No - one else offers this sort of service from Leeds Bradford, impressive punctuality, cheap fares, new Manchester routes . . .
Disadvantages:
Sometimes not so cheap .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
INTRODUCTION
Jet2.com are a new (around 2 years old) budget airline who fly from Leeds Bradford International Airport to a variety of European destinations including Amsterdam, Venice, Prague, Geneva, France, Spain and Portugal. Their growth over the past couple of years has been quite spectacular and shows little sign of slowing down, with new routes, flights, aircraft and facilities being added all the time.
They just announced a massive new expansion to Manchester where they will base 6 more aircraft and run 9 new routes including Budapest, Pisa and Valencia. So now they're the obvious choice for low cost air travel all across the north, not just from Yorkshire!
Myself, and my family and friends have flown with Jet2 several times over the past year and a bit and have found it to be a very pleasurable experience every time.
I've just booked with them again to go to Paris this Christmas for a little romantic getaway - at just £38 return! We also booked Venice again for next spring at just over £50 each! Madness...
BOOKING
Something along the lines of 95% of Jet2’s booking occurs via their website http://www.jet2.com. It’s a well set out and professional looking site, I’ve never found it to be slow or inactive. Booking doodads are located down the left hand side of the homepage, a news scroller and language selection is available at the top, details of recent promotions and a route map are found in the centre of the page and links to Jet2’s various partners are found down the right hand side.
The route map and details of destinations are obviously of interest to new visitors but the main thing here is the booking form and most notably a feature named ‘Low Fare Finder’. I’ve never seen anything like this on a major low-fares airline before (take note Ryanair & EasyJet) - clicking here takes you to a different type of booking form where you select your destination and the month you wish to travel in (assuming you’re flexible on this front of course!) and the number of passengers travelling. You’re then presented with a calendar ‘grid’ of prices for available flights, allowing you to instantly find and select the lowest fares if they suit. Absolutely brilliant, and has allowed us to find some excellent deals.
We went to Venice in October last year for around £70 each and I just got back from a last-minute trip to Amsterdam for £60 return (and I wasn’t flexible on my dates for this one). Looking on the low fare finder today, it’s possible to do several destinations in November/December for just £30 return! Think I’ll have to Amsterdam again! Be warned however, it isn’t always the cheapest, if you leave booking until late or have no flexibility you may end up paying over the odds. Also, weekend and especially school holiday flights fill up very quickly (and hence the price rises).
Once you’ve chosen the flights that suit you best, booking is a very very simple 5-step process (2 steps of which you’ve already completed by choosing your flights) - you then confirm the flight details (it’s at this point that those rather annoying but necessary taxes and airport fees rear their ugly heads). You then input passenger details, followed by your payment details. Credit cards incur a £4 flat processing fee (not too bad when you consider that other low-fares carriers impose a charge of £1.75 per passenger, per 1-way flight) and Debit cards are free of charge (so you’d be well advised to use Debit where possible). You’re then given a confirmation screen with a booking code which is required when you check in, this is also e-mailed to you. Then you can just sit back, relax, safe in the knowledge that you’re booked and ready to go and that you’ve saved a load of cash.
BEFORE THE FLIGHT
One of the best things about Jet2 is that it operates from Leeds Bradford, which is very easily reached from Leeds, Bradford and all the surrounding area. This means it’s less than 30 minutes from my front door! Obviously this won’t appeal to people not in the Yorkshire area, but seeing as that’s who the airline is aimed at and there are no other options without driving to Manchester, East Midlands or Birmingham it’s wonderful to have somewhere so close.
Of course now that they're also flying from Manchester, they're accessible to people from all over the north, esopecially given the superb rail link right into Manchester airport. However, if you have to choice I would actually recommend going from Leeds as the airport is much smaller and quieter, probably a nicer way to start the holiday than with the hustle and bustle of Manchester Terminal 1.
LBIA is a small airport and very easy to get to. Being so small, it’s easy to find your way around. Jet2’s check-in desks are located practically opposite the doors in hall A and are very easy to spot. The desks are well-staffed and the queue moves very quickly. You just need to show your passport and give your booking code (sometimes you don’t even need to do that) and you’re ready to move on to departures. Again, everything’s very smooth running and all being well, you’ll shortly be invited to board your flight.
BOARDING/THE FLIGHT
Jet2 operate a continually growing fleet of (13)Boeing 737-300 aircraft which carry about 150 people. Whilst they all sport the snazzy new silver Jet2 livery they’re actually pretty old planes. That said, there’s no problem with them, they do the job and are rarely delayed being fairly basic and easily serviceable as they’re so common.
Boarding occurs in 2 stages, back first, then the front. Unusually for a budget airline, this also occurs through airbridges which is great as you don’t have to trek down onto the tarmac. Inside, the planes are basic and dull but clean and tidy. Seats are a sort of grey leather and are fairly comfy, though legroom isn’t massive (as is to be expected). Let’s face it, most of Jet2’s flights are little more than 3 hours anyway so it doesn’t really matter.
The cabin crew are smiley, friendly and helpful, and the captain shortly comes across on the tannoy to let you know how everything’s going once everyone’s on board. A nice touch is that here, along with the usual weather/flight time spiel, they tell you how smooth they’re expecting the flight to be, at what points there might be turbulence and how long you’ll be taxiing for. We were also told not to worry about the loud engine noise when landing as this was part of the standard braking procedure. All very nice touches for new or nervous flyers.
I’ve never yet encountered a Jet2 flight that hasn’t left either on or before schedule. Whilst taxiing, the crew do the usual safety demonstrations, then you’re on your way. Once up in the sky, the crew begin coming round and taking orders for drinks/snacks/merchandise, which you can find details of at the back of the in-flight magazine. Prices aren’t too extortionate, 50p for a small soft drink or £1 for a tea/coffee. Sandwiches about £3.
You’re regularly updated by the captain throughout the flight and it is all in all a pleasurable experience (if you enjoy flying like me that is!). At the end of the day, it’s a means to an end and there’s very little to tell between short-haul flights once you’re up in the air.
UPON ARRIVAL
I found upon arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol that we’d been put on a runway about 20 minutes away from the actual terminal so a loooong taxi was in order, still arrived at the gate bang-on time though. We were told by the crew that Jet2 representatives are available in the airport if help was required, we haven’t needed this as yet. Baggage was unloaded quickly and already available on the belt when we got there.
Return flights have been equally agreeable, always bang on time or early and easily followed on the brilliant Leeds Bradford website http://www.lbia.co.uk for anxious relatives/people picking you up. We were the last flight of the evening upon returning from Amsterdam last week so got to see the entire Jet2 fleet all in shiny silver livery parked up 7 in a row across the tarmac at Leeds - quite a sight!
Returning into Leeds is very smooth again, with the plane unloaded quickly. The newly re-vamped arrivals hall is very pleasant.
CONCLUSION
All in all, Jet2.com are a wonderful airline and their presence at Leeds Bradford opens up a whole new world of opportunities for me and my friends/family that simply weren’t available in the past. I feel we owe them a lot for that and reward them with our continued custom.
They not only offer these opportunities but do so in style, keeping to their promises and offering an almost unrivalled service as far as budget airlines go. Their recent awards as 2nd best short haul airline in Europe (that’s ahead of BA, bmi, Air France, Lufthansa, SAS, Iberia….) and most punctual airline flying from Amsterdam Schiphol are well deserved.
I only hope that their rapid expansion isn’t shooting themselves in the foot so to speak, and that their growth and success continues. We’ll look forward to flying with them again soon and would well advise anyone else in Yorkshire or indeed anywhere in the north to give them a go too!
Hope you enjoyed the review, and thanks for reading! Tom.
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