NEWCASTLE - 7

[groundhand]

Having watched the 'rugby scrum' like dash at boarding with FR or EZY the fact your allocated and can even choose your seats online would sway me to fly Jet2 but I'm biased.

True, but only if you pay extra. You can't select a seat online unless you pay £3 each way the last time I did it. Family of 4 adds £24 to their trip.

I've travelled with EZY, FR and Jet2; a lot of the boarding process depends on the gate design, the competence of the boarding agents and the destination.

I've had horrors with all and easy times with all - equally I've suffered scrum like scenarios with BA, KLM etc.

Gates at NCL are, and always have been, a joke. The airport cram too many seats into the gates and do not leave enough space to control even a seated departure well.

Boarding agents - NCL do not score highly here. They try to make announcements to keep people seated but Joe public ignore whatever they are told and head for the gate as soon as the first word is uttered, no matter what their boarding priority is. It rarely matters whether the flight is seated or not seated.

The destination - try an Italian destination from a French airport. If you think there is a scrum in the UK then I'm not sure what you would call this 'event' - a mass brawl?

All this aside, I think EZY are missing a trick with boarding and could introduce seat selection, even if only on selected destinations, at minimum cost but at a profit to them.