Easi's Exits

[cavortingcheetah]

This little snippet from Sunday Times.
I would never have noticed it except for the fact that we encountered exactly the same shambles on a recent round trip to Faro.
Dreadful place, mind you.


August 28, 2005

Directions: Readers' rants
I have been a regular traveller with EasyJet for the past six years, and have been happy with the service, including the boarding procedure — that is, without an allocated seat number.
However, I have noticed an increase in the number of people granted priority boarding, allegedly because they require assistance. I have seen parties of four or more apparently healthy people boarding early, with the only sign of disability being one person with a slight limp. While I accept that some passengers have a genuine need, I believe the system is being abused.



On a recent flight from Malaga to Belfast, all the seats by the emergency exits were occupied by people who had limped aboard. Surely, to occupy these, you have to be reasonably fit? I would be interested in EasyJet’s view on what seems to be a scam by some passengers to jump the queue.

Mr XYZ

EasyJet replies: “EasyJet is not aware of any issue surrounding passengers developing a sudden limp in order to receive boarding assistance. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that safety regulations stipulate that passengers with reduced mobility are not allowed to sit by the emergency exits, not to compromise the evacuation of an aircraft. Therefore, your readers should be left in no doubt that abusing our boarding assistance is counterproductive, on top of being wholly dishonourable towards those passengers in genuine need of assistance.”

[Buc Driver]

I must admit I have also noticed this apparent trend develop. Going from BFS to BRS, the gate staff called for those with disabilities etc to come foward. In previous years 2 or 3 people came foward, but this year it looked like half the flight had a disability!

[cavortingcheetah]

Now that is coincidental.
I edited the correspondent's name from his letter, although you can find it easily enough in The Times. He was from Belfast.

[Pointer]

ha ha now i have a funny one on that as well; my one and only experience with LCC!

Boarding was called and i asked someone next to me; what is going on? she told me that the number on my boarding card would give me a number in the que... so i was happy since i arrived early that day. Next we were pre-boarded, this was all in AMS; so we were led through the gate security and stood in line, then the line backed up all the way to the end... and people comming in last were told to take place in the waiting area, so they did and went to the front of the line, thus having first acces to the gate... ha the whole system was reduced to... a race... and that for a seat? yeah musky, BIG people with small minds was my guess

And most of those who jumped the que where wearing suits and laptops.

silly buggers

[iggie]

What did you find dreadful about Faro, cavortingcheetah?

[cavortingcheetah]

iggie old beannie, all hail.

Let's see on Faro.

Generic criticism on my part really.

Stayed at The Sheraton, Algarve. Three beautiful pools and every one of them full of piddling nosepickers. But then, it's a timeshare palace.

The Portugese were beautiful (not my first time there but certainly for thirty five years.

The resorts around were full of topless, male, beer swilling Poms of the worst sort. I do not hail from the Fatal Shore, (that's OZ to the uninitiated) but really, the English do take the biscuit when it comes to the crass behaviour with which we so often associate the rather lesser species of vermin. They should have a salutiferous lesson in keeping said weevil invested hardtack somewhere else from time to time.

Had lunch at Quinto de Largo. (Relais Chateaux). The pool was crowded with the big bare breasted vulgarians so often found between the toes of men with far too much money, whose business antics are, to say the least, darker than shady.

The place is driven by golf which really is an environmental rapist's pleasure dome. The Gestapo was pedantic to a degree which spilled into a Danteesque parody of corruption. The prices were really quite high, even by Londinium standards and we found nothing to commend that area other than to regard it all as a perverse example of that to which Marbella might aspire had not it become too degenerate to attain.

I drive like a demented kaffir . That terminology, for the less well informed or educated, depending upon your predisposition towards idiotically contrived bias, means an unbeliever. No more and no less! (Mercedes SL 500 and that's got the smallest engine of my fleet) but the locals exceeded my wildest expectations in their ability to debase the art of roadcraft.
Traffic signallation made the achievement of navigating a King Air 100/200 across the African bush a real pleasure.

I understand that Lisboa and Caiscais are places to visit; I intend to do so.

I reiterate that I found the Portugese, Britains oldest European war all (?) to be absolutely charming. None of them would ever let me speak my excellent Spanish, preferring, instead, to communicate by means of their more than adequate English, which would, I fancy, have put to shame most English English A level A* passes.

It's the tourists! Damnit!!!

I hope and trust that this brief explanation goes some way to satisfactorily answering your question?

[busz]

Hail cavortingcheetah,

You are quite correct in your observations about the South of Portugal, over-run by those dastardly Brits. I am from Portugal originally, brought up in England, and choose not to visit the Algarve. It is far too like Malaga or Benidorm now...................... full of folk who expect to have fish 'n chips for dinner rather than experience the local cuisine of any country they choose to visit.

You are also spot on with your comment that the place to visit in Portugal is Lisboa and the costal areas surrounding the capital. I was born in Belem, one of the most architecturally and culturally astounding areas of Europe. Cascais and Estoril are where the wealthy Portuguese can be found to holiday. Although beware..... of a weekend, the Avenida Marginal can be crammed with Lisbonites racing to the beaches.

Now Im goin to let you into a little secret here.......if you want to experience some of the best beaches and scenery in Europe, you need to travel across the Ponte de 25 de Abril bridge to the Costa Caparica and beyond. And the most breathtaking beaches ? ..... A small area called Arrabida. Think Sorrento without the inflated prices. Absolutely amazing. But shhhhh, we dont want everyone going there.



Regards

Alex

[rhythm method]

Cavortingcheetah...

have you ever thought of going into the literature business? Very impressed!

Back to the main point.. is it coincidental that the majority of posts relating to this 'queue jumping to sit at the emergency exits' phenomenon are from N.Ireland??? I'll bet, if you look at the statistics, there are more people here (N.Ireland) on 'disability' claiming state benefits than anywhere else in the UK! Apparently when it comes to charity, we are the most generous in the UK (possibly in europe, per capita), but sh!tloads do love to take the proverbial, and having an easy life doing the double and claiming disability is a national pastime!

Bearing in mind that those of us honest individuals who wouldn't dream of such dishonesty, are actually paying tax and NI to subsidise these spongers.

ps never been to Portugal.. I'll leave that to the great unwashed!!!!