> I can only assume that you weren't around for the transition. Intra-EU flights cost multiples of the average industrial week's wages before Ryanair. Air travel was inaccessible or rarely accessible to the vast majority of people in the continent.
That's not true. Otherwise you'd be gouged on every route not served by Ryan Air, which is definitely not the case.
Have they pushed prices down? Arguably, yes. But not by orders of magnitude.
> Otherwise you'd be gouged on every route not served by Ryan Air, which is definitely not the case.
Are there many routes not served by one of Ryanair/Easyjet/Wizzair? (The other two are on the Ryanair model).
> But not by orders of magnitude.
Looks like in 1980 a flight from Dublin to London was about 150-200 Irish pounds. 150 pounds is 189 euro without inflation, but factoring in inflation, 150 Irish pounds in 1980 is 899 euro today (easy to forget how much inflation there was in the 80s). While the Crowdstrike thing is currently stopping me from checking prices, Ryanair to Gatwick is usually like 30-50 euro these days. So that's an order of magnitude, anyway.
And Dublin to London is probably close to a best-case; it's short, and it was always a relatively busy route served by multiple flag carriers. Many routes would have been single-carrier. If you wanted to fly, say, Dublin to Athens back then, well, you probably weren't doing it direct, for a start, and it'd cost you a small fortune.
To me it seems disingenuous to only compare prices and not what you got as part of the ticket.
I imagine on that old ticket you could: pick up a phone and get help with anything, check luggage for free, take a carry-on for free, check in at the airport, free food/drinks on board, more staff on board, comfier seats, more leg room, could make changes/refund with fewer penalties. Oh and probably much better IRROPs support
If I price up a a Ryanair flight LGW-DUB with roughly some the above included, that's 347 EUR return - https://imgur.com/FPkbdec.png (I accounted £20 for drinks + food). (You can also get a LHR-DUB BA Business Class ticket for that!)
Again I concede flying is cheaper these days, but as demonstrated, the original claims of magnitude(s) aren't right, if we make a fairer comparison
You can argue people didn't need all those extra etc but that's a different topic and moving the goalposts
Anyway I suspect a hint of patriotism or profound appreciation for the service they offer is marring these discussions so it's all a bit fruitless
You can avoid all those charges by simply playing their game.
Minimal luggage, no extra crap like speedy boarding or so, be prepared to forfait the money if you change plans (change of flight is usually horrendously expensive) and alway print / mobile app your boarding pass.
The cash compensation in Europe if they bump you is 250 - 600 EUR per flight and person, depending on distance. That even applies for significant delays.
To be fair, it can be a hassle to get it. But sometimes, if the airline is clearly at fault not.
And for the record: Every airline overbooks. But usually they find enough volounteers to make it work.
That's not true. Otherwise you'd be gouged on every route not served by Ryan Air, which is definitely not the case.
Have they pushed prices down? Arguably, yes. But not by orders of magnitude.