tuscanyx

Does anyone know if there is direct boarding at the Casablanca airport or do you have to take a bus? Our friends recommended us to get the speedy boarding and from what I've read on the internet, most people recommend against it. We'll have a 3 yr old with us. Does EasyJet have priority boarding for families with young kids like most other full service airlines?

potfish

Can't help with Casablanca but to answer your other question a very quick look at EasyJet's website would have told you the answer:
http://www.easyjet.com/EN/Flying/boarding.html

catandmouse

Why do they force you to buy insurance, which is only valid for UK residents, when you're booking from outside the UK?
It's a way of ripping you off.

rankourabu

Same at KRK, the bus was actually divided into two halves. Speedy boarding (the 2 people that paid it) in the front, and a crowded back with the A crowd

Trav1970

The business idea is simple: make arrangements so that the plane can carry as many passengers as possible during a day. Without assigned seats, the plane tends to get full of passengers for two reasons:

1) You try to get seated as quickly as possible so that someone else does not take that "comfortable seat".

2) You don't have to wait in the aisle for someone else to sit down in order to pass through to get to your assigned seat. If there is a seat free, you just grab it.

The shorter the boarding time, the less time the plane is on the ground.

This is a similar idea than not using the regular gates, but rather having the plane sit in the middle of the airport. By doing a stand arrival, the LCC can use both the front and the rear door of the airplane, making boarding and unboarding occur quicker. Moreover, by not being at the gate, the plane does not have to be pushed back before start, but it can simply start its own engines and go.

In a nutshell: if you ever wonder why a LCC does something, it's usually because of saving time and money.

mung

They don't FORCE you to, they just start by including it and hope that you won't notice the remove button.

Craig6z

When the base price for the fare is low, I'll again purchase "Speedy Boarding". Last month used it MAD-RAK, and it was worth the cost, especially in light that the base fare was only 20 Euros each way.

There were about six people "speeding" on each of the one-ways, and the remaining load was nearly 100%. Ended up with bulkheads both flights, which allowed very fast immigration clearance (took three minutes in RAK, and one minute in MAD).

Seat64A

"Speedy Boarding" might be worth purchasing but only if you know that you'll be at the gate when boarding commences.

Mind you, even then Speedy Boarders have typically to fight their way through others who haven't even been called to board!

At some airports, presumably when turnarounds are quick and they don't call passengers/display gate numbers until the previous flight has fully boarded, it can be difficult to reach the gate before Speedy Boarding has come and gone! I've experienced this flying easyJet from Gatwick.

This isn't helped by the fact that none of the easyJet stations I've flown from displays on the gate monitors which categories, if any, have been called. So you can arrive at the gate wondering which category is currently boarding.

All in all, easyJet offers passengers a poor boarding experience. Ryanair is much better at it - just two categories and often clearly indicated lines for each (at least at major hubs such as STN and DUB).

FragranceMarketingGuy

Hi-

Connecting in BRU from EWR to NCE. EWR/BRU on CO and BRU/NCE on EasyJet. Contemplating purchasing the Speedy Boarding Pass. Never been in BRU -- does EasyJet utilize a Jetway or busses for boarding?

Brussels Airlines is 75 Euro more -- (no knife throwing) (just asking the question), is Brussels Airlines worth the extra money?

Thanks for your comment.

-Jim

Cage Rattler

At SPU everyone walks to the plane and it is pretty relaxed.

FlyingFinn

That 75 EUR extra gets you an assigned seat and 20 kilos of checked-in luggage - it's up to you to determine whether this is worth it. Both carriers are buy-on-board for the service (assuming you have the cheapest SN fare). You might also earn some miles with SN - you could credit to AA but that will end at some point as the airline is now (partly?) owned by LH and will be moving closer to *A.

If you are indeed checking luggage then it might be a good idea to stick with SN, I'm pretty sure CO could check your luggage through saving you the hassle of claiming and rechecking it at BRU.

bsb21

Sorry to bring back this thread, but does anyone know if jetbridges are used in MXP (Milan)?

Thank you!^

TravellinHusker

VCE is always a bus, so no sense buying Speeding Boarding there.. However, CDG seems to board all planes by jetways, and the GA's were strictly by the book. SB first, SA next, A, then B. And they hunted down bags they thought were too big. One lady was like a hawk and swooped in on at least 10 bags.

CityRules

Not sure I agree with all of this.

Personally, I do not think it makes one iota of difference when you are actually on board and looking for a seat. I would think that free seating was really introduced:-
1) to save time at check-in and simplifying the computer system.
2) force the vast majority of people to get to the gate on time and start queuing so they definitely will not be stuck in a middle seat and even have a better chance of good seat.
3) at the gate, again, less hassle being held up by passengers wanting to have one last try at changing their seat.

Front and rear boarding is also the norm at the gate, as well as for those who bus it. All LCCs do not use an airbrdge, boarding by front and rear to speed every-one up....even when it is horizontal cats and dogs. It's sad to see the elderly struggling in those conditions and one day some-one's going to come a cropper.

I do agree 100% with the last sentence though ^....and the above is a part of a constant reminder of how cheap they really are.