Ryanair has announced that it will start offering transatlantic flights in the next four or five years: http://www.expansion.com/empresas/transporte/2015/03/16/5506e34a22601df60e8b456b.html
Now I’m all for more competition leading to lowered prices (hopefully), but I have to admit that the idea of a carrier that was considering at one point offering cheaper seats to have people stand during a flight starting to run transatlantic flights scares me a bit.
People either hate Ryan Air and try to avoid it or accept it for what it is (low cost, not hassle-free). I’m more on the accept it for what it is side, but I also don’t mind paying a bit more for a plane ticket and flying with a carrier that I know won’t give me a hard time carrying on a small suitcase and a little pocketbook (with Ryan Air you’re only allowed one carry-on, and even a small pocketbook is only allowed as an additional bag if you pay). Also knowing that I won’t have flight attendants trying to sell me things every 10 minutes is worth a few extra dollars/euros.
I can only wonder what kind of customer experience people will have with long transatlantic flights… somehow I don’t think that my broken stroller experience that was handled well by Delta/KLM would have the same result with Ryan Air. And if they’re thinking of trying to sell items and making loud noises with announcements every ten minutes…well, for that kind of experience I think I’d rather pay more and stick with the traditional airlines.
Ryan Air…you have four or five years to get it right before trekking down the transatlantic road. Best of luck to you from a hopeful American suffering from expensive transatlantic flights over here in Spain!
Spanishized: Insights from an American in Spain 