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Comment by bigDinosaur | Hacker News Reader

I'm always amused when people complain about Ryanair. That horrible company deliberately destroys expectations to set the scene for getting away with the legal minimums for everything. Don't fly them, they won't change. If you do fly them, accept that you're supporting ultra-low cost, awful business practices and getting from A to B is about all you can expect.

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Ryanair customers are not shopping with quality or cleanliness in mind. Their criteria for a flight is cost, and that's it.

If you complain about Ryanair's quality, you really aren't their target customer.

In my view, if you're paying 25 euros for a flight to Spain and then being outraged because the floor is a little bit dirty then you're a choosing beggar. Other airlines will sell you a quality flight on a similar route for 20x the cost.

Unfortunately sometimes you have no choice, for example when I visit my parents in my hometown the only airlines that fly there are Ryanair and Wizz Air, both of which are absolutely terrible.

The alternatives would be transfers through different countries with a hugely increased cost.

Wizzair is MARKEDLY better than Ryanair. That said I would not fly them any more, I’d take a star alliance flight even with a connection.

Out of curiosity, what country is only served by Ryanair and Wizz Air?

As another commenter suggested, the two cities are only connected by these two airlines.

People saying "I literally have a choice" don't understand that some people are not on 500k a year Silicon Valley salaries and we have to manage our finances and make compromises. I cannot afford to pay 500 EUR randomly to fly through a connection in another country instead of 50 EUR multiple times a year just to avoid a shitty airline.

The alternative would be to refuse to see my family because I want to make a point about a shitty airline.

I’m not judging or implying anything, it just made me curious. What two cities are only connected by Ryanair and Wizz Air?

Maybe between Scandinavia and Poland?

I tried some of the cities from Ryanair’s system map, and it seems Oslo <-> Poznan is serviced only by Ryanair and Wizz Air. It’s certainly interesting to me that there are mid-sized cities better served by discount airlines

If I were temp_account_32, I think I would have would be grateful for those airlines, rather than focusing on their shitty aspects.

Sorry I don't want to dox this account eventually by people being able to piece too much information together, but let's just say a larger European city and a smaller European city.

And yes, I'm grateful that those connections even exist, it's just a shame that specifically those two are the ones servicing those routes. I suspect that there might not be enough demand for a better airline to step in.

It sounds more like those are the only two airlines to provide a direct connection between the two airports. I recall flying between Hungary and Spain on Wizzair for a similar reason once

Wouldn't it be the flight/connection that is the issue?

I can fly to Detroit, no problem. To fly to Chicago, I first have to fly to Detroit.

It sounds like you _literally have a choice_.

the one time i flew ryanair, it was from brussels to dublin. the captain got an applause for not killing us upon landing.

Wait, how do you know that’s what the applause was for? Was it a rough flight?

I mean, I can't be sure, but I'm also pretty sure planes aren't supposed to bounce when you land

The plane wasn't something I personally had a lot of faith in. It was pretty obvious that they spent as little money as possible to operate.

Don't think too hard about it, and enjoy the amusement :)

I vaguely recall their staff trying to sell scratch cards mid-air, i.e. promote gambling.

Why are you outraged at an airline selling scratch cards but when every single airport in the world will sell you a scratch card, to accompany your 12 dollar black coffee or 8 dollar bottle of water?

>> I vaguely recall

> Why are you outraged

:-D

I'm not outraged. I said I vaguely recall.

But I'll bait. There is a difference between passive advertising that blends into the background and multiple people walking up and down the isle literally waving scratch cards while another person is drawing attention to them with a loudspeaker. I'm not outraged because of how wrong that is. I recall it because there is a degree of vulgarity to it.

Just like there is a difference between knowing where to go to buy drugs, seeing a drug dealer on the corner, having that drug dealer casually say "drugs?" as you walk by, having the drug dealer put ads in your mailbox, and having them knock on your door and ask if you want to buy drugs.

Never saw this. Is this a US only practice?

No, certainly not. Gambling is banned on US aircraft.

They are talking about RyanAir, which is an Irish carrier that flys all over Europe and offers scratch card gambling. Swissair also offered gambling via video screens for a period of time.

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