writebrian

Need a cheap one way flight from CDG to London (Luton or Heathrow) on March 7th 2013. I found an airline called EasyJet. Appears to be the SWA of Europe. Anyone fly with them? Good, bad, indifferent?

Also anyone know how to get from London Luton to Ealing Common? I know nothing of trains, tubes and buses but willing to try. What are rates for taxis if I went that route (about 32 miles it appears).

I'm a Caribbean guy, don't know Europe at all. Any help appreciated!

BERbound

One of the biggest airlines in Europe, modern fleet of A319 aircraft.

You have to pay extra for your bags and you can pay to choose your seat.

Use easybus.co.uk for your transfer. IIRC they go from Luton Airport to Earls Court.

Mwenenzi

10 of thousands of people use EasyJet

For transport to/from airports look here from the UK Ireland forum http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-ireland-484/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-i...on-guides.html

The flight may be cheap but carefully take into account the carry on bag limits, cost of checked baggage,and other charges etc and cost/time getting to/from the airports. They do not use main city airports. Your taxi will cost more than the flight. Sometimes flights using Heathrow or Gatwick are better after taking all costs - time into account,

Anyway far better to take the train, via the chunnel, for Paris - London. No reason to fly
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/europ...il-travel-654/

NYTA

I'm a big fan. It is like SWA but cleaner planes and real food, albeit paid. Easybus is also great and convenient to central london. Just make sure you fully comply with the baggage requirements or you'll get charged extra. Also, better if you print your boarding passes beforehand.

stut

They're pretty decent, as low-costs go, and making a conscious effort to make themselves more "business-friendly" - for example, they've recently moved to fully assigned seating, rather than that undignified scrum at the boarding gate.

But I have to agree that the Eurostar is a much better way to travel on this route. Check Eurostar.com for prices - don't bother with the likes of RailEurope.

WillTravel

Actually EasyJet mainly does use central airports. Ryanair has a greater tendency to use remote airports (Beauvais for Paris, for example).
EasyBus is an easy and cheap way to get to various London airports.

WillTravel

Reading again, try the London transport planner to figure out the trip to Ealing Common.
If you get a good rate on Eurostar, then great, but EasyJet is fine if you don't.

Camflyer

There's absolutely nothing wrong with EZY as a low cost airline. Friendly, reliable and perfectly adequate for short point-to-point trips of 1-2 hours.

They shouldn't be confused with Ryanair who are the Devil's Airline. I'd rather swim to France than use them.

EzzerBKK

Beg to differ in that I've had my fair share of delays with Easyjet over a period of a few years in Europe and, at times, non budget airlines turned out cheaper.

Easybus from Luton was an absolute disaster once with the driver getting lost coming into town and one passenger and myself (only two Londoner on board having to argue with him/his superiors on the phone and finally allowing us to guide him to our destination...

Jenbel

Flew EZY every fortnight for a year on a domestic route only they served. Punctuality was great, good standards of safety. Wouldn't hesitate to fly them again (so long as there wasn't point earning opportunities).

gosha83

Take the Eurostar. It's GBP 40 on that day if you book on Eurostar.com. It will get you to St. Pancras International train terminal, which also happens to be King's Cross Underground station. Just go from Eurostar to the Underground, hop on the Picadilly line and it will take you directly to the Ealing Common underground station. If you get an Oyster card (a magnetic card that you can reload with money to "tap in" and "tap out" of train stations), the trip will cost you less than GBP 3. You can buy a paper ticket, which will probably cost about GBP 7.

Here're the simple Google Maps directions: http://goo.gl/maps/Stt8V
All of those options are cheaper than a taxi, which can easily cost 50-70, especially if navigating through the city.

I wouldn't chance it with Luton, and easyJet doesn't fly into Heathrow. You'll spend more time trying to get to where you need to go if you fly.

Wally Bird

Don't know what fare OP got CDG-LTN, but most times BA is competitive within a few pounds CDG-LHR. Lot less hassle.

BigLar

I've flown EZY several times around Europe and my experience has always been like Jenbel's - on time, no hassles, no drama.

But your suggestion to check out the majors has a lot of merit, too. Last year we (six of us) were flying NCE-CDG and EZY seemed like the way to go. Out of curiosity, I looked at the AF site and, sure enough, on most days the flight was over $400 pp one-way. However, on the day we were travelling (Saturday) the flight was only $50! Naturally, we went with AF.

writebrian

Found a BA flight for $92.00USD including bags. Came to the same as EasyJet would have with the bonus of flying into Heathrow.

However, now you guys have me thinking about the train! I've heard that riding the Eurostar is a good part of the France to London experience. Is the view scenic or is it 200MPH straight into a tunnel? Is it worth it as a tourist thing to do?

If the flight and the train were the exact same price, which would you take?

Aviatrix

You're not going straight into the tunnel - but neither do you get much of a scenic view as the the area is relatively flat and boring.

Depends where my starting point is, depends where I'm going. From the centre of Paris to the centre of London - no contest, I'd take the train every time. It's much quicker, door to door, then flying. If I was heading to Slough or Reading (near LHR), or to Luton or Bedford (near LTN) I'd consider flying.