Prince William Chooses Ryanair over British Airways. Did BA Devalue Too Far?

Prince William flew European discount airline Ryanair from Stansted to Glasgow.

Prince William in coach shouldn’t be a shock, as he flew American Airlines coach Memphis – Dallas a year ago (even though he certainly could have purchased first class. Indeed, he flew first class on the US Airways Shuttle back in December.

The surprising thing, then, wasn’t so much that he flew a discount airline or flew economy, but that he flew Ryanair “London” – Glasgow on a route served by British Airways from both Heathrow and Gatwick.

The explanation, though, appears to be that he was flying “from his Norfolk home” — and who’d want to go to Heathrow or Gatwick? The two airports are about equidistant:

Instead departing from Stansted saved him about an hour.

I find I go out of my way to travel my preferred airline, but then that’s most true when I need the elite qualifying miles. Prince William’s British Airways status, one imagines, is secure. Or when he wishes he can simply pay for premium cabins, so he also doesn’t feel the need to, just like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Or perhaps post-devaluation, accruing Avios is just no longer that attractive to the Royals.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. They are actually pretty down to earth or their PR is good. But we have seen them around travelling in economy, mingling with normal people even when they were at Uni. It’s a fresh change and actually works well for the PR of the British monarchy in the UK. Much more of a positive imagine

  2. It’s nothing but a PR stunt. They have their own private jets, purple airway for God sakes and his own helicopter he takes like an UBER. He’s disgusting. It’s all a hypocritical fraudulent stunt.

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