My EasyJet experience
 

I have never flown a budget airline before and I wanted to put some kudos out into the universe. I flew easyjet round trip from Amsterdam to Berlin this week. Both flights boarded and departed on time and with little hassle. I think my bag may have been slightly too large for the bin but no one said anything. The flight attendants were cordial. The plane was in good condition. SXF was a fine airport. Could have used more seating but LMAO I had Burger King for the first time in 15 years.

If I had any observations: speedy boarding should really be called “earlier” boarding since it’s the same speed and convenience as regular boarding. There is really no way to tell who has it once they’ve let everyone into the pen area preboarding so I know some people were taking advantage.

The one bag policy is silly. I ended up stuffing my backpack into my carryon. It was about to burst but it closed. Is that really better than just allowing two bags each of appropriate size?

Anyway I know it can be fun to gripe but it can also be fun to praise. Great job on this and I enjoyed Berlin tremendously!

Budget airlines tend to want to optimise anything they can. One vs two bags per person may not feel much of a difference for one person but for a plane load of pax it may shave off a couple of minutes during boarding and offboarding. Not to mention small savings in fuel costs. And every once in a while the couple minutes saved may be the difference between no compensation and EU261 for everyone. Strict rules also enable extra charges for additional bags. Budget airlines certainly rely much more on such revenue streams than traditional airlines. So I understand why the policies are what they are. OTOH because of this I only fly with budget airlines if that is the only available option.

I use Easyjet 4 times a year AMS-LGW, generally speaking as you experienced, on-time, pleasant enough, and bargain fares, I have no complaints. As for Speedy Boarding, I don't quite understand what you are saying. At the AMS H/M pier the Speedy Boarding 'pen' is released first, so you are on the plane with access to the lockers before the non-speedy boarders. At Gatwick, it is also well monitored so you get to board first. Again with Speedy boarding you are permitted 2 items one in the overhead locker, and one under the seat, and your larger item will never be taken off you at the gate which is not the case for non speedy boarders with a full size piece. The one bag policy is common on budget airlines. I find Easyjet with speedy boarding a superior experience to BA unless you have status.

This makes me wonder which other airports you have frequented...

Indeed, and FT is full of gripes, but it's good to have the view of someone new to easyJet, I'm sure it will interest other travellers. Of the European LCC, I would say easyJet is probably the best of the bunch, though the differences between the carriers is fairly small. But in essence it's a straightforward service, closely aligned to what they advertise. In that respect, though you're right that easyJet (and even Ryanair) can often turn a blind eye to a bag slightly over dimensions, it's really not a good way to use these carriers - someone somewhere will ping you for a hefty extra baggage charge out of proportion to whatever saving was involved.

My situation was a little different. In Berlin, the speedy boarding pen boarded the first section of a bus. They did not depart without filling the bus, of course, so the rest of us boarded the back of the bus. The first section got off first and they did not open the rear doors, which is fine, but some of us plebs had to board via the rear door so technically I (I was seated in row 19) got to my seat almost at exactly the same time as someone with speedy boarding.

I just don't think the bag policy made all that much sense to me personally. I carried the exact same amount of weight and the under-seat space ahead of me was open the whole flight. I of course understand what they're trying to do-- it makes sense to want to limit the delays that get associated with people lugging 90 bags on board-- I just don't think it necessarily changed my behavior, just forced me to stick via some miracle by personal item into my carry-on.

I'm not a frequent traveler to some of the great airports in Asia, but in the last 12 months or so I've been all over the US (my home base is EWR but for work I regularly travel to ORD, SFO, ATL, and BOS), FCO, CDG, TXL, AMS (obviously), DUB, LHR, ORY, BCN, VCE, and a few other European hotspots. I've been to NRT but never to HKG. I would say that I don't really care about things like lounges or restaurants all that much and I've never bought anything at an airport store ever (like who goes to Hermes at the airport). I care about layout of the airport, convenience of public transportation options and link into the airport, speed through security, and what the gate experience is like (is there space to hold people queuing? Do they spill into the concourse? That kinda thing). For those reasons I was pretty happy with it. Like I said I'd appreciate more seating, though I just sat on my suitcase. I'm young I guess, it's fine.

Ah yes a bus messes up the whole system. Having said that, it is the same with KLM Cityhopper at AMS for some flights when they use a bus, you board the bus according to your status, but it is a free for all after that. I guess regular passengers know where to stand, by which doors to be off first.

I am no fan of easyJet, really not, some misdemeanours of theirs in the past have left a permanently sour taste for me. So I use them about once every two or three years at most, as necessary.
But I recently made a round trip from Geneva to Bristol and I found it excellent. The flights were pleasant and on time, the staff were friendly enough, I got my choices from the BoB trolley (I bought vouchers in advance which reduced the cost by 20%) and the aircraft was clean. Other passengers were civil (but that always depends on the city pair IMO) and it was peaceful enough to sleep, if needed. For all that, the round trip cost CHF53 in all, not counting the catering vouchers.