Why are American Low Cost airlines very good compared to European Low cost airlines?

Hi. Ryanair and Easy jet suck in Europe. I was so impressed by JetBlue and South West in the US. They were just like legacy major airlines

Europes Ryanair was paradise compared to spirit airlines here in the states to me. Never flew JetBlue or southwest tho. (Never ever fly spirit unless you really must save $)

Care to define very good? Spirit and Frontier both fall very low on league tables, and Southwest is on a par with Ryanair and Easyjet.

Southwest and jetBlue are not true low cost airlines. Compared to LCCs they offer decent leg room and reclining seats, both have frequent flyer programs, in addition jetBlue has premium seating, and interlines with other airlines (Hawaiian and Aer Lingus are some of them.) Southwest also doesn't charge for checked luggage.

A more accurate comparison to easyJet and Ryanair are Frontier, Allegiant and Spirit. Those airlines squeeze as many seats aboard their planes as they can, charge extras for everything, even for carry on luggage, seat selection and printing boarding passes at the airport. I once read a story about a 6'3" man who stood most of the way from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale aboard the Spirit flight, taking his seat only for the take off and landing. The available leg room made it unbearable for him to sit the whole flight.

Allegiant, like Ryanair, claims to serve destinations it doesn't really serve. For example it list "Fort Myers, FL area" as its destination, but it really flies to Punta Gorda, 30 miles away and $100+ cab fare from Fort Myers.

Add Comment