Food and drink is not the business of low cost airlines and Ryanair even say that food is ‘entirely avoidable’ on their flights – and probably should be – as they are not a discount food retailer.
Should you feel hungry or thirsty, however, food and drink is, of course, available. At a price. Of all the low cost airlines, Ryanair have the biggest mark up on supermarket prices, an average of 520%. EasyJet and BMI have the lowest mark up at a mere 430%.
A tea or coffee on Ryanair will cost £2.63, a small bottle of water £2.63, a sandwich £4.39 and a small beer £3.95.
On EasyJet, a tea or coffee will cost £2.00, a small bottle of water £1.50, a sandwich £3.50 and a small beer £3.50.
The rest of the low cost airlines, Bmibaby, Jet2, Flybe, Monarch, Aer Lingus, Thomson and Thomas Cook are somewhere in between.
It used to be that the best idea was to take your own food and drink on low cost airlines but now, of course, with the new regulations on liquids, you can only take the food part. Buying a bottle of water or the like once you get into the ‘duty free’ area is an arm and a leg job.
Of the low cost airlines, Bmibaby, EasyJet, Flybe and Ryanair do not cater in any way for special dietary requirements, namely vegetarian, wheat-free, gluten-free or kosher/halal.
Jet2 cater for vegetarian only. Aer Lingus, Monarch, Thomson and Thomas Cook cater for all four categories.