Traveling with Easyjet
 

I am planning to fly from Paris to Luton, England with Easyjet. I notice that the price is very reasonable, the luggage allowance of 20 kg seems pretty strict ( 9 Euro per extra kg), and there seems to be an extra fee for early boarding. Does anyone have experiences to share about flying with this company?

We flew EasyJet from London to Belfast at the beginning of last summer and had no problems with them at all. We stowed our checked bags in Heathrow and only used carryons. We never encountered the early boarding fee, so don't know about that. Overall, we had no complaints about using them.

Hi Vroom - I use Easyjet several times a year - they're one of Europe's biggest budget airlines.

Never had any problem with them ... Excess baggage can soon add up - so travel light :)

Steve

<<< the luggage allowance of 20 kg seems pretty strict >>>

That's their checked luggage allowance. There is no limit on cabin luggage weight.

However is Easyjet from Luton going to be any cheaper than Eurostar once you've added in the costs of getting to & from airports - plus the additional travelling time

Ok, Easy jet have no seat allocation.
Basically you get on and choose where you want to sit.

This can of course lead to the innevitable rush to be first on.

However, Easy Jet have kind of solved this. The first people to check in get allocated boarding passes within a block of 20-40 not sure exactly but these are allocated, lets call it 'group A' status.

At boarding 'group A' status passengers will be asked to join the queue to board. And all the people who rushed up to the gate as they saw a member of staff arrive, are forced to step back.

Easy Jet have always operated this system successfully whenever I have used them, which is about 7 times.

The only concession is those people that pay extra to be first on,(who presumably have bought 'Group A' status), the elderly, infirm, disabled and people with young children. So if you fit into any of these categories you need to make them aware and they will help you.

Now in order to achieve the 'group A' status. You need to be right at the front of the check in before it opens.

This is difficult as you may not know where the check in is until it is announced, however the rule is be early.
Especially DO NOT be late as they will not not let you board. no exception. This is because the same staff members are checking tickets at check in, and also checking boarding passes at the gate too.

But in fairness EJ are clearly a budget airline, with no frills at all. But they are cheap, they offer good value in my opinion.

By the way, 'Group A' Status is my term not theirs, but they have a similar less obvious term.

Good luck and have a safe journey.

Muck

Easyjet do operate from smaller local airports as well as larger ones such as Luton. At some of these, you either walk to the plane or are taken there by bus. In that case, paying for priority boarding can be a waste of time and money. The first person onto the bus may be the last one to leave it.

With the proviso that boarding can be a bit of a scrum if you want to ensure that you are all seated together, I have no complaints about Easyjet. Their booking and chek-in systems work fine, the planes are new and fresh-looking, their staff are generally friendly and efficient. Flight times are short, so the lack of entertainment on board is not important. You have to pay for drinks and food, but the quality is fine and the prices compare well to those on trains, at airports, etc.

The use of local airports makes Easyjet popular with Europeans living in mid-size cities. Getting off a plane and being home within the hour is much better than flying via one of the London airports.