Is Easy Jet worth trying?
 

Have any of you flown on the low cost Euro airline Easy Jet? How was your experience? Their prices look pretty good, but I was wondering how much I would suffer on their longer routes, such as London to Athens.
Thanks!
Jaas

Think Southwest and you won't be too far off. We've flown on it as well as a number of other European discounters for shorter flights, and we found them all to be quite satisfactory - new equipment, comfortable seats, competent crews, and great prices.

Whether it's worth it to spend more bucks for a more refined experience on a longer flight is a decision for your own spending priorities. If the price was right, we wouldn't hesitate to fly them on a longer flight.

I took an EasyJet flight between LGW & AMS. Since it was a short flight it wasn't a problem, but I believe the seat pitch is 29".

their prices are fantastic, especially if you book far enough in advance. I flew London to AMS for 25 bucks! Most of the price advantage disappears as the date of travel gets near. The comparison to SW is appropriate. You may need to bring your own snacks/beverges - I don't remember.

Also, sometimes they use suburban airports. You have to do some homework to figure out how to get to those airports. For example, a cab ride to London Luton airport will devour your savings, but there is a resonably priced train from Victoria. Their website has a lot of useful info.

Get to the airport early to ckin early, make sure you're at the front of the line for boarding, and you often can get exit-row seating.

Sat 'first-class' easyJet STN-CDG because I was in the exit row that didn't have a seat in front of me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Please continue to follow this thread in "Travel"Buzz, as it is not pure mileage collection oriented.

------------------
Craig6z
Buzz & United Moderator

All short hauls are worth it -at 29GBP+tax it is still a steal.

[This message has been edited by akhullar (edited Mar 21, 2004).]

Ive flown them a few times and the idea of it being a Euro-Southwest is pretty deadon. No complaints tho (and I would never did SWest here in the US!) -- their prices are great and sometimes unbelievable for quick intra-euro flights.

Of more concern to me would be whether you have any onward connections that would suffer if you have a delayed EasyJet flight. The worst thing that will happen on the flight is that you might be cramped (although that's not a given either).

I have flown Liverpool to AMS and Liverpool to CDG. Both flights were pleasant and pretty much on time. If the price were right I would take them. Also, read carefully the limit on luggage allowances. The luggage allowance was very small and may be an issue if you were taking lots of luggage on a long holiday.



------------------
Rachel
Pictures From My Trips & Travels

Easyjet generally uses main airports - it's Easyjet's rival Ryanair that has a habit of flying to SmallTown "A" but advertising its flights as flights to BigCity "B" some 50 miles away.

LTN is a designated London Airport, it used to be primarily an airport for charter flights but has always had some scheduled services and is now used extensively by LCCs. As you say it has a rail connection to London; I'm actually surprised anyone would even think of using a taxi to get into London from there! (BTW, Luton is not a suburb of London, it is a town in its own right)



[This message has been edited by Aviatrix (edited Mar 21, 2004).]

The usual corrections to comments on FT about Easyjet - I should have them in a standard document ready to paste in !

Easyjet have moved on from being a niche player to being a significant part of the European air travel network. Same for Ryanair.

Easyjet use the major airports in most places. In London they increasingly operate to destinations from combinations of three of the airports spread equally around - Luton, Gatwick and Stansted. They do not serve Heathrow. All have train services from Central London, Luton by a service that runs right across London south to north with principal stops London Bridge, St Pauls and Kings Cross.

Good on time record. They don't have the congestion of Heathrow to deal with.

Absolutely standard European baggage allowance - 44 lb checked baggage, plus 11 lb hand baggage, plus a laptop. Fee charged for excess.

Rigorous about check-in cutting off 40 minutes before departure. But they are fairer than often portrayed if you only just miss it and will put you on the next flight.

Plenty of snacks and drinks offered on the flight, often several times. It is all charged for.

29" seat pitch which is again European charter standard - what we have known for years going on holiday to the Mediterranean. At 6'0" I find it fine. Open seating, so to get the exit row or row 1, check in first and you will be allowed to board first, Southwest-style.

Their fares are sometimes way better than other airlines, but sometimes not - the traditional airlines have moved to compete. So always worth checking both.

www.easyJet.com tells you all you need to know.

Flew ORY-GVA for 8 €.

Loved it.

Also, if flying from the North of England/Midlands there is the option of BMI Baby which is priced comparably to Easyjet (flies out of Manchester and East Midlands among others). I've used both airlines and been more or less on time each time I've used them, not to mention happy with the service.

Ryanair as a company seems to have a real attitude problem and gets a lot of bad press here on FT but don't discount them if they'll get you where you want to go.

Only go easy jet if you love to be received and catered for in-flight by orange flavoured children.

Everything's fine when everythings fine. Everything is 'orrible when everything is 'orrible.

Go easy jet - but don't come back here and compalin if you get the service you should have expected.

This is significantly less than any US carrier. I only mention it because as American I was very suprised by the low baggage limit. Most use carriers allow two checked pieces @ 50 pounds and a carry on. Had I not left most of my luggage in Manchester for the weekends I traveled to other destinations I would have had to pay extra luggage fees.



------------------
Rachel
Pictures From My Trips & Travels

Prncess:

44 lb is the worldwide IATA standard. The US, and transatlantic flights, have long been an exception with what they term their "piece concept", ie two pieces of baggage. Yes people go from the UK to Australia with 44 lb allowance ! BA have quite recently increased their allowance to 50 lb but having a quick look round Aer Lingus, BMI etc are all still 44 lb (66 lb in First Class), except transatlantic of course. In fact say 15 years or more ago the allowance on holiday flights from Britain to the Mediterranean used to be 33 lb !!

If you are THROUGH TICKETED from the US, then you get the bigger allowance throughout your itinerary. But buying independent tickets on other carriers that doesn't apply. Also different carriers have different approaches to overweight. Some don't really bother. Others do, especially the budget carriers.

Cabin Baggage Question
 

Bringing this topic back up...

I assume the budget carriers are very strict, but any first hand experiences with easyJet and the cabin baggage limit? Do they let you go over a bit; will they let you go over if you pay the fee?

I never have a problem limiting my checked luggage to the rest of the world's standards (in fact, I think its silly to have different rules for trans-atlantic), but cabin baggage can be a problem. I think my current carry-on weighs 5kg without anything in it!

Thanks.

I had to put my carry-on on the check in scale. It was under the limit and I don't know what would have happened if it was over the limit. They definitly seemed stricter in Europe re: carry-on luggage

Thanks. Good to know because in all my past experiences, granted none on the budget carriers, some agent may happen to just pick up my carryon with one hand and then say, "Feels good to me. Have a good flight." I guess I can't expect this from easyJet.


Cheers.

I think Ryanair at least has a 5 pounds per kg for all excess baggage charges.

I flew Easyjet at Christmas from Prague to London, personally I think they're far superior to Ryan Air and certainly worth considering.

What I like about these low budget carriers in Europe is that you can fly one way and take advantage of an open jaw to Europe...For Example I flew..SFO-Prague (*A UAL/Lufthansa) 16th Dec and in the New Year London-Venice BMI (stayed for a couple of days) and then Venice-SFO (*A)

My ticket was an incredible $630 including taxes!!! Mainly because the high season flight on 20th Dec was a seperate Easyjet ticket Prague-Lon.

I agree with the concern re Easyjet and connecting flights I would not take any of these low budget carriers if I HAD to make a connection. However, I have to say I was impressed with Easyjet...our plane was delayed with mechanical trouble in prague and they were very professional offering fgenerous food and drinks vouchers..which I don't think you'd get with Ryan Air!