Why cheap airlines are so cheap
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Why cheap airlines are so cheap
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Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#2Title seems unrelated to Hacker News but this is a wonderful break down of the differences between standard airlines and low fare.
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#3Title seems unrelated to Hacker News but this is a wonderful break down of the differences between standard airlines and low fare.
In my opinion Ryanair and Easyjet "hacked" the aviation industry creating a whole new class of low-fare product by cutting costs significantly.
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#4I'm 6'2" and I don't fit in Ryan Air or Easy Jet planes :( I took and Easy Jet from London to Berlin (~1 hour) and I had to sit at an angle much to to consternation of the poor bloke sitting next to me.
I'm happy to pay for the more expensive carrier to get a better user experience. You can tell I'm a mac user can't you ;)
It's interesting to see how they save money. As well as hacking the system I think the LCC hacked the public in to thinking travelling like cattle is good. When they travel like cattle on the London Underground they all complain!
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#5I'm 6'2" and I don't fit in Ryan Air or Easy Jet planes :( I took and Easy Jet from London to Berlin (~1 hour) and I had to sit at an angle much to to consternation of the poor bloke sitting next to me. I'm happy to pay for the more expensive carrier to get a better user experience. You can tell I'm a mac user can't you ;) It's interesting to see how they save money. As well as hacking the system I think the LCC hack…
Ah, glad its not just me! I usually try to rush on at the front to get the seats near the emergency doors, extra leg room there. If you don't get them though the entire trip is hell..
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#6How about rickety old planes that make all sorts of dodgy noises on take off? That's my experience of one of the cheap airlines in particular. Is there any information out there to show the average age of their planes? if they are different then that's a major factor that should be in the comparison.
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#7Average fares are hard to compare. For one, LCCs and regular airlines are using different airports and at least the LCCs in europe are only covering certain high traffic routes. I would love to know where they got their numbers from and whether they include any additional fees (airport, luggage etc.).
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#8Title seems unrelated to Hacker News but this is a wonderful break down of the differences between standard airlines and low fare.
In my opinion Ryanair and Easyjet "hacked" the aviation industry creating a whole new class of low-fare product by cutting costs significantly.
But is safety still high on their priority list though ?!
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#9Average fares are hard to compare. For one, LCCs and regular airlines are using different airports and at least the LCCs in europe are only covering certain high traffic routes. I would love to know where they got their numbers from and whether they include any additional fees (airport, luggage etc.).
From the footer: Data based on information by ELFAA "Variations in Airport Charges", Jan Skeels - Secretary General, Aviation Industry Group - 2nd Annual Managing Airline Operating Costs Conference, Dublin 7 December 2005
Also see http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/260325.ICTS_06_vidovic.pdf , which uses the same source (among others) and goes into greater detail than the image.
Also note that "Cheaper airports / landing fees" was calculated in the image to amount to 6% of the savings of LFAs. Only covering certain high traffic routes is a good point, and doesn't seem to be mentioned.
Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap
#10I'm 6'2" and I don't fit in Ryan Air or Easy Jet planes :( I took and Easy Jet from London to Berlin (~1 hour) and I had to sit at an angle much to to consternation of the poor bloke sitting next to me. I'm happy to pay for the more expensive carrier to get a better user experience. You can tell I'm a mac user can't you ;) It's interesting to see how they save money. As well as hacking the system I think the LCC hack…
"You can tell I'm a mac user can't you"
I'm not sure there's a correlation. I'm a Mac user, but always travel the lowest-cost airline I can. I'm easily willing to pay an extra thousand USD for a better user experience over ~4000 hours, but until I make a LOT more money, I'm not willing to pay an extra hundred for a better user experience over ~2 hours. That is, per-hour, the expensive airlines are two orders of magnitude more expensive than Apple. It's the difference between quality pricing and luxury pricing. :)