I fly quite often, but usually on charter airlines to Mediterranean holiday destinations. I have flown with very few scheduled airlines, and never with a "no frills" airline. I’ve always been a bit cautious of them - I suppose I thought that they would compromise on quality and safety to get fares down. I recently flew up to Liverpool on company business and we booked with EasyJet - and easy it was!
~~ Who are they?
EasyJet are a low cost, no frills airline based at London Luton Airport. They fly to various UK destinations, as well as key places within Europe. They were founded about 5 years ago by a Greek man called Stelios. There are many low cost airlines now, including Go and Buzz. Although EasyJet were really the first to emerge.
~~ So how do they manage to be low cost?
When we fly with a normal everyday airline, a lot of pointless and unnecessary costs are passed on to us. How many people actually enjoy the meal that they get on board? I suspect very few of us! However this meal is included in the price of the flight - we have no choice in the matter! We pay for it whether we want it or not. Most airlines let us board and disembark the plane via a walkway. Very nice for us, but I suspect few people actually realise how expensive it is for an airline to make use of the airbridges - this is another cost that we incur. It is nice to fly to a large central airport such as Heathrow, but the cost of landing and parking there is astronomical for airlines - yet another cost. You may not think much of the flight tickets and boarding cards that you receive, but just think how many the average airline uses every year! There is the cost of the material used, as well as the machines and staff that process and print them - imagine the saving for the airline without them - another saving to be passed on to the passenger. Then there is the lack of travel agent commission to pay! I’m sure you are getting the general idea.
~~ The booking experience
You can book an EasyJet flight in one of two ways. Either call their direct sales team, or book a ticket on the internet. The first thing that you notice, is how easy everything is! You simply use the click down boxes to select to select your departure point, your destination, the dates and number of passengers. The options for the details that you entered are then shown - you will see a list of possible outbound and inbound flights, showing dates, times and prices. It is good to note that the prices on the internet are cheaper than if you phone the booking line. You simply select your two flights, and then it is a case of just entering your details and credit card number. You receive a booking reference on screen and by email. This is basically your flight ticket - all you need to do to check in, is quote this number. You receive absolutely nothing more from them - you are booked!
~~ The price structure
The way EasyJet go to market is quite interesting. You can search for flights, many months in advance. Obviously at this point, there will be very few bookings for the flights. As a result of this, they encourage booking by making the fares dirt cheap. For example, I booked my business flight for myself and my manager about a month before the flight, and the price came out as £5 each way - Luton to Liverpool. This really is excellent value, as it would cost me about £30 in petrol for a one way journey and probably about £70 on a train. There is passenger tax to be added (£10) but this is beyond the control of the airline. As the flight starts to become booked up, they increase the price per ticket, with the idea being that just before the flight, if there are any seats left, they will be expensive as they are in demand. Of course, the opposite can apply, in that if the demand for the flight declines, they will reduce the price to encourage sales.
~~ The airport experience
Obviously I won’t go on about my experience at the airport too much, as this opinion is about EasyJet, not Luton! Their main bases are at Luton and Liverpool and at these two airports, they handle themselves, instead of paying another company. At check in you simply quote your reference number or your surname and they bring up all your details on the screen. You can then check in any baggage for the flight and you will receive a plastic laminated boarding card. EasyJet operates a "free seating" policy and as such, you will not receive a seat allocation. However, to prevent a mass riot at the boarding gate, they run a first come, first served basis. To explain further, your boarding card will have a number with a circle around it. This shows you what "number" you were to check in, i.e. I received card 6 at Luton, therefore being the 6th person to check in that morning.
When it comes to boarding time, there is no need to push, because they will call passengers with boarding cards 1-30 firstly, followed by 1-60 and so on. These plastic cards are very good - firstly because they are reusable and secondly because they are bar-coded, and when you give it in at the gate, they ask your surname as you pass. They then scan your card and your name comes up on the screen - this is an added security feature that stops someone else using your card if you drop it!
~~ The flight itself
EasyJet use Boeing 737-300’s for their flights. These are the most popular aircraft for short/medium haul and are very pleasant. From the outside the aircraft look a little garish! They have orange engines and tails, and the website URL plastered down the side……..Yes, you guessed it, in orange! Although the outside of the aircraft is hardly important. The inside is pretty much as with any other airline - there are no leather seats, TV’s and Playstations, but for a short haul flight, you don’t really need them. The first thing that impressed me was not only that I got to pick my seat location, but that the legroom was excellent! I am used to charter airlines "cattle class" and although EasyJet is a budget airline, they haven’t compromised leg room. Sure, you aren’t going to be able to do leg stretching exercises, but for a change, you can actually sit normally and your legs aren’t even close to the seat in front.
The cabin crew are very friendly and attentive and perform the same safety drills as all other airlines - they are dressed in orange but you come to expect that! The only drills they don’t do, are the forcing of airline meals down your throat. On my flight, if you wanted a drink, you pressed the cabin call button - I believe the same is true with food, but due to the short flight time, we didn’t have the choice of food. EasyJet are not cheaping out, they are simply giving the consumer something that is lacking these days…….choice! I did have to walk to and from the plane in heavy rain, but if I had a choice of that or paying extra to use an airbridge, I know what I would choose!
~~ The overall experience
I was very impressed. Everything is made easy and they certainly lived up to their name. I could have paid a couple of hundred pounds to fly with British Airways, but I doubt I would have been any more impressed. I am very much for this "passing the saving on to the customer" and you do wonder how they make any money! However they seem very good at what they do and I enjoyed it, despite cringing at all the orange - even their technical vans are orange, with EasyTech on the side!! They seem to be doing well as a company, as I heard that they have just ordered some more new Boeing 737’s to complement their fleet. I just hope monopolists such as British Airways don’t manage to put them out of business as they did with EasyJet ex-rival - the late Debonair!
More details
Class flown most frequently
Economy
How often do you travel with this airline
First time
Where did you book
Directly with this airline
Safety
Very safe
How well does it cater for disabled people
Well
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