MaxJet anyone?

Ryanair, EasyJet or train

Which one would be the cheapest? I know flying would be the fastest.

Gary, I'm not sure when you last flew Ryanair, but it certainly doesn't match my experience with them in May. I purchased my tickets from home and chose the "checked baggage" option at that time (they charged less that way than waiting till check-in). I was charged additional for using a credit card, but you aren't if you use a debit card. And I wasn't charged anything for checking in at the desk. To me, the cheap price of the flights makes up for having to follow a few rules. In your example, it's only $18 additional each way -- not much if the Ryanair flight is $100 cheaper. If I absolutely had to carry more baggage I wouldn't use that airline. You just have to be aware of the rules and stick to them to avoid nasty surprises. Still, I would choose Easyjet over Ryanair if all else were equal (schedule, price, location).

Avoid Ryanair - the worst airline in the UK. They charge you $4 to check in at the desk, if you check baggage, the baggage weight allowance is 15 kilos for which they charge $10 per bag to check in, maximum weight irrespective of the number of bads is 15kg. Excess baggage is charged at $15 per kilo!!!

These charges are per flight - they even charge $4 per passenger per flight to pay by credit card.

So for a single passenger doing a round trip with one small piece of checked baggage paying on a credit card you pay an additional $36 minimum - go over by just 5 pounds in weight and add an additional $90 in excess baggage!!!!

Hands down, the best way is to take easyjet. It's the only airline with a direct London-Stansted to Nice connection. You arrive at Stansted at 12 noon, and the easyjet flight leaves around 6 pm, so you'll have a few hours to burn off. But definitely better than trying to switch airports. The problem may be coming back, since your Maxjet flight leaves at 9:30 am, but easyjet's flight back is only a late evening trip....so you may have to spend the night somewhere near Stansted airport. Fares each way, depending on when you fly, range from 15 to 100 GBP...higher on weekends, as you might imagine. As for the train, the only connection possible to Nice at that time of day is an overnight train...and it costs an arm and a leg.

Thank you all for your replies. My daughter is helping me sort this out too because she lives in Europe and flies Ryanair or EasyJet. She is concerned that the schedules may not work out for me and I may end up paying more for to sttay overnight. For me right now I am thinking of comfort flying all the way from LAX to LON.

BMI and British Airways offer some good fares from London-Heathrow to Nice. BA at 46 GBP each way, and BMI as low as 30 GBP....their schedules are much more frequent, and open to booking for next July and August now....altho you'll still pay more for weekends.

Norm,my daughter said I might as well take BA from LAX to LON and then on to Nice with BA. I have flown BA WT+ and enjoyed the comfort, but it is too expensive to buy just now, $2300 versus $1536 economy. I don't know if it is going to come down in price, so I was thinkg trying MaxJet for the comfort.

Nancy, sadly it is your experience which is out of date. New charges were introduced recently.

If one is taking baggage over 15kg then you will find that other carriers are far cheaper than Ryanair.

Fares on BA, BMI, Air France etc may look more expensive than the Ryanair fare shown on the front page of its website. But when one adds the so-called 'taxes and charges' and then the baggage, check-in and credit card charges (and yes they charge $2 per sector per passenger to pay by debit card) then you will find that BA, BM, Air France etc are far cheaper.

There are many charges added on to Ryanair fares shown on their website.

Let the passenger beware!

While I wasn't unhappy with Ryanair, it was not my favorite of the cheaper airlines I have flown. I agree you have to factor in the extra charges (which have obviously changed since the end of May), but it some cases it could still be a good deal. As with any ticket purchase you have to consider all parts of the transaction to see if it's something you can live with.