Live data from Hacker News

Why cheap airlines are so cheap

flickr.com

11–20 of 48 posts

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#11
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ?!

Yes, lost cost carriers are regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority and in the case of Ryanair the Irish equivalent.

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#12
In case you also wondered what the "station costs" are, it means "costs associated with providing ground staff, check-in staff, equipment, business lounges, office space and related facilities at each of the airports served by an airline". From http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415346150

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#13
If you are interested in learning more about Ryanair, check out the book Michael O'Leary - A Life in Full Flight. One fun story from that book is when Ryanair started competing with the "official" airline Aer Lingus, who basically thought all airport equipment belonged to them and were annoyed by the new upstart, to settle their differences they had a soccer match between the employees! However since they weren't really familiar yet with all of Ryanair's employees, Ryanair imported some pro outside players and won the match and thus their approval to share some of the equipment.

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#14

How 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.

I don't know about the others, but Ryanair has the youngest aircraft fleet in the world. I'm guessing the others will have fairly new planes too because they are cheaper to run.

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#15

I'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 magni…

I think you took the wrong direction of reasoning. He says we can tell he's a Mac user because he is willing to pay more even for the two hours of a flight. Therefore, next to the flight expense, the Mac sounds like a cheap box.

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#16
post #2

Title seems unrelated to Hacker News but this is a wonderful break down of the differences between standard airlines and low fare.

Yes, which fails to add up to the difference. They get a 43% "total advantage", but the low cost ticket prices seem around 30% of the high cost tickets...

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#17
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 magni…

I think you took the wrong direction of reasoning. He says we can tell he's a Mac user because he is willing to pay more even for the two hours of a flight. Therefore, next to the flight expense, the Mac sounds like a cheap box.

Indeed. Whooosh. :)

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#18
I have never used the so-called low cost airlines. However I have problems fitting my knees even in high cost economy class. I would imagine there is a business opportunity for airlines which are willing to cut costs in every way other than safety and passenger space (i.e. we don't need those lounges).

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#19

I'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…

> I think the LCC hacked the public in to thinking travelling like cattle is good

Your comment appears light-hearted so I don't want to come down too strongly, but I must say I detect more than a whiff of elitism in this sentence. The public didn't need any "hacking" or manipulation; they don't fly these airlines because they "like travelling like cattle" (again, I detect a whiff of disdain for the "cattle-like" public), they fly these airlines in spite of that fact, because they're much cheaper.

> When they travel like cattle on the London Underground they all complain!

Again, light-hearted, but in juxtaposing these two sentences you're implying that the public is inconsistent in its criticism of the London Underground (although one wonders if the LCCs are so successful at "hacking" the public, why can't the LU tear a page out of their machiavellian book?). But there is indeed no inconsistency; the two examples are simply not comparable. A single fare on the LU costs around £5, this for a median travel distance of perhaps a few klicks. The scenario is, shall we say, somewhat different for LCCs! In addition, people use the LU to get to work; and being subjected to "cattle-like" circumstances on a daily basis is, again, a different kettle of fish from having to endure a 2 hours of mild discomfort in order to enjoy a couple of weeks in the sun once a year.

> You can tell I'm a mac user can't you ;)

You might want to consider whether it is you who's been "hacked" into paying a substantial premium for an equivalent product ;)

Re: Why cheap airlines are so cheap

#20
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ?!

This is something I see frequently brought up; concerns for safety on cheaper airlines, that is.

I can't speak for Europe, but in the United States, we have the FAA that pretty much dictates how safe the planes are. Flying a "discount" airline couldn't be any less safe than flying one of the majors because the FAA is dictating how they take care of the planes.

Post reply on HN