Flew LGW to EDI this morning on easyJet and was interested by two, non-related, incidents. Whilst in the queue the gate staff announced that due to the number of passengers and to facilitate an on-time departure they were asking for volunteers to put their hand luggage (free of charge) into the hold. Two people volunteered. I later overheard that there were 170 people on board (to become 168 - see below) and only 30 bags had been checked into the hold. As I was at the front of the Speedy Boarding queue I managed to get 1C and overhear the rest....

When about half the passengers were on board there was a substantial gap before the next set of people appeared - many with no hand luggage. The gate staff (now supported by the duty manager) were virtually being forced to put their luggage in the hold. Some obviously fought back as they appeared with their (one) bag.

At the same time a pregnant lady with her husband and a child boarded. When challenged she admitted she didn't have a letter from her GP and the family moved to seats at the rear of the plane. Out came the (very orange) operations manual, followed by discussions with the ground staff (who shouldn't have let her on) and the captain who stayed in his seat. Eventually the lady and her family were accompanied off the plane, their luggage removed from the belly of the plane and we left, miraculously only 15 minutes late.

On arrival at EDI there was a group of suited men milling around and the ground staff rather than just point us to the entrance had to escort us to the bulding, up the stairs and out towards the exit - apparently they were potential investors.

The flight itself was totally uneventful.