Flying With Fish The Blog for Those Who Fly & Those Who Want to Fly Smarter

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary has announced his latest ancillary revenue concept, now making him a cross between P.T. Barnum and Larry Flint.   As Irish low cost carrier Ryanair pushes forward in its continual quest increase ancillary revenue O’Leary has announced something unexpected even for him … well maybe not … Ryanair is considering introducing [...]

It was a rough year for airlines in 2008, fuel prices were climbing at impossible rates, passenger numbers were dropping, the introduction of ancillary fees were being introduced and airlines of all sizes were feeling the impact around the world. As April 2008 began the writing was on the wall for some airlines that managed [...]

Irish low cost carrier Ryanair can be seen in many different ways, innovative, controversial, evil, profitable, brilliant, dastardly … but if nothing else the airline has forged its own path and certainly made a name for itself doing things other airlines only dream about or don’t dare do. Today Ryanair has announced it that this [...]

Ryanair, known for charging passengers for every conceivable aspect or airline travel, has lost one court battle over a controversial ancillary fee levied against its passengers … charging passengers for boarding passes. Back in May 2009 I wrote about Ryanair’s fee for passengers to check in here – Ryanair’s New Fee To ‘Check In’ & [...]

I’ve been holding onto this piece of reader mail for nearly month because I thought it was best not to write this blog piece until the start of the New Year. But here we are, on January 1, 2011 … so I guess its safe to answer this question now. This reader mail comes from [...]

A constant complaint from travelers is an inconsistent security and airline policy experience.  This week’s reader mail addresses a wide range of these inconsistencies. This reader mail comes from Derek in Phoenix … who asks his question about security and carry-on policy in multiple parts. Derek asks 1) which airport strictest? like: nothing sharp, even [...]

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary has a knack for making headlines. As much as most people deplore Ryanair, some of O’Leary’s comments simply cannot be ignored. The other day it was released that O’Leary made the following comment in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek magazine : “Really, you only need one pilot. Let’s take out the [...]

Everyday I read stories regarding passengers who are upset about carry on bags, checked bags, legroom, missing flights because they were late. Today was no different … except today this story was published by the BBC and it is virally traveling throughout Twitter, Ryanair tells girl to buy £190 plane seat for violin. According to [...]

Today Irish low cost carrier Ryanair has announced it will be reducing its winter flights by 16%.  While most airlines make their announcements and move on, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is making public statement that the United Kingdom’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) is ‘damaging’ the airline industry and creating capacity reductions in the United Kingdom. [...]

Back in May 2009 I wrote about how airlines were using ancillary revenue, primarily from checked baggage fees, as their financial salvation. At the time many travelers were astonished to find out that in the fourth-quarter of 2008 airlines in the United States had netted US$498,600,000. For those of you that thought US$498,600,000 in a [...]