JetBlue777 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 1427 posts, RR: 1 Posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 2307 times:
As I've posted before, we're going on an extensive European (and a quick stop in Morocco) vacation this summer and based on our desired destinations, it seems like we're going to fly on EasyJet quite a bit (not really, just three segments).
I've never been to Europe and I am completely unfamiliar with air travel within the continent. So can you guys tell me your experiences on EasyJet? Is Speedy Boarding worth it? I'm planning to invest on the speedy boarding on the CDG-RAK leg as it is longest leg. On their website it also says that speedy boarding comes with Dedicated Check-In where available, does CDG have that? Are they reliable when it comes to baggage delivery? How's the service, BOB Options, Seating Comfort, etc. Anything at all!
nonimaus From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2011, 82 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 2258 times:
Speedy Boarding - Never used it, but based on past experience of travelling with groups, it's useful if you want to guarantee that you sit near each other.
Service - Not bad. It's never going to be at the top of the pile, but I've always found the flight attendants pretty helpful and nice.
BOB - To be honest I find the food a bit crap; the coffee isn't great and the sandwiches aren't really worth the price you'll pay. I find it's better to eat in the terminal beforehand purely so you've got more choice; I tend to stick to bottled / canned drinks on board.
Seating - I'm not that tall but I have long-ish legs for my height, so it can be hit or miss as to whether I'm ok; I found one of the new A319's pretty uncomfortable on a 2 hour flight from CPH to STN. The combination of harder than average seating (for U2) and limited leg room was a bit painful. In contrast, other flights with them on older, softer, more worn-in seats were fine, if a little bit "cosy".
EuroWings From UK - England, joined Sep 2011, 298 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2199 times:
easyJet are a very reasonable airline for a LCC, but they don't really have a US equivalent. They are probably closest to Southwest, however they don't offer quite the same product. They are certainly a step above the notorious FR (their 'stateside' equivalent would be Spirit). For example, they don't charge for airport check-in (like other Euro LCCs) and they don't have a limit on their hand luggage weight (although only 1 per person and you must be able to lift it, and fit it in the measuring 'cage'). There are fees for hold luggage - limit is 20KG.
Service is purely BOB (drinks are also charged for, but that's standard for European LCCs) - http://buyonboard.easyjet.com/ see this link for details. Most of the cabin staff are friendly, although I have more experience of their UK based crews.
It's worth noting that ground operations (including check-in/boarding/customer service/baggage/ramp) are usually contracted out to private handling companies, even at larger operating bases. This is completely standard practice in Europe, even for full-service airlines at non-bases. They may wear the airline uniform (although they don't usually), but most ground staff won't be employed by EZY. So, baggage delivery is variable, but generally good, since connections are not offered and that is where most bags get lost.
This leads me on to Speedy Boarding, well, it depends on the airport. Different airports seem to do this differently. UK airports tend to have a priority queue separated by ropes. Spanish/Italian airports (and I presume Moroccan ones as well) will often have nothing and you have to make your way to the front of the queue when the boarding call is made.
If you board using a bus, then sometimes you get a separate bus, sometimes you don't. As a general rule, if the airport is a base for EZY (where they have aircraft and crews based - see their wiki page), there will be dedicated check-in desks and Speedy Boarding will work well.
Seating is a bit tight, but nothing unbearable in my experience.
Vasu From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2005, 3761 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2181 times:
My bottom line view of Easyjet:
The same as Ryanair, but not as cheap.
I have flown both many times. Easyjet's comfort is limited, food expensive and customer service (when flights get cancelled) pretty much non-existent. But, if you fly simply and pay in the "correct" way, they're pretty OK.
EuroWings From UK - England, joined Sep 2011, 298 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2180 times:
Quoting Vasu (Reply 3): The same as Ryanair, but not as cheap.
They do fly into many 'city airports' though and it's well-known that their costs are higher than FR. I used to think the same but having experienced less of FR lately I've changed my mind. Personally, I think they are nicer than FR. For example, they don't force you to use online check-in and if you do forget your online boarding pass, they won't charge you 40GBP to reissue it. Their baggage limits are more generous. They employ more 'local' staff for their bases.
On airport customer service, FR and EZY are more or less equal though.
YXD172 From Canada, joined Feb 2008, 426 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 2162 times:
I've flown with them a few times, mostly on ~2 hour sectors, they've been pretty good for the price but definitely nothing special. I haven't tried the food, however their customer service (in FNC) is very good - I forgot a notebook on the plane in which I'd kept a journal of my trip to Europe. The ground service company (Portway) sent someone back through security to talk to the gate agent/FA, and I got it back before the plane left!
I wouldn't say they're on time much though, most of my flights were 15-30 minutes behind schedule.
From my experience: no. Of my 4 flights with them, I've managed to get the exit row window seat on 3 without Speedy Boarding, just got myself to the first third of the general boarding line. (Take this with a grain of salt, two of my lucky flights were with the older group boarding system, it's a bit harder now that there's only SB, pre-boarding, and general. Still possible though)
Hint: If they have stairs at the back, go there and walk up to the exit row. Most people who enter through the foreward door sit down in the first third of the plane. Or, if you do enter through the front, people seem reluctant to sit in the first row (don't want to be stepped on by the PAX coming in?) so those are always a decent option.
Also, online check-in opens a full 60 days before the flight! Yeah, a bit different than most in North America.
Radial engines don't leak oil, they are just marking their territory!
JetBlue777 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 1427 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 2157 times:
Quoting nonimaus (Reply 1): Service - Not bad. It's never going to be at the top of the pile, but I've always found the flight attendants pretty helpful and nice.
Thanks! Well I'm not really expecting a 4/5-Star Service from an LCC. Nice to hear that you had good experiences with the FAs! It's always nice to have friendly flight attendants.
Quoting EuroWings (Reply 2): (drinks are also charged for, but that's standard for European LCCs) -
I never knew that. Oh well, not a big deal. Thanks for the very detailed response EuroWings!
Quoting YXD172 (Reply 5): Also, online check-in opens a full 60 days before the flight! Yeah, a bit different than most in North America.
That's quite odd. Never heard of this before too, I guess that's pretty convenient. Thanks for the response!
BTW Here's our full itinerary (planned)
Our "base" for our European/Moroccan trip would be ARN since we would be staying in Sweden for a couple of weeks to visit some family members.
ARN-FCO via PRG on OK
FCO-VCE on U2
VCE-PSA via FLR (On some train, I'm not sure about the name but we're buying the tickets on RailEurope.com)
PSA-FCO on Alitalia Express
Although there is a nonstop flight from PSA to CDG, I've decided that it's better to fly to FCO and take:
FCO-CDG on KU
CDG-RAK on U2
RAK-MAD on U2
MAD-DUS on LH/Eurowings
DUS-ARN on SK
shamrock604 From Ireland, joined Sep 2007, 4039 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 2090 times:
I would have no hesitation flying with Easyjet.
I've always found them to be true to "low cost" but just not as nasty as Ryanair.
The aircraft are "cozy" as someone said above, but not so bad that it's unbearable. The A319 seats are narrower than most though - EZY chose to have wider aisles rather than wider seats on theirs, so seat size is about 737 sized.
The food is OK, but yes, i'd rather but at the airport. Baggage performance is good, Crews are generally friendly and enthusiastic.
Speedy boarding is worth it - as long as you are not boarded by bus, if you want a window seat or to sit forward or whatever.
At CDG, EZY now use the old Air France Terminal 2B. It is not a very modern terminal, but it has very short walking distances and is pretty stress free.
Flown EI,FR,RE,EIR,VE,SI,TLA,BA,BE,BD,VX,MON,AF,YS,WX,KL,SK,LH,OK,OS,LX,IB,LTU,HLX,4U,SU,CO,DL,UA,AC,PR,MH,SQ,QF, EY, EK
Babybus From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 3512 posts, RR: 6 Reply 9, posted (1 year 6 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1935 times:
I used to fly easyjet a lot but not so much these days.
From my last few flights I think overall they have a good product. The seats are thin and a bit uncomfortable with no legroom. The aircraft they use are good. The food/beverage offerings are ok, I usually just have a tea or coffee as I assume the food has already flown hundreds of miles already that day and probably full of chemical preservatives.
I would be more more inclined to fly them if they introduced allocated seating as their fares are identical to BA these days. I hate all that rushing on board involved.They are usually very late too so terrible for day trips.
and with that..cabin crew, seats for landing please.
L410Turbolet From Czech Republic, joined May 2004, 5392 posts, RR: 19 Reply 10, posted (1 year 6 months 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1934 times:
Quoting JetBlue777 (Reply 6): VCE-PSA via FLR (On some train, I'm not sure about the name but we're buying the tickets on RailEurope.com)
Why don't you buy tickets directly from trenitalia.it? If you browse forums on e.g. TA the general consensus is that RailEurope.com is a rip-off, especially if you need just ticket for one/two trips.
Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Reply 11, posted (1 year 6 months 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1926 times:
Forget speedy boarding at Marrakech. Boarding is by bus and you'll end up in the same bus as everybody else. I've once been the first to board at RAK (via bus), and I was the last to go through the gate. Go figure.
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
airtrainer From Belgium, joined Aug 2003, 1518 posts, RR: 13 Reply 12, posted (1 year 6 months 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 1865 times:
Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 11): Forget speedy boarding at Marrakech. Boarding is by bus and you'll end up in the same bus as everybody else. I've once been the first to board at RAK (via bus), and I was the last to go through the gate. Go figure.
I remember reading a similar story with FR on the trip report section last year. Now passengers with priority boarding have access to the front part of the bus, which is opened first when the bus come to the aircraft. Let's hope EasyJet will introduce a similar procedure...
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