Cheap flights to Lanzarote are plentiful these days. We share our thoughts on the pros and cons of the two largest budget airlines for flights to and from Lanzarote.
We travel a lot between Lanzarote, mainland Spain and the UK, and we often end up travelling on Ryanair or Easyjet, so we thought we’d share our views on making travel on the budget airlines painless, and also on the difference between the two of them.
We don’t have an overall preference, because, as you will see, each offers advantages, so we tend to base our decision on the price and which offers the most convenient timing.
Some things we do without fail:
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We pay for the premium “up front” seats, not the very front row with the extra legroom, but we always choose seats a row or two back. That always gives us Speedy or priority boarding, and in some airports, fast track through security. It also allows us to take an extra small bag, and guarantees our main hand luggage a place in the aircraft hold. Above all it means we are sitting together!
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Having the premium seats means you can check in online nice and early, so there’s no panic around printing boarding passes.
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We also use the apps for both services, which means our boarding passes are electronic. Using the phone app is no problem here in Lanzarote.
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We also have a delay “rule.” Anything over 45 minutes delay and we head into the VIP lounge at Lanzarote airport. It costs around €30 each, but we feel it is worth every penny. Its quiet and relaxing, away from the noise and bustle in the terminal. It also has blistering WIFI, which means we can work, and unlimited drinks and food. The lounge helps melt away the pain of a flight delay.
So what about the differences we’ve found over dozens of flights on both airlines?
Booking process and app
I find the Easyjet website easier to use than Ryanair’s. The latter seems to change often, and somehow doesn’t seem to remember my details. But the Ryanair app is slicker and works better.
So its a tie.
Comfort
The Orange mob fly Airbus A320s on our route, and they are more spacious than Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800’s. They have more cabin height, they are wider and there’s definitely more leg room. More recent models have new “thin” seats which are even better, and are very comfortable for a longer flight like the ones to Lanzarote.
A win to Easyjet.
Age of fleet
Ryanair has one of the newest fleets in the world, and they regularly update their aircraft. Easyjet is pretty good, but I have been on board some older aircraft, that feel a little tired, from time to time.
Win for Ryanair
On-Time
Ryanair are fastidious about timing, and really work hard to maintain their record as the best European airline in terms of on-time performance. Easyjet seem to serve us regular 30 minute delays, and they once even cancelled a flight on me, which had me rushing around to book an alternative to another airport to get to a meeting in UK.
Win for Ryanair.
Cabin crew
Both sets of cabin crew are excellent and enthusiastic. I love that we’ve moved away from the “trolley dolly” days and that the budget airlines use “real” people on board.
A draw.
Food and drink
A tough one! Both airlines serve a limited menu of stuff that is reasonable, although pricey. I prefer the coffee on Easyjet, but I like the little “packs” of interesting nibbles that Ryanair offers. Easyjet’s food seems to have a little more flavour, so a marginal win for them.
Win to Easyjet.
Cheap Flights to Lanzarote Summary
I didn’t fix that – I actually wrote it in real time, and as you can see, its a draw, And I think that’s a fair summary. I’d go with whichever offers me the best and most convenient deal. The one thing that would sway me in one direction is if they had a loyalty scheme, but neither do currently.
Update: There are other options, notably Jet 2, who many readers like. We’ve stuck to the two who are the largest carriers to Lanzarote for this particular comparison because we’ve only flown Jet 2 once and so we can’t really make a fair comparison.
Book cheap flights to Lanzarote on either with confidence for your next trip, and relish in the fact that all these airlines have dramatically increase our options for airports to travel from, and reduced the price of doing so.
Long may they continue serving us!
