Jet2

...seventy-seven destinations in total. Jet2 has UK bases in Leeds, Manchester, Belfast, Newcastle, Blackpool and Edinburgh. Their fleet is comprised of 21 Boeing 737-300's and 8 Boeing 757-200's. They are currently enjoying a boom in business, and seem to be carrying even more passengers to even more destination, although it will be interesting to see what happens in upcoming years, as fuel prices and environmental concerns may mean that air travel ...
...the departures hall. Because Jet2 has a really quick turnaround time, you might notice in Leeds that there isn't even a gate number assigned, usually because the incoming flight hasn't even arrived yet! So there's no real point in getting to the airport 3 hours early, as you'll just sit airside for ages. (Please note: I do not endorse, however, rocking up twenty minutes before departure either, because you know it will just backfire HORRIBLY)
more

As I'm sure most of you have been reading, there are a few teensy-weensy problems down at Heathrow at the moment. You know, problems that the powers that be really couldn't have expected, such as people actually turning up for their flights! And bringing luggage! And wanting to end up in the same place as their luggage! Who ever would have thought? So, if you wanted to fly somewhere, and wanted to avoid Heathrow, and happened to live in the North of England, well there is an answer: Jet2.com

THE COMPANY:

Jet2.com is a budget airline based at Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA). They started flying under this name in February 2003 and currently fly from Leeds to over forty destinations, including Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Sardinia and the Czech Republic, among others. There are seventy-seven destinations in total. Jet2 has UK bases in Leeds, Manchester, Belfast, Newcastle, Blackpool and Edinburgh. Their fleet is comprised of 21 Boeing 737-300's and 8 Boeing 757-200's. They are currently enjoying a boom in business, and seem to be carrying even more passengers to even more destination, although it will be interesting to see what happens in upcoming years, as fuel prices and environmental concerns may mean that air travel becomes unpopular.

Prices for one-way tickets can vary from £4.99 (including taxes) which is offered on their website at the moment, up to a hundred quid or more depending on your destination, date of travel and how far in advance you book. I try to pick flights when I can be flexible with my dates, and have gone to Amsterdam quite a few times for £10 including taxes, which is a great deal. They are also branching out into offering accommodation and car hire, so if you want you can book your whole holiday through Jet2, although I have never done this, and probably won't in the future.

BOOKING:

The website, www.jet2.com is pretty good, although it does suffer somewhat from that hideous affliction (mostly limited to 'cheap' or 'discount' websites) of flashing lights and horribly, HORRIBLY bright, clashing hideous monster primary colours. The main page usually lists some of the promotions that are going on at the moment, although there is a traditional "fare-finder" box as well, where you type in your desired destination and flight dates. There's also a great feature- the Low Fare finder which just lets you type in your desired departure and arrival airports, and the month in which you'd like to travel. It then shows you fares for all days that month, which is very useful if you're flexible with your flying dates, and a damn sight easier than searching for flights day by day.

Once you've chosen your flight, confirm the flight times and enter your details as they appear on your passport. The airline will very sneakily assume that you want travel insurance and that you want to check in a bag (At the completely outrageous price of £5.99 per piece of checked in baggage). It also asks if you would like to pre-book a seat (again at an extra cost.) I hate this. It's misleading (considering the prices are written in a tiny font buried away on the page) and puts the onus on you, as the consumer to personally unselect all the superfluous stuff that you don't want or need. So, before you enter your credit card details make sure you're only being charged for what you want, not what the airline wants you to want. Once you've put in your credit card details (and paid the £3 fee for credit card transactions) then you'll get sent an email with your booking details and your personal reference number. The airline says you'll need this when checking in, although I've never been asked for it. Likewise, I see a lot of travellers with printouts of the whole email, which is just a waste of paper, in my opinion. I just make a note of my booking number and hand over my passport when checking in.

CHECKING IN AND BOARDING:

As Leeds Bradford is the home of Jet2, there is a big check-in in hall just dedicated to this airline. Queuing time really depends on the time on the day. I've flown from LBA in the middle of the day and there's been no queue whatsoever, however, taking an early morning Friday flight, the queues were horrendous. If you've checked in online, or only have hand baggage, there are separate desks so you can bypass all the people loaded down with a trillion suitcases and get through. It also means you can get to the airport much later as you won't spend hours in a queue.

****TIP: If you're only going for a short trip, just take one piece of hand luggage. As long as you decant any liquids into bottles of less than 100ml and it weighs no more than 10KG, you'll get to miss the check in line; you won't have to pay the rotten, stinking baggage fee, and won't have to wait for your bags at the other end. I do that pretty much every time I travel now, and it's fabulous. Because I really, really hate the baggage fee with all my heart.****

Checking in at other airports is usually pretty easy. They may only have one or two counters dedicated to Jet2, so there might be a pretty long line, especially at busy times. But the staff are always efficient and friendly. Because the airline has assigned seating, I've always been asked if I want a window or an aisle seat. If you ask, they will generally tell you how full or not the flight is, and whether you'll be able to nab a whole row to yourself.

Once you go through the hall of utter human degradation and humiliation, otherwise known as 'security', you'll be in the departures hall. Because Jet2 has a really quick turnaround time, you might notice in Leeds that there isn't even a gate number assigned, usually because the incoming flight hasn't even arrived yet! So there's no real point in getting to the airport 3 hours early, as you'll just sit airside for ages. (Please note: I do not endorse, however, rocking up twenty minutes before departure either, because you know it will just backfire HORRIBLY)

Boarding calls are made and your boarding pass and passport are checked. Sometimes they will board by rows, other times not. I guess it depends on how full the flight is. Most Jet2 flights don't use aerobridges, as they are expensive and would up the price of tickets. So it's a bus or a walk to the aircraft depending on how far away from the terminal it is. Staff are on hand to direct you to either the fore or aft doors, and also to help with pushchairs and the like, which go into the hold for the duration of the flight. As Jet2 has assigned seating, there is no need to rush, and seats are mostly in a 3-3 configuration.

THE CREW & INFLIGHT SERVICE:

The crew are usually pretty good. They will welcome you on board, and show you to your seat if you're having problems finding it. Most of the flights I've been on have three or four cabin crew and a Captain and First Officer. The Captain will make a PA announcement welcoming you on board, and then it's over to the Cabin Crew. They are pretty good with safety checks, as well as making sure that all hand baggage is stowed correctly. If you're sitting next to an emergency exit they will come around and instruct you on how to open the doors if they are needed, although I sat by them once and was not given any instructions; thankfully my dad has told me how to open them, but it did seem like a possibly fatal oversight if a less experienced traveller was sitting there.

Once the aircraft has taken off, food and drinks are sold to you at your seat. Prices are expensive, to me at least. A deal consisting of a sandwich, mini Pringles and a drink is £5, a Kit-Kat and a tea/coffee is £2.50. Whether you want to buy food or not is really up to you. I find it a complete rip-off, especially on flights to Amsterdam, where flying time is 40 minutes. I can wait 40 minutes for some delicious Dutch pastries and hot chocolates rather than scummy inflight food. The crew are also very, very desperate to sell you something. On a recent early-morning flight I was asleep, but was waken up very energetically by a young man yelling "ANY FOOD OR DRINKS, LOVE??" It was 6AM, and I really, really really didn't want food, and I let him know that.

During the time of sales, multiple announcements are made to say they are about to sell food, that they are now selling food, that they are about to finish selling food; that they are about to open the Duty Free shop, that the Duty Free shop is now open, etc etc. It gets very annoying, to say the least, especially as they are obviously given a script to read from and it's appallingly badly written. If you're not a native English speaker (and even if you are), you might find a thick Yorkshire accent, coupled with a really old PA system, might make all the announcements unintelligible.

At the conclusion of in-flight service, the crew come around with big plastic bags to take your rubbish. As they explain, their turnaround times are short, and crew clean the cabin itself rather than professional cleaners. So they ask you to cooperate with them and throw out all your rubbish. The cockpit crew will make an announcement when there's fifteen minutes to land, and then the pre-landing checks begin. When flying into England, they make an announcement saying that anyone who does not have a British or EU passport must fill in a landing card and ask you to press your call button to receive one. This is how it works most of the time. However, on a few flights the announcement was not made at all, and I had to ask them for a card once the aircraft had landed, the doors were open and there was a huge, impatient queue behind me. If there had been other non-EU people on the plane who weren't aware of the system, then they would have gotten all the way to the surly immigration people before realising that they needed a card to fill in. I know that non-EU passengers are a rarity on Jet2 flights, but they really need to read that announcement out on every flight coming into the UK. I really don't think there's any excuse for forgetting to.

DISEMBARKATION AND LUGGAGE RETRIEVAL:

Again, you'll be disembarking from steps pushed up to the aircraft. At some airports, especially Leeds, you might be close enough to the terminal to be able to walk to it, otherwise you'll be bussed in. The bus journey can take a while, at Amsterdal Schiphol it's about an eight minute bus ride from the aircraft to the terminal. This is to be expected though, as gate fees become less expensive the further you are parked from the terminal.

After going through immigration you'll find your baggage has usually made a rather swift exit from the aircraft and is ready for you to pick up and take home. When I have used check-in luggage, it never seems to have been damaged in any way, and all identification tags are still firmly attached.

OVERVIEW:

I am very very grateful to Jet2.com for being so cheap that I can fund all these European trips. It certainly makes travelling a lot easier, and overall they are a pretty decent airline. They fly to a pretty good range of destinations, although some are only seasonal (For example, they only fly to Pisa during the summer, and switch to popular ski destinations during the winter months) When everything goes smoothly (As it always has for me) then the trip is very bearable. Sure, there's a bit of the "flying bus" aspect to it, especially if you travel during school holidays, or on a Friday when it will be loaded up with people, but the airline seems to cope well. I can't comment on what it's like when things go wrong, so I don't know how well their 'crisis control' system works (Although I'm guessing it's better than BA and the BAA!) The airline makes its profit out of selling you extras, such as the baggage fee, food, drinks, duty free, charging you for choosing a seat, 'premium' travel. But it's hard to really be annoyed at it all when you're zipping off to Europe for peanuts. My advice would be to just keep your wits about you, and read everything twice, especially when booking online to make sure that you're not being charged unless you really really need to be. Eat before you leave, don't buy perfumes midflight, and DON'T PANIC. If you can keep your head, while all about you are losing theirs…..then you'll be on your way to Paris for five pounds. No baggage fee included. 

...less