EasyJet - EZU > Reviews > an eye-opener, but not without limitations

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality
Customer Service
Punctuality
Space
Value for Money

Advantages:	A cheap way of opening up some of Europe's most attractive destinations
Disadvantages:	Stansted is miles from anywhere, and domestic flights aren't really worth the effort

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My experience of easyjet took me to Geneva, which is probably the ideal kind of journey - expensive enough if undertaken on a conventional airline, but short enough to make the relative discomforts fairly negligible.

The advantage of easyjet over the other staple of cheap air travel, the charter flight, is that on the whole the clientele are as quiet and well-behaved as you'd get on, say, British Airways. That said, there is a little bit of competitiveness, understandably, when passengers race to get the best seats on the plane - but if you're of an easy-going disposition (and not over 6 foot tall!), this isn't a worry.

The lack of free food and drink, again, is hardly a hardship. It's a similar system to what you'd find on a train - a small selection of food to buy at reasonable prices. In fact, there are a number of comparisons with rail travel which, particularly on domestic journeys, are possibly the most important consideration. The main one is the length in total of any journey within the British Isles. A previous opinionator on Ciao suggested he would always choose to fly to London from Liverpool rather than drive. Fair enough, but what about the train? If you book early enough, it can be a good deal cheaper, and from city centre to city centre it takes under 3 hours. The same con NOT be said for easyjet. Travle to the airport, 1 hour before check in, 1 hour flying time, then a good hour and a bit to get to Victoria, then the remainder of your journey - unless you live next to Liverpool airport it's a journey of over four hours minimum.

Despite these problems, it's a cheap, safe and reliable way of getting around Europe. It's opened up opportunities to visit places I'd never dreamt of going before - Barcelona for one, which hopefully will be my next easyjet trip. Whatever else you say, it has certainly revolutionised air travel, and the effect it will have on the overcharging airline cartels can only be a positive one.