Another good flight with easyJet
 

I took a flight from ORY to PSA yesterday.

The airbus was in very clean and tidy condition, with a pleasant Francophone crew, who gave good service and we left and arrived on time.

I can't remember when I last had a bad experience with easyJet, who have matured into a great short haul airline. :ok:

F3G,
I have never flown Easyjet but I have never heard any bad comments about them, except the seating issue, but that would be a personal view anyway.
For me, the seating issue is why I wouldn't choose them unless I had to, but that is only my view.
As an aside, a friend of mine, who is very tall said that their seat pitch is very good, I don't know how true that is.
Season's greetings from a fairly chilly GB.
:ok:

Hi Malone

Merry Xmas to you, too, from a windy and mild Malta.

I don't like free seating either, but over the years I've got used to it and accept it as part of the deal.

As a personal opinion (and this is only my view) the experience of flying with easyJet is a lot nicer than with Ryanair, which is strange as both companies offer a similar service.

Although I have nothing against Ryanair crew, who work hard for their money, the easyJet CC seem a little more polished and friendly (although I did take a Ryanair flight yesterday, as well and the Pisa based crew were nice - well above average.)

It is interesting to contrast these flights (driven by scheduling constraints) with my normal type of business flights.

Orly was a bit of a bunfight, as a lot of the pax were arguing over luggage allowance (not a usual experience), but Pisa was a delight to use, a breath of fresh air after the big hubs I usually fly to.

I fly 8-10 sectors a month with EZY on average when I'm in Europe, most recently yesterday, and have been doing so for over 10 years. I've only ever had 2 problems, both minor, and one beyond the control of the airline and well handled by them.

Most flights are good, clean new aircraft with tidy cabins and competent friendly crew. The whole experience from booking on their website, through managing bookings, to the flight itself, is exactly as it should be. I often find they arrive ahead of schedule, exceeding expectations.

I also dislike the seating scrum, and have tried Easyboarding or whatever they call it, and find it's a waste of money and effort. As F3G says I don't like free seating either, but over the years I've got used to it and accept it as part of the deal, there's more upside than downside to the airline.

I've only flown Ryanair once, never ever again, and my only other direct comparison with EZY in and out of LGW is Aer Lingus, who are better than EZY, but don't offer the same frequency or variety of routes throughout the year.

Yes they do try but at times are very in flexable about the most arbitory things

Easy are a decent airline to fly.

As to the seating - simple - just board last, hang back have a beer, coffee whatever take it easy. Then get on, spot the empty middle seat in about row 3 usually, go to take it and find out that persons occupying window and aisle are actually flying together and tried to blag extra space. Invariably one moves and you get the aisle near the front. If not - accept middle seat happily and continue reading book.

Manintheback, hi.
A friend of mine uses this ploy and says it almost always works!
On the comparison with Ryanair, I have never flown with them and, having seen the people waiting to board the Sunday midday flight to Stansted from Riga earlier this year, it is unlikely I ever would, no matter what the price is!!!
When I was in the industry I remember a passenger commenting to me that she had to try their 1 Euro flight but would never do it again as it was "like Easyjet without the service!". This was at the time when Easyjet were going through a bad patch. Again, nothing against the crews, I am sure that they are doing their very best.
Well, off to the Pub for lunch.
:)

Since a comparison with Ryanair has already been made, I'd like to speak up in favour of the latter.

I am a very frequent traveller on two routes on which the two airlines compete and prefer to travel with Ryanair if at all possible. This would be true even if all other factors such as schedules and fares were equally appealing.

There used to be four main reasons for this, although my more recent experience with easyJet might mean that I need to reconsider the first:

1. Punctuality.

2. The "boarding experience". I am always in group A and find it unpleasant to have to fight my way through those in group B who seem intent on blocking my way and making it as difficult and unpleasant for me to board as possible. (Andy, are you listening?) Being polite, I find myself repeatedly asking people "Are you in group A?" in two languages because it isn't clear if they have been called forward or are simply morons milling around and blocking others' access to the gate. Not only is the experience typically awful but the anticipation of it is stressful. Compare this with Ryanair's Priority/Non-Priority, especially at airports like Stansted with two orderly queues clearly signposted and with dividing tape.

3. I prefer Ryanair cabin crew.

4. Price. For my pattern of flying/purchasing decisions, easyJet is rarely as good value as Ryanair.

Now that easyJet has abandoned its "miles" credit card scheme, there's even less reason for me to use them.

On the other hand, I do realise that if Ryanair managed to drive easyJet off these two routes I could expect Ryanair's fares to increase. That's in the nature of markets.

Please let's not knock Ryanair.

I prefer easy, but a lot of people wouldn't be able to travel were it not for the very low fares that FR provide.

Definitely a matter of choice for all of us.

Positive for Ryanair
 

Mrs Mac and I just back from LPA using FR from / to PIK. 4 hour forty flight versus the 90 mins to 3 hour flights we're used to with FR on shorter routes. Crew were excellent, including very sensitive handling of a powderkeg situation on the outbound where one pax in a group of five chose not to travel after checking in, with luggage stored in the hold. Other four boarded without advising cc of fifth member's decision not to travel. When cc and despatcher discovered that bags and boarding cards did not tally, group leader made himself known, Crew member tried her best to offer a solution of retrieving the bag so that some items could be removed for a child in the group before offloading it.
Group decided in the end not to travel, but they had the choice. Can you believe that they did not advise that a rogue bag was in the hold and that a passenger had chosen not to travel? Yeah, sadly, so can I.
Flights were on time, trumpets were blown in celebration as usual. Crew seemed very relaxed and on top of things. Perhaps the longer flight allowed them to blossom as it were.
Fare £60 each. Seat pitch adequate. On time out and back. No boarding hassles that I witnessed. No frills expected, no frills received. You pays your money etc....
Solid performance all round. Well done Ryanair!

Hey! That's my ploy! Stop blabbing or everyone will start doing it.

(When travelling alone, I actually prefer the free seating for precisely this reason - on how many other airlines can you be consistently sure of getting something like 2C or 1D without paying for business class or being a platinum frequent flyer?)

A319 with reclining seats can be tight when you're over 6FT, the non reclining ones are just about OK for a short flight.

Priority boarding a waste of money!

Re Group A and B etc on EZY - I think they have [or are about to] abandon the concept of letting those who check in on line board ahead of those who don't.
I went to Nice Sunday and returned today and my on line booking said Boarding group 2.The young lady checking us through said that all non Speedy Boarders and those without children are now 'equal' as it were.
Why can't they just allocate seats, and if passengers insist on sitting somewhere specific - charge them for it ?

I use Air Asia from time to time for s/h trips around South East Asia. They used to have free seating (the European scramble for seats is tame compared to what I've experienced over there!). They have recently moved over to assigned seating. Basically, you either pay to choose a seat (they charge extra for the premium seats- front, emergency exit etc..) or you get randomly assigned one at check in. Clever little money earner (Easy and Ryanair take note!).

The only problem is that it boarding takes longer than it used to. People no longer feel the need to queue at the gate an hour before departure then run as fast as they can to the plane. Thats a big problem for a loco doing quick turnarounds- more chance of delays, less chance to make up for delays etc...

Ultimately I think its a chouice between the lesser of two evils. Do you want the comfort of assigned seating or an increased chance that your flight will be delayed?

EZY is a good airline to fly with when you are out for leisure.
My perception is better than RYR but again, this is a perception. Both airlines offer the same service.
I have flown them twice this year and I did not find any difference.

Ulxima

Well EJ bumped me off a Tenerife on a full fare commercial ticket early on a Sunday morning. I was travelling out for duty out of Tenerife next day on another airline. When I asked when they could get me there, they offered 'Tuesday evening Sir, we have a flight then we could get you on!'. Great- bump you off and put you to the back of the queue! Really helped for piloting a flight out of Tenerife Monday lunchtime- thanks guys! Funny thing is when I presented myself back to our ops office at Gatwick, I asked if we would at least get the fare refunded. They told me 'no- they will say you didn't turn up on time and will keep the fare.' Despite the fact I was early in the queue and I checked my PNR code with the 'Service' desk after being told I was bumped. Their 'service desk' is a place for customers to shout and get frustration off their chests.

'Never heard a bad word'? Listen-up! Don't ever trust them. Horrid airline- I would rather fly FR anyday.

I have been told, and I don't believe it, that EZY and FR don't overbook, ever. Does anyone know if this is true?

It's clear that the fare is paid and non-refundable, so if a pax shows up late, or not at all, the seat is paid for so the airline doesn't care if the seat flies empty. Logically though one can assume that they would have at least 3% no-shows across all flights, and you would therefore think that they would not be able to resist the opportunity to make a little extra revenue by overbooking just a tad.

If they don't overbook, then why was Rainboe bumped (unless they knew how much he hates them!:))

and

Oi! Hands off! :)
Whenever I travel LoCo by myself (on average several times a month) that's my ploy too. It's rare that I ever end up below row five and since most LoCos started getting stricter with hand baggage size and number per pax it's even rarer that my laptop bag ends up between my feet as well.

XV

If I'd seen this post before my debacle of the past week, I'd have joined the easy fan club. It now seems that my perception probably existed because I'd never tried to stretch the elastic in the machine only to find that there is none.

Admittedly the majority of the easy staff at EMA are about to be made redundant but that some of them acted as they did by failing to turn up to crew the EMA-PRG-EMA service time after time is unforgiveable (they have a contract of employment as much as I had a contract to fly) as is the way that easy then "managed" the situation. A complete farce.

Add that even allowing for pax volumes easy appear to have been by far the worst affected airline with respect to the recent bad weather and it is clear that here's another example where shareholder value (a pared to the bone operation) has been put before customer value with scant regard that the former won't exist at all if the latter is pushed too far.

Easy are quite good, having flown with them on three ocasions with 2/3 being very good.
The Last time I was with them was BCN-LGW we boarded to plane with no greeting, one Cabin member was slouched over a row of seats by the Emergency Exit and couldnt follow the Safety breifing in the correct way and she came across a abit rude.

Its also a Shame that the TV program Airline degrades them abit with the amount of complaints they recieve (mainly late passengers)

I have also had to optunity to fly with Ryanair, Their cabin crew are quite shy and magically disapear during the flight but none the less just as good in my eyes.:cool:

Rainbow- Re your post No. 16

Perhaps next time it might pay to use on line check-in.
Regards,
Jubilee

Regular locost user
 

I've flown allover the place with Ryanair, and found them to be "coldly efficient" in their delivery, and have never had or seen any problems.

Easyjet are a similar operation, but tend to be a little more expensive in my experience. They do seem to have developed a slightly softer image though, which MOL seems to have realised, as per the interview currently posted on the flight global website:

"But, when asked about his mistakes, O'Leary appears to regret his approach to customers. "I don't think I've done a very good job on the whole customer image, the customer proposition of Ryanair. Actually the service is phenomenal in terms of fares and our performance on punctuality, lost bags and cancellations. If you look at easyJet, they've done a better job on their image than I have with Ryanair. EasyJet charges much higher fares, it has a deplorable punctuality record, frequent cancellations and frequent lost bags. Yet in any customer sentiment survey easyJet always ranks higher than Ryanair despite the fact that Ryanair carries about 50% more passengers. So I think in terms of customer perception, we haven't done very well, whereas in the customer decision area - in terms of who's buying the tickets and flying with you - we beat them hands down." O'Leary thinks Ryanair would be a different kind of carrier if it had not taken this route: "I think our fares would be slightly higher now, so the good thing about my failure is that it resulted in much lower air fares for consumers."

I suspect that a change to a new softer image may be on the way perhaps after MOL chooses to move on?:D

Sure Ryanair overbook, I took advantage of it. Turned up at Bristol 1 hour before departure with no reservation due to sudden change of plans. Told flight to Dublin was showing full, but "always some no-shows". I asked if they wanted me to wait until the end of check-in time, but was told "can't do that because the Ryanair check-in automatically closes out at that time, here's a ticket, just go ....".

Probably about half a dozen empty seats in the end. Oh, and £150 one way for a 30 minute flight.

Well another vote for Easyjet from me! Have only ever flown twice with them, end of October 09 Manchester-Corfu and 5 days later Athens/Manchester. The flight out was great, only 47 people on the Airbus, left and arrived on time. The flight back was full and there must have been 40 odd people with speedy boarding (including us). The 1st 2 through the gate sprinted to get the extra legroom seats at the front, I strolled on and got 2 seats by the little windows which have a bit of extra leg room. Went to the loo half way through the flight and the 2 sprinters were sat there covered in goosesbumps ;) Paid £40 going and £55 coming back so not too shabby! :) Clean planes and the cc were nice.

Welcome aboard Ziggy22Those would be the over wing emergency exit rows, possibly? Did the CC give you the briefing?

Good leg room, but bring own blankets
 

You have learned the lesson the easy way...Those seats do have good leg room, but because of the doors, sealing and thus less insulation they are colder, and also get ambient air if doors open......by the way the seats next to the emergency exit windows can also be cold due to the method of installation, the insulation is not as good, as a real window.

glf

Yep they were the seats over the wing and the CC did run through the procedure of how to open the window in case :) Wish Easyjet would let you pick your seats like Jet2 do at the point of booking, would get rid of the sprint to the aircraft! :*

Must be a spoof
 

Email doing the rounds promoting easy as a serious business airline. Must be a spoof or at best a bad joke.

Why?

I am never sure why so many people have to knock easyJet. I've been using them for a long time for business and leisure trips and I find they are up to the standards that I require.

They are no less reliable than many of the full service carriers, although I accept if something does go wrong there is often no back up in terms of another aircraft, and no transfer to another carrier. Service on board on a short flight is no worse than FSC carriers and often a lot cheerier, and I don't mind paying for my lunch, or for that matter to check in hold baggage.

Their fare structure is flexible enough for most cases and is a lot more transparent than some of the gobbledygook of the FSCs, who then interpret it the way they want in many cases anyway.

I use them as much as possible because I feel they deserve my patronage, unlike the bloated complacent arrogant likes of BA, and given a choice, even if BA is slightly less, as sometimes happen, I often still use EZY.

We should also not overlook that the likes of easyJet broke the cartels and forced the FSC carriers to adopt a more flexible approach to pricing. Whether you feel that's right or wrong is another matter, but it is a fact.

Also EZY's website is one of the best, although it's become a bit cluttered since they've gone for 'dynamic packaging', but they are not the only ones to have done so.

Hi, Captonian, Your second paragraph really answers your question, no back up.,no concern ,not even basic good manners. The rise of LO CO has pulled down the standards of all the once good carriers. Remember the BA GLA-LHR shuttle,Yes ,cost 250gbp 20 years ago, but a proper price for a good service,+ back up A/C crewed & waiting . Just as you are happy with LO CO, I was equally happy with the cartel structure. Excellent service, aircraft & properly paid staff, 20 min check in & punctual departure. Missed or cancelled? The BA girls were on it in a flash, no problem sir we'll get you there pronto with a competitor if necessary. Meanwhile please accept a Drink/meal /hotac etc while we sort it out. It really saddens me, now retired, to see the depths to which things have sunk. GLA a gulag, PIK a filthy slum. The whole experience is simply horrible, start to finish. Try telling LO CO airways that you MUST get to Paris having been bumped or cancelled & see how far you get. Business airline, I think not. Happy new year & best wishes to all in the sunny Cape, wish I was there.

I presume you don't travel by the low-cost carriers on their trunk routes at 07.00 on a weekday morning. 50% of pax in business suits.

A lot of the business comes from routes where they provide different options to the old mainstream carriers. Anyone living east or north of London finds Stansted or Luton much quicker to get to than Heathrow. The same goes for many complete routes to places the majors never touched. It is just as practical to do business day returns with the low-costs as with BA. Low costs do indeed say Tough if you miss them. BA say Tough if you are on a domestic flight when there is any disorganisation at Heathrow and they cancel their whole domestic programme. Honours, or lack of them, in these respects about equal for both sides in my experience.

Worth remembering that U2 provide hotac, if necessary, in the event of wx disruption.

BA does not, even on a club ticket held by a silver card holder.

Hi Tigh Wire

no back up.,no concern ,not even basic good manners.
I can't agree. I've only had a major delay once on EZY,and that was due to snow, on a flight to BCN where I'd planned to spend the day before flying to MAD for a connection home. They rerouted me to MAD without any argument or extra charge. I accept I was lucky in that they had a flight going there, otherwise I'd have been shafted.

The rise of LO CO has pulled down the standards of all the once good carriers.
I would argue that standards have declined as a result of the tighter margins under which all carriers now operate. That this is partly due to competition from the LOCOs is unquestionable, but the LOCOs have brought much benefit to the consumer as well.

Just as you are happy with LO CO, I was equally happy with the cartel structure. Excellent service, aircraft & properly paid staff, 20 min check in & punctual departure.
So was I, but times have changed and the good days are over. There are far larger numbers of people travelling now (yes you can blame the LOCOs for that) and threats of terrorism which didn't exist 20 years ago, or even 15.

Missed or cancelled? The BA girls were on it in a flash, no problem sir we'll get you there pronto with a competitor if necessary. Meanwhile please accept a Drink/meal /hotac etc while we sort it out.
Depending on the fare you'd paid, but generally, yes, service was better. Sadly, times have changed.

It really saddens me, now retired, to see the depths to which things have sunk. GLA a gulag, PIK a filthy slum. The whole experience is simply horrible, start to finish.
I haven't been to PIK for many years, but my last memory of GLA is that it wasn't that bad. LTN and STN are gulags, staffed by knuckle dragging bullies, but is LHR much better?

Happy new year & best wishes to all in the sunny Cape, wish I was there.
Thank you for your wishes, reciprocated. I also wish I was there, I'm not there right now but have only just got back and will be heading south in a couple of weeks.

Easy & Ryan
 

I use EZY several times a year and find them okay for short haul. My experience is they have matured over the past several years, especially since absorbing GB.

Before leaving the ground (business or pleasure) my first concerns are that crews are properly trained and speak the same language in case of an emergency, and that the airline has a good engineering back up. I would rather pay more to fly with an airline I feel safe on, even if that means fewer overseas holidays.

My Ryanair experiences have, sadly, been unpleasant at best, worrying at worst. (Once we should have made a missed approach, but the pilot landed, then said "sorry for that landing, but it prevented a delay" - I hoped they had enough time for the brakes to cool on the turn-round. I cannot understand how they are allowed to get away with blatant rip offs, such as wildly inflated card charges. Would you pay that when using your card at Tesco? It also bothers me there are websites featuring Ryanair crew bitching about how they are treated and the corners that are cut. I have not come across similar sites about EZY, BA, CX, VS or KLM (all of which I use).

DIA74

I would rather pay more to fly with an airline I feel safe on, even if that means fewer overseas holidays.

Thank you for mentioning this important point. I feel safe on EZY, and their crews generally speak a very high standard of English, and this is important in the event of an emergency where instructions have to be clear and comprehensible. My one and only experience with Ryanair was miserable to say the least and the English from both the FA's and the cockpit was almost utterly incomprehensible. This is borne out by everything I have seen, read, and heard, about Ryanair and I would not feel safe flying with them, for many reasons.

Final 3 Greens
 

I have some friends who recently arrived long haul into LHR and the flight was delayed enough for them to miss the last shuttle of the day to Manchester. BA provided complementary overnight accommodation at a local hotel and seats on a flight of their choice the following day. By the way, they are not members of the exec club and were travelling economy (World Traveller).

Hi, WHBM, You're right. I don't need to travel at this hour. Much better lying in bed listening to the radio. Just a quick note, up here people in business suits are usually called defendants. Best wishes, Shiney side up etc.

Hi, Again Capetonian. I think that a basic error was BA etc trying to compete downmarket. You never see the Savoy competing with Travelodge ,or Jaguar taking on Hyundi . They should have stayed above the LO CO level & stuck to what they did best and at the proper price. Now we have no choice in the morass of mediocracy.The result is a declining market and worse the disgraceful treatment of staff,at one time the biggest asset. Flying is rapidly becoming a distress purchase rather than the pleasure it once was. As for the web sites,what a farrago of barrow boy money grubbing time wasting cheat fests these are. I agree that the golden age is over, just glad I was part of it.

TSR2

I was talking about a point to point flight (A-B), not a connection. This happened to me twice last year.

As easyJet does not offer A-B, B-C flights, the scenario you mention could not arise and I was therefore comparing a BA A-B flight, which is the valid comparison in the context of this thread.

Presumably the people you refer to arrived and departed on BA flights, that is quite a different scenario and the airline is obliged to assist.

In the case of an A-B flight cancelled due to weather, my experience is

1) easyJet provides hotac and meals
2) BA says 'we'll book you on to tomorrow's flight, where you stay etc. is not our problem, as it is weather related'

DIA74This subject has been turned over many times, the charges are certainly high but they are balanced by the certainly low seat-prices. Tesco charge you more for the basic product and then do a deal with the credit card company to pay the minimum fee.

The only point of decision is the bottom line. If you chose to shop at Tesco and agree with the price they are asking for the products - then it is a fair price. Likewise for FR. I expect that the small print of the agreements between the card company and the merchant and their agreement with you, allows for such charges to be made.