One thing to point out is that even those far off aiports have reliable and cheap public transport connecting the many airports to the city centre. Whenever I fly anywhere in Europe, I always end up going to (and from) an airport by Train, Metro or Tram, with 24 hour public transport tickets costing less than 7€.
Agree with you but visit Stockholm and if you don’t know some tips, you will pay quite a lot. And there is no difference whether you go to the main or smaller airport.
I think this is an issue of what came first, the chicken or the egg. If a 2nd rate US airport became a destination for low-cost airline, the public transport would definitely get boosted through local agreement before the first landing and would definitely attract more suppliers as air traffic picked up.
@@nazariimalakhivskyi6118 In stockholm you can get to and from arlanda with stockholm's public transport (2-3 euros). With skavsta you can take the train or flygbussarna
I think the biggest reason for the difference in budget airline fares in the U.S. & Europe is the lack of a convenient, & reliable alternative mode of transport, like rail service, which u correctly pointed out.
for sure!! and also because we are very small market in terms of size (our cities are close to each other) but in US cities are so far apart, train is not an option... but high speed is!!!
After studying abroad in Europe as an American, I think that this might be a small factor but not as big as you might think at first. If this were the case, one would expect that flights from Ireland, Iceland, and Ibiza to be more expensive. Also there are plenty of cheap flights on routes that I never heard people using any other form of transit such as the UK to Riga or Athens. I also think a lot of Europeans forget how much cheaper it is to drive in the US than Europe. I know plenty of people who drive to Florida from the northern US, and while I am sure there are some, I never really encountered people from the UK or Ireland who took a train / drove / took a bus to the Spanish coast / islands or Greece but knew plenty of people who flew. Also pre-Covid there actually was a decent system of Megabus routes, Chinatown buses, and other options in the Great Lakes, West Coast, and East Coast regions. But I do think that one difference is the better public transportation within metro areas which allows for budget airlines in Europe to fly to different airports. If I saved money flying from Luton rather than Heathrow I know I can make it into London for only a bit more money. I have to get a really good deal to get me to fly into Orlando Sanford instead of Orlando International because of the cost difference and hassle difference between the two airports. TLDR - driving in US is just as much competition to flights in US as trains and buses are to flights in Europe.
I live in Europe. The rail is never an alternative. Its way to expensive and always late and its crap. Even spirit is more comfortable then german railways. And its super slow. I prefer to fly the 300km from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt via London or Palma de Malorca with Ryanair for 2x 5 Euro instead of paying 30 to 50 Euro robb off at the railway companys (they call it super saver , but its robb off)
@@chrissflyer4722 yeah I'd probably chose to fly vs taking the rail service, unless I was visiting a country for the 1st time. I wanna see as much of the area as possible so goin' by rail would be a better choice. Not to mention the fact that since we basically have zero rail service in the U.S., (I don't even count Amtrak as rail service since they only operate out of a few major cities, don't offer genuine high speed rail service, & are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE), just taking a train would be an experience in & of itself...As far as my comment goes, I was simply pointing out that the mere presence of legitimate rail service in Europe is enough to force airline's to drop their prices to remain competitive, something u just don't get here in the 'states...Thx for the reply. 😉👍👍✌
@@chrissflyer4722 Sure, so when was the last time you actually took a train? Düsseldorf to Frankfurt takes barely over an hour on the ICE Sprinter, and costs less than the regional ticket to Aachen if you book early enough. The seats are wider, legroom is about triple and of course you don't have to deal with airport security, or even having to get to the airport in the first place. Of course with the twice an hour service you'd also be a lot more flexible than with the aircraft. Presumably you've also never had the joy of experiencing a flight cancellation five hours before boarding, or had a three hour delay on a one hour flight. With the railways even if your train gets cancelled completely you're usually able to get on the one an hour later. Are you actually mad enough to prefer paying more to spend two hours in a sardine can, an hour in airport security, two hours travelling to and from the airport and an hour at least of layover over getting on a more comfortable train that would get you there in one sixth the time?
I believe there is another reason as well. Air travel in the United States is way more business based, whereas air travel in Europe is way more leisure based. A small business with an office in say Chicago, IL may be considering opening up a 2nd location in say Dallas, TX. And then a third location in Atlanta, GA. These are distances that can only be done via air travel if you need to conduct business with all three offices. In Europe, a small business wanting to open up a second location will much more frequently opt for an opening of a second location within the same country, mostly because of language barriers. And while countries like France and Germany certainly are large enough to have possible business locations in rather far away distances - e.g. Hamburg and Munich, or Paris and Nice, it is less common for European businesses to do so. In the USA, people fly from Chicago, IL to Atlanta GA to do business for 2 days, then on to Phoenix AZ, and then back to Chicago, IL before the week is out. Same dollar. Same language. No passport needed. Of course this does happen in Europe as well, but it is much more localized, e.g. within France, or within the UK, not so much from Birmingham to Nice to Milan and back to Birmingham. The same is true for students. It is much more common for a student in Minneapolis, IN to go to university in say Seattle, WA, and move there. They will live there and often fly back and forth to see their parents when there is a school break. Because of the above, families are very spread out. People going to university in a certain town, a few HOURS of flying away from parents, will often stick around.... get a job there after graduating, maybe meet the love of their life, start a family, etc, etc.... And that leads me into this: The USA has a number of major travel holidays, in particular so Thanksgiving and Christmas. Millions of people go home for those holidays, ensuring pretty much guaranteed business from mid-November to early January. The following winter sports season in February flows into Spring Break in March, and then it is time for graduations again where grandma WILL fly to see her grandkids graduate from some place. It is different in Europe: In Europe there is a HUGE summer peak, where holiday goers fly from the northern side of Europe to the warmer southern side of Europe between late May and late August.... and although there are a few winter sports peaks as well, for most of the rest of the year - I would guess about 6 months of it - budget airlines in Europe rely more on business travel and family visits, and less so on leisure travel. So if you want to travel from A to B in say.... April, you can likely get an extremely low rate with carriers like RyanAir, because they are trying to fill up the planes. In the USA with much more business travel, and more spread out leisure travel In a nutshell: In the USA there is a more steady flow of passengers throughout the year, where is in Europe there is a big peak in summer, but much less throughout the rest of the year. The market demand on flights is completely different, and that is partially reflected in pricing.
@@ForeverFebruary27 and it's also a cultural thing: if I have to go from Italy to France or Germany, I'll probably take the car/bus/train. Planes are often seen as too complicated, especially to old people, while for a train you can simply book the ticket, go to the station and get on board. Heck, some people prefers to travel 21 hours in a sleeper train rather than 1 hour and a half on a plane! If the prices wouldn't be so low, there would be far less plane passengers
Your arguement however is self-contradictary. Consider this, since airlines are cheaper in Europe, then people are actually able to fly more and go on more flying holidays (plus Europeans on average have more annual vacation time). While, Americans tend to fly mainly during large travel holidays because flying is a major price of the vacation. Thus, in my experience and logically, Europeans tend to fly much much more just for fun, even if they do not (as you say) settle farther away and around the continent.
@@Gnefitisis I don't know actually. I tried to find hard data, but i came a bit short, so I'll just give you my impressions. Having relatives on both sides of the ocean, it seems to me americans travel more by plane (per capita, of course). And it makes sense, since a lot of people travel for business reasons, much more than in Europe, where you rarely work in 2 different countries, and if you do you are probably a high manager of a multinational, and you have your own plane. Also consider that Europeans have long paid holidays, but not all of them use the plane. Europe is so dense of places to visit that you can often travel by car or train, and old people (which Europe is full of) usually don't like planes.
There are literally no scheduled domestic flights within the Netherlands anyways, the last time was in 2008 when KLM had a Maastricht - Amsterdam route.
Yeah, I wonder if thats what the law means for the fuel tax. If so, its absolutely pointless and a cynical attempt at environmentalism by the VVD and its coalition partners
I feel like Southwest is cheaper than other domestic US airlines. I live in Houston and can generally travel to either coast for $99 or less as long as I book a few weeks in advance, and that includes two free checked bags. I only bring one large suitcase and one carryon but that would cost an extra $35 with other airlines so their ticket price would have to be $65 to compare. That's about 55 euros, not too far off from Europe's low cost prices. I think the cheapest Southwest flights are around $50 but never as cheap as Ryanair's 1 euro specials.
being from new zealand, i had a shock while visiting portugal a few years ago. i had never heard of standby lists. had a flight from faro (south of portugal) to valencia, connecting via lisbon. got to check in, they took me off the flight. rescheduled me later in the day. ended up flying faro-frankfurt and frankfurt-valencia, it added 12 hours to my arrival time, wasted my time and i had to wait 3 months and many emails to TAP to get my refund (yes, i got a refund). seemed like such a waste of my time and airline money for my refund, just to have a full airplane.
Waste of your time yes, but if they need to refund few customers occasionally it's totally worth it for airline if they overall get the maximum capacity. And by large people are happy with this arrangement as it reduces the costs. And people who have need for reliability can just opt for higher class ticket.
Honestly as an American I've seen how cheap you guys tickets are I would Honestly take that inconvenience for those prices. Also just a side note if anybody actually cares using full planes is much better for the environment because economies of scale.
Unfortunately, it would have been much quicker for you to take the bus to Seville or train to Lisbon and fly from there. But that's not something a tourist from the other side of the world would know, and unfortunately most airline customer service reps won't give you the quickest option unless you demand it (especially if it means reimbursing other modes of transport). Hope you also got your 250 euros compensation with that refund.
@@austinblackburn8095 Uh please don’t generalize. As another American, I don’t care about low ticket prices and prefer basic human comfort and reliability over the spin of the lottery wheel of inconvenience.
I did a trip in Europe in 2019. It is very cheap and easy to travel across Europe. I used a combination of Ryanair, coach and train. I remember booking a one way ticket from budapest to Bordeaux for 7 euro
It is very easy to be critical of Ryanair and Michael O'Leary,. Most younger people don't remember pre Ryanair when flying scheduled airlines was for the privileged few with huge government subsidies thrown in. Ryanair revolutionised air travel in Europe and everyone else followed the model. Cheap air access also transformed the demographics of the entire continent, with large scale migration from the old Eastern Europe to more prosperous countries. I hope someday that we finally recognise Tony Ryan and Ml O'Leary for their immense achievement. Many other sectors would benefit from similar deregulation.
Daniel O;Connell absolutely correct it’s less than a price of a train ticket.If you go in with not too high expectations eg it’s just a bus in the sky you won’t be disappointed.I fly with him because Number one he services his planes regularly and has 100% safety record to prove it. I call him bad boy for a laugh.I think he has made a grave mistake buying the Max today in IQ newspaper the grieving Uk families want it banned from Europe by EASA quite rightly I won’t get on a Max out of respect for the families I believe he got a sweetheart deal on the Max buy one get one free lol😥😥🙏🇬🇧👨✈️👍⭐️🥇✈️🙋🏻♀️
@@elaineblackhurst1509 he probably did get them cheap, but that's Boeing's fault; not Ryanair. He's in business. The max increases density and reduces fuel costs. 11% reduction in per passenger cost of operations cannot be overlooked. He's keeping Ryanair ahead of its competitors. That's his job.
For distances longer that 1000km it is OK to fly. For overland shorter distances, take the train is there is one available. Buy a high speed train ticket in advance and it is a lot cheaper. No seat belt. You can charge your laptop and your mobile phone. You can use a computer and a mobile phone during the trip. You can bring larger suitcases without paying extra. It conveniently goes from city center to city center. There is a bar, or at least, vending machines with all kinds of drinks and snacks (in the only privately run high-speed service in Europe, the Italian Italo, there are only vending machines)
The seasonality of travel is also a factor in Europe, as you have noticed, Europe is quite well connected on short and medium distances, which has the effect of concentrating demand for air travel in the busiest months (typically summer) where prices become comparable to those in the US. The rest of the year, airlines have to fight to fill their planes, while in the US, demand remains fairly flat throughout the year.
fwiw: I heard somewhere that US carriers are averse to inter-connecting travel. even in the small city where I live, one can fly in, and there you are. rent a car, call a cab, do whatever you feel, and you are on your own! in contrast, when I flew into FRA, the train connexion to the city center was so easy and so affordable, that I cannot recall how much it cost!
Yes, the cheap European carriers make a point of liaising with local authorities to ensure good transport infrastructure. They find a town up to 100km from a major destination and then turn it into a major hub by sorting efficient transport from the town to the destination.
I believe there are actually more airports near US cities than European cities. But US airports are almost exclusively owned by local governments, which means the local authorities have a strong incentive to prevent competition from nearby airports, and thus don't let airlines us them even when they try.
When trains and Buses are already competing for lower prices airlines really need to push their price down to stay competitive, also because ground transport is more convenient and sometimes even faster on short routes
Just flew TAP from IAD to Brussels via Lisbon, thought I had a great fare, but by the time I paid for a couple of bags and extras, I could have flown direct on united on a widebody jet for the same money and better service and less time in air and at airports. Lesson learned.
5:50 I have been to Brussels Charleroi Airport(Belgium), that was the departure airport towards Girona Costa Brava Airport(Spain). Because that was my first flight and it was with Ryanair. The fact that we travelled 150km to a outer country airport says enough about the price in comparison to driving by car
@Sky Honkler not really. the top four airlines which carry the most passengers in the world are all American. American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and United. You can’t grow to have the largest four airlines in the world through poor operations. the cost difference is due to different factors; it is most definitely not related to operations though. For example, just because Frontier is dirt-cheap in America compared to flying with Southwest doesn’t make Frontier a better operating airline.
@@burningphoneix The EU is a special case. Goods, services, and people flow freely from member state to member state. An Irish carrier being able to fly customers from France to Italy is but part of the free flow of services.
@Sky Honkler It only happens in the EU because of its single aviation market, in part due to the EU allowing free movement of goods, services, and people amongst its member states. No other country allows such an arrangement, because there's no bloc of countries like the EU anywhere else.
Just to point this out, Southwest IS NOT a budget carrier. Most of their one-way tickets are $100 or more. Frontier and Spirit Airlines are the budget airlines here in the states, and I've gotten 2000 mile round trip tickets with Frontier for $30.
Usually the Legacy Carriers have founded succesfully their own LCCs: the IAG Vueling, Lufthansa Eurowings, Air France-KLM Transavia, even in Russia Aeroflot Pobeda and in Ukraine UIA Sky Up. So the "Hardcore LCCs" Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair have also to compete with this branches of the Legacy Carriers and not only with the Legacy Carriers itself. In the US neither Delta nor American nor United is running own LCCs to compete with Southwest.
@@IdliAmin_TheLastKingofSambar That is indeed a huge difference in the Airline Industry between the US and Europe (and as stated not only inside the EU but also in Russia and in the Ukraine). On the other side the Hardcore LCCs were in Europe most succesful in countries were the legacy carrier failed to establish his own LCC: Italy, Poland, Romania and Hungary. Ryanair is leading the airline market in Italy and Poland, Wizzair in Romania and Hungary. In all European countries were the legacy carriers established their own LCCs they´re still number one in their markets - and partially a very dominating number one as it is e.g. in Germany and France the case.
Trains make sense for journeys of less than four hours. There are lots of trips which are even shorter like London-Paris, London-Brussels, Paris-Brussels all taking two hours or less. For longer journeys trains can still make sense if the airports of the two cities are more than an hour away. However trains are expensive in Europe and with the advent of low cost flights and and low cost buses, there has been a fall in demand for some long distance rail travel.
I think that is exactly the reason why low cost airlines are so cheap in Europe. Wait until the European railways get dismantled because of the low cost airlines. After that plane ticket prices go up.
The biggest factor is distance. The European continent is much smaller thus most destinations are short flight away (lower fuiel costs). The longest routes are Balkans ->Ireland , Baltics and Nordics-> Portugal/south Italy and thats about 4h. All the major flights are less then 2h (Central Europe). In America New York to LA is 6h if you are lucky to get a non stop. 8-10 with connection. Also in Europe you have a large competion between travel options- you can fly , bus travel is also easy. Trains are viable option but not much in international as the EU power standards for trains are a mess + every train has to operate a local loco because reasons....
Southwest airlines is an LCC while Ryanair and easyJet is a ULCC. The ULCCs of the United States are Frontier and Spirit and I have personally purchased 3 tickets for just $11 one-way on Frontier.
@@David.. I would agree. Nowadays, we don't even get meals in economy of a legacy carrier so Southwest's passenger experience is similar or even better than legacy carriers.
Exactly. WN and Ryanair both run the 737-800. Ryanair has 189 seats in theirs. WN has 175. All seats on the southwest plane have 32in of pitch (some exit rows have even more). Ryanair has 30, except for 51 premium seats which have 32-34in. Southwest is also famed for having no fee changes and even the lowest fares refund to a voucher, while the "standard" fare is fully refundable for a faction of legacy carriers refundable fares.
Trains are actually not that competitive in the EU. This is due to preferential legislation for the airlines, however there's a growing movement trying to make it so there's a healthier framework for the European Union. In most countries, currently it is usually cheaper to fly domestic than taking the train.
It is the case of Portugal with Lisbon-Porto with TAP or Ryanair. Totally unnecessary. There is a fair pendolino train doing the same journey. Counting with the time to the airport, security checks, etc, it takes the same time in total, even if that pendolino tilting train does not go the whole route at the speed it should go (220kms/h). Those super short flights, such as Lisbon-Porto should be heavily taxed as they pollute a lot. It did not have to de domestic flights. It should be all the flights of distances shorter than say 600 kms, with the exception of connecting islands.
@@IrritatedBear Yeah ? i don't´ think so. Ryanair is the worse , is the biggest and most hated in Europe. They trying to improve but delays, crap organization, medium interested personnel etc. Wizzair is growing and think they are better then the average.
@@IrritatedBear OK, the luggage issue ehhehehe yeah, in every budget or low-cost airlines is a big problems.. I see some calculation where sometimes they make more money on this, and almost nothing with the passenger tickets... BUT, is a big problem everywhere, not just Wizzair, is a weight issue, less then 10 kg is free 20 kg, 30 kg etc you pay more , Ryan-air , Blue Air, Easy-jet etc ALL of them doing this, small differences
@@zoltanercei1094 I know it's a common issue on budget airlines however wizz air was especially egregious with no bags other than a supermarket shopping bag, being free
That data point of population density of 36 people per square KM in the US is very misleading, as 80 % of US citizens live in the Eastern half of the country, also including a State like Alaska which is largest by landmass but only has a population of around 700k really skews the results.
in USA flights from La to Ny at both destinations have more than 10 million people in population, Europe does not have single root like that, so density is irrelevant. In addition, what are the prices for kerosene in USA and in Europe, not sure about it, but car gasoline is sometimes twice more expensive in EU, yet, they have cheaper tickets
@@maximmatkovsky6490 Paris and London also have more than 10 million people, so that’s not an explanation of ticket prices. There is just more (international) competition between airlines and airports in Europe that lacks in America. And also the tax on kerosine in America may have a little effect. But not in that amount to explain the difference in ticket price. Maybe because a lot of airports in America are property of the city or state governments and in Europe a lot are commercial companies? I’m just guessing.
Something I was thinking of when I clicked on this video- flights in Europe aren’t as long as flights in the US so they need less fuel. This may have nothing to do with it at all but I’ll put it out there anyway 😂
How are flights in Europe shorter than those in the US? Europe is larger than the United States... a flight from Los Angeles to New York is just as long as the one from Lisbon to Moscow. So, now we know that flights in Europe are NOT shorter...when was the last time you were able to book a flight for 5 or 10 dollars in the US?
I don't see why someone would want their ticket to be comprehensive of everything. If the "base price" is 70$ and service A B and C are 10$ each,, I'd rather pay 70$ and add what I need than pay 100$ and possibly be paying for a service I don't need.
I want a simple airfare and I want my fare to be easily comparable to other fares. Airlines like Ryanair make that impossible by forcing you to book your fare before you choose most extras, which they then sell overpriced. Even though you might think you saved money I found that flying a standard fare on some full service carriers is actually cheaper than flying Ryanair base fare + optional extras you might want or need.
There is way more business travel in the United States where flying between countries in Europe is much more leisure based on average. As airlines know businesses will pay for their employees to fly to other states/offices for business, the all-inclusive ticket to which some services might not be used is much more profitable. I have flown for business (I live in California) many many times in the USA, and often I am only staying 1 night, e.g. flying in the morning, work in afternoon, stay at a hotel, work the next morning and afternoon, and fly home at night. I just take a back pack with a toothbrush and clean underwear/socks/shirt, nothing that needs checked luggage. In Europe way more individuals travel for leisure, and as these individuals have to pay for their flights themselves, they are more cost conscious than business travelers. It is a different market and a different demand.
@@maartena you're right in the sense that way more individuals travel for leisure in Europe but we also travel a lot for business, for example I work for Airbus in Toulouse and I go twice a month to Munich, from 2014 to 2018 I lived half of my time in Bristol, UK and I also worked on the A220 project in Canada whiles living in Toulouse...
Aviation in pandemic world doesn't exist. It was so fun to watch, history channel. I remember once I had flown with wizair, and sometimes with raynair. Those were the times... I wonder now, how old I was back then....
Based on 2021 numbers, easyjet rasm is a shocking 12% below spirit’s. Sure, the increased competition helps, but the difference is not as dramatic as it is made to seem here.
@@capnskiddies YYZ > YVR isn't 1/2 price of YYZ > LHR Sometimes the price is close, but it's not uncommon to find a $600-700 from YVR > YYZ. $450-500 range can be found during seat sales. YYZ > LHR is often $650-700 to $850 range depending on the airline. AC and BA generally tend to be the pricier options. These are return trips. Not 1 way.
Noting that all all european airlines can serve "domestic" flies is like noting that a Texas-based airline is allowed to fly routes within california. "domestic" has a different meaning in europe and in the US: An american domestic flight is just comparable to a flight within the EU
That is not really comparable. Each country has their own national borders and sovereign airspace. There are international agreements that need to be followed in order for airlines to fly passengers around. Wendover Productions has a good video explaining this. You can search youtube for "Five Freedoms of Aviation" if you want to watch it. In particular you want to pay attention to the 9th freedom... Yes, I realize that it's strange for there to be a 9th freedom in a video about 5 freedoms, but they explain why it makes sense.
@@KasabianFan44 Yes I did. The video was saying that one of the reasons why prices are so cheap in Europe is that any airline anywhere in Europe can compete with any other airline anywhere in Europe because they are all allowed to fly domestic flights within each others' countries. Basically that is the 9th freedom mentioned in the Wendover video. Jan was dismissing the comment as unimportant in the video by saying that noting it was like noting that US carriers can fly in different states. I was pointing out that that element in the video was significant because countries are not states, and that for a carrier from one country to operate domestic routes in another country requires international agreements (from an aviation standpoint, "domestic" has the same meaning the world over). Without those agreements each carrier would be limited to a MUCH smaller market with much less competition. With them, they have access to a market that that is twice the size (population) as the US but has significantly higher competition hence the lower prices. Basically all I was saying was that Jan's dismissal of the "domestic" flights element was not accurate as it is one of the primary reasons why the prices are lower.
@@SectionNyne Then you completely misunderstood Jan’s comment. As far as aviation is concerned, the EU (or rather the Schengen area) acts as one country for any company within it. That’s what Jan was trying to say. WizzAir flying between Sweden and Poland is comparable to Southwest flying between Arizona and Texas. So you can’t say that Ryanair has an “advantage” over Southwest because of the European single aviation market, because the US technically has one too for the whole country.
They do had Basel-Zurich, Zurich-Geneva, Geneva-Lugano, Zurich-Lugano, Zurich-Sion and Sion-Geneva. I flown some of this routes with Etihad Regional operated by Darwin airlines some 5-6 years ago for 1 Euro up to 25 Euro each way. But including bag and service and nice leather seats in the Saab 2000. I mean with full servie 20 Euro is okay for a flight, but only if its really good. I flown Geneva-Zurich-Geneva, Geneva-Sion, Sion-Lugano and Geneva-lugano
I much prefer the Southwest boarding process. You can check in on-line 24 hours before the flight and receive a "boarding number". SW boarding areas have stanchions/poles set up leading to the boarding entry, with boarding numbers shown on both sides of the stanchions. Numbers 1-30 are on one side, 26 through 60 on the other side. When ready for boarding, you line up according to the number on your boarding pass. When called, the passengers proceed to board in the same numerical order. As the first set of 60 proceeds, the next group of 60 line up, etc. Although it is a process unique to SW (at least in the States), it goes more quickly and is much less stressful than "cattle-car" boarding. Once on board, seats are first come, first served. As a dual USA/EU citizen, I've had experience with the European LCC's. I have found the SW service to be at an overall higher level. Aircraft are consistently clean, crews tend to be attentive and enjoy their jobs. Operationally, SW is now flying to/from Hawaii (inter-island as well as to/from Mainland), Coast-to Coast USA, Mexico, Caribbean and Puerto Rico. Hey, flying can be a pain, but SW I seem to be swearing a LOT less after a SW flight!
Well tell me the last time you flew London to Lanzarote (4 hours) for £20 return, which I’ve done several times. Yes, it might be like taking a coach service, but again £20 instead for £200...
I know your comment is two years old, but I want to give you credit because it highlights why the world thinks Americans are stupid. As popular as Southwest is, most people who comment in the aviation blogs complain about WN’s “confusing, cattle call boarding process where people cram in line to fight each other on the plane,” which has *never* been true in the company’s 50-year history. Basically there’s a subset of the population that finds it hard to match a letter, clearly marked on a boarding pass, with a number that’s clearly marked on poles in the lobby. These are probably the same people that can’t find their clearly-marked row and seat number on the other carriers. The Legacy U.S. carriers, from what I recall, *changed* their slow boarding system to the “zones” they use nowadays, all based on Southwest. So there’s that. To clarify, I agree with everything you said.
Kind of hard to compare Southwest and Ryanair. Southwest gives you two free checked bags plus a carry-on, has slightly larger seats, and I would say an overall more enjoyable customer experience. A lot of their routes start in the $49 to $69 range one way.
@@johnl.7754 right. A few southwest flights are transcontinental. Baltimore to Oakland and San Jose, Orlando to Oakland and San Jose, and of course the California to Hawaii flights. I’m not sure if Ryanair flies more then 4 hours anywhere. Also the pitch on southwest flights on the 737-8 is 32 inches. Honestly not too bad if your tall, especially if you’re traveling with someone you know.
@@LoboLakerGaming Yes, there are transcontinental flights with Ryanair and others in Europe, but it's not really comfortable to fly more than 5h with them
Europe tourism is critical for each country, air travel will recover in 2022 and boom in 2023. I believe that we will continue to see low fares. Greetings from Mexico!
@@walterclements7968 Yeah also the existing rail lines must come down in cost and cooperate together. It's really annoying to check multiple rail providers to find a suitable combination to arrive at your destination.
@@The_Red_Squirrel Irish rail network is half the size of what it was 100 years ago...I'm glad that most European countries aren't anti rail like Ireland is but I do agree that we should have both, no just one or the other. People from mainland Europe want to visit islands too so there should always be flights available to keep people moving
@@vkdrk On what basis do you assert that Ireland is anti-rail. Is it just because the rail network today is less than half the size it was 100 years ago. You could equally make the argument in respect of canal transport or telegram services, but you would be wrong. As newer technologies come to the fore, older less efficient technologies go into decline. That is the nature of progress. The reduction in the size of the Irish rail network has arisen because of improvements in road transport over the last 100 years, and which provides a more flexible, economical and point to point service that consumers prefer. I also note your response to my comment lacks context as the comment that I was responding to has been removed. For your information, my comment about Ireland being an island was in response to another poster stating that the development of high speed rail in Europe was challenging the airline business for market share. I was simply pointing out that doesn't work for Ireland because it is an island.
You should compare Canadian flight prices. I am reasonably sure we have the highest airfare costs in the G7 with government taxation and airline greed leading the way. Discount carriers? Not in this part of the planet.
To me it looks like pilots and AHs are paid more in the US than in Europe. I know FR had a F/O cadet program. That means you pay for your 737 rateing, and you work for free for the next one to two yrs.
9:00 the Netherlands and domestic flights is rare, it can only be a couple of routes which mostly get used to transfer a aircraft towards a different airport to pick up flight towards mostly the south
Most people don't understand this but it's pretty simple really. And...... we have also had mass migration by people from Eastern Europe to Western Europe so we often have these people travelling by air, back and forth, between their homeland and the West.
One major factor often forgotten by people is salaries and if you look it up salaries of staff in the USA is higher compared to europe as whole. if you check avg salaries of pilot is legacy carrier is > 200k and if you pay less , no pilot will be willing to fly.
You also forget this very important factor - Most European countries have high fuel taxes on road gasoline- and diesel. The taxes have traditionally been three to four times the taxes in the United States. I am convinced that the private Americans to a much greater extent choose to travel around the United States in their own cars and SUVs, as gasoline and diesel cost approx. 50% less compared to in Europe per. km / miles. In Europe, a large proportion of cars are smaller commuter cars, which are not so suitable for long trips with a lot of luggage. Road geography in Europe is also more cumbersome due to many peninsulas and islands leading to major detours and ferry costs. And then there is also the phenomenon of MEGASTAU on the German autobahns with over 100km long traffic queues especially on summer weekends. The Interstate Highway System in the United States was expanded around 1980 across all states in the United States. A coherent motorway network across Europe has taken much longer to build due to the Iron Curtain that divided Europe until 1990 and due to national interests stood in the way. Left-wing parties and environmental fanatics have also always hated the concept of auto mobility in Europe and have obstructed many necessary motorway projects. International treaties have prevented similar air traffic obstructions.
@@walterclements7968 The Problem in the EU is not the price of Gasoline or Diesel, the problem are the bad roads and the stupid laws. The Eu is doing nothing to fix that and the anticar Lobby in most EU Countries is very strong.
@@walterclements7968 Germany. Driving is not more costly than in the US. 100 miles are 10$ in Europe, thats the same as in the US. The Problem starts when you get outside of germany. laughable low speed limits,toll roads etc. Its not fun to drive and its real unfair. Thats why i fly as much as possible, its cheaper and less of a hassle.
@@nox5555 I don't think you understood my point about VAT on kerosine. Kerosine is used by planes. I do partially agree about the roads though, I am from the Netherlands and I understand how you feel about driving outside Germany. Speed limits here have actually been lowered again recently. But my point was that flying was too cheap because there is no VAT on kerosine. The EU should do more to promote travel between countries with high speed trains.
As Im currently contemplating saving an 8 hour drive and flying a trip in a few months, Southwest wants over $300 to fly me for an hour and 20 minutes. No wonder I stopped travelling long ago.
You totally skipped over the fact that business travel is a much larger percentage of air travel in the US than in Europe. That’s one of the biggest reasons fares are higher. Business travelers are less price sensitive. And the US market is not as seasonal as Europe so competition for leisure passengers is much lower since planes stay mostly full throughout the year. Most budget European airlines make the large majority of their profits over summer. Try watching Wendover Productions video on Why so Many Airlines Go Bankrupt
I always thought business travel was a money spinner for airlines, which in turn should lead to lower fares for economy class. Also, I don't know where you got the idea that European leisure travel is more concentrated into the summer months. Europeans get more holidays than their US counterparts, and therefore have more opportunities to travel.
You cannot use Southwest's $149 average fare as the standard. Southwest isn't actually all that low cost. Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant are the true low cost carriers in the US, and their fares are comparable to European LCCs.
Average passenger weight directly affects the amount of fuel used. North Americans are on average 15% heavier than Europeans, so since fuel is a major part of the ticket price,this must be a major factor too.
I reckon low cost short haul flights may suffer in the future due to a growing network of high-speed trains. Planes may become less popular as they're less environmentally friendly.
@@mydeadsaint Eco-friendly trains were invented before the first flight of a plane. While electric trains weren't widely used until the 20th century, electric trains did start appearing on the London Underground
One big factor you missed is that Europe is much smaller than the US, resulting in shorter average flights. Longer average flights in the US means more fuel equals higher average flight costs.
I think that is kinda incorporated into the population density factor. As they said, with more people per unit of area flights will naturally be shorter.
Europe is not really smaller than the US, if you take into account non-EU countries it's actually larger. But it's much more densely populated as the video said.
@@osasunaitor There are a lot more 4+hr flights in the U.S. than your average European flights. A lot of cross country flights in the U.S. 5,6, sometimes almost 7 hours during the winter with headwinds
That doesn't make sense unless you think Ireland, for example, is "foreign" to continental Europe. The EU has roughly as many people as the US. So as long as all US airlines can operate in all states, regardless of where they are incorporated, the "domestic" competition within the US should be roughly equivalent to "foreign" competition within the EU.
@@drjzzz EU has twice the amount of people US does.. And an Irish is a foreigner to a german... EU is more of a trade union with legislation.. Its not a nation like US. Federal goverment controlls about 47% public funds in the US, while the states controll 53%. The EU equalient of "federal goverment" only spends 1% of public funds, while the nations controll 99% of it. EU does not have a military. Each nation has its own.. etc.. Oh and an airline from asia is free to operate in EU aswell.. Everyone can.. Only reason US is regulated is cause they dont want competition from the world, so they can milk the american people for money. They make sure of that by greasing the politicians.
@@MrDanisve The EU does not have twice as many people as the US. According to Wikipedia, the EU is ~440m people while the US is ~330m, so similar scale. No doubt protectionism plays a big role in both markets. So neither size nor differential 'regulation' can easily account for the relatively higher costs in the US. Others' suggestions, including strong competition from great high speed rail (which is always heavily subsidized) are more credible.
Almost all flights in Europe are international. How many domestic flights are there in Germany? The train beats those cases for almost everything except island hopping stuff like Sicily to Rome, etc.
Germany has 22 commercial airports wich are served by at least 1 airline and every single one has a flight to at least 2 larger Airports in Germany (mostly Frankfurt, München, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg or Stuttgart). The domestic airline-markets in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia (excluding Denmark) are huge, not as huge as the US domestic market, but still enough for about 90 domestic flights in Germany every single day. German airports like Paderborn, Baden, Kassel, Erfurt-Weimar, Münster-Osnabrück, Rostok-Laage, Dresden and Bremen are served by LCCs and „common“ carriers. That’s not because our rail-infrastructure sucks, more because the domestic market in general (car, train, plane) is just to big.
Airlines need them to feed their hubs. Best example is NUE-MUC. If Lufthansa wouldn't provide that small leg which certainly can be replaced by a high speed train ride, they'd loose many customers to Turkish, Emirates, KLM-AirFrance that serve NUE
@@dopepopeurban6129 thanks for the details. That’s bigger than I expected but still quite small relative to international flights (in terms of flights and especially passenger count). I just googled and just Berlin airport alone had something like 600 passenger flights a day in Dec 2019....
@@xiaoka yeah, Berlin Brandenburg is way to big for its passenger demand. But the American market is definitely bigger, both in demand and in size. I mean, a Transatlantic flight is roughly the same distance as from NY to LA if I’m not mistaken :)
@@dopepopeurban6129 Partly it's for feeder flights, many of these domestic flights are early morning or early evening in order to allow connections with around midday and overnight flights to international destinations. If you're going to be connecting then it's probably more convenient to fly unless you can get a direct train to the airport, and especially in the early morning that can be difficult as services won't run 24 hours unless it's a local U or S-bahn service (and maybe not even then).
Out of Berlin I can fly for a nice weekend to Spain, Italy, Sweden, Bulgaria etc. for 20 - 50 Euro on a short notice. Others (Americans) might only have once in a life chance to visit Barcelona, I fly there for no money just for this one Restaurant and a day at the beach. Blessed to be European
What is your point? It's easier to fly to somewhere in Europe if you're already in Europe? Yeah, and it's easier to fly to Tijuana from somewhere in North America. Such insufferable smugness over stating the banal.
@@Treblaine nah dont get me wrong... tbh I used to complain a lot about over excited american tourists before I was aware that for many of them, a trip to Amsterdam or any other of our unique cities is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have +30 days of paid holiday a year and a trip to Rome for the fifth time (just because the tickets are so cheap) is not so special anymore but for others it is...
@@Sanginius23 It's obviously easier for a European to visit another city in Europe. The same can be applied for European tourists visiting north American cities like Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Miami etc.
@@florimond. I live in Europe, idiot. I'm not such an idiot to think it's remarkable that it's easier to travel within a continent than across a vast ocean like the Atlantic. Jealousy is when you covet what you have too much, envy is when you covet what others have so I'm not being jealous, the person coveting proximity to Barcelona is being jealous.
Plus existing old euro carriers make alternative profits from business sales that avoids economy seats and the carriers make nice profits from medium-long haul. Ultra short trips are now seeing hsr rail competition. Stricter emission regs will undercut lower fares. Euro state subsidy rules make subsidising by small airports backed by state guaranteed borrowing will be outlawed unless its to marginal regions (islands, ultra low populations, strategically important)
There's a quite an error due to the fact that BREXIT was finalised, UK based companies don't have access to the ECAA. If an Easyjet flight from UK ( A ) go to another country ( B ), that same plane have to go back to UK, he can't be used to cover another destination ( C ).
@@MrOneWorld123 the environment certainly isn't on the minds of these airlines, nor of any company. All about the $$$ nowadays. Sad, and true, but that's how the world of commerce works.
A perfect example of how things used to be in the USA with regards to low cost carriers was the startup of Southwest Airlines. They wanted to fly out of Dallas Love Field airport but competitors not only used lawsuits to try and shut them down but also got federal laws passed limiting where they could fly to from Dallas (mostly because of lobbying by American Airlines and the people behind DFW airport). Things changed and the restrictions are gone and Southwest is now the largest low-cost-carrier on the planet but back then there was a lot of fight to prevent them getting off the ground.
couple of important factors not mentioned: Americans subsidize their rural airports (but those are less profitable and traditionally more expensive due to less competition) Europeans don't tax their fuel but do have landing fees for ATC's, Americans are the opposite, no ATC fees but as mentioned they do have fuel tax
I don't know for certain but I suspect that a big discrepancy in the average cost of Ryanair vs Southwest is that the average southwest flight is a much longer distance. The US is a lot more spread out than europe.
Yes, it is important, but not as much as you would think. Modern turbofan engines have a relatively low fuel usage in level flight at cruising speeds compared to takeoff. So unless we're talking true longhaul it would be only a fraction more expensive in fuel cost. Bigger issue is checks and maintenance, which has to be done after a certian number of flight hours, so longer flights=less flights before maintenance has to be done. But it still doesn't account for more than double the avarage price, as a lot of flights in US are not really longer than a lot of those in Europe. (I.E. flight from London to Vienna is longer than NYC to Chicago)
Everything about America is money whether health care, education or transport, they name Europe socialist even though majority of Europeans live comfortably life while many Americans live poorly in debt even millions homeless.
@@gsw8734 the US homeless population is 553,000 people according to endhomelessness.org the leading homeless activism campaign organization in the country compared to Germany a tiny country which had 860,000 homeless people in 2018.
I think you missed the main catch: While the US does not have fully slot constrained airports (except JFK) national flights require access to the terminal, which is blocked at the most important airports by the airlines currently operating there. So while you can land anywhere, you cannot load and unload passengers...
During this past winter, I travelled between Munich, Vienna, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, then back to Munich, and payed approximately 250-300 euros for all forms of transportation I took. It was 1 train journey, 3 flights, 2 long distance bus journeys, and 2 ferry trips. In the US, an itinerary identical in size would warrant me paying a couple of thousand US dollars, just for transportation. Don't believe me? I recently payed $480 round trip for a basic economy ticket on Delta between Kansas City and New York City - a 3 hour flight each way.
I thing i completely missed: the deregulation in Europe completely destroyed national terms and conditions in the transport sector, a problem that was not encountered in the US. Eg: bruto Cabin crew salaries are easily a multitude higher in the US, with proper taxes paid on them. In Europe salaries are very low and barely a few euros of taxes are paid (due to differences between all the countries). No wonder tickets are cheaper here...
I not sure how cabin crew remuneration compares between the USA and European Union, but the minimum wage in European countries is generally higher as are the terms and conditions of employment. Also, the tipping culture in Europe is either non-existent or no higher than 10%, whereas in the USA it is pervasive at between 15-20% because of low basic remuneration.
There is less competition in the US, but this is due to captured regulators approving mergers that shouldn’t have been allowed to proceed. It’s simply not accurate to put it on the open sky agreements within the EU. Southwest is a Texas airline, yet offers countless nonstop flights between the other 49 states. This is inherent in our union, and with much difficulty has been introduced in the EU. It is definitely appropriate to also point out that seats and baggage are free on southwest. If you paid for these on Ryanair, I’m sure you’d find the cost more comparable.
So besides fees being a massive difference between RA and SW SW has a higher business class % of seats filled. America also doesn’t really do way out of the way airport like Southend and London. That’s why Gary Airport isn’t a Chicago destination and Manchester is declining as a Boston destination. SW also has started to operate in more main airports like Bush Miami etc. Americans just have different style and managaing structure. It’s best to contrast not compare them
It's a bit of a myth that Ryanair uses remote airports. Yes, it's true in some instances and these are often cited to bash Ryanair, a favourite pastime of many but also people who support Ryanair by flying with them. I live near Dublin and fly regularly to Malaga, and in both cases they use the main airport. I have also flown Dublin to Girona, with my final destination being Barcelona. When we arrived in Girona, there was a private bus operator that provided a cheap one hour service to the centre of Barcelona. After allowing for the quicker exit through the much smaller Girona airport, there was less than a half-hour difference in ground travel time to get to my destination in Barcelona.
@@The_Red_Squirrel my point about out of way airports is more so that compared to US carriers RyanAir uses airports far from city center. You don’t see any carrier advertising College Station as a Houston airport.
@@Speedster___ First of all, I have no idea where College Station is relative to anywhere. Secondly as I've already stated, it is a total exaggeration to assert that Ryanair predominantly uses secondary airports. And where it does, the intending passenger can ascertain where the airport is relative to their final destination, and can decide to go with Ryanair or another carrier.
@@The_Red_Squirrel predominately Ehh but I would bet that 2/3 of thier big metropolitan airports are distant ones. College Station is near Houston and that’s Luton to Gatwick distances about
@@Speedster___ Though I am not going to check it out, I have flown Dublin to Manchester, London (Gatwick), Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh, all to the main airport with the exception of Gatwick, which has a direct train connection from the terminal to downtown London. In mainland Europe, I have also flown to Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Seville, Copenhagen, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Milan etc..., and all to the main airport. Yes there are exceptions, most notably Paris (Beauvais) and Brussels (Charleroi), but on the other hand this summer I visited the Loire Valley in France and was able to fly direct from Dublin to Tours. In fact, Ryanair offers 113 direct flights from Dublin. As regards cost comparisons, the return flight to Tours was €123, including priority boarding and a carry-on bag, and in 5 weeks I fly to Malaga for €90 return, again including priority boarding and a carry-on bag.
Is Ryanair that bad because as an American I could only wish for ticket prices that low. That being said I've only seen the ticket prices I've never experienced the flight service.
It's a bit unfair to compare the competition of airlines in different EU countries to the USA setup as the USA and EU would be the same on scale. You wouldn't compare the USA with Germany or Ireland. Each of those would be compared to one state in the USA.
Odd that you say American's are not used to being charged for everything. I've flown long haul with Delta and United and they would charge for drinks and extras, while BA didn't.
EU open skies is a red-herring, because the US is approximately the size of the whole EU. A Hungarian airline moving into serving London-Barcelona is more or less exactly analogous to a midwestern US airline deciding to fly PDX-SAN.
But in many ways it operates like one and while it is not super low cost like the EU ones I have in general found it to have somewhat lower prices than traditional ones and if you know you are going to need checked bags then it is significantly less.
@@KestrelOwens maybe. My route is between PHX and ORD. Who wants to get stuck down at Midway? Especially when my life is 20 minutes away from O’Hare airport. I have decided to never fly low cost again. I will happily pay the extra 50 to 75 bucks to fly American United or Delta. This happens to be an American route that is most convenient for me. Why American doesn’t fly a 767 or a 787 between Phoenix and Chicago is anybody’s guess. The flights are always jampacked and whatever that airbus equivalent of a 737 is. Shake a palm tree in Phoenix, and somebody from Chicago will fall out of it.
It really is all about Euro population densities and rail networks vs US air/rail infrastructure. US railroads built out by 1916 with 264,000 track miles, Passengers carried peaked mid 1920’s and downhill since except freight which exploded in growth after 1980, This lack of rail interest continues except regional intercity pairs and US high speed rail is not economically viable due past rail ROW construction practices/population densities. Deregulation Act of 1978 created cheap fares, mergers, bankruptcies, new low fare carriers and moved largely from linear route systems to hub and spoke systems to fill the newly arrived wide bodies. By the time the Euro market Deregulated their airlines 20 years later the US had already experienced much of the changes to where we are today and looking to revert to linear routes in certain areas due to aircraft advances. Tertiary airports are only now attracting consumer interest as the US airlines only serve 500 US airports despite 5,000 US general aviation airports. Nothing was said about Euro user fees as it relates to air carriers, In the US, ATC/Nav and Weather services are included as a fuel tax which is significant, Anyone know how Euro landing fees, ramp fees and misc fees are on avg in Europe? . I
„There are Excellent traveling Opportunities!“ shows the Deutsche Bahn that is Infamous for being Terrible. (It’s actually pretty good we Germans just like to complain) Flix Busses and Trains are usually pretty good
It's almost impossible to avoid Ryanair and easyjet if you fly regularly around Europe's smaller cities and towns - some towns and cities only have air connections thanks to the low cost carriers - the likes of British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa unwilling or unable to compete it seems.
Ryanair is great, its rarely late, comes in 30 min before departure, people off and people in, and boom! you are off. Compared to other big companies like Lufthansa, SAS or LOT where you have delays or shifting departure times. The big ones might give me a free drink and a sandwich but Ryanair is faster and more efficient and, to be honest, I prefer the no frills model to paying 40-50% more in a ticket price. Ryanair is efficient and very convenient. Also a 10% rise in prices...so basically 55 eur to fly across the continent instead of 50? Bring it on.
From the airline choice perspective, not much has changed really - Wizz Air and Ryanair both registered themselves in the UK, while easyJet registered itself in Austria, so they’ll still be allowed to travel within and between the UK and the EU. As for changes to passenger demand and ticket prices, I guess we’ll have to wait and see until the pandemic is over before we can properly compare them.
@@KasabianFan44 this is a bit misleading, and misses the biggest change: easyJet can not register itself in Austria, they founded a subsidiary there. But that Austrian easyJet, according to EU laws has the majority of EU based ownership. So, it's like only the brand is the same, and it is a different company now
There is a big item which you missed...the size of the territory flown. Compare to Europe, most points in the US are at least 1500 miles apart, with points like New York and Los Angles over 3,000 miles. Compare this to a little over 200 miles from Paris to London, or 1700 miles from Dublin to Athens. They can't land and turn as often as the Euro carriers can. Turn times mean more flights and more flights mean less cost. Also, the US has a bus system, its called Greyhound (there are also a high number of smaller long range buss companies) and those buses are usually full, especially ones on the North East corridor routes. As well, airlines in the US also used to seek out airports that were far away from city centers, the problem is, now those are the main airports, for those that haven't just been abandoned.
One thing to point out is that even those far off aiports have reliable and cheap public transport connecting the many airports to the city centre. Whenever I fly anywhere in Europe, I always end up going to (and from) an airport by Train, Metro or Tram, with 24 hour public transport tickets costing less than 7€.
Agree with you but visit Stockholm and if you don’t know some tips, you will pay quite a lot. And there is no difference whether you go to the main or smaller airport.
I think this is an issue of what came first, the chicken or the egg. If a 2nd rate US airport became a destination for low-cost airline, the public transport would definitely get boosted through local agreement before the first landing and would definitely attract more suppliers as air traffic picked up.
The bus between Beauvais and Paris was 13 EUR back in 2010.
The fun fact idea to bring legal travel easy to carry fold electric scooter or board 4 wheels to just save those few $$.
@@nazariimalakhivskyi6118 In stockholm you can get to and from arlanda with stockholm's public transport (2-3 euros). With skavsta you can take the train or flygbussarna
wendover productions apparently isn't enough airplane videos, thanks youtube algorithm
I think the biggest reason for the difference in budget airline fares in the U.S. & Europe is the lack of a convenient, & reliable alternative mode of transport, like rail service, which u correctly pointed out.
for sure!! and also because we are very small market in terms of size (our cities are close to each other) but in US cities are so far apart, train is not an option... but high speed is!!!
After studying abroad in Europe as an American, I think that this might be a small factor but not as big as you might think at first. If this were the case, one would expect that flights from Ireland, Iceland, and Ibiza to be more expensive. Also there are plenty of cheap flights on routes that I never heard people using any other form of transit such as the UK to Riga or Athens. I also think a lot of Europeans forget how much cheaper it is to drive in the US than Europe. I know plenty of people who drive to Florida from the northern US, and while I am sure there are some, I never really encountered people from the UK or Ireland who took a train / drove / took a bus to the Spanish coast / islands or Greece but knew plenty of people who flew. Also pre-Covid there actually was a decent system of Megabus routes, Chinatown buses, and other options in the Great Lakes, West Coast, and East Coast regions.
But I do think that one difference is the better public transportation within metro areas which allows for budget airlines in Europe to fly to different airports. If I saved money flying from Luton rather than Heathrow I know I can make it into London for only a bit more money. I have to get a really good deal to get me to fly into Orlando Sanford instead of Orlando International because of the cost difference and hassle difference between the two airports.
TLDR - driving in US is just as much competition to flights in US as trains and buses are to flights in Europe.
I live in Europe. The rail is never an alternative. Its way to expensive and always late and its crap. Even spirit is more comfortable then german railways. And its super slow.
I prefer to fly the 300km from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt via London or Palma de Malorca with Ryanair for 2x 5 Euro instead of paying 30 to 50 Euro robb off at the railway companys (they call it super saver , but its robb off)
@@chrissflyer4722 yeah I'd probably chose to fly vs taking the rail service, unless I was visiting a country for the 1st time. I wanna see as much of the area as possible so goin' by rail would be a better choice. Not to mention the fact that since we basically have zero rail service in the U.S., (I don't even count Amtrak as rail service since they only operate out of a few major cities, don't offer genuine high speed rail service, & are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE), just taking a train would be an experience in & of itself...As far as my comment goes, I was simply pointing out that the mere presence of legitimate rail service in Europe is enough to force airline's to drop their prices to remain competitive, something u just don't get here in the 'states...Thx for the reply. 😉👍👍✌
@@chrissflyer4722
Sure, so when was the last time you actually took a train? Düsseldorf to Frankfurt takes barely over an hour on the ICE Sprinter, and costs less than the regional ticket to Aachen if you book early enough. The seats are wider, legroom is about triple and of course you don't have to deal with airport security, or even having to get to the airport in the first place. Of course with the twice an hour service you'd also be a lot more flexible than with the aircraft.
Presumably you've also never had the joy of experiencing a flight cancellation five hours before boarding, or had a three hour delay on a one hour flight. With the railways even if your train gets cancelled completely you're usually able to get on the one an hour later.
Are you actually mad enough to prefer paying more to spend two hours in a sardine can, an hour in airport security, two hours travelling to and from the airport and an hour at least of layover over getting on a more comfortable train that would get you there in one sixth the time?
I believe there is another reason as well. Air travel in the United States is way more business based, whereas air travel in Europe is way more leisure based. A small business with an office in say Chicago, IL may be considering opening up a 2nd location in say Dallas, TX. And then a third location in Atlanta, GA. These are distances that can only be done via air travel if you need to conduct business with all three offices. In Europe, a small business wanting to open up a second location will much more frequently opt for an opening of a second location within the same country, mostly because of language barriers. And while countries like France and Germany certainly are large enough to have possible business locations in rather far away distances - e.g. Hamburg and Munich, or Paris and Nice, it is less common for European businesses to do so. In the USA, people fly from Chicago, IL to Atlanta GA to do business for 2 days, then on to Phoenix AZ, and then back to Chicago, IL before the week is out. Same dollar. Same language. No passport needed. Of course this does happen in Europe as well, but it is much more localized, e.g. within France, or within the UK, not so much from Birmingham to Nice to Milan and back to Birmingham.
The same is true for students. It is much more common for a student in Minneapolis, IN to go to university in say Seattle, WA, and move there. They will live there and often fly back and forth to see their parents when there is a school break.
Because of the above, families are very spread out. People going to university in a certain town, a few HOURS of flying away from parents, will often stick around.... get a job there after graduating, maybe meet the love of their life, start a family, etc, etc....
And that leads me into this: The USA has a number of major travel holidays, in particular so Thanksgiving and Christmas. Millions of people go home for those holidays, ensuring pretty much guaranteed business from mid-November to early January. The following winter sports season in February flows into Spring Break in March, and then it is time for graduations again where grandma WILL fly to see her grandkids graduate from some place.
It is different in Europe: In Europe there is a HUGE summer peak, where holiday goers fly from the northern side of Europe to the warmer southern side of Europe between late May and late August.... and although there are a few winter sports peaks as well, for most of the rest of the year - I would guess about 6 months of it - budget airlines in Europe rely more on business travel and family visits, and less so on leisure travel. So if you want to travel from A to B in say.... April, you can likely get an extremely low rate with carriers like RyanAir, because they are trying to fill up the planes. In the USA with much more business travel, and more spread out leisure travel
In a nutshell: In the USA there is a more steady flow of passengers throughout the year, where is in Europe there is a big peak in summer, but much less throughout the rest of the year. The market demand on flights is completely different, and that is partially reflected in pricing.
so many good points in a youtube comment, I have chills...
@@ForeverFebruary27 and it's also a cultural thing: if I have to go from Italy to France or Germany, I'll probably take the car/bus/train. Planes are often seen as too complicated, especially to old people, while for a train you can simply book the ticket, go to the station and get on board.
Heck, some people prefers to travel 21 hours in a sleeper train rather than 1 hour and a half on a plane!
If the prices wouldn't be so low, there would be far less plane passengers
Your arguement however is self-contradictary. Consider this, since airlines are cheaper in Europe, then people are actually able to fly more and go on more flying holidays (plus Europeans on average have more annual vacation time). While, Americans tend to fly mainly during large travel holidays because flying is a major price of the vacation. Thus, in my experience and logically, Europeans tend to fly much much more just for fun, even if they do not (as you say) settle farther away and around the continent.
Wait is there a Minneapolis in Indiana too?
@@Gnefitisis I don't know actually. I tried to find hard data, but i came a bit short, so I'll just give you my impressions. Having relatives on both sides of the ocean, it seems to me americans travel more by plane (per capita, of course).
And it makes sense, since a lot of people travel for business reasons, much more than in Europe, where you rarely work in 2 different countries, and if you do you are probably a high manager of a multinational, and you have your own plane. Also consider that Europeans have long paid holidays, but not all of them use the plane. Europe is so dense of places to visit that you can often travel by car or train, and old people (which Europe is full of) usually don't like planes.
Hardly anyone uses domestic flights in the Netherlands because it's a small country and there is a good train network.
There are literally no scheduled domestic flights within the Netherlands anyways, the last time was in 2008 when KLM had a Maastricht - Amsterdam route.
but €280 is a lot compared to a lower cost airline
Yeah, I wonder if thats what the law means for the fuel tax. If so, its absolutely pointless and a cynical attempt at environmentalism by the VVD and its coalition partners
Same in the UK
@@MrBladeBlaze Domestic flights are common in UK, Belfast to London, Cardiff to London, Glasgow to London and many more routes
Southwest is not a low cost carrier compared to Ryanair. Yes they offer incentives, but their prices are much similar to global carriers
Nothing is really as low as RyanAir. It started the whole low cost model.
Ryanair is the first airline with carry on fees and pre-reclined seats
But Southwest is low cost for the U.S
@@timberwolfe1645 Use Google before making a ridiculously false claim like that.
I feel like Southwest is cheaper than other domestic US airlines. I live in Houston and can generally travel to either coast for $99 or less as long as I book a few weeks in advance, and that includes two free checked bags. I only bring one large suitcase and one carryon but that would cost an extra $35 with other airlines so their ticket price would have to be $65 to compare. That's about 55 euros, not too far off from Europe's low cost prices. I think the cheapest Southwest flights are around $50 but never as cheap as Ryanair's 1 euro specials.
being from new zealand, i had a shock while visiting portugal a few years ago. i had never heard of standby lists. had a flight from faro (south of portugal) to valencia, connecting via lisbon. got to check in, they took me off the flight. rescheduled me later in the day. ended up flying faro-frankfurt and frankfurt-valencia, it added 12 hours to my arrival time, wasted my time and i had to wait 3 months and many emails to TAP to get my refund (yes, i got a refund). seemed like such a waste of my time and airline money for my refund, just to have a full airplane.
Waste of your time yes, but if they need to refund few customers occasionally it's totally worth it for airline if they overall get the maximum capacity. And by large people are happy with this arrangement as it reduces the costs. And people who have need for reliability can just opt for higher class ticket.
Sorry to hear that. This is a rare thing and you were unlucky.
Honestly as an American I've seen how cheap you guys tickets are I would Honestly take that inconvenience for those prices. Also just a side note if anybody actually cares using full planes is much better for the environment because economies of scale.
Unfortunately, it would have been much quicker for you to take the bus to Seville or train to Lisbon and fly from there. But that's not something a tourist from the other side of the world would know, and unfortunately most airline customer service reps won't give you the quickest option unless you demand it (especially if it means reimbursing other modes of transport). Hope you also got your 250 euros compensation with that refund.
@@austinblackburn8095 Uh please don’t generalize. As another American, I don’t care about low ticket prices and prefer basic human comfort and reliability over the spin of the lottery wheel of inconvenience.
Love Flixbus. Its cheap for sure but also surprisingly comfortable
I did a trip in Europe in 2019. It is very cheap and easy to travel across Europe. I used a combination of Ryanair, coach and train. I remember booking a one way ticket from budapest to Bordeaux for 7 euro
It is very easy to be critical of Ryanair and Michael O'Leary,. Most younger people don't remember pre Ryanair when flying scheduled airlines was for the privileged few with huge government subsidies thrown in. Ryanair revolutionised air travel in Europe and everyone else followed the model. Cheap air access also transformed the demographics of the entire continent, with large scale migration from the old Eastern Europe to more prosperous countries. I hope someday that we finally recognise Tony Ryan and Ml O'Leary for their immense achievement. Many other sectors would benefit from similar deregulation.
Daniel O;Connell absolutely correct it’s less than a price of a train ticket.If you go in with not too high expectations eg it’s just a bus in the sky you won’t be disappointed.I fly with him because Number one he services his planes regularly and has 100% safety record to prove it. I call him bad boy for a laugh.I think he has made a grave mistake buying the Max today in IQ newspaper the grieving Uk families want it banned from Europe by EASA quite rightly I won’t get on a Max out of respect for the families I believe he got a sweetheart deal on the Max buy one get one free lol😥😥🙏🇬🇧👨✈️👍⭐️🥇✈️🙋🏻♀️
@@elaineblackhurst1509 he probably did get them cheap, but that's Boeing's fault; not Ryanair. He's in business. The max increases density and reduces fuel costs. 11% reduction in per passenger cost of operations cannot be overlooked. He's keeping Ryanair ahead of its competitors. That's his job.
@@elaineblackhurst1509 With unfair tax exemptions and the low cost airlines receive public money. Otherwise they couldn't have $5 tickets.
When the airport is in the ass end of nowhere you ain't saving money. I spent a fortune on a taxi fare getting to Gatwick.
For distances longer that 1000km it is OK to fly. For overland shorter distances, take the train is there is one available. Buy a high speed train ticket in advance and it is a lot cheaper. No seat belt. You can charge your laptop and your mobile phone. You can use a computer and a mobile phone during the trip. You can bring larger suitcases without paying extra. It conveniently goes from city center to city center. There is a bar, or at least, vending machines with all kinds of drinks and snacks (in the only privately run high-speed service in Europe, the Italian Italo, there are only vending machines)
The seasonality of travel is also a factor in Europe, as you have noticed, Europe is quite well connected on short and medium distances, which has the effect of concentrating demand for air travel in the busiest months (typically summer) where prices become comparable to those in the US. The rest of the year, airlines have to fight to fill their planes, while in the US, demand remains fairly flat throughout the year.
fwiw: I heard somewhere that US carriers are averse to inter-connecting travel. even in the small city where I live, one can fly in, and there you are. rent a car, call a cab, do whatever you feel, and you are on your own! in contrast, when I flew into FRA, the train connexion to the city center was so easy and so affordable, that I cannot recall how much it cost!
Yes, the cheap European carriers make a point of liaising with local authorities to ensure good transport infrastructure. They find a town up to 100km from a major destination and then turn it into a major hub by sorting efficient transport from the town to the destination.
I believe there are actually more airports near US cities than European cities. But US airports are almost exclusively owned by local governments, which means the local authorities have a strong incentive to prevent competition from nearby airports, and thus don't let airlines us them even when they try.
When trains and Buses are already competing for lower prices airlines really need to push their price down to stay competitive, also because ground transport is more convenient and sometimes even faster on short routes
It's important to note that salaries and general conditions for Flight Crew are several times higher in the U.S.
Just flew TAP from IAD to Brussels via Lisbon, thought I had a great fare, but by the time I paid for a couple of bags and extras, I could have flown direct on united on a widebody jet for the same money and better service and less time in air and at airports. Lesson learned.
5:50 I have been to Brussels Charleroi Airport(Belgium), that was the departure airport towards Girona Costa Brava Airport(Spain). Because that was my first flight and it was with Ryanair. The fact that we travelled 150km to a outer country airport says enough about the price in comparison to driving by car
Southwest would probably be a "mid tier" airline. Spirit is more like the budget airlines of Europe.
American Airlines has older planes than budget airlines in Europe + their service is just as bad so I'd say AA is what we would call a budget airline
I remember when air travel in North America was so much cheaper than Europe. Deregulation in the US has a lot to answer doe.
@Sky Honkler not really. the top four airlines which carry the most passengers in the world are all American. American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and United. You can’t grow to have the largest four airlines in the world through poor operations. the cost difference is due to different factors; it is most definitely not related to operations though. For example, just because Frontier is dirt-cheap in America compared to flying with Southwest doesn’t make Frontier a better operating airline.
@Sky Honkler Name any country that allows foreign airlines to operate domestic routes. The EU doesn’t count because of its single aviation market.
@@soravulpis96 "Don't name the European countries because it invalidates our point"
@@burningphoneix The EU is a special case. Goods, services, and people flow freely from member state to member state. An Irish carrier being able to fly customers from France to Italy is but part of the free flow of services.
@Sky Honkler It only happens in the EU because of its single aviation market, in part due to the EU allowing free movement of goods, services, and people amongst its member states. No other country allows such an arrangement, because there's no bloc of countries like the EU anywhere else.
Just to point this out, Southwest IS NOT a budget carrier. Most of their one-way tickets are $100 or more. Frontier and Spirit Airlines are the budget airlines here in the states, and I've gotten 2000 mile round trip tickets with Frontier for $30.
as it seems the site uses British people in speaking and voiceovers and it still uses US spelling, confusing
British people get hired because listening to most modern americans is annoying
Occasional replacement of s with z and ou with o is hardly noticeable :3
They're not british they're northern irish.
And now legacy carriers are undercutting LLCs, I frequently see ‘basic economy’ fares with British Airways cheaper than Ryanair and easyJet.
Usually the Legacy Carriers have founded succesfully their own LCCs: the IAG Vueling, Lufthansa Eurowings, Air France-KLM Transavia, even in Russia Aeroflot Pobeda and in Ukraine UIA Sky Up. So the "Hardcore LCCs" Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizzair have also to compete with this branches of the Legacy Carriers and not only with the Legacy Carriers itself. In the US neither Delta nor American nor United is running own LCCs to compete with Southwest.
@@NicolaW72 The US legacy carriers tried to launch their own LCCs years ago, and they all failed miserably.
@@IdliAmin_TheLastKingofSambar That is indeed a huge difference in the Airline Industry between the US and Europe (and as stated not only inside the EU but also in Russia and in the Ukraine). On the other side the Hardcore LCCs were in Europe most succesful in countries were the legacy carrier failed to establish his own LCC: Italy, Poland, Romania and Hungary. Ryanair is leading the airline market in Italy and Poland, Wizzair in Romania and Hungary. In all European countries were the legacy carriers established their own LCCs they´re still number one in their markets - and partially a very dominating number one as it is e.g. in Germany and France the case.
Trains make sense for journeys of less than four hours. There are lots of trips which are even shorter like London-Paris, London-Brussels, Paris-Brussels all taking two hours or less. For longer journeys trains can still make sense if the airports of the two cities are more than an hour away. However trains are expensive in Europe and with the advent of low cost flights and and low cost buses, there has been a fall in demand for some long distance rail travel.
I think that is exactly the reason why low cost airlines are so cheap in Europe. Wait until the European railways get dismantled because of the low cost airlines. After that plane ticket prices go up.
The biggest factor is distance. The European continent is much smaller thus most destinations are short flight away (lower fuiel costs). The longest routes are Balkans ->Ireland , Baltics and Nordics-> Portugal/south Italy and thats about 4h. All the major flights are less then 2h (Central Europe).
In America New York to LA is 6h if you are lucky to get a non stop. 8-10 with connection.
Also in Europe you have a large competion between travel options- you can fly , bus travel is also easy. Trains are viable option but not much in international as the EU power standards for trains are a mess + every train has to operate a local loco because reasons....
Southwest airlines is an LCC while Ryanair and easyJet is a ULCC. The ULCCs of the United States are Frontier and Spirit and I have personally purchased 3 tickets for just $11 one-way on Frontier.
exactly you can't really compare southwest and ryanair
Exactly, flying with SW is often times better than flying with a legacy carrier.
@@David.. I would agree. Nowadays, we don't even get meals in economy of a legacy carrier so Southwest's passenger experience is similar or even better than legacy carriers.
Exactly. WN and Ryanair both run the 737-800. Ryanair has 189 seats in theirs. WN has 175. All seats on the southwest plane have 32in of pitch (some exit rows have even more). Ryanair has 30, except for 51 premium seats which have 32-34in.
Southwest is also famed for having no fee changes and even the lowest fares refund to a voucher, while the "standard" fare is fully refundable for a faction of legacy carriers refundable fares.
And don't forget Allegiant too!
Trains are actually not that competitive in the EU. This is due to preferential legislation for the airlines, however there's a growing movement trying to make it so there's a healthier framework for the European Union. In most countries, currently it is usually cheaper to fly domestic than taking the train.
It is the case of Portugal with Lisbon-Porto with TAP or Ryanair. Totally unnecessary. There is a fair pendolino train doing the same journey. Counting with the time to the airport, security checks, etc, it takes the same time in total, even if that pendolino tilting train does not go the whole route at the speed it should go (220kms/h). Those super short flights, such as Lisbon-Porto should be heavily taxed as they pollute a lot. It did not have to de domestic flights. It should be all the flights of distances shorter than say 600 kms, with the exception of connecting islands.
I find Wizz Air advertising videos beautiful. They look great. 👍
Shite airline though
@@IrritatedBear Yeah ? i don't´ think so. Ryanair is the worse , is the biggest and most hated in Europe. They trying to improve but delays, crap organization, medium interested personnel etc. Wizzair is growing and think they are better then the average.
@@zoltanercei1094 from personal experience wizzair felt very very budget, also pretty scammy with a £50 fee per person for handluggage
@@IrritatedBear OK, the luggage issue ehhehehe yeah, in every budget or low-cost airlines is a big problems.. I see some calculation where sometimes they make more money on this, and almost nothing with the passenger tickets... BUT, is a big problem everywhere, not just Wizzair, is a weight issue, less then 10 kg is free 20 kg, 30 kg etc you pay more , Ryan-air , Blue Air, Easy-jet etc ALL of them doing this, small differences
@@zoltanercei1094 I know it's a common issue on budget airlines however wizz air was especially egregious with no bags other than a supermarket shopping bag, being free
"Hire airfares"? I wonder if anyone got a scolding for this typo 🤔
That data point of population density of 36 people per square KM in the US is very misleading, as 80 % of US citizens live in the Eastern half of the country, also including a State like Alaska which is largest by landmass but only has a population of around 700k really skews the results.
You're alaska point is correct but It's more like %60 percent lives on the east half ,
in USA flights from La to Ny at both destinations have more than 10 million people in population, Europe does not have single root like that, so density is irrelevant. In addition, what are the prices for kerosene in USA and in Europe, not sure about it, but car gasoline is sometimes twice more expensive in EU, yet, they have cheaper tickets
@@maximmatkovsky6490 I don't know the whole story buy European airlines are getting a huge break on the tax they pay on fuel right now
@@maximmatkovsky6490 Paris and London also have more than 10 million people, so that’s not an explanation of ticket prices. There is just more (international) competition between airlines and airports in Europe that lacks in America. And also the tax on kerosine in America may have a little effect. But not in that amount to explain the difference in ticket price. Maybe because a lot of airports in America are property of the city or state governments and in Europe a lot are commercial companies? I’m just guessing.
@@RealConstructor Paris info Population: 2.161 million (2019) Eurostat
London is actually below 10 mil
Population: 8.982 million (2019) Eurostat
Something I was thinking of when I clicked on this video- flights in Europe aren’t as long as flights in the US so they need less fuel. This may have nothing to do with it at all but I’ll put it out there anyway 😂
How are flights in Europe shorter than those in the US? Europe is larger than the United States... a flight from Los Angeles to New York is just as long as the one from Lisbon to Moscow.
So, now we know that flights in Europe are NOT shorter...when was the last time you were able to book a flight for 5 or 10 dollars in the US?
I don't see why someone would want their ticket to be comprehensive of everything. If the "base price" is 70$ and service A B and C are 10$ each,, I'd rather pay 70$ and add what I need than pay 100$ and possibly be paying for a service I don't need.
I want a simple airfare and I want my fare to be easily comparable to other fares. Airlines like Ryanair make that impossible by forcing you to book your fare before you choose most extras, which they then sell overpriced. Even though you might think you saved money I found that flying a standard fare on some full service carriers is actually cheaper than flying Ryanair base fare + optional extras you might want or need.
@@jlust6660 don't agree
@@florimond. You don't have to, I was only naming the main reasons why I personally prefer a simple fare over a seat with paying optional extras.
There is way more business travel in the United States where flying between countries in Europe is much more leisure based on average. As airlines know businesses will pay for their employees to fly to other states/offices for business, the all-inclusive ticket to which some services might not be used is much more profitable. I have flown for business (I live in California) many many times in the USA, and often I am only staying 1 night, e.g. flying in the morning, work in afternoon, stay at a hotel, work the next morning and afternoon, and fly home at night. I just take a back pack with a toothbrush and clean underwear/socks/shirt, nothing that needs checked luggage.
In Europe way more individuals travel for leisure, and as these individuals have to pay for their flights themselves, they are more cost conscious than business travelers. It is a different market and a different demand.
@@maartena you're right in the sense that way more individuals travel for leisure in Europe but we also travel a lot for business, for example I work for Airbus in Toulouse and I go twice a month to Munich, from 2014 to 2018 I lived half of my time in Bristol, UK and I also worked on the A220 project in Canada whiles living in Toulouse...
Aviation in pandemic world doesn't exist. It was so fun to watch, history channel. I remember once I had flown with wizair, and sometimes with raynair. Those were the times... I wonder now, how old I was back then....
♫ Cheap flights! Cheap flights! Flights for 50p! ♫
6:07 I can see my Mom's house, my Dad's and my place, all in one frame. :D
Europe has a competitive travel (i.e. airplanes, trains, and buses) marketplace and the US doesn't. That's all you need to know.
Based on 2021 numbers, easyjet rasm is a shocking 12% below spirit’s. Sure, the increased competition helps, but the difference is not as dramatic as it is made to seem here.
Have you ever flown Canadian domestics ? From toronto, Going to Vancouver is twice as much as going to London
Toronto - London, UK is half the price of Toronto - Vancouver? What causes that?
@@capnskiddies YYZ > YVR isn't 1/2 price of YYZ > LHR
Sometimes the price is close, but it's not uncommon to find a $600-700 from YVR > YYZ. $450-500 range can be found during seat sales.
YYZ > LHR is often $650-700 to $850 range depending on the airline. AC and BA generally tend to be the pricier options.
These are return trips. Not 1 way.
@@SilverSamurai12 about right considering the distances involved. Tack on a little extra, for the London landing slot premium.
Someone told me, we pay more tax on our tickets to fly anywhere in Canada.
exactly, why travel in canada when you can go to an entirely different country for the same price.
Noting that all all european airlines can serve "domestic" flies is like noting that a Texas-based airline is allowed to fly routes within california. "domestic" has a different meaning in europe and in the US: An american domestic flight is just comparable to a flight within the EU
That is not really comparable. Each country has their own national borders and sovereign airspace. There are international agreements that need to be followed in order for airlines to fly passengers around.
Wendover Productions has a good video explaining this. You can search youtube for "Five Freedoms of Aviation" if you want to watch it. In particular you want to pay attention to the 9th freedom... Yes, I realize that it's strange for there to be a 9th freedom in a video about 5 freedoms, but they explain why it makes sense.
EU+Schenegen
@@SectionNyne
Wendover’s video doesn’t negate anything Jan has said - quite the opposite actually. Did you even understand that video?
@@KasabianFan44 Yes I did. The video was saying that one of the reasons why prices are so cheap in Europe is that any airline anywhere in Europe can compete with any other airline anywhere in Europe because they are all allowed to fly domestic flights within each others' countries. Basically that is the 9th freedom mentioned in the Wendover video.
Jan was dismissing the comment as unimportant in the video by saying that noting it was like noting that US carriers can fly in different states. I was pointing out that that element in the video was significant because countries are not states, and that for a carrier from one country to operate domestic routes in another country requires international agreements (from an aviation standpoint, "domestic" has the same meaning the world over). Without those agreements each carrier would be limited to a MUCH smaller market with much less competition. With them, they have access to a market that that is twice the size (population) as the US but has significantly higher competition hence the lower prices.
Basically all I was saying was that Jan's dismissal of the "domestic" flights element was not accurate as it is one of the primary reasons why the prices are lower.
@@SectionNyne
Then you completely misunderstood Jan’s comment.
As far as aviation is concerned, the EU (or rather the Schengen area) acts as one country for any company within it. That’s what Jan was trying to say. WizzAir flying between Sweden and Poland is comparable to Southwest flying between Arizona and Texas. So you can’t say that Ryanair has an “advantage” over Southwest because of the European single aviation market, because the US technically has one too for the whole country.
9:43 that livery is just stunning!
Swizerland in one of only countries that tax fuel on domestic flights... I have a question: swizerland has domestic flights?? hahahhaa
Geneva to Zurich - Non stop w/ Swissair
Same in The Netherlands
@@dokzero5 There used to be a domestic KLM flight between Amsterdam Schiphol and Maastricht-Aachen airport. Its was served by a Fokker 50.
They do had Basel-Zurich, Zurich-Geneva, Geneva-Lugano, Zurich-Lugano, Zurich-Sion and Sion-Geneva.
I flown some of this routes with Etihad Regional operated by Darwin airlines some 5-6 years ago for 1 Euro up to 25 Euro each way. But including bag and service and nice leather seats in the Saab 2000. I mean with full servie 20 Euro is okay for a flight, but only if its really good.
I flown Geneva-Zurich-Geneva, Geneva-Sion, Sion-Lugano and Geneva-lugano
@@martinjuulandersen9694 Ah nice thanks for the info 😀
I much prefer the Southwest boarding process. You can check in on-line 24 hours before the flight and receive a "boarding number". SW boarding areas have stanchions/poles set up leading to the boarding entry, with boarding numbers shown on both sides of the stanchions. Numbers 1-30 are on one side, 26 through 60 on the other side. When ready for boarding, you line up according to the number on your boarding pass. When called, the passengers proceed to board in the same numerical order. As the first set of 60 proceeds, the next group of 60 line up, etc. Although it is a process unique to SW (at least in the States), it goes more quickly and is much less stressful than "cattle-car" boarding. Once on board, seats are first come, first served.
As a dual USA/EU citizen, I've had experience with the European LCC's. I have found the SW service to be at an overall higher level. Aircraft are consistently clean, crews tend to be attentive and enjoy their jobs. Operationally, SW is now flying to/from Hawaii (inter-island as well as to/from Mainland), Coast-to Coast USA, Mexico, Caribbean and Puerto Rico. Hey, flying can be a pain, but SW I seem to be swearing a LOT less after a SW flight!
Well tell me the last time you flew London to Lanzarote (4 hours) for £20 return, which I’ve done several times. Yes, it might be like taking a coach service, but again £20 instead for £200...
I know your comment is two years old, but I want to give you credit because it highlights why the world thinks Americans are stupid.
As popular as Southwest is, most people who comment in the aviation blogs complain about WN’s “confusing, cattle call boarding process where people cram in line to fight each other on the plane,” which has *never* been true in the company’s 50-year history.
Basically there’s a subset of the population that finds it hard to match a letter, clearly marked on a boarding pass, with a number that’s clearly marked on poles in the lobby. These are probably the same people that can’t find their clearly-marked row and seat number on the other carriers.
The Legacy U.S. carriers, from what I recall, *changed* their slow boarding system to the “zones” they use nowadays, all based on Southwest. So there’s that.
To clarify, I agree with everything you said.
Kind of hard to compare Southwest and Ryanair. Southwest gives you two free checked bags plus a carry-on, has slightly larger seats, and I would say an overall more enjoyable customer experience. A lot of their routes start in the $49 to $69 range one way.
Also probably on average longer distance travelled. Europe is quite a bit smaller especially if not counting Russia or Alaska/Hawaii
@@johnl.7754 right. A few southwest flights are transcontinental. Baltimore to Oakland and San Jose, Orlando to Oakland and San Jose, and of course the California to Hawaii flights. I’m not sure if Ryanair flies more then 4 hours anywhere. Also the pitch on southwest flights on the 737-8 is 32 inches. Honestly not too bad if your tall, especially if you’re traveling with someone you know.
The same compare to different between American car and European car. European tend to drive small cars in contrast to American.
@@LoboLakerGaming Yes, there are transcontinental flights with Ryanair and others in Europe, but it's not really comfortable to fly more than 5h with them
@@lukaswask what is the longest route ryanair offers? I was having trouble finding that info on my own for my prior comment
Europe tourism is critical for each country, air travel will recover in 2022 and boom in 2023. I believe that we will continue to see low fares. Greetings from Mexico!
10€ fares are probably gone forever. Most fares around my area are up like 100% compared to pre covid rates.
I really hope they will never come back. The EU should invest more in transcontinental highspeed rail connections.
@@walterclements7968 Yeah also the existing rail lines must come down in cost and cooperate together. It's really annoying to check multiple rail providers to find a suitable combination to arrive at your destination.
@@walterclements7968 Great for those living on the 'mainland', but I live in Ireland.
@@The_Red_Squirrel Irish rail network is half the size of what it was 100 years ago...I'm glad that most European countries aren't anti rail like Ireland is but I do agree that we should have both, no just one or the other. People from mainland Europe want to visit islands too so there should always be flights available to keep people moving
@@vkdrk On what basis do you assert that Ireland is anti-rail. Is it just because the rail network today is less than half the size it was 100 years ago.
You could equally make the argument in respect of canal transport or telegram services, but you would be wrong. As newer technologies come to the fore, older less efficient technologies go into decline. That is the nature of progress.
The reduction in the size of the Irish rail network has arisen because of improvements in road transport over the last 100 years, and which provides a more flexible, economical and point to point service that consumers prefer.
I also note your response to my comment lacks context as the comment that I was responding to has been removed. For your information, my comment about Ireland being an island was in response to another poster stating that the development of high speed rail in Europe was challenging the airline business for market share. I was simply pointing out that doesn't work for Ireland because it is an island.
You should compare Canadian flight prices. I am reasonably sure we have the highest airfare costs in the G7 with government taxation and airline greed leading the way. Discount carriers? Not in this part of the planet.
To me it looks like pilots and AHs are paid more in the US than in Europe. I know FR had a F/O cadet program. That means you pay for your 737 rateing, and you work for free for the next one to two yrs.
9:00 the Netherlands and domestic flights is rare, it can only be a couple of routes which mostly get used to transfer a aircraft towards a different airport to pick up flight towards mostly the south
The number one reason is that US Americans earn much more money.
Most people don't understand this but it's pretty simple really.
And...... we have also had mass migration by people from Eastern Europe to Western Europe so we often have these people travelling by air, back and forth, between their homeland and the West.
One major factor often forgotten by people is salaries and if you look it up salaries of staff in the USA is higher compared to europe as whole. if you check avg salaries of pilot is legacy carrier is > 200k and if you pay less , no pilot will be willing to fly.
Looking at FedEx and UPS Europe even allows foreign airlines to operate within the European exclusive zone.
You also forget this very important factor - Most European countries have high fuel taxes on road gasoline- and diesel. The taxes have traditionally been three to four times the taxes in the United States.
I am convinced that the private Americans to a much greater extent choose to travel around the United States in their own cars and SUVs, as gasoline and diesel cost approx. 50% less compared to in Europe per. km / miles. In Europe, a large proportion of cars are smaller commuter cars, which are not so suitable for long trips with a lot of luggage. Road geography in Europe is also more cumbersome due to many peninsulas and islands leading to major detours and ferry costs. And then there is also the phenomenon of MEGASTAU on the German autobahns with over 100km long traffic queues especially on summer weekends. The Interstate Highway System in the United States was expanded around 1980 across all states in the United States. A coherent motorway network across Europe has taken much longer to build due to the Iron Curtain that divided Europe until 1990 and due to national interests stood in the way. Left-wing parties and environmental fanatics have also always hated the concept of auto mobility in Europe and have obstructed many necessary motorway projects. International treaties have prevented similar air traffic obstructions.
It is insane how there is no VAT on kerosine in many EU countries as well...
@@walterclements7968 The Problem in the EU is not the price of Gasoline or Diesel, the problem are the bad roads and the stupid laws. The Eu is doing nothing to fix that and the anticar Lobby in most EU Countries is very strong.
@@nox5555 where in the EU do you live?
@@walterclements7968 Germany.
Driving is not more costly than in the US. 100 miles are 10$ in Europe, thats the same as in the US.
The Problem starts when you get outside of germany. laughable low speed limits,toll roads etc. Its not fun to drive and its real unfair.
Thats why i fly as much as possible, its cheaper and less of a hassle.
@@nox5555 I don't think you understood my point about VAT on kerosine. Kerosine is used by planes. I do partially agree about the roads though, I am from the Netherlands and I understand how you feel about driving outside Germany. Speed limits here have actually been lowered again recently. But my point was that flying was too cheap because there is no VAT on kerosine. The EU should do more to promote travel between countries with high speed trains.
The best channel ever
No simple flying is
@@Lee247Jamaica You do know they also run this channel right...?
yes sir
@@Lee247Jamaica well this channel is owned by Simple flying
As Im currently contemplating saving an 8 hour drive and flying a trip in a few months, Southwest wants over $300 to fly me for an hour and 20 minutes. No wonder I stopped travelling long ago.
Pacific Southwest Airlines pioneered low cost model before Southwest Airlines did.
You totally skipped over the fact that business travel is a much larger percentage of air travel in the US than in Europe. That’s one of the biggest reasons fares are higher. Business travelers are less price sensitive. And the US market is not as seasonal as Europe so competition for leisure passengers is much lower since planes stay mostly full throughout the year. Most budget European airlines make the large majority of their profits over summer. Try watching Wendover Productions video on Why so Many Airlines Go Bankrupt
Americans don’t have 5 weeks paid holiday like in Europe, on their two day holidays you don’t go far! 😂
I always thought business travel was a money spinner for airlines, which in turn should lead to lower fares for economy class.
Also, I don't know where you got the idea that European leisure travel is more concentrated into the summer months. Europeans get more holidays than their US counterparts, and therefore have more opportunities to travel.
Love the image of the new ACELA train set that isn’t in service yet 🤣
Allegiant uses smaller airports. In Washington, they fly out of Bellingham but not Seattle.
I booked Vancouver to Regina on Flair for $98.00 return from Aug 29-Sept 12'21
There’s things like easyJet etc but then there’s Wizz, wizz is just a different breed tbh their prices are mental
You cannot use Southwest's $149 average fare as the standard. Southwest isn't actually all that low cost. Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant are the true low cost carriers in the US, and their fares are comparable to European LCCs.
I love that I can go places so cheaply. I dont care if uts slightly worse comfort its only a 2 hour flight. My dad went to norway for 10 quid.
Average passenger weight directly affects the amount of fuel used. North Americans are on average 15% heavier than Europeans, so since fuel is a major part of the ticket price,this must be a major factor too.
I reckon low cost short haul flights may suffer in the future due to a growing network of high-speed trains. Planes may become less popular as they're less environmentally friendly.
it's way too expensive and the aviation industry have been working on "sustainable" fuel to achieve higher efficiency
@@mydeadsaint Eco-friendly trains were invented before the first flight of a plane. While electric trains weren't widely used until the 20th century, electric trains did start appearing on the London Underground
Let's hope railway will replace short haul flights. right now, flights are often cheaper than trains
I'd love it to. Only slightly slower, but considering no check-in that's negligible, no luggage limitations...
@@mydeadsaint Well explain why Air France has a small regional network. TGVs (France's high-speed trains) are the answer.
Europe is way smaller than the US, how can you compare average ticket prices of continents that are vastly different in size
Europe is literally bigger than the US
One big factor you missed is that Europe is much smaller than the US, resulting in shorter average flights. Longer average flights in the US means more fuel equals higher average flight costs.
I think that is kinda incorporated into the population density factor. As they said, with more people per unit of area flights will naturally be shorter.
Europe is not really smaller than the US, if you take into account non-EU countries it's actually larger. But it's much more densely populated as the video said.
@@osasunaitor There are a lot more 4+hr flights in the U.S. than your average European flights. A lot of cross country flights in the U.S. 5,6, sometimes almost 7 hours during the winter with headwinds
Yeah, but a 4h Ryanair flight cost me 17€ while a 4h Frontier flight cost me 89€, there isn´t really a diffrence.
The airline market isn’t truly deregulated in the US. They still don’t allow foreign airlines to operate domestic routes.
That doesn't make sense unless you think Ireland, for example, is "foreign" to continental Europe. The EU has roughly as many people as the US. So as long as all US airlines can operate in all states, regardless of where they are incorporated, the "domestic" competition within the US should be roughly equivalent to "foreign" competition within the EU.
And yet they go on and on about how free they are and how the market takes care of things, lol.
That's the same in most countries
@@drjzzz EU has twice the amount of people US does..
And an Irish is a foreigner to a german...
EU is more of a trade union with legislation.. Its not a nation like US.
Federal goverment controlls about 47% public funds in the US, while the states controll 53%.
The EU equalient of "federal goverment" only spends 1% of public funds, while the nations controll 99% of it.
EU does not have a military. Each nation has its own.. etc..
Oh and an airline from asia is free to operate in EU aswell.. Everyone can..
Only reason US is regulated is cause they dont want competition from the world, so they can milk the american people for money. They make sure of that by greasing the politicians.
@@MrDanisve The EU does not have twice as many people as the US. According to Wikipedia, the EU is ~440m people while the US is ~330m, so similar scale. No doubt protectionism plays a big role in both markets. So neither size nor differential 'regulation' can easily account for the relatively higher costs in the US. Others' suggestions, including strong competition from great high speed rail (which is always heavily subsidized) are more credible.
Almost all flights in Europe are international. How many domestic flights are there in Germany? The train beats those cases for almost everything except island hopping stuff like Sicily to Rome, etc.
Germany has 22 commercial airports wich are served by at least 1 airline and every single one has a flight to at least 2 larger Airports in Germany (mostly Frankfurt, München, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg or Stuttgart). The domestic airline-markets in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia (excluding Denmark) are huge, not as huge as the US domestic market, but still enough for about 90 domestic flights in Germany every single day. German airports like Paderborn, Baden, Kassel, Erfurt-Weimar, Münster-Osnabrück, Rostok-Laage, Dresden and Bremen are served by LCCs and „common“ carriers. That’s not because our rail-infrastructure sucks, more because the domestic market in general (car, train, plane) is just to big.
Airlines need them to feed their hubs. Best example is NUE-MUC. If Lufthansa wouldn't provide that small leg which certainly can be replaced by a high speed train ride, they'd loose many customers to Turkish, Emirates, KLM-AirFrance that serve NUE
@@dopepopeurban6129 thanks for the details. That’s bigger than I expected but still quite small relative to international flights (in terms of flights and especially passenger count).
I just googled and just Berlin airport alone had something like 600 passenger flights a day in Dec 2019....
@@xiaoka yeah, Berlin Brandenburg is way to big for its passenger demand. But the American market is definitely bigger, both in demand and in size. I mean, a Transatlantic flight is roughly the same distance as from NY to LA if I’m not mistaken :)
@@dopepopeurban6129 Partly it's for feeder flights, many of these domestic flights are early morning or early evening in order to allow connections with around midday and overnight flights to international destinations. If you're going to be connecting then it's probably more convenient to fly unless you can get a direct train to the airport, and especially in the early morning that can be difficult as services won't run 24 hours unless it's a local U or S-bahn service (and maybe not even then).
Cebu pacific be like: talking huge Planes for long flights and sell them at 30$
Out of Berlin I can fly for a nice weekend to Spain, Italy, Sweden, Bulgaria etc. for 20 - 50 Euro on a short notice.
Others (Americans) might only have once in a life chance to visit Barcelona, I fly there for no money just for this one Restaurant and a day at the beach. Blessed to be European
What is your point? It's easier to fly to somewhere in Europe if you're already in Europe? Yeah, and it's easier to fly to Tijuana from somewhere in North America.
Such insufferable smugness over stating the banal.
@@Treblaine stop being jealous 😂
@@Treblaine nah dont get me wrong... tbh I used to complain a lot about over excited american tourists before I was aware that for many of them, a trip to Amsterdam or any other of our unique cities is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I have +30 days of paid holiday a year and a trip to Rome for the fifth time (just because the tickets are so cheap) is not so special anymore but for others it is...
@@Sanginius23 It's obviously easier for a European to visit another city in Europe. The same can be applied for European tourists visiting north American cities like Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Miami etc.
@@florimond. I live in Europe, idiot.
I'm not such an idiot to think it's remarkable that it's easier to travel within a continent than across a vast ocean like the Atlantic.
Jealousy is when you covet what you have too much, envy is when you covet what others have so I'm not being jealous, the person coveting proximity to Barcelona is being jealous.
Plus existing old euro carriers make alternative profits from business sales that avoids economy seats and the carriers make nice profits from medium-long haul. Ultra short trips are now seeing hsr rail competition. Stricter emission regs will undercut lower fares. Euro state subsidy rules make subsidising by small airports backed by state guaranteed borrowing will be outlawed unless its to marginal regions (islands, ultra low populations, strategically important)
There's a quite an error due to the fact that BREXIT was finalised, UK based companies don't have access to the ECAA. If an Easyjet flight from UK ( A ) go to another country ( B ), that same plane have to go back to UK, he can't be used to cover another destination ( C ).
We love our infrastructure, that's why everyone wins.
A Belgian teaching about infrastructure isn’t quite right 🤔
@@gustavomercado1599 so true haha
Environment certainly is not on the winner side
Sounds communi.... oh i'm sorry, nevermind
@@MrOneWorld123 the environment certainly isn't on the minds of these airlines, nor of any company. All about the $$$ nowadays. Sad, and true, but that's how the world of commerce works.
A perfect example of how things used to be in the USA with regards to low cost carriers was the startup of Southwest Airlines. They wanted to fly out of Dallas Love Field airport but competitors not only used lawsuits to try and shut them down but also got federal laws passed limiting where they could fly to from Dallas (mostly because of lobbying by American Airlines and the people behind DFW airport). Things changed and the restrictions are gone and Southwest is now the largest low-cost-carrier on the planet but back then there was a lot of fight to prevent them getting off the ground.
I've just booked a 1500 km flight for only 5 euros. Fares in Italy are ridiculous nowadays.
couple of important factors not mentioned:
Americans subsidize their rural airports (but those are less profitable and traditionally more expensive due to less competition)
Europeans don't tax their fuel but do have landing fees for ATC's, Americans are the opposite, no ATC fees but as mentioned they do have fuel tax
Great info, you guys are doing great
I don't know for certain but I suspect that a big discrepancy in the average cost of Ryanair vs Southwest is that the average southwest flight is a much longer distance. The US is a lot more spread out than europe.
Exactly. Of course flights are gonna be more expensive when they are flying twice as far, everyone seems to be ignoring this.
Yes, it is important, but not as much as you would think. Modern turbofan engines have a relatively low fuel usage in level flight at cruising speeds compared to takeoff. So unless we're talking true longhaul it would be only a fraction more expensive in fuel cost.
Bigger issue is checks and maintenance, which has to be done after a certian number of flight hours, so longer flights=less flights before maintenance has to be done. But it still doesn't account for more than double the avarage price, as a lot of flights in US are not really longer than a lot of those in Europe. (I.E. flight from London to Vienna is longer than NYC to Chicago)
Everything about America is money whether health care, education or transport, they name Europe socialist even though majority of Europeans live comfortably life while many Americans live poorly in debt even millions homeless.
European is not socialist!
Many and most Americans also live quite well and the National homeless population is not in the millions
@@gsw8734 the US homeless population is 553,000 people according to endhomelessness.org the leading homeless activism campaign organization in the country compared to Germany a tiny country which had 860,000 homeless people in 2018.
@@tc3693 That statistics for America covers both sheltered and rough sleeps. However everywhere I have been reading places the number a lot higher.
@@tc3693 " Most homeless people (in Germany) live in emergency shelters, but around *48,000* people live on the streets."
I think you missed the main catch: While the US does not have fully slot constrained airports (except JFK) national flights require access to the terminal, which is blocked at the most important airports by the airlines currently operating there. So while you can land anywhere, you cannot load and unload passengers...
There are plenty of slot constrained airports in the US, not just JFK. The other reason you mentioned is not really a factor.
During this past winter, I travelled between Munich, Vienna, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, then back to Munich, and payed approximately 250-300 euros for all forms of transportation I took. It was 1 train journey, 3 flights, 2 long distance bus journeys, and 2 ferry trips. In the US, an itinerary identical in size would warrant me paying a couple of thousand US dollars, just for transportation. Don't believe me? I recently payed $480 round trip for a basic economy ticket on Delta between Kansas City and New York City - a 3 hour flight each way.
i fly Detroit to Fort Lauderdale all the time in winter, same distance flight for less than $200
Ayyy i fly a lot with Wizz Air haha, honestly never ever had a problem
I miss the hot pants and boots of Southwest from the 1970s.
I thing i completely missed: the deregulation in Europe completely destroyed national terms and conditions in the transport sector, a problem that was not encountered in the US. Eg: bruto Cabin crew salaries are easily a multitude higher in the US, with proper taxes paid on them. In Europe salaries are very low and barely a few euros of taxes are paid (due to differences between all the countries). No wonder tickets are cheaper here...
I not sure how cabin crew remuneration compares between the USA and European Union, but the minimum wage in European countries is generally higher as are the terms and conditions of employment.
Also, the tipping culture in Europe is either non-existent or no higher than 10%, whereas in the USA it is pervasive at between 15-20% because of low basic remuneration.
There is less competition in the US, but this is due to captured regulators approving mergers that shouldn’t have been allowed to proceed. It’s simply not accurate to put it on the open sky agreements within the EU. Southwest is a Texas airline, yet offers countless nonstop flights between the other 49 states. This is inherent in our union, and with much difficulty has been introduced in the EU. It is definitely appropriate to also point out that seats and baggage are free on southwest. If you paid for these on Ryanair, I’m sure you’d find the cost more comparable.
taken flix bus and flix trains a few times in germany. cant knock it. cheap and reliable.
So besides fees being a massive difference between RA and SW SW has a higher business class % of seats filled. America also doesn’t really do way out of the way airport like Southend and London. That’s why Gary Airport isn’t a Chicago destination and Manchester is declining as a Boston destination. SW also has started to operate in more main airports like Bush Miami etc.
Americans just have different style and managaing structure. It’s best to contrast not compare them
It's a bit of a myth that Ryanair uses remote airports. Yes, it's true in some instances and these are often cited to bash Ryanair, a favourite pastime of many but also people who support Ryanair by flying with them.
I live near Dublin and fly regularly to Malaga, and in both cases they use the main airport. I have also flown Dublin to Girona, with my final destination being Barcelona. When we arrived in Girona, there was a private bus operator that provided a cheap one hour service to the centre of Barcelona. After allowing for the quicker exit through the much smaller Girona airport, there was less than a half-hour difference in ground travel time to get to my destination in Barcelona.
@@The_Red_Squirrel my point about out of way airports is more so that compared to US carriers RyanAir uses airports far from city center. You don’t see any carrier advertising College Station as a Houston airport.
@@Speedster___ First of all, I have no idea where College Station is relative to anywhere.
Secondly as I've already stated, it is a total exaggeration to assert that Ryanair predominantly uses secondary airports. And where it does, the intending passenger can ascertain where the airport is relative to their final destination, and can decide to go with Ryanair or another carrier.
@@The_Red_Squirrel predominately Ehh but I would bet that 2/3 of thier big metropolitan airports are distant ones.
College Station is near Houston and that’s Luton to Gatwick distances about
@@Speedster___ Though I am not going to check it out, I have flown Dublin to Manchester, London (Gatwick), Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh, all to the main airport with the exception of Gatwick, which has a direct train connection from the terminal to downtown London.
In mainland Europe, I have also flown to Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Seville, Copenhagen, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Milan etc..., and all to the main airport.
Yes there are exceptions, most notably Paris (Beauvais) and Brussels (Charleroi), but on the other hand this summer I visited the Loire Valley in France and was able to fly direct from Dublin to Tours. In fact, Ryanair offers 113 direct flights from Dublin.
As regards cost comparisons, the return flight to Tours was €123, including priority boarding and a carry-on bag, and in 5 weeks I fly to Malaga for €90 return, again including priority boarding and a carry-on bag.
Don't ever compare Southwest to Ryanair again.
Ryanair is still better than the likes of Frontier and Spirit. I flew Frontier once and it scarred me for life.
@@willywonka3050 And RyanAir didn't?
Is Ryanair that bad because as an American I could only wish for ticket prices that low. That being said I've only seen the ticket prices I've never experienced the flight service.
@@austinblackburn8095 It's horrible. Southwest, on the other hand...
It's a bit unfair to compare the competition of airlines in different EU countries to the USA setup as the USA and EU would be the same on scale. You wouldn't compare the USA with Germany or Ireland. Each of those would be compared to one state in the USA.
Odd that you say American's are not used to being charged for everything. I've flown long haul with Delta and United and they would charge for drinks and extras, while BA didn't.
EU open skies is a red-herring, because the US is approximately the size of the whole EU. A Hungarian airline moving into serving London-Barcelona is more or less exactly analogous to a midwestern US airline deciding to fly PDX-SAN.
I think that should have been a comparison of markets rather than a contrast.
Southwest is not a low cost airline. Sure there’s $2 flights from Grand Rapids to Lubbock, but try ORD to LAX or PHX
But in many ways it operates like one and while it is not super low cost like the EU ones I have in general found it to have somewhat lower prices than traditional ones and if you know you are going to need checked bags then it is significantly less.
@@KestrelOwens maybe. My route is between PHX and ORD. Who wants to get stuck down at Midway? Especially when my life is 20 minutes away from O’Hare airport. I have decided to never fly low cost again. I will happily pay the extra 50 to 75 bucks to fly American United or Delta. This happens to be an American route that is most convenient for me. Why American doesn’t fly a 767 or a 787 between Phoenix and Chicago is anybody’s guess. The flights are always jampacked and whatever that airbus equivalent of a 737 is. Shake a palm tree in Phoenix, and somebody from Chicago will fall out of it.
ORD to PHX non stop one way on Southwest is selling $49 for Feb ‘21.
It really is all about Euro population densities and rail networks vs US air/rail infrastructure.
US railroads built out by 1916 with 264,000 track miles, Passengers carried peaked mid 1920’s and downhill since except freight which exploded in growth after 1980, This lack of rail interest continues except regional intercity pairs and US high speed rail is not economically viable due past rail ROW construction practices/population densities.
Deregulation Act of 1978 created cheap fares, mergers, bankruptcies, new low fare carriers and moved largely from linear route systems to hub and spoke systems to fill the newly arrived wide bodies. By the time the Euro market Deregulated their airlines 20 years later the US had already experienced much of the changes to where we are today and looking to revert to linear routes in certain areas due to aircraft advances. Tertiary airports are only now attracting consumer interest as the US airlines only serve 500 US airports despite 5,000 US general aviation airports.
Nothing was said about Euro user fees as it relates to air carriers, In the US, ATC/Nav and Weather services are included as a fuel tax which is significant, Anyone know how Euro landing fees, ramp fees and misc fees are on avg in Europe?
. I
„There are Excellent traveling Opportunities!“ shows the Deutsche Bahn that is Infamous for being Terrible.
(It’s actually pretty good we Germans just like to complain)
Flix Busses and Trains are usually pretty good
It's almost impossible to avoid Ryanair and easyjet if you fly regularly around Europe's smaller cities and towns - some towns and cities only have air connections thanks to the low cost carriers - the likes of British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa unwilling or unable to compete it seems.
why is wizz air here but it's my favorite
Why shouldn't it be
SF: "What are airline tickets..."
Commenters: "CARS BAD! TRAIN GOOD!"
Ryanair is great, its rarely late, comes in 30 min before departure, people off and people in, and boom! you are off. Compared to other big companies like Lufthansa, SAS or LOT where you have delays or shifting departure times. The big ones might give me a free drink and a sandwich but Ryanair is faster and more efficient and, to be honest, I prefer the no frills model to paying 40-50% more in a ticket price. Ryanair is efficient and very convenient. Also a 10% rise in prices...so basically 55 eur to fly across the continent instead of 50? Bring it on.
100% agree. The key attitude to flying with them is to think of it as a bus... that goes 800km/h and avoids traffic. What's not to like??
Make video on Asian low cost Carrier vs Europe low cost Carrier
What happend to the Brit low cost after it has gone out of EU?
From the airline choice perspective, not much has changed really - Wizz Air and Ryanair both registered themselves in the UK, while easyJet registered itself in Austria, so they’ll still be allowed to travel within and between the UK and the EU.
As for changes to passenger demand and ticket prices, I guess we’ll have to wait and see until the pandemic is over before we can properly compare them.
@@KasabianFan44 this is a bit misleading, and misses the biggest change: easyJet can not register itself in Austria, they founded a subsidiary there. But that Austrian easyJet, according to EU laws has the majority of EU based ownership. So, it's like only the brand is the same, and it is a different company now
I don’t really know about tax exemptions on aviation fuel, but could it be that post-Brexit and post-Covid air travel will get even cheaper?
@@mattthorn4789
That’s what I meant lol, I just got the words wrong 😆
@@KasabianFan44 they didn’t, wizz has wizz uk as a subsidary, and Ryanair founded Ryanair uk
There is a big item which you missed...the size of the territory flown. Compare to Europe, most points in the US are at least 1500 miles apart, with points like New York and Los Angles over 3,000 miles. Compare this to a little over 200 miles from Paris to London, or 1700 miles from Dublin to Athens. They can't land and turn as often as the Euro carriers can. Turn times mean more flights and more flights mean less cost. Also, the US has a bus system, its called Greyhound (there are also a high number of smaller long range buss companies) and those buses are usually full, especially ones on the North East corridor routes. As well, airlines in the US also used to seek out airports that were far away from city centers, the problem is, now those are the main airports, for those that haven't just been abandoned.
Exactly, they literally didn't mention one of the most important things which is the distances 😂😂😂