I don't find Ryanair much cheaper than Aer Lingus. In my experience there's up to a 20% premium, and I just cross checked the Alicante route for next week with the same results.
Compared to the high likelihood of delays or cancelled flights with Ryanair, I think it's worth it for peace of mind.
Aer Lingus is a slightly weird case; they have essentially become a budget airline (at least for their European business) to compete with Ryanair, but they haven't yet gotten around to adopting most of the dark patterns.
I don't think it's a weird case to compare two budget airlines to demonstrate why I think one is better than the other.
Well, the thing is they historically weren't a budget airline. They've taken on some budget airline attributes, but mostly not the dark patterns. Yet. They'll get there.
Ryanair is the biggest airline in Europe. Everyone competes with them. I found if you are traveling with family, need a checked bag and seats - Ryanair has no price advantage over other players.
Aer Lingus is a budget airline? And here I was still thinking that they're the flag carrier of Ireland...
(of course, they can be both at the same time)
Their trans-Atlantic flights are ok and cheap relative to United (out of IAD, to points in continental Europe). Their EU flights are a noticeable step down.
IIRC Aer Lingus could already be described like that 10-15 years ago. I remember it as cheap but decent.
Yeah, they went price-competitive with Ryanair a while back.
As a bit of a bonus for the latter airline, you are permitted to yell "Forth Aer Lingus!" as you charge headlong towards your seat.
RyanAir is ultra-budget. You need to be ready for the whole thing, but often you can get something much cheaper. As an example, looking for London to Belfast next month, RyanAir is a fifth the price.
Thanks, I hadn't seen a price difference like that.
I'm unsure about the following. Do you know if flights between London and Belfast be covered under EU airline rules regarding missed and delayed flights?
The UK copy-pasted EU261 into "UK261", which of course covers intra UK flights. That UK law would apply, not EU261 (London and Belfast are both in the UK)
> London and Belfast are both in the UK
My question was more to do with the European Single Market, and the considerations given to Belfast during Brexit negotiations. That's where my ambiguity came from.
Thanks for the info!