"It gives new meaning...

to 'commercial airline.'"-Monica Hubrich regarding Ryan Air (a leading low cost airline here in Europe). She is so right and here's why:

1. Instead of trays of free snacks and/or drinks, the flight attendants roam up and down, up and down, up and down throughout the flight touting their duty free merchandise. If you do want a drink, a can of soda will cost you about $5.
2. The in-flight entertainment isn't a movie or TV show, it is the announcements made in broken-English over the speaker system about their special today: smokeless cigarettes that are for purchase on the flight. "Your friends and people will like you because these don't smell like smoke and you will be happy..."

As a side note, here's how the airline stays so cheap:

• They charge you sometimes hefty "taxes and fees" hidden in the original ticket price.


• They fly to airports waaaay out from the cities you want to be in--the cost of getting to/from respective airports is typically equal to or more than the price of the flight.


• They charge you to check any baggage: you get ONE and I mean ONE carry-on for free.


• I'm 99% sure they use the remaining cargo area to ship mail or business cargo.


• They charge you to check in at the airport: if you don't print your boarding pass from home you'll pay another 15 pounds or so for them to print one for you at the airport.


• There's a really steep charge if you want to be in "priority boarding" to fight for the optimal exit-row seats.


• The seats don't recline, and there are no magazine holders so I'm sure they've fit an extra row of seats somehow on the plane.


• They saved a lot of dough by hiring a color-blind graphics designer to choose their color scheme of highlighter yellow and blue which glares at you in places all over the plane.

Where some airplanes might have a personal TV, or even a tray table, Ryan Air has their emergency information glued. Nothing like a constant reminder of the possibility of a crash during a flight:

*Note: In the lower left hand corner, they tell you to take off your glasses and take out your dentures for an emergency landing. Yes folks, you may not know this, but dentures are a serious safety hazard. Oh, and good luck to those with glasses trying to find their way out of the plane after a crash landing.