I recently went on holiday to Prague, and I noticed my local airport, Newcastle, does not do flights to Prague anymore which were once run by Easyjet. After winning a return flight on Jet2.com, we decided to travel to Leeds to fly to Prague using this airline.

About Jet2.com

Jet2.com are a low-cost airline, aka a budjet airline similar to the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair and are based at Leeds Bradford Airport. They fly from 6 UK airports including Leeds, Manchester, Belfast, Blackpool, Edinburgh and Newcastle. As they are a budget airline, tickets can only be booked via the Internet or telephone and their company slogan is "Friendly Low Fares."
The planes used by Jet2.com are all silver with red.

Booking your flight

Booking online is an easy process at, of course, www.Jet2.com. They often have flights advertised for as little as £2.99 but this doesn't include the taxes and any extra charges. Jet2.com are a typical budget airline, they advertise low fares such as £2.99 on way, but then taxes are added and extra charges for taking baggage, a check-in fee, choosing your seats, a payment card fee and a booking fee. However some of theese charges are optional (such as choosing a seat) and sometimes you can get very cheap fares which include taxes.

The website isn't very nice visually and looks cheap and nasty! It does have a handy feature such as the Low Fare finder so you can find the lowest fares available for that month. I found booking flights and adding on the extras such as hold baggage to be a very easy process.
Once you have entered the dates you are flying, simply select the flights you require and continue on. It charges you extra for each piece of checked in luggage you require however you are allowed one small piece of hand baggage which does not weigh more than 10kg. Checked in baggage has a very generous allowance of up to 22kg providing you have paid the relevant fees.
There is also a discount for checking in online. This requires you to have a printer so you can print off the boarding pass. If you only have hand baggage then you simply go straight to departures, however if you are checking in hold baggage you simply go through the baggage check in queue.
Before paying make sure you have unselected any charges which the website automatically adds on for you. After you have entered your card details (there is an extra fee for credit cards) you will recieve an e-mail to confirm your booking and it contains your reference number. Once you have this number you can click on 'Manage your Booking' on the jet2.com website, type in the numbe and your surname and you will see your flight details. Here you can add passport details for each passenger, select your seats (at a charge), buy extra baggage or een purchase an 'inflight-meal.'
You can check in online from 28 days pior to departure and up to 5 hours before your flight. This is easily done and you simply print out your boarding pass to take with you.

At the Airport

At Leeds airport it was easy to find the Jet2.com area and the queue for baggage check in was clearly signposted. When we arrived there was no queue and we got straight to the front to check in our baggage. Your boarding pass and passport are required, and they weigh your baggage and off it goes.

Checking in at Prague airport was just as easy but they don't have a dedicated Jet2.com check in hall there. However they still had 2 desks, one for people checking in and the other for only checking in baggage if you've already checked in online.

Jet2.com have very quick turnaround times. Not long before our flight was boarding, the luggage from the previous flight was still coming off the plane and ours sitting waiting to be loaded! Boarding was a simple process and wasn't called in a specific order, however with Jet2.com you are assigned seats, so it's not a free for all as with other budget airlines such as Easyjet! At Leeds we walked to our aircraft however at Prague there are only aerobridges to be used. The staff at the door check your seat number for you, and the seating is arranged in numbered rows and 3 seats in each column which are lettered A to F.

Flying

The crew are very helpful, on our flight there were 3 members of the cabin crew and the captain and I presume one other. The Captain greets you as usual and the flight crew make sure everyone gets settled, checks everyone has their belt fastened properly and shuts the overhead lockers.

Once in flight the crew immediately set about selling drinks and food, and goods from the 'sky shop.' Prices are expensive, as is expected really, with hot drinks being £2 each and bars of chocolate a £1. There was some 'deals' such as getting a very large Twix extra and a hot drink for £2.50 which wasn't as bad. The announcements are very annoying, they announce the fact they are about to start selling drinks, then the food, and the sky shop. They announce the deals on each of these or the fillings for the panini's or what perfume is on special offer etc etc. and it does get very annoying.

Towards the end of your flight the crew announce they are coming around with a bag to collect your rubbish and to make sure the safety card is at the front in the pocket on the seat in front of you. The turnaround times on these planes is very quick, it was explained to us about 20 minutes before landing that the same plane was leaving for Alicante in an hour, and so they don't have proper cleaners but the cabin crew themselves do it.

The end of your flight

The Captain announces the start of the descent and seat belt lights go on. Of course you get people who still stand waiting to go into the toilet, and I noticed the crew didn't command them straight back to their seats. The crew again did safety checks, making sure everyone's trays were up and seat belts fastened.
In most airports you'll be walking down the steps and then either having a short walk to the airport or a short bus ride. However at Prague airport you are on an aerobridge which made a nice change. Baggage came through quite quickly both at Leeds and Prague and it was a smooth and efficient process and my luggage arrived safe and sound without any damage!

Summary

Overall I was pleased with Jet2.com and my return flight from Leeds to Prague was smooth and problem free. This was comparable to when I flew with Easyjet when after boarding the plane we had to get back off and back on the bus to the due terminal due to something being wrong with the plane (and thus being delayed for quite a while!) and also coming back when the flight was again delayed because something had been wrong with the plane at the other end...
The cabin crew were helpful and friendly and always smiling.
Jet2.com fly to quite a few destinations, however don't fly to all destinations from each airport. As with all budget airlines they make money from selling you extras, from choosing your seat and paying for your hold luggage and selling you items whilst flying. The quick turnaround does make it feel like a bus however I did feel safe whilst flying, an important factor!