its prices.
United is an absolute shit show.
I couldn't believe how awful the experience was. I really don't think I will fly Ryanair again - whilst in my 4th cramped holding area within the hangar that is Lisbon Terminal 2 I would have happily paid an extra £50 to be flying with BA or someone from Terminal 1.
As someone who mainly uses points and rewards to fly, United is usually the cheapest option so I'm stuck booking with them. They are the only airlines I've been to that has a credit card swiper built into every seat. Skeevy with fees and monetizing. On the plus side, their terminals have shitloads of tablets with power and USB outlets (even if it's a way to encourage you to spend more). Actual experience is pretty much the same regardless of which airline. Cattle Economy class-tier.
Never done Spirit or any of the truly budget airlines (and hopefully never will)
Never done Spirit or any of the truly budget airlines (and hopefully never will)
Ryanair is almost indisputably the worst.
The only reason to pick them is because they are dirt cheap if you don't need to carry any luggage.
The only reason to pick them is because they are dirt cheap if you don't need to carry any luggage.
I don't think enough people have survived their flights to vote for them anyway.
Ryanair, but you get what you pay for. As i fly regulary withing Europe I use them a lot, and you just have to put up with often from the worst gates or terminalss (fewer seating, less stuff to do), having less space on the plane (though it's not as bad as often claimed), being bombarded with offers they want to sell you while flying (food, scratch cards, perfume), andof course their bagage allowance that changes constantly.
But in the end, you do get used to it. Even their fugly yellow seats that make you want to jump out of the plane as soon as possible just become part of it all in stead of an annoyance you bring your sunglasses on board for.
But in the end, you do get used to it. Even their fugly yellow seats that make you want to jump out of the plane as soon as possible just become part of it all in stead of an annoyance you bring your sunglasses on board for.
That terminal is the worst, lol. Especially as terminal 1 is really nice. It will maybe get worse in the future though, as there are plans to open an extra airport across the Tagus, which means after landing you still have a train or ferry to take to the city. You can bet Ryanair will move it's flights there once it opens.(or better if it opens, as there are a lot or protests and concerns)
Short-haul: Probably Ryanair but I am aware of what I let myself into given how cheap it is so I don't tend to kick up much of a fuss.
Long-haul: It used to be British Airways for me but they have recently stepped up their game. My recent long-haul flights to Vancouver and LA with them were really pleasant. Probably Delta Airlines, I recall that one time I flew with them where I pressed the "attendance" button as I desperately needed a glass of water and I was sitting in between 2 sleeping people, I got no response so I hit the button...no response. 3rd and 4th time I hit the button and finally the air hostess approaches me, gives me such a filthy look, proceeds to switch off my notification light, tells me off that I'm accidentally pushing the attendance button on the side of the seat and then walks away. Never even got a chance to put a word in between or anything. Thank goodness many good airlines fly to US so I don't have to rely on a US airline to fly there. So yeah... any US airlines in general. I avoid.
Long-haul: It used to be British Airways for me but they have recently stepped up their game. My recent long-haul flights to Vancouver and LA with them were really pleasant. Probably Delta Airlines, I recall that one time I flew with them where I pressed the "attendance" button as I desperately needed a glass of water and I was sitting in between 2 sleeping people, I got no response so I hit the button...no response. 3rd and 4th time I hit the button and finally the air hostess approaches me, gives me such a filthy look, proceeds to switch off my notification light, tells me off that I'm accidentally pushing the attendance button on the side of the seat and then walks away. Never even got a chance to put a word in between or anything. Thank goodness many good airlines fly to US so I don't have to rely on a US airline to fly there. So yeah... any US airlines in general. I avoid.
With who I've flown with, definitely Ryanair. But if you correlate cost to experience then they're actually not that bad since the flights usually only cost me £10 or something (Prestwick to Stansted and back).
I remember once they let all the passengers with needs and little kids 'board' first at the gate, as you do. Only to find that this privilege only gets them on the bus out to the plane first, which subsequently meant they were at the back of a standing only bus. Once we arrived at the plane they got off the bus last and got on the plane last. For those that don't know, there was no assigned seats on Ryanair (this may have changed) and the 2 or 3 stewards spent about 45min trying to move people so family's could sit together. I was just shaking my head at the stupidity of it all.
I remember once they let all the passengers with needs and little kids 'board' first at the gate, as you do. Only to find that this privilege only gets them on the bus out to the plane first, which subsequently meant they were at the back of a standing only bus. Once we arrived at the plane they got off the bus last and got on the plane last. For those that don't know, there was no assigned seats on Ryanair (this may have changed) and the 2 or 3 stewards spent about 45min trying to move people so family's could sit together. I was just shaking my head at the stupidity of it all.
Ryanair is a bad, evil British company. I hate everything about them. The worst. Would rather take a 10 hour train.
Yeah, I mean very few people go into a RyanAir flight now not knowing what they are in for. It was great for me when first doing long weekends and trips abroad to be able to get out to places cheap, and ultimately if I need/want to go somewhere, and I can fly RyanAir for £40 or someone else for £150, i'll probably still go RyanAir. But since i'm a bit more wearied by flights now, and having been charged to sit next to my partner etc... keen to avoid as much as possible now. They will always have a market though.
On Lisbon Terminal 2, I just really couldn't believe how bad it was. I know you aren't expecting much for a budget flight, but it really was shocking from start to finish. There just wasn't enough space for everyone. There were like two places to get food, with no seats. You have standing room only when you get through, then 90 mins before the flight you are sent to a series of queues - queue for border control (30 mins), into a holding area with no toilets, queue for boarding (30 mins), once through there a queue in an outside shelter for the plane/bus (20 mins) and then the bus/trudge onto the plane itself.
Royal Air Maroc. The plane was a freakin zoo with Parents shouting at their kids. KIds fucking around in aisle and the staff completly losing control.
Just to get a cheap flight to europe.
Never again.
Just to get a cheap flight to europe.
Never again.
Yeah, I once flew to Tokyo with Turkish airlines couples of years back. Managed to get the ticket really cheap so was delighted to fly to Japan with a half-price ticket that I would've had to spend with Air France or Emirates. The flight itself was ok and the layover in Istanbul has its charm I suppose but the airplane food was beyond lousy. So glad I didn't spend full-price on that ticket. Still, can't complain much since it got me to where I wanted to go at a great price.
Yeah, always find that quite funny, all the people who pay for priority boarding just get to stand on a bus for longer.
Just frustrating how, if you have hand luggage, you need to stand up queuing for 40 mins in order to make sure you can get your bag in a hold somewhere near you. There has to be a better way of organising it.
Not that it makes much difference but they're an Irish company.
Yup. I fly to Lisbon often (at least 3 time a year) and it's one of the worst Ryanair experiences out there. It was actually worse before. There are more shops now, lol. In Brussels you also get delegated to a less nice area, but at least you can go to the shops and restaurants. Only thing that sucks is having to walk to your plane and often waiting for a while outside, when in Belgium it can be cold and rainy. :P
I take Ryanair often as it's the cheapest. But when the price difference isn't too big (which can happen now that Lisbon is so popular and flights get fully booked all the time), I go for Brussels Airlines all the time.
I have had more bad experiences than good ones with United. The first flight I ever booked with United was a 6:30 am flight that was delayed for 4 hrs (ended up being cancelled) at 6:25 am due to the pilot no showing for the flight, when the gate attendant said that you can call the 1-800 number to get rebooked on another flight, well I called that number and the customer service refused to rebook me due to it "only" being a 4 hr delay and it being labelled as a weather delay which annoyed me so I wait my turn to talk to gate agent to try and get an earlier flight out. I was rebooked for the 7 am flight which had a 50 min layover in Denver only for my flight at Denver to be delayed for some random reason as well.
Another was when I used United to fly out of a regional airport to O'Hare. United's system at the regional airport was down that morning so you couldn't get your boarding pass printed if you were Basic Economy, which I was, the United agent at the check in counter just hand wrote a note so you could get thru the TSA and United couldn't even scan your pass at the gate if you printed it at home. Cue a 30 min delay and United just decides just to physically write down everyone's name who boards the flight and they will finish the paperwork at ORD. I get to my connecting flight at ORD only to be denied boarding at first due to not having a boarding pass and that United's system said I never completed the check in process for my first flight so my flights were auto cancelled.
The final thing is that United forces you to check in, in person at the airport if you have a basic economy ticket with no bags. Not even Spirit forces you to do that.
Another was when I used United to fly out of a regional airport to O'Hare. United's system at the regional airport was down that morning so you couldn't get your boarding pass printed if you were Basic Economy, which I was, the United agent at the check in counter just hand wrote a note so you could get thru the TSA and United couldn't even scan your pass at the gate if you printed it at home. Cue a 30 min delay and United just decides just to physically write down everyone's name who boards the flight and they will finish the paperwork at ORD. I get to my connecting flight at ORD only to be denied boarding at first due to not having a boarding pass and that United's system said I never completed the check in process for my first flight so my flights were auto cancelled.
The final thing is that United forces you to check in, in person at the airport if you have a basic economy ticket with no bags. Not even Spirit forces you to do that.
Yep, the anxiety levels a Ryanair flight can produce is a sight to behold. People will cut out all empathy for other human beings to get a 'good' seat with their baggage stowed snug in the overhead compartment. People act as if it's a 6 month flight to Mars rather than a couple of fairly comfortable hours.
Last edited:
I must be the only person who's ever had a positive experience with Ryanair. Broke my leg in Tenerife a few years ago without travel insurance, and they were super accommodating and helpful getting me back to the UK with extra seats/leg room to accommodate my cast. They didn't charge me anything extra.
On the other hand, I know someone who used Ryanair for moving to Germany. Check-in limit was 15KG, so she paid extra for a 2nd check-in bag because she needed to bring a lot of stuff. She arrived at check-in with her two bags of 14KG each only to be told that her total of 28KG was 13KG over the 15KG limit. Turns out paying for a 2nd bag did not mean an additional 15KG; the 15KG limit remained the same, but now split across two check-in bags. She ended up paying over £100 extra on that scam.
Worst experience I've personally had was Thomas Cook. My parents booked two different airlines for the outward and return flights, Thomas Cook being the return one. The outward airline was fine (can't remember which airline it was), but Thomas Cook had a ridiculous 5KG weight limit for carry on bags, which I didn't know until a day before flying back. I hit that limit just by putting my SLR in my carry on case without anything else. We had to do some creative rearranging of bags to solve that one.
I also want to call out Flybe for not allowing me to use earphones during take off and landing. I think that policy has changed now, but it sucked not being able to play my Vita until the seatbelt sign had been switched off. On the other hand, I did like the creativity of the flight attendant who came up with an excuse to move me when the guy sitting next to me was overflowing into my seat.
On the other hand, I know someone who used Ryanair for moving to Germany. Check-in limit was 15KG, so she paid extra for a 2nd check-in bag because she needed to bring a lot of stuff. She arrived at check-in with her two bags of 14KG each only to be told that her total of 28KG was 13KG over the 15KG limit. Turns out paying for a 2nd bag did not mean an additional 15KG; the 15KG limit remained the same, but now split across two check-in bags. She ended up paying over £100 extra on that scam.
Worst experience I've personally had was Thomas Cook. My parents booked two different airlines for the outward and return flights, Thomas Cook being the return one. The outward airline was fine (can't remember which airline it was), but Thomas Cook had a ridiculous 5KG weight limit for carry on bags, which I didn't know until a day before flying back. I hit that limit just by putting my SLR in my carry on case without anything else. We had to do some creative rearranging of bags to solve that one.
I also want to call out Flybe for not allowing me to use earphones during take off and landing. I think that policy has changed now, but it sucked not being able to play my Vita until the seatbelt sign had been switched off. On the other hand, I did like the creativity of the flight attendant who came up with an excuse to move me when the guy sitting next to me was overflowing into my seat.
Ryanair and Wizz are bottom-of-the-barrel budget airlines. I don't know what you guys are expecting. If I'm paying like 40 pounds to get from London to Eastern Europe, I'm not exactly expecting premium service.
I'll grant that Ryanair seems to have a larger tendency to grift it's customers. At least Wizz air has decent baggage allowances if you toss them a couple of extra pounds. If you ever turn up to Ryanair check-in with a kg or two over the limit, they will take you for everything you're worth AND it will take you 40 mins of lining up at a separate desk to get them to sign off on it.
I'll grant that Ryanair seems to have a larger tendency to grift it's customers. At least Wizz air has decent baggage allowances if you toss them a couple of extra pounds. If you ever turn up to Ryanair check-in with a kg or two over the limit, they will take you for everything you're worth AND it will take you 40 mins of lining up at a separate desk to get them to sign off on it.
Yes a million times. Never again. Just straight up canceled my flight the morning of.
Maybe it is because I have never flown much with ryanair, or maybe it is because I expect very little from air travel, but didn't really have any issues with it, did the check-in online, printed the papers and it was a pretty smooth process getting on the plane, the plane landed without crashing and was not delayed in any significant way, which is pretty much all I care about in short trips that only last a couple of hours at most, also realistically about as much as one can expect for companies whose business model is being as cheap as possible.
Flights in Canada are very expensive, in no small part it seems to be due to Air Canada having a bit of a monopoly there, going there for a few weeks next month and one of the cheapest flights inside the country might be Toronto Montreal and I am paying about 75€ for a one way flight, and by booking a few months in advance, it is also not a great distance we are talking about 500 km or something, and you have to schedule things significantly far back to get good prices, like if I want to go from Lisbon to Paris tomorrow (about 3 times the distance) I have a 33 to 45€ ticket available, if I want to go from Toronto to Montreal tomorrow I have 250€ plane tickets.
And I really have to highlight that this is one of the cheaper flights, for example if I wanted to book a flight from Montreal to Quebec City which is half the distance I would be paying about 95€, and should be said the only reason it is even that low cost is because you get PAL Airlines on this trip, if you were relying on flying Air Canada you would be paying 150 or more, in comparison if I was flying say Tap Air Portugal which would be the closest Portuguese equivalent to Air Canada doing a 300 km flight inside the country I would be paying 40€.
All around Canadian inter city travel is not great cost wise, train is a bit better but still not stellar at least if you want to go for business class where things tend to get quite a bit more expensive.
Flights in Canada are very expensive, in no small part it seems to be due to Air Canada having a bit of a monopoly there, going there for a few weeks next month and one of the cheapest flights inside the country might be Toronto Montreal and I am paying about 75€ for a one way flight, and by booking a few months in advance, it is also not a great distance we are talking about 500 km or something, and you have to schedule things significantly far back to get good prices, like if I want to go from Lisbon to Paris tomorrow (about 3 times the distance) I have a 33 to 45€ ticket available, if I want to go from Toronto to Montreal tomorrow I have 250€ plane tickets.
And I really have to highlight that this is one of the cheaper flights, for example if I wanted to book a flight from Montreal to Quebec City which is half the distance I would be paying about 95€, and should be said the only reason it is even that low cost is because you get PAL Airlines on this trip, if you were relying on flying Air Canada you would be paying 150 or more, in comparison if I was flying say Tap Air Portugal which would be the closest Portuguese equivalent to Air Canada doing a 300 km flight inside the country I would be paying 40€.
All around Canadian inter city travel is not great cost wise, train is a bit better but still not stellar at least if you want to go for business class where things tend to get quite a bit more expensive.
I called them to ask if I could get a seat with extra leg room because I had problems with my knees. They told me they don't do reservations for those seats and I need to ask at check-in.
I was at the airpoint 1 hour before check-in opened, first in line, asked about the seats and they told me they are already gone.
US Air used to show up in our travel tool all the time as a flight option for overseas trips. The cheapest one might be American, but the most expensive one was always US Air. Could be literally the same flight, same plane on a code share, and the cheapest one is 1200 bucks. US Air? 10k. Same plane. Same trip. Same exact staff, everything. Ten times more expensive. I think it was some sort of skimming operation.
Seriously- why is that not even a CHOICE on this list
