The Jet2 Thread

[cutler10]

hi all

Im new to the forum so be gentle with me. First of all a big thanks to everyone that posts on here, im a bit of a nervous flyer and some of the threads on here really helped me out with a ryanair flight i had to take last week, i feel so much more confident now and reckon i can even start enjoying the flying experience!

okay, to the matter at hand, i need to fly to dusseldorf in december and looking at the options, taking cost, direct flights, distance to my airport, it looks like jet2 from leeds bradford is my best option.

Problem is, i did the stupid thing of looking at archived threads on here and elsewhere about jet2 and im now left with the impression they they use decrepit, only just serviceable aircraft, flown by people who hate the airline they work for and arent very happy!

Im sure as with most things there is a balanced view somewhere, so, can anyone reassure me that these guys are okay to fly with? safe? punctual? anyone on here work for them?

or is everything ive read true and should i avoid them?

cheers guys

[Rainboe]

My word, one post and you go on the 'Ignore' list as well already!

Stop being a wimp and DO IT or stay home, but don't bleed yellow stuff to an audience of 10,000 people for a poncing 1 hour flight!

[cutler10]

thanks, what a lovely person, your parents must be really proud

[Rusland 17]

Don't worry about Rainboe. I'm sure he's on more Ignore lists than you will ever be. :)

Yes, Jet2 get some bad reviews, but not as many as some other low-cost airlines. And they're as safe as any airline, so if cost is important to you just grin and bear it. Otherwise, pay a bit extra to travel with KLM or similar.

[cutler10]

thanks rusland

Yes cost is a pretty important factor for me, although punctuality is aswell and i guess the main stories ive heard are about the old planes having more tech problems meaning more delays on the ground

aaaanyways, thanks for the advice, its nice to chat about it

[Final 3 Greens]

Rainboe - parents - oxymoron ;)

Cutler

Wi't Tykes own airline, tha'll be reet :ok:

The planes are well fettled.

[Capetonian]

Rainboe comes with a warning: toxic !

I've flown Jet2, no worse than any other low cost carrier, better than some, and I wouldn't have any concern about safety.

As for punctual, I don't expect any flight to be on time. When they are, I consider I've got a bonus - and that's most of the time. I factor in enough time for my next activity, whatever it may be, and if the flight's on time then I have time to spare for a cup of tea and a slice of Black Forest Gateau, to check out the totty, to sit in the sun, or to go for a walk or whatever pleasurable acitvity may take my fancy.

[Donkey497]

Fully agree with Capetonian.

At least on Jet2, you don't have that bloody stupid, deafening fanfare that Ryanair subject you to on arriving at seemingly excessive speed.

[wowzz]

And also with Jet2 you get pre-assigned seats, thus avoiding the boarding gate scrum.

[cutler10]

thanks guys

its now booked with jet2. I know what you mean about that fanfair thing on ryanair flights, it is bloody loud, i guess ive been lucky though, i dont fly all that often and every time ive flown ryanair we've taken off bang on time and arrived early

F3G - thats a good yorkshire accent youve got there, haha. I wonder if they serve tripe and dripping sandwiches on the plane, oh and can i tek me whippet on board? lol.

Thanks for your comments people, much appreciated xx

[Final 3 Greens]

Interesting story from the Mail

Airline boss frustrated by delays launches foul-mouthed attack on his OWN check-in staff | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215484/Airline-boss-frustrated-delays-launches-foul-mouthed-attack-OWN-check-staff.html)

[ex-XL-in-exile]

Un-be-lievable.

You're right mate, Jet2 are appaling - they actually tow their 73 and 75s into the air rather like you may have seen with gliders. Us pilots then strap giant planks of wood to our arms and flap furiously out of the cockpit windows in a desperate bid to stay in the sky long enough. Not that any of that matters, of course - because within ten minutes of take-off the bloody things have nasty habit of breaking up into a million pieces.

And don't bother the cabin crew either. They hate the company so much most of them are too busy sawing holes in the fuselage. And us up top aren't much kop. On my last sector I was so effed off with life I shot myself in the head.

Enjoy your flight :ok:

[VS-LHRCSA]

Thanks for that F3G, something for my 'Profit Through People' thesis. I do miss 'the Mail' here in Oz.

[Final 3 Greens]

Us pilots then strap giant planks of wood to our arms and flap furiously out of the cockpit windows in a desperate bid to stay in the sky long enough

Now don't go giving Michael O'Leary ideas - and the pilots will have to:} buy their own planks

[cutler10]

hey exxlinexilexlinxlinx

im sorry if any offence was caused by my question, but honestly, do a quick search on here and you will come across some seemingly very unhappy jet2 or ex jet2 pilots

hopefully you'll be flying me on my next journey, i'll slip some anti depressants under the cabin door to ensure a smooth flight

:ouch:

[Capetonian]

Talking of Yorkshire, anyone seen this :

YouTube - Yorkshire Airlines (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VLYpKGVBUg)

[ex-XL-in-exile]

No offence at all my friend, I've heard similar about my airline and substantially worse about others.

May I just remind you that people generally tend seek out a review site / message board and "rate" something if they have a bad experience of it. There are probably hundreds of unwritten good "reviews" for every bad one out there.

I absolutely love being a part of Jet2's flightdeck. Their a/c are wonderfully able workhorses and it would be my absolute pleasure to one day fly you in one.

Have a good holiday, and remember - try to enjoy flying, not fear it. :ok:

[strake]

Well, we've been whinging on about poor service here for sometime and now someone's done something about it.
As expected by those of us who travel regularly, the "closed-shop" of airport worker ranks have bleated abuse, nastiness or whatever the latest load of human rights rubbish is and had the man warned. No doubt they are sniggering up their collective sleeves tonight. However, the masses have spoken.:D

[cutler10]

thanks very much xl, that honestly does mean a lot to me and I appreciate it

I shall look forward to my trip!

all the best xx:ok:

[Final 3 Greens]

I wonder if he told them 'I pay your wages?' :E

[strake]

Now that was funny.....:ok:

[ex-XL-in-exile]

No worries at all.

Perhaps it's because I'm still relatively new to the flightdeck and haven't had time to, shall we say, settle in to some of the cynacism of long-termers who prowl these pages but I really do have a big passion for calming people's fear of flying and; in particular; challenging the apparant acceptance that lo-co's = higher risk of either bad service, delays, or a firey death.

Can I sign off from this thread with the following unscientific straw poll of recent tragedies (without any prejudice) and what we may learn from them:

Last major world-event air crash - Air France 447. Flag carrier of a major EU nation. Date: 2009.
Last major UK-event air crash - BA038. This country's flag carrier. Date: 2008.
Last major, or any, Jet2 event of note - never.

Suppose it just goes to show. Happy flying my friend. :ok:

[Capetonian]

It's very unscientific indeed if I may say so.

Flights operated since 1970 by :

BA 8.27 m
AF 5.90 m
Jet2 0.1 m??

I'm not implying that Jet2 is any more or less safe than any others, simply that your statement is meaningless unless qualified by some figures.

[ex-XL-in-exile]

Yep, fair point, and as I said - very unscientific. It was intended purely to quell this particular pax fear of flying with a lo-co, specifically Jet2.

No qualms from me about the bigger fish whatsoever. My point was simple: you're as safe on a small-fry budget like ours as you are on a flag carrier like BA / AF.

Regards.

[smudgesmum]

I have flown Jet2 out of Blackpool many times to Murcia & Alicante. I am a nervous flyer but have always been reassured by the staff on board. The planes as far as I am aware are always okay.

Better IME than BMI Baby, Easyjet & Ryanair, you can pre-book seat before flying as I always book row 1 seats and you can check in on-line and fast drop bags at airport

All in all one of the better 'budget' airlines, I say that because no such thing as a cheap flight now

Smudgesmum

[lexxity]

Ahem, turns out that the queue built up because it was made up of passengers who arrived at the airport before the staff came on shift. I'm sure the staff weren't sat there "doing nothing" from my experience of working on check in (not Jet 2) at MAN the system takes a bloody age to sign in.

Maybe one of you would like to suggest to that nice Mr Meeson that he might want to pay his handling agent more so they come on shift earlier. Personally I would have called the police too, nobody has the right to absue another person at work, especially not if it reduces that person to tears. Why didn't he speak to the managers of the handling agent and ask them what was going on? Or was it easier to scream and rant and publically humilate those staff on shift? What a prat.

[Bealzebub]

Well lets see:

They weren't his staff, they were his companies subcontractors staff.

He isn't a particularly high profile character so how would anybody know who he was from Adam?

Someone ranting and raving in an airport queue wouldn't normally make it to the Daily mail even if the police were called.

He knew exactly who to speak to if he had a complaint, because he approves the contracts.

Now he is a folk hero?

Now he has some publicity?

If one of his own staff, had actually behaved in this manner, he would have had them out in a heartbeat.

Yes clearly a spontaneous outburst, not!

[Final 3 Greens]

I wasn't there, neither were you Beazelbub, so neither of us knows exactly what passed.

However, he is buying a service against a service level agreement and if the handling agent was not meeting the performance indicators specified in the contract, he had every reason to intervene.

In fact, if he sues the contractor for breach, the judge will ask him what steps he took to give the contractor the opportunity to discharge it and mitigate the damages.

If I was present and one of my contractors personnel was failing to deliver the contracted services effectively, I would swiftly intervene to prevent the damage to my brand.

I was not there and do not know what language he used (I do not condone bad langauge), but please do not imply that he should not have spoken to the check in agents, because that is wrong.

[frontcheck]

Totally disagree with you F3G, he should have spoken to the management of the handling agent if he was not satisfied that the agreed contract was being adhered to. Did he check to see if perhaps the system had gone down, or perhaps a baggage belt failure, or perhaps a large number of sickies ?

[GROUNDHOG]

I used to run an airline and know PM quite well. He is passionate about his airline and not many people in his position would turn up at a check in to monitor service in the first place. Understand he also takes flights to check service as well. More power to his elbow for that!

In the same position I would have also hit the roof, in fact when something similar happened to me I tried to speak to the 'supervisor' and he locked himself in his room and wouldn't come out! I am a pussy cat by comparison to PM.

What an airline pays its contractors to do a job properly is irrelevant, if the contractor cant do the job PROPERLY at the price don't do it all.

The airline IS the customer, days off, sickies,snow on the lines etc don't come in to it they are not the airlines problem.

I wasn't there so don't know exactly what happened but it sounds like he achieved his aim in getting things moving and pleased HIS customers by doing so,

Clever man Mr M.

[Bealzebub]

Yes he is.

I knew the gentleman years ago when I provided some instruction to him. A very pleasant chap he was as well. However as an aerobatic pilot as he was then, he knew how to be a showman as well.

I don't think this particular show made it in to the Daily Mail all by itself, and some of the gullibility is worthy of applause. :D

[Final 3 Greens]

Frontcheck

Did he check to see if perhaps the system had gone down, or perhaps a baggage belt failure, or perhaps a large number of sickies ?

These are not his problems, the contractor's delivery against the performance indicators are. If the belt has failed, there will be a provision in the cntract to deal with, but I doubt that sickiess will be in there, as I said he is buying a service against a service level agreement.

he should have spoken to the management of the handling agent if he was not satisfied that the agreed contract was being adhered to.

No doubt he did that too, but the primary action is to mitigate the damage and protect the brand, by talking to the people who were there, no doubt including the managerial/supervisory staff who were there.

[wowzz]

To be fair to PM he turned up on a Saturday [the D/mail report doesn't say if it was an early morning flight] and quite rightly IMHO made an issue of poor customer care.
I know that the check-in staff could say that they are only being paid from 'x' o clock, but why sit about when their [regardless of being sub-contractors] customers are waiting ? How long does it tke to read The Sun/Daily Mirror/Times. Having done similar jobs in the past my feeling has always been to get started as soon as possible and get the job done [or am I being a bit old fashioned here?] The 'I start work at 8 and finish at 6 - no more no less' attitude should be long gone by now
The sooner MOL and WW take the same attitude to customer care as PM and experience the reality of flying on their airlines, the sooner I will believe their platitudes regarding looking after their customers. [Interestingly in the Sunday Times WW boasted of flying economy twice with BA!! - after almost 4 years in the job this would seem that WW has no idea of how his out-dated product appears to his customers]

[Curious Pax]

Nice theory wowzz, but from what has been said it seems that the early morning check in availability has been reduced to 2 hours before departure of the first flight. I would be very surprised if this was not part of a renegotiation between Aviance and Jet2 aimed at cutting the bill for services that Jet2 receive. To then expect that Aviance open check in early because there is a queue is unreasonable, as I doubt that Mr Meeson would be at all thrilled to receive an extra charge for that.

Airlines only have a finite number of tools in their cost reduction box, and minimising the fee they pay for ground handling is one of them. Unfortunately the less you pay the less service you get, whether it is reduced opening hours for check in, or a reduction in the quality of service they receive as the handling agent is forced to reduce the wages offered to their staff.

[EastMids]

Fully agree with curious pax above... Many times airlines (not just the low-fare) specify opening times for checkin, and pax have to wait until that time because backroom staff (sometimes not handling agent but airline backroom staff) or systems don't open a flight for airport checkin until a specific time. CUTE/checkin desk use time is sometimes charged by the airports, and sometimes there are technical reasons why pax can't be checked in until a certain time - cut over from web checkin to desk checkin simetimes being one.

[PAXboy]

wowzzI know that the check-in staff could say that they are only being paid from 'x' o clock, but why sit about when their [regardless of being sub-contractors] customers are waiting ?Because they are sub-contractors - they do not have to do a single second of work outside of the contract. This is one of the simple problems of outsourcing. I shall not start to ride this hobby horse again (as I have done in this forum before!) but when I saw outsourcing starting in my then USA employer in 1989 - I knew that it was bad news for the staff and customers.

The ONLY action available to 'AP' was to speak (quietly) to the contract company manager and see what had happened. He may be passionate and he may have achieved some short term good press coverage but how will his contracted staff think of him? Sure, they might have been less than speedy or there may be some other simple explanation but I do no think it was good management. If you outsource - then you lose direct control of the staff. If you want to bawl them out, then pay for them directly.

Curious Pax ... early morning check in availability has been reduced to 2 hours before departure of the first flight. I would be very surprised if this was not part of a renegotiation between Aviance and Jet2 aimed at cutting the bill for services that Jet2 receive.This sounds more like it, although we shall never know for sure. If pax are turning up earlier - because they know of slow service and scrums at check in - then they are being very sensible to mitigate the poor service being offered! :} As always, companies try to have it both ways.

[wowzz]

PAXboy - I agree and I am eating a little humble pie here. At the end of the day PM is responsible for the contract J2 agreed with his handling agents at Manchester, and he cannot really argue if they are working to the contract .
I think there was a similar thread a week or two ago about poor service levels from staff manning the BA check-in desks at Manchester. Would they be Aviance personnel as well?
The problem, as has been stated before, is that once a company out-sources any customer/airline interface [sorry about the terminology] the airline abdicates overall responsibility for customer care. If PM really cares for his customers, he should employ J2 check-in staff -- then he really is in a position to shout at them!

[lexxity]

I think there was a similar thread a week or two ago about poor service levels from staff manning the BA check-in desks at Manchester. Would they be Aviance personnel as well?


That would be a yes.

[GOAROUNDMAN]

This is the same guy who came up with term 'Lazy Frogs'. Maybe you can get away with that attitude in the RAF but in the real world it's a no no. The staff involved has already resigned and well played. It's bad enough taking crap from passengers all day on £5-6 an hour without taking it from some pompous mill owner.

Fall on your sword wing commander. :=

[lowcostdolly]

Cutler 10.....Hi from a CC who is used to dealing with nervous pax :)

I've never flown with Jet 2 so I don't know what the onboard experience is like personally but I have only ever heard good about their CC. As far as I know there are no safety concerns with this carrier.

You can always find bad reviews about any airline if you look hard enough and some of them don't even bother to hide it anyway as it gives publicity. No publicity is seen as bad. Take easyjet. You only have to turn on to the airline programme to see how awful we are.....apparently ;). Pax fly with us to see if this is true and are usually pleasently surprised. However you can't please all of the peeps all of the time!!

Fly with Jet 2 and form your own opinions based on your experience. If you feel nervous tell the CC and ask to sit near them at the front. You will have the reassurance of their presence but you can also hear every single noise going. A good CC will be able to explain what these are too you, that it is normal flight noises and maybe with a bit of humour as well.

I remember as a new CC sitting at the front for the first time all I could hear on landing from the flight deck was "retard, retard, retard". I asked a Pilot what it was and he told me the computer didn't like them that day and was being insulting:D:D

I later found out it was a standard reminder to them to pull back on the throttles...was I had or what at the time:)

Just making the point here that sometimes the humour from aircrew in this forum can sometimes be mistaken for something else by the SLF. I read ex-excel-in-in-excile's response to you and couldn't stop laughing because I recognised the aircrew humour. You thought you had caused offence.

This is a great forum for you to get info in as there are some very knowledgable peeps from all walks of aviation (crew and pax) and also different cultures. We might not all always agree and we all have different approaches but that is what makes it so interesting. As long as we all respect and are polite to one another ......

Forget rainboe's response. She comes with her own health warning anyway....Toxic:eek:!

Enjoy your flight :ok::)

[Rob Courtney]

Flew back from Reus with them when our TCX 320 went tech (after a 7 hr delay). Couldnt fault them, the crew where very helpful and the service standard good for a loco. The 737 was a bit tired but did the job.

Rob.

[Final 3 Greens]

Dolly

Jets have thrust levers, not throttles ;)

[al446]

F3Gs - no clutch?

[simonchowder]

Jet 2 are dreadfull, flown with them a couple of times, awfull service and, the aircraft are in a very poor state, a really cheap and nasty outfit , try monarch if you can, they are far far better in every respect

[Final 3 Greens]

F3Gs - no clutch?

Only on Airplane :E

[wowzz]

Hello Simonchowder - well after 2 flights you obviously are an experienced Jet2 pax!!!
Words fail me in an attempt to answer your post - I have flown with both Jet2 and Monarch more than twice, and IMHO there is little to choose between them - they are both OK airlines with a good safety/customer care record.
To slag off Jet2 without any concrete evidence is tantamount to libel

[ladylily63]

Flown with jet 2 several times and have absolutely no complaints whatsoever, only praise! always on time and aircraft did not look old to me. Added bonus of the facility to allocate seats prior to boarding which removes the panic somewhat of being seated together if you are a family . We have experienced no problems so far with any of the low cost airlines ... just arrived back from a cheap Ryanair flight last night which was yet again on time cabin crew friendly and efficient ,plenty of communication from the flight deck which is always welcome to me and all for £60. Only criticism is the loud fanfare on landing but hey ho you have to laugh don't you it amuses me!
Hope you have a good flight

[Capetonian]

Hello Simonchowder - well after 2 flights you obviously are an experienced Jet2 pax!!!
Words fail me in an attempt to answer your post - I have flown with both Jet2 and Monarch more than twice, and IMHO there is little to choose between them - they are both OK airlines with a good safety/customer care record.
To slag off Jet2 without any concrete evidence is tantamount to libel

He's expressed a subjective opinion, based in his experience, which he's perfectly entitled to do. He might say he's flown twice with Jet2 and 100% of his flights were appalling, and whilst it might be unfair to judge the airline on that basis, his statement is correct. Standards vary, what you and I find acceptable might not be to the next person.

I don't think it's fair to lay into someone in this way simply for expressing an opinion - even if you disagree. As a matter of record I also disagree with Simon, but let's do it civilly.

[lowcostdolly]

Well said Capetonian :ok:

Morning F3G.....oops my mistake :O.

I did mean the big levers situated between the 2 drivers and had a "blonde dolly moment".

What no clutch :confused:. I always thourght that and the brake was what is by the pilots's feet.....you know the pedals just below the 2 "steering wheels". :D;)

[simonchowder]

Thank you Capetonian, as you rightly say i may have only flown with them twice but they were certainly 100 per cent consistant, the first time we suffered a long tecnical delay which was compounded by the fact jet 2 had no engineers/spares available to rectify the defect and we had to wait until they arrived from Manchester, now i know aircraft can and do go wrong but i would have thought you would have engineers available at a major uk airport, once in the air it got no better, two toilets were inop and the cabin stank of urine, crew were surly, food was almost inedible , not nice.

Second time i foolisly used them was almost as bad, my seat was held together with gaffer tape, the recline was not working, a ceiling panel fell off on take off narrowly missing my head, enough excitment for one flight you would have thought , but more was to come, the aircraft air conditioning system then developed a fault which made it difficult for the crew to control the cabin temperture which alternated between very cold to unbearably hot, needless to say i learnt my lesson and now use monarch if at all possible

[Bealzebub]

Simon,

I take no issue with your airline of preference. All airlines would want want to garner a positive sense of loyalty and preference from anybody who flies with them. It is a competitive business and one that relies on perception, experience, marketing, and confidence. However to be fair, the problems you descibe can and do happen to every airline within a particular market segment.

Airliners are extremely safe and reliable, but they are also complex beasts that operate under a strict manufacturers and regulatory framework. When a fault occurs downroute, it can sometimes happen that there is no local engineering support for that aircraft type, and more commonly no local availability of spare parts necessary to rectify a problem. When this happens, a whole host of people are involved in arranging to get that aircraft back into service as quickly as possible, and this involves an astonishing array of logistics. Of course it all happens out of public view, and to that end is nothing more than a hugely inconvenient delay, with seemingly nothing happening anytime soon.
Even at major UK airports, there is no guarantee that a part will be available locally, and the process of procurement will often result in a significant delay. Some airlines (such as Monarch) do operate with their own group in house engineering company which may be an advantage on ocaissions, but all companies will contract to an engineering company that should provide a similar service.

The problems you describe whilst relatively rare in combination, are all familiar situations to people who fly everyday. An aircraft is dispatched in accordance with a Minimum equipment list, and a dispatch deviation guide, and sometimes this results in compromises albeit safe ones having to be made. For example a seat armrest being secured by gaffer tape may look a little unsightly, but the option of perhaps a 6 hour delay to a 2 hour flight with any subsequent disruption is a commercial one that is made every day in every company.

Another reality is that once a customer is irritated or annoyed by a situation, event or perception, they will rarely look for other good aspects to an operation, only further confirmation of what they already believe. We all do this to some degree, so it is not unusual.

Every airline in the world would pay homage to their deity if they could avoid these sort of problems in isolation or in combination, but the truth is they can't. To some degree it is simply a question of numbers or luck as to your chances of experiencing this type of thing because it happens to them all.


I am happy to agree with you, but in the interests of fairness this has to be said.

[al446]

Good post Bealzebub, you neatly say what I had been wanting to post while reading this thread and puts a/c going tech into context. As an ex a/c eng I am never critical of any of the UK outfits as I am aware of the framework in which they operate ie if an a/c is not fit to fly it wont be allowed to attempt it, non safety items like aircon are a different matter.
Many companies make a big thing of having newest a/c which, from pax POV, simply means they have been fitted out recently but that can have a downside, I personally like reclining seats but they are disappearing from some fleets. Several posts on other threads point to age of J2 fleet, this is not an issue for me as I know the level of maintenance/refurb work that has to be carried out. It is as likely for a newer a/c to go tech as an older one. Each a/c is only as reliable as its weakest safety critical component and most systems have back ups, other than the airframe (to a certain extent) age is not an issue.
Which only leaves the customer service and operations elements to differentiate between them. Of all that I have used inc EZY, J2, RYR, MON, BA, Alitalia & KLM it is KLM I have had the greatest issue with on flight from AMS - YVR. I will not use RYR due to its awful level of customer service and measly baggage allowance but no difference between the others other than BA & Alitalia being full service.
As far as J2 is concerned, I have used them many times from BLK, MAN & LBA and never experienced a problem, in fact I was allowed boarding at LBA once when I was delayed due to car probs when others would have refused, they had to radio capt who hummed & hahhed then let me on, nice man.
I've only been on 1 of their 757s which was maybe showing ageing of interior but was comfortable. I read elsewhere that those not yet refurbed are due for refit over winter.
A final observation I would make is that J2 appears to be the one loco that will make an effort at getting you home if an a/c goes seriously tech at destination, to the point of contracting other airlines, I do not think same can be said of others but feel free to correct me.
Hope this helps and enjoy your flights.

[simonchowder]

Fair points Bealzebub, im no techie im afraid but i can appreciate aircraft are complex machines that can and often do go wrong and that keeping these machines servicable is a demanding task for the engineers especially when there dealing with ancient 757,s such as jet 2 operate, however as a customer i have a choice and if that choice boils down to flying on a ancient old boeing whos cabin is falling apart, toilets dont work and operated by cabin crew who appear to hate their job or flying on a nice new airbus with a pristine cabin ,working toilets, friendly crew then im going to pick monarch every time:ok:

[Bealzebub]

Ok! I will now have to go and wrestle with a dilemma. :}

[ex-XL-in-exile]

Care to qualify this comment?

"...flying on a ancient old boeing whos cabin is falling apart"

As has been mentioned, the age of the a/c is of zero concequence so long as the tech side of thing - as is the case on J2 - is up to exceptional standards.

I fly Jet2 a/c and they are absolutely fine. That is a fact. Unless you're actually going to argue that I as a pilot know less about the operational ability of the airplanes than you do as a twice-boarded pax.

So, what I want to hear from you is which a/c you were on whos cabin was "falling apart". And while you're at it, define "falling apart."

Yours in anticipation...

[simonchowder]

Ceiling panels falling on ones head on take off, toilets that dont work, seats held together by tape, cabins reeking of urine ...,hardly "exceptional standards "to my mind, it may be acceptable to you but not to me, thankfully i have a choice as to whom i fly with, which is why i now use monarch when ever possible, unlike you as a jet 2 employee i do not have a axe to grind, im simply telling it as i found it .

[smudgethecat]

Must say ive flown with jet 2 a few times and fair play they are dire, those 757,s are truly grim, dont blame you for using MON simon far better outfit

[Final 3 Greens]

ex-XL

AS a very frquent traveller and also holder of a PPL (and ex owner of a lightie, thus a little experienced in aircraft mx or at least writing the cheques) I totally understand where you are coming from on mx angle.

However, to be fair to others on the forum who do not have your deep or my light insight, they do judge the aircraft by the state of the cabin. What else can they use as a yardstick?

For the past two years British Airways has used older 737s on the MLA LGW run and the cabins/interiors looked very tired, e.g. my headrest fell off one time, yellowing panels and lights, smelly loos etc.

Does this worry me from a safety angle, of course not; would BA be my first choice, no way, I deserve better for my money.

I realise that it is not pleasant to see this type of feedback about your company, at least understanding their perspective may ease the blow.

I have only flown Jet 2 once, LBA to CDG a couple of years ago on a well used, but tidy 733.

It ticked all the boxes for me and I would use Jet 2 again on a 1-2 hour route.

[cutler10]

Hi All

Just wanted to say thanks for the responses, most of them have been interesting, informative and very helpful, cant help feeling ive opened a can of worms with some though!

My flights booked now so I shall just try and sit back and look forward to it. I guess the interior of the plane wont bother me too much, a bit of gaffer tape never hurt anyone! i think the flight is only 1hr30 so hardly even enough time to use the loos

I'll report back on my opinions of jet2 when i return. the baggage allowance already looks quite favourable compared to some of the other low cost airlines so thats a good start, I just hope the big boss is around if theres a big queue when i arrive at check in!

much love xx

[Chairborne]

Cutler10.

Just my two pence worth as a fellow SLF who's been on low-cost carriers for what seems like forever...

I'd echo the comments of F3G and lowcost dolly here. I've used Jet2 just once so far (Prague to Belfast) and the experience was just fine, easily up to the standard of easyjet and better than some that may remain nameless.

Hope the flight goes well.

Cheers, Chairborne

[Capetonian]

Just by coincidence, I have to go to LBA next month, and have just booked a series of flights on Jet2.

Can't fault the booking process, except that added to the base fare and taxes,
there's bags (optional)
check in fee (not optional, choice is between online and airport)
fuel supplement zero
payment card fee (a bit unfair)
booking fee (that I resent as you can't avoid it)
seat selection fee (optional)


They also give you the option of booking 'a delicious three course hot meal', which I would have opted for but it's not appropriate to the time of day I'm flying and I know I'll get a damn good curry where I'm headed!

Further comments will follow based on the flight experience.

[Chairborne]

Come to think of it, there was one funny thing about the booking process on the Jet2 website. If flying one-way from UK to Prague, the default currency charged is Sterling and debit cards are acceptable. If flying Prague to UK the currency is Czech Koruna and I needed to use a credit card.

I didn't have a credit card.....

[HXdave]

on a slightly different topic, can anyone answer me the following. i have a booking with jet2.com. at present, i have not pre-booked any seats. now on the way out i am travelling with SWMBO. however on the return there will be SWMBO together with another friend of ours who is going out a little earlier. if i use the online check in, will it allow us to chose the seats FOC, or will it either charge uys for them or randonly allocate the seats on our behalf. only asking because ideally on the return we would all like to sit together and if we cant do this FOC by checking in online, we would probably be better leaving online check in alone and asking the check in staff at the airport to allocate our seats together.

any information greatly appreciated.

kind regards

[jet2impress]

You can either allow the system to allocate your seats for you. If you are all on the same booking, it will allocate you adjacent seats. If you have separate bookings, the system may not allocate seats together. If this is the case and you want to guarantee to be seated together you will need to pre book your seats online, think you pay £3.99 of somewhere around that figure.

[LPFR]

Only thing I don't like about the online check-in system is that the whole seating is ruined from the beggining of the check-in at the airport. There are plenty of passangers that the system allocate B&C or D&E leaving like 20 window seats on their own. Add to that 33A and 33F due to 33BCDE being legroom seats and rows 1 to 8 and 14A and F being locked as they also are legroom seats. I've counted 29 seats all on their own due to this and in most cases there is not even possible to sit a family of 6 all on the same row. You can imagine what it is to allocate seats as close as possible on full flights..

[BFS101]

I have just completed online check-in today for a flight BFS LBA on Saturday. Completed the documentation portion, completed check-in formalities and printed boarding cards. However on the boardings cards there is no seat numbers allocated for myself or companion. Now we are both travelling with hand baggage only, therefore proceeding straight to security and the gate at BFS.
When and how will seat numbers be allocated to us. This is also the case for out return LBA BFS on Sunday. When I now go back into the manage my booking system on jet2.com, it shows us checked in and now no option to select, or re-select seating???

[righthandrule]

Ahh, the online check in system does have its days when it's not working perfectly, hence your seat numbers haven't been allocated. You will have your sequence number on your boarding pass, this is the number of people that have already checked in. I reccommend you go to the gate just before boarding and notify the staff that you are one of the few passengers the online check in system doesn't like, they will then look up your sequence number to see what seat you will have. But to really honest LBA-BFS usually has an average load of 80/90 passengers, as it has not worked you and your friend MAY not be sat together, but I would check with the staff. If you are not sat together when you get on board simply move to a free seat as there will be plenty of room.

[TSR2]

If you are all on the same booking, it will allocate you adjacent seats.

Not necessarily so I'm afraid.

On our recent flight from Murcia, our party of five were allocated seats 40A - E. No problem, all seated together.

However, the husband of the lady seated in 40F was allocated 36C and there were numerous similar situations including a ridiculous situation with a family of three.

The wife was allocated seat 39C, the husband 39F and their 3 year old daughter 37B.

The family requested at check-in that their daughter be seated with either parent as it was their understanding that it was against CAA regulations to seat a minor away from a parent. This request would only be granted on payment of £14. The family refused to pay on the grounds that they felt they were being held to ransom and intend to make a formal complaint directly with Jet2.

This particular problem was put to a member of the cabin crew on boarding but the situation was resolved by fellow passengers only too willing to help.

From the number of couples in particular who were seperated by many rows, it appears that the system needs some attention, unless of course as many commented, it deliberately splits couples by many rows in the hope of generating income by re-seating.

[LPFR]

That happens sometimes to me as well, not often, but sometimes, parents and children apart like in your example. Well I would never, ever charge anything to try to move the three to be together. If there are at least 2 seats together I move, and if not, and only extra-legroom seats are available, my supervisor moves the family to those seats all together.

[Final 3 Greens]

TSR2

I believe it is a CAA recommendation, not a regulation.

[TSR2]

Final 3 Greens - Thanks for that.

[jet2impress]

Wind your neck back in TRS2!! LOL!

A couple of weeks ago a systems update was carried out, and the web check in facility now searches for adjacent seats and holds them for 10 minutes, so that a family/couple/group on the same booking will be given seats together. So sorry to spoil the thunder of all those people who thought the web check in was a scam to extract more money from families with children! :ugh:

[shobakker]

Travelling to Palma on Saturday afternoon. What plane can I expect? :ok:

[ls_jet2]

Travelling to Palma on Saturday afternoon. What plane can I expect?

That'll depend on where you're departing from:ugh:.

[TSR2]

Yes, you are absolutely correct. When we checked in on-line it stated quite clearly that the block of seats would be held for 10 mins.

What I cannot understand is the passengers in front of us checked in after we did (or so they said) but were not allocated seats together. As a matter of fact, the father of the 3 year old was telling me that he had started the on-line check-in procedure three times but aborted each time because they were allocated individual seats.

As I say, the system worked fine for our party but I did witness first hand at least four unhappy couples and one extremely upset family.

Neck duly back in place :ok:

[lowcostdolly]

As a parent I have total empathy with the child seperated from parent experience described here.

F3G is right it is a CAA "guidline" that all airlines implement procedures to ensure children are seated with the accompanying adult. It would be a foolish airline that would actively ignore the CAA (not saying that was the case here just wanted to give parents a bit of extra ammo :)

The CAA go so far as to state how far a child can be seperated on both wide and narrow bodied jets. I expect this was a 73/757 so this would be one seat row.

However it is Jet2's policy that all children under the age of 14 have to be accompanied by an adult 16 or over who will take responsibility for them. Furthermore I don't belive any airline is allowed to ask another adult to take responsibility for a child. I could stand corrected here.

This little girl was only 3 years old yet expected to sit unaccompanied 2 rows away from her parents who are responsible for her.....unbelievable!! She would be frightened at being separated from her parents in a strange enviroment, need help with food and drink etc.

Parents you should find the CC of any company proactive in sorting this situation out but if not just ask politely who will be taking responsibility for the little one in the event of a decompression, turbulence or an emergency situation......you will soon get moved together!!! The CAA guidlines are in the interests of ensuring safety in these events.

Hope this helps :)

[shobakker]

:\

What I meant to say was, I'm travelling from Manchester on Saturday to Palma...
What aircraft will it be?!

Sorry....


:O

[TSR2]

LS831 departing 14.10 from Manchester to Palma on Saturdays is listed as a B752.

[TSR2]

Posted by lowcostdolly
Parents you should find the CC of any company proactive in sorting this situation out but if not just ask politely who will be taking responsibility for the little one in the event of a decompression, turbulence or an emergency situation......you will soon get moved together!!! The CAA guidlines are in the interests of ensuring safety in these events.

Very good advice, thanks.

[shobakker]

Just a quick note to compliment Jet2 on the flights between Manchester & Palma. OK so there were delays outbound but we were kept well informed, the planes were clean, comfortable and crew excellent. The on-line checkin worked a dream.

Will definitely be using them again. Well done Jet2

[cutler10]

just wanted to follow on from my original questions to give some feedback on my jet2 experience.

going out to Duss, fine, no problems at all, LBA was almost deserted so just went virtually straight through and onto the plane, flight left early and arrived early, crew were great.

returning from Duss, something went wrong with the aircraft we think when it was coming from leeds and possibly had to go back (we werent really given much info by Duss airport) then we were told the plane was coming a little later but to Koln-Bonn not Dusseldorf, so that meant everyone reclaiming baggage etc and getting a bus to Koln and re checking in/going through security etc, in the end we did get a flight from Koln to LBA, probably around 3 hours behind schedule. Again, the flight crew were great.

So, all in all a mixed experience, not a major massive delay in the scheme of things i guess, just a bit of a hassle, id be interested to know what actually happened to the original flight that was coming to dusseldorf if anyone knows as we werent really told much at the airports.

My only major complaint though is with LBA, we arrived back there around 1am i think and the place was just deserted, i had parked in the long stay car park and the busses which take you there had stopped running, i actually had to walk a lady who was on her own to her car as when she asked the security people about the buses they said "you'll have to walk it love, careful though, its very icy down that road" brilliant. so it meant a 15 minute walk through snow and ice down a deserted dark lane to get back to the car park, really not very safe at all and god knows how a disabled passenger would have coped.

cheers for all the original input on the thread people

[L1649]

Your aircraft developed VHF communication problems and had to return to LBA for replacement of a defective component. It departed again approximately 50 minutes later to Cologne. Glad you made it back eventually.

[cutler10]

thanks for the info buddy :ok:

[jet1234]

I work at Jet2 and can HONESTLY say that the aircraft are flown and maintained by well trained professionals who take a great deal of pride in their work.
The aircraft may be older generation but unlike perhaps your average car get serviced and checked constantly. This means that while the basic structure of the aircraft is original all the "working bits" are replaced on a rolling schedule so while one part may be three years old another may be brand new that week. Its the same with all aircraft that are correctly maintained.

If it helps to put your mind at rest, my family ( wife, kids, grandparents, in laws ) regulary use Jet2 because I know that they will be in good hands whilst at 35000ft.

[TSR2]

Posted by jet1234
I work at Jet2 and can HONESTLY say that the aircraft are flown and maintained by well trained professionals who take a great deal of pride in their work.

I have no reason whatsoever to doubt you.


The aircraft may be older generation but unlike perhaps your average car get serviced and checked constantly

I am sure you are correct.


This means that while the basic structure of the aircraft is original

This is the point that concerns me.
Despite everyone's best efforts and commitment, what are the chances of age related faults such as skin delamination or fatigue cracks or even faulty repairs by a previous operator, going undetected.
I raise this as a question rather than a definitive point given that any process involving human input is not infallible and particularly where commercial pressures may be involved.

Having expressed these concerns, I must acknowledge the fantastic safety record of the aviation industry particularly within the UK.