EasyJet
 

Has anybody had any experiences flying on Easyjet. We might fly from Amsterdam to Geneva in February with them. Thank You

Airline is fine - like Southwest in USA. Founded in the UK by Greek businessman Stelios, who maintains a high public profile, but company is managed by UK airline professionals. Expanding across Europe - both Geneva and Amsterdam are hubs for them. Modern fleet of 737s, punctualty as good as other operators on the route. Leader in bookings on the web. A profitable business set for much expansion.

You buy food and drink on board if you want. Aircraft on your particular route is operated by Geneva flightcrew.

No lounges, first class, Elites, miles, etc.

The future of air travel - unfortunately !

You get a seat and friendly service and they are usually on time and cost much less. That's it.

Here is a link to two trip reports I wrote. Both of these trips were on EasyJet

The Princess Goes to Paris (on EasyJet)

The Princess Goes to Amsterdam


------------------
Rachel
CO - Platinum
Hilton - Diamond
SPG - Platinum

I've only flown them once (someone else booked it), and all went smoothly. However, from reports from friends and colleagues, I gather than when it works its fine, but when things go wrong they go horribly wrong.

Make sure you check all other possible airlines to make sure they really are the cheapest (by a considerable margin) first. And if you don't like huge check-in queues, forget it altogether!

I would never fly EJ on business, but might consider it on vacation if it offered a considerable cost saving...

I don't recognise the scenario painted by Wingnut after - how many times was it? - one journey, and even that 'went smoothly'.

Wingnut's contribution could apply to any airline, though the recommendation to check prices is of course an absolute. Long queues? Just travel in the US. I had particular problems with BA in FRA, and they're certainly not alone.

You get what you pay for, and as outlined in other posts, that's fine. With easyJet, there is a useful added extra: if your flight is four hours or more late, you get a refund. Which other airline offers that?

And they do carry an awful lot of business passengers. Just check the suits and ties!

you buy online, and the further in advance you buy the cheaper the ticket. no refunds. another drawback--they often use suburban airports which if you take a cab will eat up your savings--be sure you know how to get to the city center from the particular airport. Still, I recommend them.

I think you are confusing them with Ryanair. In London Easyjet operations are split between Luton and Gatwick. At all other destinations on their network - 21 points so far - they use the principal airport along with the other major carriers.

He is not! Frankfurt Hahn is 100 miles or so away in the middle of nowhere.
Also, a lot of people complain that Easyjet and Ryanair are not reliable. Search for them on FlyerTalk and Google and you find a lot of complains. I would use them only when I really get a good deal.

Flew ZRH-LTN (London Luton) last month on easyJet for CHF 40, when BA wanted CHF 1175 for ZRH-LHR at almost exactly the same time.

Inbound plane was late, but turnaround was very quick, so we left 20 minutes late and got in 10 minutes early.

There was NO check-in line at all 90 minutes before scheduled departure, and I was the 20th person to check in on a nearly full flight. I imagine there must have been a line sometime later, but I didn't see it.

The gate personnel were at first not very good about enforcing the boarding rules (boarding pass #s 1-30 board first, then 31-60, etc) but after a couple of people complained, they started turning away queue-jumpers.

I'd certainly do it again, given the same unpalatable alternatives.

In my experience, EZY does not assign seating at check-in. You get given a coloured plastic boarding card (not a pass) and they call you forward for boarding according to the colour of your card. Those than check-in early get given the colours that are called first. Once on board, you pick your own seat. In practice, of course, everyone simply surges forward to the gate the moment the flight is called and there is a rather undignified scramble for seating.

Yes he is, and so are you; EZY does not fly to Frankfurt.

EZY chooses principal airports in comparison to Ryanair, which for example flies to Hahn (for Frankfurt), Prestwick (for Glasgow), Charleroi (for Brussels) etc. This makes EZY one of the few low cost carriers I would be prepared to fly.

[This message has been edited by ajamieson (edited 12-06-2002).]

They issued real boarding passes in ZRH, with 2-point type designating one's boarding number.

Hi Roger. Not strictly true. Obviously, all airlines suffer delays, mechanicals, etc etc etc. What I'm talking about is the customer service you get when these things happen. On a "scheduled" carrier you would expect to be booked onto the next flight, endorsed onto another carrier, or offered overnight accommodation if something went wrong on the last flight of the day. I have colleagues travelling with Easyjet where the only option provided was a flight 24 hours later.

This is my point precisely - I fail to see how this is useful! Mileage runners excepted, most people fly for a time-specific reason. A meeting. A holiday reservation. You need to get there rather than get a refund!

I do regularly, although admittedly using my FFP to circumnavigate the horrible queues!

Here, I think we're agreed. Given the choice on a route between Easyjet and BA, I too would probably choose Easyjet! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

I'd say check how close the airport is to the city and also DON'T take the last flight of the day if possible. They use their aircraft so intensively that if there is a problem it can cause a considerable knockon effect.

Nigel

[Couldn't get the right quotes, so here's a cut-and-paste job.]

Wingnut said 'On a "scheduled" carrier you would expect to be booked onto the next flight, endorsed onto another carrier, or offered overnight accommodation if something went wrong on the last flight of the day.'

You often don't get these on the lowest fares anyway, which I think is a fair comparison. There's even a post on the BA forum where Concorde passengers say they were refused hotel accommodation after a significant schedule change.

Wingnut said 'I fail to see how this is useful! ... You need to get there rather than get a refund!'

Excuse me, I have been delayed more than 4 hours by LH, BA, UA, VS, US and probably more. Guess what, they didn't refund my fare. EZ does, and I find that quite amazing.

Sorry, you are both right! I checked again and yes, Easyjet has choosen principal airports. And I was wrong regarding Easyjet flying to (Frankfurt) Hahn.
Website for checking low fares:
http://www.aerfares.net/v3/index.php

No, but they still got you there, right? The refund would be no use if you actually wanted to get where you were going, since the walk-up fares for a new ticket on any carrier would be astronomical.

I have also been delayed by BA, BD, UA etc, but the difference is that they will willingly examine changes to travel plans, possible reroutings etc. EZY has no means to do this. I understand and accept your point about fare comparisons, but I cannot see how EZY's refund policy would be of any use to me if I were stuck in the wrong place. I don't want to have to keep claiming on my travel insurance.

Thanks everybody for all your comments about Easyjet. Just one more question. My family and I are flying to Amsterdam on February 14th getting in on February 15th at 9:00 am. Leaving Amsterdam on February 18th at 11:00 am.

We really wanted to go to Switzerland. Somebody gave me the suggestion to fly Easyjet because they have the cheapest fares. If anybody has any other suggestions on the cheapest way to get to anywhere in Switzerland from Amsterdam I would appreciate it. Thanks again for the feedback.

[This message has been edited by Rosebud9802 (edited 12-06-2002).]

Cheapest AMS-GVA or AMS-ZUR fares I can see are for those dates are coming in at around 250 Eur on either KLM or Swiss - not bad, but a lot more than EasyJet which is currently quoting around 150 Eur.

I know very little about European train travel. Might be worth asking in the rail forum?

ajamieson: perhaps I did not make the point clearly enough.

EZ give you your money back if you are delayed 4 hours or more AND get you there. That last bit is very important, and people may not have appreciated that.

Family experience: our niece arrived 4 1/2 hours late at LTN, having been diverted to BHX and transferred by bus because of snow at LTN (in April!). Her father was well pleased to get the money back on his credit card without prompting.

US delayed me by 24 hours, rerouted me via US and America West. OK, they paid my hotel bill, but I lost a day's business. (Guess what, I haven't travelled US Airways since.)

I know which made the better impression on me.

I consider London Luton a suburban airport. There is a special train to get there out of Victoria Station I believe. Their website has some information about it.

IMHO, they offer fantastically lower rates for Southwest-type service and the risk of slightly less reliability/timing.

The connection from Victoria is a BUS, not a train! Round trip fare is £8 for easyJet passengers. Just say you're an easyJet passenger when you buy your bus ticket. No need to show your air ticket as you haven't got one!

£8 round trip is much cheaper than transit to Gatwick or Stansted or bus or train to Heathrow, and only marginally more than Underground to Heathrow.

The rail connection is from any station on the Thameslink line including Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon, Kings Cross Thameslink and London Bridge. Not bad for what the previous poster calls 'suburban'.

Your experience is interesting, thank you. My experience of a 5 tech delay AMS-EDI with EZY was that a refund was offered but the ticket would be cancelled. Hence my understanding of this 'generous' offer is a little different to yours.

LemonThrower the train link is not to Victoria, as Roger pointed out. Also, of the five London airports only two - LHR and LCY - are actually within the boundaries of the London boroughs, yet the others are often quicker to reach for many people. EZY also flies to LGW. Do you call that suburban too?

Easyjet is the cheapest way to travel between Amsterdam and Geneva, trust me on this one (as a GVA-based KLM flyer). A train ride would take all day, going through Paris and Brussels on the Thalys high speed train.

My understanding is that you would fly AMS-GVA on 2/15, and GVA-AMS on 2/18. The corresponding Easyjet flights list right now for €85 roundtrip, tax included.

KL's more frequent flights can sometimes be had for about €150 on this route due to competition, while Swiss seems to have pretty much given up competing on it.


One tip when flying Easyjet: budget plenty of time for retrieving your luggage and checking in again, if connecting to another flight. To my knowledge, they do not interline.



[This message has been edited by monahos (edited 12-07-2002).]

Absolutely right. Both easyJet and Ryanair say they are point to point airlines and do not advise interlining.

The EasyJet punctuality figures (taken from their website for Nov 2002) are arrivals 80% within 15 minutes of advertised, and 93% within 1 hour. Seeing as that was for a month when we have had some bad fog days over here, that's as good as I would expect the figures to be able to get to.

Poor Rosebud9802 who started this post off must be really confused with all the "facts" offered above which we Brits are having to continually correct! Let's strive for more accuracy.

[This message has been edited by WHBM (edited 12-07-2002).]

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[This message has been edited by WHBM (edited 12-07-2002).]

Thanks again everybody. To WHBM thanks for taking my confusion in consideration. Booked Amsterdam to Geneva on EasyJet. We decided to fly out on Sun. Feb. 16th on the morning flight and come back on Tues. Feb. 18th. We are taking a flight that leaves at 6:20 am and arrives in Amsterdam at 7:55 am.

Monahos quote: (One tip when flying Easyjet: budget plenty of time for retrieving your luggage and checking in again, if connecting to another flight. To my knowledge, they do not interline.)

Our United flight from Amsterdam to Chicago leaves at 11:00 am. I hope that 3-hours will be enough time. Do you think that will be efficient enough timing to check-in? What does interline mean?
Thanks Again!!

You should be ok. That specific Easyjet flight has the advantage of spending the night in Geneva, and cannot be delayed by a late arrival. After arriving in AMS, collect your luggage and proceed to the UA check-in counter; airlines recommend checking in 2 hours before departure time for US-bound flights, which seems especially applicable if flying Y on an american plane.

By interline I meant processing transfer of checked luggage to, and issuing boarding passes for another airline.

Ah - that they refunded and got you there I did not realise - my understanding was closer to ajamieson's experience. I also take your point about "scheduled" carriers often being less helpful on deep discount fares (although FFP status seems to circumvent this problem).