Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX routes

Since Ryanair announced their acquisition of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft I've blogged about their seat plan (which is quite different to their standard 737), and their first revenue flight.

I've flown Ryanair quite a few times since they introduced the MAX, but I've never flown on the new type, so I thought it would be interesting to see where they are using it.

According to Airfleets.net Ryanair currently have 11 of the MAX aircraft in their fleet: HEN, HEZ, HGG, HGP, HAT, HAW, HAY, HAX, HGT, HGO and HGR.

For today's analysis I've simply used the last 7 days of data for each aircraft from FlightRadar24 - here is EI-HEZ for example

The last 7 days may not be typical for the season - but should give us some idea of what the newbies are up to.

The 11 aircraft flew a total of 166 sectors in the past 7 days - so the first point is that considering the size of Ryanair, your chance of getting a MAX is pretty small.

All the aircraft are based in London Stansted, and whilst Ryanair fly plenty of W routings with their standard B737s, of these 83 return flights just two were on non Stansted routes (a Dublin-Salzburg return, and an Eindhoven-Lisbon trip).

So if you want to fly on the MAX, you really need to fly in or out of London Stansted.

Next up is figure out which route they're most likely to be flow on from Stansted - and here it gets tricky.

17 routes from Stansted had just a single MAX flight in the past 7 days: Bari (BRI), Brno (BRQ), Bucharest (OTP), Bydgoszcz (BZG), Copenhagen (CPH), Cork (ORK), Eindhoven (EIN), Faro (FAO), Gothenburg (GOT), Helsinki (HEL), Katowice (KTW), Luqa (MLA), Milan (BGY), Nantes (NTE), Plovdiv (PDV), Valencia (VLC) and Vilnius (VNO)

Another 8 routes had just two MAX flights in the past 7 days: Alicante (ALC), Cagliari (CAG), Dublin (DUB), Fuerteventura (FUE), Gran Canaria (LPA), Malaga (AGP), Salzburg (SZG) and Stockholm (ARN)

A further 5 routes had three MAX flights in the past 7 days: Lanzarote (ACE), Milan (MXP), Riga (RIX), Thessaloniki (SKG) and Treviso (TSF)

That leaves just 7 routes with four or more MAX flights in the past 7 days.

Athens (ATH), Pafos (PFO), Palermo (PMO) and Rome (CIA) - each had four flights

Sofia (SOF) and Tenerife (TFS) - both had five flights

But the winner with 6 return flights in the past 7 days is Lisbon

Looking at the Lisbon - Stansted route in detail:

FR1882/3 has been flown by a MAX in 4 out of the last 7 days

FR1884/5 has been flown by a MAX in 2 out of the last 7 days

With 38 different airports receiving Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX flights in the past 7 days, it looks like the airline is trying it out across the network.  So it's very hard to book a particular flight with anything like a decent chance of flying on the new plane.

Your best chance (but still barely over 50/50) is on the evening Stansted - Lisbon sector.

Good luck!

 

Ryanair - Connecting Flights

In the past if you wanted to connect between two Ryanair flights - you had to make two separate bookings and hope your first flight wasn't delayed.  But sometimes it was the best option, and as long as you left enough time between flights, you could be reasonably sure of making your second flight!

Back in October 2010, I flew on Ryanair's first flight from Nador to Beauvais - and whilst I travelled on to London by Eurostar, my sister flew on to Dublin with Ryanair a few hours later.

Then in April 2017, Ryanair announced that they would start offering a limited number of connecting flights - but I'm not sure if it actually happened at the time.

Now though you definitely can book some through tickets on Ryanair - where the risk of missing the connection passes to the airline - with some big caveats.

Ryanair will only sell you connecting flights if the transfer time is between 2.5 hours and 6 hours, and only at certain airports.  They will only transfer your hold luggage for you at Rome Fiumicino, otherwise you need to collect it and check it back in again (or possibly Bergamo and Oporto as well - depending on which Ryanair webpage you read).  Although if you're waiting around for hours at the airport, you may be happy for something to do!

What we don't know is what will happen when things (inevitably) go wrong for a small number of passengers whose first flight is delayed.  Will Ryanair put you up in a hotel if you need to wait 24 hours (or more) for the next flight to your final destination?  Will Ryanair put you on a different airline's flight if the next Ryanair flight is more than 24 hours away?  There aren't many examples in the chatrooms yet about how Ryanair performs when it comes to irregular operations for connecting passengers.

The restriction is not just on the connecting airport, it's also on the departing airport.  Ryanair doesn't currently offer any connecting flights from any London airport (presumably because of concerns about delays arriving into any connecting airport).  From the UK, only departing passengers from Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh are offered connecting flights.

Many of the destinations that Ryanair offer as connecting flights are in Italy, with the second sector being a domestic flight from Bergamo or Fiumicino airport - and yes, I know that Athens isn't in Italy!

If you are offered a connecting flight, it's made quite clear on the booking screen

And once you click on 1 Stop you see the details of the two flights, including how long you will be sitting around the airport

So whilst the connecting options that Ryanair offer are extremely limited, and I wouldn't be totally sure about how they will treat passengers if things go wrong, with the limited number of flights currently available this may be an attractive option for some passengers.

Ryanair Boeing 737 Max 8200 - first revenue flight

Over two years ago I wrote about seating on Ryanair's Boeing 737 Max, as it was due to operate various routes later that Summer

After the tragic accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the first Ryanair plane finally arrived last month - seen here poking out of a hangar at Dublin Airport

Today the second aircraft operates its first revenue flights - a round trip from London Stansted to Dublin

Surprisingly the plane isn't showing as operating the same flights in the coming week - so Ryanair may just substitute it in at the last moment.  With the Max having an extra 8 seats over the standard Ryanair Boeing 737-800 it should be easy enough to swap it in with minimal passenger seating changes.

Whilst Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary said recently that passengers can avoid the Max and take the next flight (at least for the first 4 to 6 months of operation), that promise isn't the same as before the pandemic.  If you turned up at Stansted for this morning's 6.30am flight and decided not to fly on the Max, you will be waiting until 10.15pm this evening for the airline's next flight to Dublin.

If you do find yourself on a Ryanair Max aeroplane, it's worth looking at my full post on the seat plan, as you could get yourself a (slightly) better seat for the same price as a standard seat.

Pre Departure Covid-19 testing

Even for people who are fully vaccinated, some countries still require a negative PCR covid-19 test performed within 72 hours of arrival.

Thankfully the £160 prices that were normal for the past year are finally coming down.

And airlines are now arranging discounts for customers in a bid to increase passenger numbers.

British Airways for example has a list of 11 companies that will provide you with various different tests, and packages.

I'm particularly interested in pre departure PCR tests - so I went through the 10 companies comparing prices for this particular test (ignoring Chronomics who don't offer this test)

First in the BA list is CityDoc who charge £125 for a central London in person test

Then there's Collinson who charge £82.50 for in person tests - available at multiple airport locations and a site at The O2 Arena in London

Eurofins offer a home testing kit for a very attractive £40.42 - and they have a number of drop off points around the country, which would remove Royal Mail from the equation. They promise to give you a result with 24 hours of them receiving your sample.

Update 6th June 2021: Eurofins currently does NOT have any tests in stock

Update 12th June 2021: Eurofins failed to despatch my order on time - I do not recommend using them

Express Test charge £59 for various airport testing sites, and have higher fees for some city centre locations

Halo's home test kit is £74.76

LetsGetChecked also provide a home test kit for a slightly cheaper £69.30

Medicspot have a higher £84.15 fee for a home test kit

It looks like Qured charge the same £84.15 for a home test kit, but the final price is only available if you go through the full registration process (which I didn't)

Randox have recently reduced the price of their home test kit (previously £60) down to a more competitive £43 net of BA discount  Updated 12th June

BA have added Wren Healthcare which offers £139 tests at 10 clinic sites and £169 tests in your own home  Updated 3rd June 2021

These prices are specifically for British Airways customers - but I'm not sure how much validation they all do.

I like the sound of Eurofins £40.42 fee, and being able to deliver my sample directly into their own drop box.

Using a British Airways 2-4-1 voucher on a one way redemption

British Airways & American Express recently announced changes to their 2-4-1 vouchers triggered after the 1st September 2021.  Full details are on the Head for Points site for both the free Amex card and the paid for Amex card.

One aspect of the changes that I want to look at is the new option of starting a redemption outside the UK (currently all 2-4-1 redemptions must start in the UK).  And specifically using a voucher for a single redemption flight from a low fees point of departure (e.g. Brazil or Hong Kong) back to London.

Firstly let's look at a standard return redemption from London to Brazil during August (using peak redemption calculations)

LHR - GRU return

Economy  80,000 avios plus £200 per person

Premium Economy  120,000 avios plus £483 per person

Business  180,000 avios plus £586 per person

So a pair of Business class redemptions saves you 180,000 avios with a spend of £1,171 for taxes and FEES

Now let's assume you book a cash ticket from the UK to Brazil, and let's look at a single redemption flight from GRU to LHR

Economy  40,000 avios plus £8 per person

Premium Economy  60,000 avios plus £8 per person

Business  90,000 avios plus £8 per person

So a pair of Business class redemptions saves you 90,000 avios with a spend of £15 plus the cash fare from the UK to Brazil

To try and compare these options, let's assume you buy a one way cash ticket for £300 per person (and that you're happy to fly Economy on a day flight to Brazil)

So it's a choice between saving 180,000 avios and spending £1,171 on a return redemption or saving 90,000 avios and spending something like £615 on a single redemption

If you value avios at 1p, then a return redemption is generating a saving of £1,800 less £1,171 in fees - so a net saving of £629

A single redemption is generating a saving of £900 less £600 for the cash tickets and just £15 in fees - so a net saving of £285

Whilst the single redemption will have limited use (Brazil and Hong Kong routes only, and those willing to book single cash tickets), it may appeal to flyers who don't have 180,000 avios available for a return Business class redemption.  It may also be attractive to those who don't want to spend nearly £1,200 on a pair of return redemptions, when they could spend around half that on Economy outbound seats and Business class inbound seats.

  

Car Hire from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland

With foreign travel this summer likely to be subject to restrictions, many of us will end up spending more holiday time than usual nearer to home.

In preparation for things opening up, I thought it would be useful to see what the rules/fees are with hiring a car in Northern Ireland, and driving it across the border in the Republic of Ireland.

Disclaimer: This is correct at time of writing, April 2021, check that the rules / fees haven't changed if you're about to hire a vehicle!

The UGLY

Europcar have the highest fees of the big rental firms. Their website makes it clear that you need their "Europdrive Pack" - which starts at £90 for a 1 day hire, and costs £130 for a week's rental.

With SixT it's also clear - you need to pay a daily fee to take a car you've hired in Northern Ireland across the border.  For the smallest cars that I looked at, the fee is £8 a day.

Budget charge a one off fee of £23 to take a car to the Republic of Ireland - irrespective of the duration of your rental period.

The UNCLEAR

I'm not really sure about Enterprise.  There's clearly a charge of £125 to take a car hired in "mainland" UK over to the Republic of Ireland, but the wording is unclear whether this also applies to cars hired in Northern Ireland.

The GOOD

With Avis their extra "continental cover" is NOT required when taking a car from Northern Ireland over the border to the south.

Hertz also make it clear that there are no extra fees for taking cars from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland.

Final Hurdle

One extra complication is if you hire your car through an agency or as part of a package, for example with airline tickets.  The agency may impose their own terms and conditions, and whilst the car hire company's terms may take precedence, it's probably best to avoid any doubt, and hire directly from the rental firm.

So if you see a good headline rate with Europcar, SixT or Budget ... stop, think, what are the fees!

British Airways Avios Peak calendar 2022 analysis

Like many frequent flyer programmes, Avios charges you different number of points to fly on different days - unpopular parts of the year less points, school holidays more points.

Head for Points recently published the Peak / Off Peak dates for 2022, so I thought it would be interesting to see how things have changed over the last few years.

This analysis is just based on the British Airways Peak / Off Peak calendar - there are different calendars for Iberia and Aer Lingus

Firstly the total number of Peak days in each of the three years

2020  137

2021  138

2022  140

Only a small increase in the number of Peak days each year - but as always, the devil is in the detail.

If you’re able to fly midweek, the number of peak days has reduced (2020, 2021, 2022)

Tuesday  12, 13, 11

Wednesday  15, 15, 5

Thursday  17, 15, 17

If you’re looking to have a long weekend, then Fridays and Mondays are pretty similar too

Friday  22, 24, 23

Monday  21, 23, 19

The big change is on weekends with a jump in the number of Peak days

64% of Saturdays and 60% of Sundays in 2022 counted as Peak

Saturday  25, 23, 34

Sunday  25, 25, 31

The other way the changes can impact you is if you like to use your Avios in particular months.  As Easter changes date each year, there’s often a shift between March and April, but this is how the whole year pans out across 2020, 2021, 2022

January  5, 6, 11

February  8, 8, 10

March  5, 6, 6

April  18, 18, 13

May  10, 5, 5

June  0, 3, 13

July  27, 27, 20

August  29, 29, 19

September  6, 6, 12

October  10, 11, 11

November  0, 0, 0

December  19, 19, 20

The months with the big increase in Peak dates are June (from 0 to 13), September (from 6 to 12) and January (from 5 to 11)

The big winners are July (from 27 to 20) and August (from 29 to 19)

CORRECTION: November has ZERO peak dates.  "Nov" is actually December in this table!  Apologies.

So if you can fly midweek in the Summer, you should be happy with the 2022 British Airways Avios calendar

But if you like weekend flights, or getting away in June, then you need to budget for some extra Avios in 2022.

Take Two: Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London by Eurostar - direct

Back in February I wrote about the new direct Amsterdam to London service that was due to commence operation on 30th April 2020.  Unsurprisingly there was a delay, but happily it has a new start date of Monday 26th October, with booking opening on 1st September.

After being a bit disappointed with the April time savings, let's see if Eurostar has improved the October timetable.

For context, the London to Amsterdam service takes 4 hours 7 mins and the London to Rotterdam service 3 hrs 28 mins.  There's currently a single weekday departure at 11:04 from St Pancras International station.

The existing Amsterdam - Brussels (Thalys) - London (Eurostar) connecting service is timetabled from 4 hours 42 mins (some take a lot longer), which includes at least 45 mins to change trains and clear UK immigration in Brussels.

The direct Amsterdam to London service starts with an 07:47 departure on Monday 26th October that is due to take 4 hours 10 mins (and 3 hrs 29 mins from Rotterdam).

This is equivalent to duration in the other direction, although the 32 minute saving feels a bit light - but maybe that's down to the impressive 45 minute connection time for the existing service!  Obviously not having to change trains will make the journey much more comfortable.

Whilst the service officially starts on Monday 26th October, it looks like there is also a 18:47 departure from Amsterdam (19:28 from Rotterdam) on Sunday 25th October.  Although this may disappear when tickets go on sale on 1st September.

Rotterdam is currently showing a second weekday direct service departing at 17:28 - which again takes 3 hours 29 mins to get to London.  It seems odd that this train wouldn't start in Amsterdam - so it may not really exist.

In November from Monday 9th to Thursday 12th and again from Monday 16th to Wednesday 18th, the normal weekday 07:47 departure from Amsterdam is switched to a 15:47 service (16:28 from Rotterdam).  And this later departure takes 5 hours 10 mins from Amsterdam and 4 hrs 29 mins from Rotterdam. 

There's no direct weekend service until Saturday 21st November - 16:47 from Amsterdam and 17:28 from Rotterdam.  On Sunday 22nd November it's a later 18:47 departure from Amsterdam and 19:28 from Rotterdam.  After that the weekend departures disappear again - but hopefully they will be timetabled before booking opens on 1st September.

And if the new direct train doesn't appeal - there's always the Sail Rail option via Harwich and Hoek of Holland.

Covid-19 Travel Advice and Returning Travellers

Different governments have different views about which countries pose the higher risk for catching the virus formerly known as Wuhan.


Starting with the UK - as of 8th March 2020 they advise against all travel to Hubei Province in China and the Daegu, Cheongdo and Gyeongsan areas in South Korea.
The UK government also advises against "all but essential travel" to the rest of mainland China and the 10 Italian towns that are currently on lockdown.  Since these towns are on lockdown, it's unclear how anybody could actually gain entry - so "all but essential" seems a weird category to put them in!

As far as returning travellers are concerned - the UK has put Iran, Hubei Province, the 10 Italian towns and Daegu & Cheongdo into their "Category 1" list which means you should self isolate for 14 days, even if you do not have symptoms.

The longer "Category 2" list comes with the instruction to self isolate only if you do have symptoms.  This list is mostly SE Asian countries - rest of China, Hong Kong, Macau, rest of South Korea, Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam - as well as the whole of Italy (previously it was just northern Italy).


In the USA, the Centre for Disease Control recommend travellers avoid "all non essential travel" to all of China, Iran, South Korea and Italy.  It also advises "older adults" or those with chronic conditions to postpone travel to Japan.  It puts Hong Kong in their "Level 1 - Watch" section which just means that travellers should use "usual precautions".

The USA just has one list for returning travellers, the equivalent of the UK "Category 1" list - where you have to self isolate even if you do not have symptoms.  And for the USA it's all of mainland China, all of South Korea as well as Iran and Italy - so covers a lot more than the UK list.  In addition, the US does not allow any foreign national to enter the country if they visited China or Iran in the previous 14 days.


Canada puts China, Iran and Northern Italy in their "Level 3 - avoid non essential travel" category and also suggests avoiding Daegu and Cheongo.  Hokkaido in Japan as well as the rest of South Korea are in their "Level 2 - Practise special precautions" with Canada advising "older people" and those with "weakened immune systems" to consider postponing visits to the area.  Hong Kong and Singapore are in the "Level 1 - Practice usual precautions"

Canada only requires returning travellers from Hubei Province, Iran and Northern Italy to self isolate even if they do not have symptoms.  All other travellers only need to self isolate if they develop symptoms.


Australia says "do not travel to" mainland China, Iran and Daegu in South Korea.  It also suggests that you "reconsider your travel" to the rest of South Korea.  And the Australian government says to "exercise a high degree of caution" in both Japan and Mongolia (which nobody else bothers about).

Australia requires any returning traveller from mainland China, South Korea or Iran to self isolate, even if they do not have symptoms.  In addition, if you are a foreign national you will not be allowed enter Australia if you have been in China, South Korea or Iran in the previous 14 days.  Although if you're returning from Italy you just have to be checked out, but do not have to automatically self isolate (and there's no ban on foreign nationals).  Similar to the UK with their "Category 2" list, Australia requires you to self isolate if you have symptoms after returning from Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore or Thailand.


Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs does not provide information on a single page - so you need to go and look up each country separately.  The DFA advises against all travel to Hubei Province.  They advise against all non-essential travel to the rest of mainland China, Iran, Daegu and Cheongo in South Korea, and the Northern Italian regions of Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Piedmont, and Le Marche.

Returning traveller information is also located separately on each country page.  Those returning from China, South Korea, Japan and the Northern Italian regions listed above should self isolate only if they develop symptoms.


Information as at 01:00 Monday 9th March 2020 - check links for latest information (and to check for errors) !

Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London by Eurostar - direct

Update:  This planned service never actually took off.  See my new post for new October 2020 start details.

If you want to travel from London to Amsterdam by Eurostar tomorrow - there are three direct services (at 07:16, 11:04 and 17:16) which take 3:55, 4:17 (with a stop in Lille) and 3:55 respectively.  Eurostar website will also offer you another four services which take between 4:40 and 4:49 and include a change of train in Brussels.

However if you want to travel from Amsterdam to London by Eurostar tomorrow there are no direct services - because there currently aren't any UK immigration desks at Amsterdam Central station.  So not only do you need to change train at Brussels, you also need to pass through immigration there - adding even more time to your journey.  This means that on a normal weekday the Amsterdam-Brussels-London trip will take 4:47, 4:51, 5:00, 5:18 or even 5:50 if you're unlucky.

That changes on Thursday 30th April - when the UK Border Force starts operating in Amsterdam, and the first direct train departs at 18:47 taking 4:10 to get to St Pancras International.  On Friday 1st May they open their desks twice - for an 07:47 departure, and then again for the 18:47 service - both of which take 4:10 to get to London.

Exhausted after those three shifts, the take the weekend off - so you're back to clearing immigration in Brussels.  The connections on the four services that Eurostar offer aren't as good as during weekdays - so the journey times are between 5:22 and 6:25 (which includes 104 minutes in Brussels).

But from the following weekend they do a shift every Saturday morning for the 07:47 departure, and another every Sunday evening for the 18:47 service to London.

Rotterdam also gets a UK border post from Monday 18th May.  Up until then the journey time on the Thalys to Brussels, clearing immigration there, and then the Eurostar to London is between 3:59 and 5:07 on a weekday.  At weekends it's quite similar, ranging from 4:04 to 5:07

The 07:47 service from Amsterdam will depart Rotterdam at 08:28 (and the 18:47 Amsterdam service at 19:28) and the total journey time for these direct trains will be 3:29

The UK Border Force staff get the first weekend off.  But from Saturday 30th May the once daily Eurostar weekend service from Amsterdam is available to catch from Rotterdam.

The 3:29 journey time for the direct service compares with 3:16 for the early morning and evening London to Rotterdam trains, and 3:28 for the late morning direct service.

Whilst it's obviously a much more relaxing (and productive) trip not to have to change trains and clear immigration half way through your journey - the actual time savings aren't as large as you might imagine.  For Amsterdam departures the direct services takes a minimum of 37 minutes off your journey (although more typically 50 minutes).  And for Rotterdam departures it reduces your journey time by at least 30 minutes.

Part of the reason why the time savings aren't greater is that the direct services from Amsterdam take 15 minutes longer than the two faster services in the opposite direction.  And from Rotterdam the trip to London takes 13 minutes longer than vice versa.

Maybe Eurostar will be able to squeeze these minutes out of a future timetable - but for now you're left with a 30 - 50 minute saving, and a more comfortable journey.