On 12 Oct 2009 08:43:40 GMT, Adrian wrote:

"Ian F." gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

Did you have a bad experience, or are you just reacting to the
chattering campaign about them?

I've had a couple of bad experiences - herded around like cattle, talked
at by snotty-nosed ground staff like I was a piece of ****, shown no
respect whatsoever...

I'm a reasonably frequent flyer and I'm too old and dyed-in-the-wool to
worry about saving a few pennies to be treated like that. I'd far rather
spend the extra and be shown some degree of care. And this is not just
me - I know dozens of friends and colleagues that feel the same way.

I have always found easyJet to be far superior in every way to Ryanair,
although, understandably, not on a level with the major airlines. I
would travel with them like a shot, but I will never, ever, ever travel
Ryanair.

I've never flown Ryanair - nor do I ever intend to, mainly because of
their attitude to quoting a cheap fare then chiselling every penny out of
you in compulsory "extras" - but I've also sworn off SleazyJet after
direct personal experience about ten years ago.

I was meant to be flying back from Schiphol to Luton, on a late evening
flight. The plane had a technical problem, so wasn't available for
boarding. It happens. What SHOULDN'T happen is all the passengers being
left at the gate with no staff, no information, no access to refreshments
- for SIX HOURS. We finally got to Luton at about 3am, IIRC.


I used to commute weekly from Heathrow to Schiphol in the late 1980s.
I had a similar experience with BA, involving a five hour wait at
Schiphol on a Friday evening, with the aircraft still not having left
Heathrow on the preceding flight. No attempt was made to transfer us
to KLM, which would have saved several hours, and only after many
complaints were refreshments provided.

I decided to reject BA in favour of BMI (called British Midland in
those days). It happened twice more with BMI, once with a four hour
delay and once with a seven hour delay, meaning I arrived home in West
London about 2:00 AM. But the overall service of NMI was so much
better than BA that I stayed with them. Plus, it was only two flights
in around 50, so it wasn't too bad.

My point is that flag carriers such as BA and "full price" airlines
such as BMI have similar problems to the low cost, as do rail
operators. What they all share is that they are all spectacularly bad
at dealing with them, in most cases. However. it was one area where
GNER absolutely shone.