brentford77

Off to Milan this eve. Booked a return hbo fare a few weeks ago for £100 or so, arriving late evening. Then I decided to fly 4hrs earlier to dine with a client. Cost of changing was £330+. Yep, £330 to fly on the previous flight. In economy. Not complaining as the flight was quite busy and that's the rules on an HBO fare. As it transpires, if I'd paid the extra £25 or whatever it would have cost for the non HBO fare, I could have changed for around £100. So that got me thinking. I have had a busy year and am at 5,755 tier points. Therefore no particular incentive to fly BA before my year ends next month. So I cancelled my BA booking entirely and rebooked with easyJ out of LGW for the times that work for me. That cost about £85. Ho hum, what about getting a front row seat, albeit without a stale sandwich and a free middle seat. Well, that will be extra. Or you can by free unlimited seat selection, priority boarding, free changes to earlier flights on day if space available (to any LON airport or in this case, from any MIL airport), checked bag etc for £199 for a year. So I did. Won't really miss the lounge. I rarely use them for more than 20 mins and anyway, my Amex platinum will get me into the No 1 lounge at LGW which I haven't tried, but am told stands up well to the BA offering.

Haven't flown easyJ for a few years. Will be interested to see how it feels. Not sure they will keep me away from BA long as LHR remains my geographically preferred airport and I value my status on One World, particularly when flying AA in the US: they have really upped their game. Equally, please don't see this as a rant: BA's flights to Milan are super busy and the business is profitable so the model is working well for them and what do I matter? But was pleasantly surprised to see the vastly better value for money that Ej offers on this (and frankly, on most) occasions!

FlyerTalker39574

Enjoy the hell that is LGW’s North terminal and remember to book the BA fare likely to suit your needs next time.

rossmacd

I am using U2 more and more. Perfectly adequate for bus journeys throughout Europe. You get what you pay for, and you are not subsiding a pension fund/inefficiency. The money is better in your (/your employer's) pocket than any airline. There is nothing to be fearful of

I would say, however, that some U2 bases are more reliable than others - but thankfully not ones I use regularly!

Overall, I am a happy U2 customer.

bisonrav

I've been able to match or beat inclusive EasyJet prices consistently with BA fares in recent months, and I get savings in terms of airport spending on top of that. No add on subscription fees as you have with EJ plus and Amex platinum.

Nothing wrong with EasyJet as a proposition - the foreign airports tend to be cattlemarket style sheds, but you're not there for long. However when you factor in all the costs I usually fail to see much of a saving - I am not changing plans last minute though, I tend to book a few weeks ahead and stick to the programme I've booked, so this is very much a YMMV item. I'll happily take an EJ flight if booked, as I would with Norwegian* or Indigo or Air Asia, but this would be on convenience more than price differential.



*I would rather scratch my PNR into my retina with a shard of glass than fly Ryanair though.

corporate-wage-slave

I'm easyJet GGL (OK Fight Club, but we don't talk about it), it's a great airline and rarely have much problem with it. I have 2 easyJet flights this week as it happens. The other point about Plus fares is that they get Same Day Change for free, and I've no doubt that is to play against U2's products so there isn't much point buying Basic and then complaining about the conditions attached, SDC is well advertised here and on BA.com. But you have a choice, albeit from LGW rather than LHR and you are right to choose the right flight for you. The No. 1 lounge was a regular feature of comment here since for a few months it was BA's alternative facility in North when the BA lounges closed in preparation for the move to the Beautiful South. I don't think many of the regulars enjoyed it against the previous BA offer, let alone the new BA Lounge.

Scots_Al

corporate-wage-slave

Ryanair are not as bad as their reputation from a few years ago, though it's rarely an uplifting experience as such. So long as you understand their seating algorithm and their hand baggage logic they do go to all sorts of very interesting places for very little money. Having said that, book late and the fares can easily be higher than BA, see BCN during the conference season for examples. Personally I try to avoid STN and LTN, but flights from DUB and the UK domestic airports are usually OK to do.

bisonrav

They usually have a different terminal. A case in point is Milan, Lyon is another example I fly out of a lot. It is tin sheds after a long walk in Lyon, and a classic "cattle market" arrangement, you line up outside corrugated metal enclosures. On a hot day it's quite an interesting experience.

Terminal 2 in Milan is a downhill funnel through security into a rather facility free area. Lounge options include Burger King (pre security) or a rather small restaurant on the other side as I recall. Haven't done it for 18 months or so. So you try to allocate minimal time there, it's no real hardship.

brentford77

Thanks for the patronising advice. I did book the fare 'most likely' to meet my needs this time. Something unlikely caused me to want to change

orbitmic

bisonrav

I've had only a couple of Ryanair experiences - albeit a few years ago, I think to Dublin, and my main recollection is an uncomfortable seat, garish lighting, being sold lottery tickets perpetually, and generally hating every minute. EasyJet on the other hand I rather like - the crew are generally very good indeed and work like Trojans.

I confess to being Vueling curious too.

EuropeToAsia

EasyJet is a particularly good proposition to get to some European destinations from places like EDI and GLA, unlike London Airways which forces you to at least double your travel time to enjoy the tranquility and peace of their various 'exclusive' LHR lounges

ThatT1Feeling

Just returned from Alicante on Easyjet yesterday after flying out on Thursday morning.

On the way out, didn't find Gatwick N hell at all. Normal security at LGW N was blisteringly quick, the boarding was fine, plenty of space onboard for carryons, the BoB selection was good, plane was clean and service was quick. We had seat selection and needed no other perks.

Their app is much better than BA, partly, as noted above by orbitmic due to their better back office underlying booking engine, presentation layer work and other recent investments in IT.

I am very happy to fly Easyjet, but as I live so close to LHR then I tend to find BA a better proposition from a practicality perspective.

bisonrav

Maybe qualify my comments as being "EasyJet terminals tend to be cattle market like sheds in the destinations I fly to", which are mostly Lyon and Milan - Also Copenhagen and remember being herded from one enclosure to the speedy boarding pen too though it was the main terminal. I used to use the Cologne service a lot before it stopped and that was usually OK. I do have a recollection of some German regional airport which might have been Baden Baden - long time ago, flying from Stansted. The game at the time which was when it was free-for-all seating was to get 1C and I enjoyed that a lot.

Anyway, Lyon and Milan definitely leave the least positive impression of all of these airports, but as I say, you aim not to be there for too long. If the "No 1" lounge at Gatwick is the one I remember, it was rammed with holidaymakers the one time I used it, and you had to queue for food and drink. The restaurants are a better option.

FlyerTalker39574