'Speedy Boarding' reports are very negative:

easyJet Speedy Boarding Customer Reviews - Skytrax
EasyJet's Speedy Boarding in The AnswerBank: Getting there

My easyJet speedy-boarding hell -Times Online

And how many have found Speedy Boarding works well? I never had a problem the occasions I used it, however do admit there is a problem if you are bussed.

I think the answer to the OP anyway is some will prefer the BA (as I may once have done) and many prefer Easy there is no definitive answer.

Having read the replies to these post what strikes me the most is that people are not actually complaining about easyJet, but a moaning about their fellow passengers.
Granted it's not the best system in the world, I for one would not pay for it!
Having lived in the middle east and also south east asia, I have always found that there is always a scrum at the boarding gate regardless of the airline, be it a national flag carrier or low-cost.
For the record, as I work for EJ, I would LOVE to see allocated seating brought in, it would make boarding much quicker and a lot less stressful for both the passengers and crew alike.

Just done LTN-SXF-LTN on Easyjet, no issue's whatsover. CC on SXF-LTN on 4th sector of day and still gave a smile, well done :\

Uou want a scrum? Try an Italian airport/train station!

BA vs EZY
 

Well away from London a non-stop flight on BA is absolutely out of the question, at least EZY services the regions as well as London! :ok:

I still like BA but I would not pay extra to use them for a flight under 4 hours. I recently travelled to Amsterdam from LGW with EZY and BA. At least I had a choice to pay for food on EZY, BA had bird seed. No thanks! I needed to get to AMS from London and chose BA because it was cheaper on one leg than EZY. Had I booked further in advance I'm pretty sure EZY would have been cheaper!

As for Speedy boarding ON EZY it always seems rather pointless if you get bussed. And there is usually a scrum at the gate.

I think airports have to think differently about how they board using this system.

I know this is not EZY but the best way I have seen it done is at FR gates at their UK bases. They have barriers and separate lanes for priority and non-priority. These are barriers which keeps priority and non priority divided and everyone is in an orderly queue. It prevents pushing and shoving too. While some may see it as a cattle pen I feel it is quite useful in keeping boarding calm and orderly.

At LPL FR boards the passengers in an orderly fashion while at the EZY gates you see pushing and shoving and they are recognised as a far superior loco...:cool: Why EZY cannot set this up is beyond me. :confused:

You mean it's normally something like "Ooooh, hello, honky-tonks!"?

OK, OK, I'll get me coat......:uhoh:

Boarding process
 

I'm sure I've mentioned this on another thread but I spend quite a lot of time in South East Asia and fly short haul in the region with Air Asia quite often (best described as a 'caring' FR for those who don't now). Originally they had boarding free-for-all. Believe me, most people in that part of the world (especially the Chinese) do not understand the concept of queueing and the ensuing scrum makes anything in Europe look like a teddybears picnic!

More recently they have introduced allocated seating. The boarding process is much less stressful but it is also much slower (an important consideration for a loco airline). Even so, maybe this could be a good revenue earner for them. Maybe cabin crew could place small plastic cards on allocated seats and those who have purchased them could board at leisure...

It is a fact that while individuals may be reasonable and intelligent, people are not. People need to be managed or chaos is certain. The more people the worse it get.

One Outsider,
Yes, I would tend to agree.

Of course there's the cultural element where, if one is part of the culture, one understands the etiquette, e.g. the Moscow metro pushin' an' shovin' but, of course, in surroundings of 'the best possible taste' :)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...inn.net%29.jpg

Unless of course you are at the back of the scrum and the others don't let you through.

Our technique is for Mrs PN to leg it and I lug the bagage. last flight was perfect; we had an adjacent aisle seat each.

I'm truly bewildered why this is even a question except if one wants to take advantage of BA's recent difficulties.

Same fare between EZY and BA..that's easy, BA.

If I want to be squeezed and shoved and pushed and required to be a bully to get to my place I'll stick a pair of horns on my head and get myself down to the local cow farm.

If I want service before the flight and during boarding..BA.

There is something to be said for non-allocated seating - when you board you can make sure you are not sitting next to a 'fractious child' or a 'weighty' person. With pre-assigned seating you just sit and wait in trepidation to see who will be next to you for the next few hours!

I agree with you Wowzz! On my LoCo flights, I tend to

1. Take a bag that fits under the seat in front of me, thus avoiding any problems with overhead bins.
2. Travel alone if possible, thus avoiding the need to get adjacent seats.
3. Board when the scrum has died down.
4. Overtake the remains of the scrum which is dawdling its way across the tarmac / mending the wheels on their oversized hand luggage / closing the telescopic handle on said oversized hand luggage at the top of the stairs at the gate/ opening the telescopic handle at the bottom of the stairs / stopping to admire the view / etc
5. Board aircraft at the back and select one of the remaining seats after checking the location of any unhousetrained children or adults. The trick, of course, is timing it so that there are enough seats left for you to have a choice but not enough for a late-boarding anklebiter to come and sit in the seat behind you.
6. Engage brain in 'Zen' setting for duration of flight (I try to do this on entering the airport, but passing through security seems to disable it).

Overall, I don't have too much of an issue with the LoCo (lack of ) service - it's a different product, which suits if you just want to get from A to B.

Pohutu

Pohutu,
Agreed; if travelling alone you have an advantage over families - as in a number of situations :)

The only people who complain about the boarding scrum are the ones flying easyJet for the first time and the ones who actually are actually the cause of the boarding scrum. After years and years of weekly commuting with easyJet, I reached that conclusion. Actually, I reached the conclusion after my first flight with them!

The first time flyers can be forgiven for their ignorance, but the latter seriously need to relax. There are about 26 identical rows of seats in easyjet and if you don't mind left from right that means that roughly the first 60 passengers have an unsurpassed choice of where to sit themselves down, isle, window, front, back, middle, next to handsome man, next to beautiful lady, far away from the family with crying children, close to the toilet etc. etc. But invariably the ones who have the most choice, e.g. the first ones to board, make it a race to the aircraft and others, like sheep, seem compelled to follow. Hence my conclusion that the people who complain are actually the ones who cause the problem in the first place! The rest just buy speedy boarding or patiently wait in the lounge.

So what do I prefer, legacy airlines or easyJet? It all depends on price of the whole package. Nothing else. I'm not booking a flight to enjoy a nice terminal or a free sandwich, I book it to travel to my destination as soon, as safe and as cheap as possible.


(Fellow poster Pohutu is absolutely right in what he says. Take the rear steps if you are within the first 50 passengers to board. For some reason most passengers ignore the rear steps, but boarding from the rear is much much quicker initially)

wowzz
 

I know I've been married for many years but I can still just about put up with my wife for 11 hours! (providing it's an overnight sector & she's fast asleep!):ouch:

Scum
 

I fly regularly with both FR and EZY and find the 'scrum' a necessary evil.

If you don't get on early enough you will find there is nowhere in the hatrack for your luggage (needed to avoid checked baggage costs) - EZY seem to be the worse for this as FR have fearsome handluggage police at the gate looking for oversize baggage - and only one per person.

The reason I think the scrum is a necessary evil is that you get everyone on board and seated well before the departure time - I cannot remember the last time I was delayed with either FR or EZY.

Just to back up a previous post - at least with free seating you get to avoid the 'undesirables' on board.

bizdev

oohh, er, missus! Snarf, snarf! :}:p

Getting off is the bit that I find awkward. Getting on's fine since I tend to wait 'till the queue's gone & then find a gap somewhere. My natural inclination when Getting off is to wait until the lemmings who stand up & wedge themselves in the aisles around each other while adopting amusing poses have themselves got off (which can take several minutes, & makes them seem even sillier).

Once the coast is indeed clear, I stand up & stroll off, doffing the old titfer to the staff on the door. However it sometimes really annoys pax inboard of me if I'm in an aisle seat: the woman next me last week actually said "Are you just going to sit there tiill they've all got off?" (which was precicely what I was intending). I don't want to annoy the others, but I also don't want to jamb myself in a standing scrum to no purpose waiting to disembark.