easyJet Airline was founded in 1995 by the now famous Cypriot, Stelios Haji-Ioannou. With a loan from his father he leased two Boeing 737-200 aircraft and began operating flights from London Luton, where the head office "easyLand" is based, to Glasgow and Edinburgh, using contractors to supply nearly all the staff throughout the airline. Stelios retired as chairman in 2002 but has now back on the board as a non-executive director.

Until this time, reservations for flights were made by telephoning the reservations centre based with easyLand. In 1997 easyJet launched their information website www.easyjet.com and a year later the online booking facility was available. These days, around 98% of easyJet bookings are made via their website.

easyJet now has a fleet of 91 aircraft, a combination of Boeing 737 and Airbus A319, and expects to have a fleet of 114 aircraft by the end of this year. easyJet have grown from their two little routes between Luton and Glasgow & Edinburgh to an impressive 60 different airports all over Europe, covering the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, and most recently some Eastern European destinations have been added, such as Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonia.

Using Ryanair as an example, as they are the other airline that I tend to fly with, you can say that Ryanair offer slightly more competitive fares. However, you need to ask why are their fares cheaper? You are probably thinking, if easyJet and Ryanair are both non-refundable and neither offer refunds, why are Ryanair still offering slightly lower fares? The answer is quite simple really. When an airline uses an airport, they have to pay fees to that airport, such as landing fees, handling fees, etc. That's how the airport's make their money. The fees vary from airport to airport - busy, top city airports charge more, while airports in the middle of nowhere charge less. I think you can now guess why Ryanair offers lower fares, can't you? If you haven't sussed it out it's because easyJet flies only to the main airports, whilst Ryanair flies mostly to the "middle of nowhere" airports. So while you may be paying slightly more for your easyJet flight at least you can revel in the knowledge that you are not going to have to pay out more money in transferring to your final destination. In my experience I use easyJet when I want to get somewhere quickly, cheaply and directly with good connections such as for a day trip or a short holiday, and I use Ryanair when I'm visiting France because we'll get picked up when we get there so it doesn't really matter.

There are two ways to book with easyJet. You can call their sales centre on 0905 821 0905 between 0800h and 2000h. They have a multitude of language speakers available so if English is not your mother tongue you will be able to speak to an agent in any of the languages of the countries that they fly to. They also have telephone numbers to call them from abroad, which is handy to take away with you in case you need to check or change your travel arrangements. You can find the list of telephone numbers on the website. The sales agent will check the flight availability and prices, will book the flights for you and will send you a confirmation letter in the post. You will also be given your confirmation number over the telephone; you need to keep this confirmation number handy because it is needed at check-in.

The web booking procedure is a simple 5 step process with guidelines along the way telling you what is required and what to do. The website is clearly set out in the instantly recognisable orange, with white and mostly blank fonts. You get a discount of £5.00 per flight if you book online, which is cool.

On step 2 you will be shown the flights available on your chosen dates and the price, as well as the day before and the day after. You can also choose the calendar view to be presented with the flights that are available over a 2 week window around your specified date. If you change your mind about something at this point you can simply go to the bottom of the page and select again.

On step 4 you enter the contact details, the details of the passengers and your payment details. You can pay with Maestro / Switch, Delta, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Diners Club but if you choose a credit card you will be charged an extra £4.00.

You can also change your flight or change the name of the passenger, but it must be done at least two hours before the flight and you will have to pay a change fee. If the fare has increased you will have to pay the difference too.

You've probably all seen or heard of the ITV programme "Airline", so number one rule is check in on time. They will not delay 148 other passengers who arrived early and on time just to wait for you and it does not take "only 5 minutes" to run to the plane! What many people fail to realise is that there are "slots" for each flight to depart and if that slot is missed the flight will be delayed to the next one; so, no, you won't be waited for.

Once you have checked in you will be given a boarding card with A, B, C, or D on it. It used to be in numbers 1-149. The first batch of people to check in are given cards A, the next batch are given cards B and so on. When it comes to boarding time the pasengers who have cards A will be allowed on board first and get to choose the best seats. There are no allocated seats, so if you are fussy you better check in early and get an A card!

Before the flight takes off you get all the same safety demos as other airlines. During the flight the cabin crew will come down the aisle with the easyKiosk. From the easyKiosk you can choose from a selection of drinks and snacks, but you do have to pay for them and the prices will be higher than your local corner shop. I usually plump for some Pringles.

easyJet say if you book early you will generally get the best fare. As an example, if I were to book a flight from Luton to Aberdeen to fly today, it will cost me £124.99. However, if I book for October then I would only pay £19.99. Those prices are including all taxes and airport charges.

They also have "sales" and promotions. The best way of getting the best price is to sign up to their email newsletter. You can tick the destinations that you are most interested in and you will be sent emails whenever the new flights are available or whenever there is a promotion.

***What If Things Go Wrong?***

***The "Airline" Programme***

Some of you might watch this programme and think, "My goodness, I would never fly with an airline like that!" However, when you see an angry passenger screaming in the face of an orange uniformed person, it's usually because the passenger is in the wrong and not the airline.

Well, yes actually! As an easyJet customer you also have the chance to then book car hire, carparking, transfers, hotels and travel insurance through their service partners at special rates just for easyJet customers. So you can basically put together your own package holiday!

I have always booked on the website and have never had any difficulties with using the site.

I have only ever experienced one delay and never faced a cancellation (touch wood). The delay was at Barcelona, I can't remember the reason because that was two years ago on my first easyJet trip, but it turned out to be a good thing that the flight was delayed because I got carried away in duty free and turned up at the gate half an hour after the flight should have departed!

Thanks for reading! :)