tuff

At least every two weeks we fly from London to Glasgow (usually Thursday night) and back to London on Sunday. This is either with BA or easyJet and having done this trip for some time I thought I’d shared my thoughts comparing the two. We are both BA Gold card holders, both are easyJet plus card holders and both have Priority Pass cards.


Gatwick – terminal

We get to Gatwick by train so arrive at the South Terminal (where BA fly from). For easyJet flights you need to get to the North Terminal on the shuttle which can add up to 10 minutes.

WINNER: BA

Gatwick – Fast track security
Fast Track security at North Terminal is shared with non priority customers. At the South Terminal it is totally dedicated to those entitled to use the facility.
WINNER: BA

Lounges

easyJet customers don’t get automatic lounge access so we have to use Priority Pass but do have a choice of three lounges at the North Terminal: Aspire, Number 1 and My lounge. Access is not guaranteed if they are busy. I was refused access once to Aspire lounge but got into Number 1. We prefer Aspire lounge which is self service. Food is limited to soup and/or pasta and some sandwiches. Number 1 lounge is bar service but the food selection is slightly better. The library area is a comfortable calming area.

In the South Terminal we have access to the first lounge which has comfortable seating (if a bit regimented, in rows). Food choice is better than North terminal.

WINNER: BA

Boarding process

With easyJet if you board through a 55 gate there is strict queuing (Speedy boarding vs. Others) and the boarding procedure is usually well enforced. If at another get it can be a bit of scrum to get on board as Speedy boarding is often not enforced.
With BA flights again Fast Track is only strictly enforced when you arrive at the entrance to the gate. Again can be a bit of a scrum if they don’t physically check you have priority boarding.

WINNER: easyJet

Seating

easyJet: with our easyJet plus card we nearly always get row 1 and so far we haven’t encountered the bulkhead wall.

BA: now there is Club on domestic flights we no longer have access to row 1 so the best seats are now the emergency exit seats which are fine if you are happy to wait for the BoB service to, hopefully, arrive and serve you.

WINNER: easyJet

On board Service

easyJet: better choice, faster service, well stocked
BA: poor choice, slow service, stock runs out (last week by the time they reached row 10 they had run out of vodka, gin, tonic and white wine).

WINNER: easyJet

Punctuality
easyJet has very tight turnround times so by the end of the day the flight is almost always delayed (the other week we were delayed by 3 hours 40 minutes but they did pay the compensation very quickly).
BA: more likely to be on time.

WINNER: BA (however, on a recent significantly delayed flight easyJet did give us free food and drinks).

Glasgow Terminal

Only one terminal so BA and easyJet customers use the same fast track security

WINNER: Glasgow airport!

Glasgow Lounge

With Priority Pass we can use the Upperdeck lounge. Drinks are available from the staffed bar. Soup is on offer, alongside snacks and sandwiches. In theory access is dependent on how busy it is although we have never had difficulty gaining access. Champagne has to be paid for separately.
BA is a good lounge with self-service drinks accompanied by soup, sandwiches and snacks. Champagne is free, on request.

WINNER: BA

Boarding process

Both BA and easyJet very occasionally use gates where they can’t have two separate queues for priority boarding and the rest.

WINNER: Equal

Arrival at LGW

BA arrives at the South Terminal but is bussed as it is a domestic flight. easyJet arrives at the North Terminal but you need to take the shuttle to get to the train station.

Winner: equal?

OVERALL WINNER: Based on the above BA should be the winner, but my gut reaction would be easyJet so I would say that overall it is a draw.

scottishpoet

no mention of price?

Ldnn1

Interesting comparison, tuff - thanks for this.

One thing you didn't mention though is... price. Do you have a rough idea how much on average you pay on BA vs easyJet? And when considering price between the two do you factor in the value of avios, cost of PP etc.?

mikeyfly

Interesting, however I wouldn't consider BOB on either carrier on this route after stopping in a lounge first. Who can't go 1/1.30 hours without a coffee or a water?! I know tight connections may mean some don't have the time, but most would

corporate-wage-slave

Thanks for the analysis.

The Premium Gatwick service (fast track security) does vary for both North and South. So South often feeds into the main security area and isn't always dedicated, but you do do jump to the front of the queue. But surely what matters isn't segregation but speed and efficiency, in which case South is likely to win nine time out of ten.

South is a lot more compact than North, and though domestics are always bus arrivals at South - and can be at North too - I certainly don't miss North for one moment in terms of BA's services and the long walks, though domestic departures aren't so bad.

The big down side to the boarding process at South, however, isn't the priority boarding aspect, it's the dreadful biometric check process using just one GAL staff member. Somewhat mitigated if you arrive late to the gate.

There is currently a stock supply issue for some alcoholic items on BA's LGW services, if it is like previous supply problems it will probably be resolved in a couple of weeks.

Oh, and it's probably worth mentioning that BA gives a few more Avios and TPs than easyJet's frequent flyer scheme.....

Tiffywren

I love everything about BA using the South terminal, except the bus gate on arrival. I keep hoping that one day the airport will do whatever it is they need to do to separate out arriving and departing passengers.

ukgooner

One thing I wont miss about North terminal is the chance of those 100+ gates over the bridge.

Saltire74

I did notice last month at GLA that the tensa barriers segregating priority boarding from general boarding seem to a more permanent fixture now with clear indications of which lane is which (certainly for gate 21).

S

Rufin

Just did this flight last night with BA (LGW-GLA).. I think on the whole, I prefer BA to easyJet however you definitely make a good point about the boarding process - was a bit of a scrum again last night. You also make a good point about the on board service, on the way down to London the crew apologised that they were running low on stock before they commenced service. I don't recall that ever being a problem on EZY... but as mikeyfly points out, it's not too big a deal on such a short flight.

HIDDY

I've recently been doing some research into the feasibility of travelling to the UK especially Scotland from Galicia using either LCG or SCQ as departure airports. It was good to see both Easyjet and Ryanair operate services from the area to London however from what I saw services are limited, can be seasonal and prices seem to fluctuate from okay to expensive. I wouldn't dismiss using them but a combination of IB and BA through ticketed via MAD worked out best in every department including price.
So if the low cost airlines offer a direct service to where you want to go then great if they don't you're more or less scuppered.

tuff

I knew I would forget something. EasyJet averages about £35 whereas BA is £60+. I don't think I have the will or energy to try to work out the costs/savings of Priority Pass and easyJet Plus and avoid and tier points but I guess easyJet would still work out cheaper. We tend to use Avios when the BA flight is much more expensive.

Ldnn1

A rather significant difference I would say...

BAAZ

One thing you didn't mention is that the easyJet boarding process involves quite a lot of standing around on the airbridge, after having had BPs scanned, waiting for the disembarking pax to leave the incoming aircraft so that you can immediately go on board as soon as the last incoming pax has disembarked. I appreciate that this can save 5-10 minutes in the turnaround but it is my main source of irritation when I fly easyJet. (Otherwise, especially at LGW, the whole process is very slick, and in terms of BoB they really show BA how it should be done.)

rossmacd

This is true for a number of gates at the BA 'pier' at GLA. It is also well policed, in a friendly but robust Glaswegian way, which I very much appreciate. This makes the boarding process so much better at GLA - I just wish that BA would learn how to do this network wide, consistently.

Foltan

"Analysis tells me BA is a better option but I've decided it's equal anyway"

I hope you're not a scientist or researcher