How the other half live..

You can speak Lance! Our flights are through avios and an amex 241. No way would I pay the money for First.

I am sure I will have the same service and food with Ryanair in a few days

I realise you are joking Kiltman but you will be paying nowhere near the obscene amounts that flights in BA club or first class cost. Over the past 30 years I have flown numerous times within Europe with both BA economy and Ryanair and TBH recently seen very little difference between the two. The BA product in economy is hardly, if any better than the budget airlines. Shame because they were at one time very good.

I have flown club class with a number of airlines, though not BA recently and their product is of course better than Ryanair, but for someone who wouldn't touch Ryanair for a long time I've now become a convert and am quite happy to use them on a frequent basis.

We've used Ryanair a lot too Judith & flights have, so far, been very punctual. My only gripe with them at the moment is their website bookings 😠

I've used Ryannair when travelling on my own and found them OK for the price but after 2 bad experiences of their disabled passenger assistance with my Mum, I could never in all conscience recommend them for anybody other than the able bodied who don't need to ask for any help at all. The general inefficiency we had prvisouly expereicned of their assistance service was bad enough, but having her reduced to tears by a cabin crew member who was trying to make us leave the plane before the assistance with the wheelchair had arrived (because they had forgotten to radio ahead and book it - yes, they only book it for your destination once they know you have boarded!) was an unforgivable, never again moment.

The man who did eventually come with the wheelchair to wheel her across the apron at Aberdeen and on to the taxi rank etc apologised profusely and was clearly upset himself at seeing my Mum so upset and even more so when he saw how distressed my Dad was with worry about why we hadn't arrived in the baggage hall until so long after him that he was the only person off our flight still waiting there and having security staff look at him suspiciously for loitering around. He explained that this happened all the time with Ryannair because they never booked the assistance in advance like every other airline at Aberdeen. In other words, they waited until you arrived at the airport and that chitty the check-in staff gave you to give to the cabin crew was to authorise them to radio ahead to book it at your destination after they were sure that you had boarded. All this to save having to pay for assistance for the occasional passenger who doesn't arrive at check-in in time or even more rarely the person who checked-in but didn't board.

I asked the man why wouldn't somebody who had checked-in not board the flight - that must surely be very rare? Once you'd checked in could the check-in staff not alert the assistance people at the other end? His reply was that it wasn't as rare as you'd think because sometimes they gave the departure airport assistance staff so little notice, they couldn't always find somebody who was free in good time to actually get somebody who for whatever reason didn't arrive at check-in very early, through security and to the gate in time and that Ryannair wouldn't hold a plane at the gate in those circumstances in case they missed their take-off slot.

So that was the last time, I ever used them - I've tried since then to find out whether they still use the same system to be met only with very cagey responses which speaks volumes. If they weren't prepared to tell me that the system has changed and what their system now is then that suggests that it hadn't changed at all with the result that I'm neither prepared to take the chance nor hand my money over to a company that can treat disabled passengers with such disdain as they did with my Mum. Complaining never even got me a reply acknowledging the complaint and as my Mum just wantd to forget the whole experience I let it drop and we've voted with our feet ever since.

On seating and inflight food/ drink service there is no apparent difference , but that's where the comparison ends with BA vs LCCs , free hold luggage ( LCCs have punitive charges ) free check in desks , good benefits for frequent flyers and you can join the BAEC for free , awards for flying that can be redeemed for future flights . The LCCs have improved their offering over the years and developed a very good system from a low base cost , BA have to try and compete on price which is very sensitive to consumers these days by the very nature of the Internet age we live in and have made cuts to their onboard service level and packed in more seats on the short haul / European flights , whether hold luggage remains free time will tell ? In my experiences and flights with BA their checkin staff , crew onboard , pilots have always been excellent , whenever I phoned their exec club line I've always been served very well , I feel very confident in the service I get from members of BA staff . I have flown with Easyjet and found them good , never braved myself to fly Ryanair , but on a very base level the airlines flying short haul routes are much the same . On long haul many legacy and national airlines are compromising their standards and levels of service mainly due to competition from Middle East airlines .

SMa, my friend returned last week to Newcastle on a Ryanair flight from Tenerife.

Herself & 3 other passengers who required mobility assistance were seated towards the front of the plane. On arrival the ambulift was positioned at the rear doors. The 4 passengers were then asked to make their way to the back of the aircraft.

My friend has severe lymphoedema in both legs. She has to buy a comfort seat in order that her journey is a tad more comfortable. She is totally reliant on a mobility scooter, & a wheeled walker. She can manger with the help of a walking stick & husband's assistance, very short distances. It was impossible for her to manage the length of walk, plus the cramped conditions, to get to the other end, she refused. Another lady & gentleman also had to refuse. The final passenger made the distance.

Staff said they'd sent the wrong off for the front of the plane & so they had to wait due to their refusal to attempt the walk, until the correct lift was sent.

I was hoping, Glynis, that you were about to tell me that things had improved! We've used both Monarch and Jet2 in the past to fly Manchester to Tenerfife and never had any problems at either end of the journey with the passenger assistance. In fact I'm fairly sure that it was at Tenerife they offered my Mum the use of a special evacuation chair that was narrow enough to pass up the aisle if she thought the walk between the door and her seat was going to be too much for her. It sounds as if your friend would have found that iption useful.