Easyjet-the easy airline? (easyjet.com)

Member Name: lyndsey1989

Product:	easyjet.com
Date:	06/08/09 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfort of Plane and Flight

Disadvantages: Delays!

Just before our recent holiday to Italy, my partners brother sadly passed away. His funeral was scheduled for the day before we were due to fly home from our holiday, this led to a number of questions as to what we should do. Do we go on the holiday at all? Can we change the flight? There was no question that we absolutely had to be home in time for his funeral so we set about finding an alternate flight home because Thompson couldn't possibly try to find us an alternate flight.

THE BOOKING
I trawled through just about every airlines website I could think of but none of them had the flight I needed (Verona-Bristol). Me and partner then decided that we should look into other airports in Italy and eventually found just one flight which was good enough, Venice to Bristol with Easyjet. I was confident enough booking with Easyjet as my parents had been to Spain the month before with them and had had no problems at all.

The website is fairly easy to navigate, you begin by selecting your language and are then directed to a page where you enter your requested flight details. You are then taken to a page which shows available flights, you can choose to have a 3 day view, 14 day view or flexible fare. You will find that if you are flexible with your flight, even if its just by 24 hours this could make a dramatic change in prices.

After picking which flight you would like you realise there are a number of additional charges, however these are not too steep and are nowhere near as bad as a number of companies. For example, on Easyjet flights you are not allocated seats, therefore if you wish to sit with whoever you are travelling with it is recommended that you purchase speedy boarding at a price of £6 in order to board the plane first. You have to pay £8 if you take more than just hand luggage that you want to be stored in the hold, this is allowed to weigh up to 20kg which I found to be generous. Travel Insurance is priced at £8.99 per adult.

After this, the flights were easy to book and just required you to put in your credit or debit card details. Please do not however that you must print your booking as this is your ticket.

One problem I did find with the site was that I found it very difficult to find a telephone number for customer services, however there must be one on there as when I was away I asked my sister to find one and she did manage.

THE FLIGHT
We arrived at the airport about an hour before check in opened because we were being dropped off by family members who had the rest of their holiday to continue with. Check in opened at the correct time and everything went through fine. We had added Speedy Boarding to our booking whilst on holiday and although the man at the check in desk kept telling us we didn't have it after looking on the computer he realised we actually did.

After wandering around the shops for an hour me and hubby decided to go down to the gate. After sitting there for about 10 minutes we realised the flight was infact going to be delayed (Brilliant! The flight was now scheduled for 22.50 when we had to be at a funeral 2 hours away from home first thing the next morning!) After a lot of moaning on my part I got used to the idea of it being late and sat patiently and waited until the gate opened.

When the gate opened everyone seemed to pile in regardless of what boarding group they were in. Speedy boarders were told to board the front of the bus so we did but were rather put out that I had wasted £12 when everyone else got onto the front of the bus too. The bus took us to our plane and we were kept on the bus for a good 10 minutes whilst they appeared to be checking the plane. To be honest it looked as though there was a fault. Engineers were running back and forth and there was a suspicious puddle on the ground.

When we were finally able to board the plane everyone ran off the bus to the plane, again regardless of boarding groups. Luckily me and partner were at the front so we did manage to sit together. The plane was filled with smoke when we boarded which worried a lot of people but we were told it was just the air conditioning.

The actual flight was very pleasant, both take off and landing were smooth and throughout the flight no turbulance was experienced. The in flight staff were very pleasant and were happy to help or settle any queries you had.

Overall, I would say that EasyJet were a very good airline. I must admit I was very annoyed the flight was delayed, especially due to the circumstances but other than this I found the service to be perfect. The plane was very comfortable and I believe overall the flight was good value for money. I paid £92 (per person) for a flight from Venice to Bristol. I would certainly consider using Easyjet again.

Summary: Good value airline, recommended