easy jet morons

[ledkr]

I know its been done before but i have just got back from spain and was horrified at easy jet policy of first come first served on the plane.I have flown with them before but dd was under 5 so got the priority thing.
How can it be right for a child to sit alone?We just about managed to get aisle seats side by side but i spent 3 hours buying and unwrapping snacks/drinks passing books and pens and rescuing her from the two young snoggers next to her who were practically shagging on her left arm!!It got me thinking and apart from the obvious safety issues what about the child protection stuff? Who knows what someone could do or say to a child sat next to them out of sight of their parents( am i being really ott now? )
I know they are a budget airline - actually a grand for three flights to spain isnt really that budget- but how do they save mone by not allocating seat numbers?
I will not fly with them again although i have baby due in jan so will be back on priority but stil will avoid them like the plague.
They are actually breaking their own policies as they refuse to take unaccompanied children.

Oh, Marjee beat me to it! :)

Do disabled people get to board before those with children?

We are flying with 'sleezyjet' on Tuesday and I'm a bit worried that dh will struggle and get mown down in the rush!

there were 3 of you? so dh should have run ahead and bagged better seats rather than walking with you and your SPD and your dc.

when we go ryanair that's what we do. i run ahead, dh follows with bag, dd and pushchair.

if you're doing budget you need to go with a plan and make the best of it. you got crap seats cos you didn't know this.

Don't. fly. easyjet. Ever.

No trip is ever THAT important, that you have to pay for the privilege of being insulted, treated like animals. it's not even that much cheaper by the time you have factored in luggage, paying priority to get seated with human beings you actually know, and everything else you get included in a ticket with a proper airline.

Have you never seen those dreadful Airline programmes? Wasn't that enough to convince you that the airline was not for you?

It was enough for me.

I hear Air Lingus do good very cheap flights to the south of Spain, Dad (never known for his tolerance) took flights with them last year and was happy enough.

I don't know if it's policy,but there was a man who was a wheelchair user on my outgoing flight and he was boarded after the speedy boarders and before the parents with children under 5.

There was no rush either but it seems that isn't the norm.

Daft, is your dh in a wheelchair? I read these easyjet stories with horror (as my dh is in a wheelchair). We've only flown once with him and that was on KLM. Even that wasn't brilliant, I would despair of what easyjet might make of a disabled passenger.

Erm - we fly easyjet all the time and each time, regardless where we're going, they do priority boarding first (not many people) then families under 5 years old - then everyone else.

The reason why only a few pay up for priority is that more often than not those 10 people get to go on the bus first - but then so do 40 other people who are not priority and they all get to the plane at the same time.

The worst people on budget airlines with no seating allocations are the families with young kids in my opinion.

I've seen families board late and when the family bring it to the attention of the crew they will happily call out to ask if people are willing to shift seats so that families can sit together.

Just cough up and fly a national airline. DS will be 5 soon and cheap flights are never that cheap and I long to fly in a proper plane where you just board and look for your allocated seat - just bliss - even in europe.

Not in a wheelchair, although may go to the gate in one. Just walks very slowly which sounds worse than being in a wheelchair.

Think we will have to speard out so no-one can pass us down the tunnel. Tat would annoy everyone.

If it is a bus, I guess we are buggered.

In some ways, I'm happy for my 5 and 8 year olds to sit elsewhere. Someone else can entertain them!

ruddy-thanks for remembering the letters sdp as i couldnt but your post made me laugh as i have a vision of me running(cos i did try)whilst holding my belly in my hands as that is quite comfy. Yes I have learnt my lesson but as i said earlier it was more a matter of times than cost as Riven pointed out earlier a grand for 3 crappy flights to spain is far from "budget" The bloody holiday company went bust during the holiday so we had to pay hotel again so unless abta or barclay pay up we could have had a holiday to the maldives or such like without the budget flights.
Oh well. Skegness next year, i give up haha

We flew easijet earlier in the year and paid for speedy boarding which worked quite well as we got thru the scum at the gate.

However, as there was a delay there was a very pregnant lady with a toddler in the queue and us speedy boarders asked if she could be allowed thru first but the easijet staff wouldn't let her as she hadn't paid even though we who had paid were all happy for her to go thru. Mad.

"walks very slowly" sounds like a nightmare from an easyjet perspective, unless you + dc can sprint and he's capable of taking whatever seat is left, Daft? My dh can walk a bit but each step is more painful than the last so for me this would have me rugby-tackling the person out of seat 1A as he staggered to the plane. It was pretty awful that KLM insisted on sitting us in row 8 because the nearer rows are for your premium types. The man can barely walk for the love of crap! (and rows 1-7 were not full)

Hmm, I think I might be phoning the holiday company tomorrow to check that we are able to board before the ''scum'' (as Gremlin called them ).

We are supposed to be on a 'luxury holiday'

I've never found the easyJet cabin crew to be any more or less rude than BA/Qantas/American Airlines/Emirates/KLM etc. Yes the ground staff stick rigidly to rules about gate closure times etc but rules are rules and it is this which has earned eJ its spot as one of the airlines with the best on-time record in the industry.

People should be prepared, plan and leave plently of travel time. We fly with eJ but we plan the trip, we have the maximum dimension cabin bags and don't check baggage, don't forget to pre-print boarding cards etc etc and it does save money - money which I'd personally rather have to spend at my destination.

As for priority boarding - so what if you only get onto a bus first? If the flight is full there will be at least 2 busses going from the terminal to the aircraft. Everyone on the first bus will get seats with their travelling companions not so those on the second bus. Speedy boarding guarantees you a place on that first bus without having to queue for ages getting anxious about getting seated together. If I travel with anxious travellers we pay for speedy boarding if I travel with DH we don't bother - not the end of the world if we can't sit together but actually that has never happened on either RyanAir or eJ and we don't rush to queue up. Only people I have ever seen on eJ complaining about not being able to sit with their travelling companions are parents who get onto the plane after everyone else has sat down.

I don't get the problem. Flying with budget airlines can save money and is usually only a terrible experience for those with unrealistic expectations and those who are utterly disorganised.

Still don't understand what is the OP's problem though since from what you say about the druggies being asked to leave the plane you got to move and sit with your daughter anyway were you perhaps exaggerating slightly????

If you had got to the gate early they would have let you on first, or perhaps after priority. Sorry but you must have been really late to the gate (compared to everyone else) to end up with a separate seat to your child. And the speed of the turnaround is a key part of how EasyJet works - they have about 20 minutes to turn the plane round, get everyone off, rush round with a bin bag, load on the next lot of food and luggage, then get the passengers on. You just have to get there as quick as poss and get in the queue.

FWIW I travel EasyJet lots for work, sometimes priority boarding and sometimes not (because different clients pay and it depends whether they thought I was worth it ). It's rare for me to end up very far from seat 4C regardless of priority, it's certainly not worth paying extra for single travellers IME. Once I had priority boarding but ended up in with the scum because I didn't have time to fight my way through the crowd before they let the plebs on! That underlines that the staff won't stand there for ages looking through the passengers and deciding whether anyone deserves to get on earlier or not - it's one call and then everybody on.

BA (and probably other airlines too) offer you the "privilege" of paying £20 per person to book your seats in advance online. What they don't tell you is that you can do it for free 24 hours in advance, when there are still plenty of options for selecting seats together/by windows/aisles etc..

That's a saving of £160 for a return trip for a family of 4. Although DH reckons it'd be worth paying that amount not to sit with the DCs.

clam I did that with BMI baby. I checked in online a day or so before the flight and got to pick better seats for free than I could have by paying for the privilege!

People seem confused. I was ok with our seats as were by eachother and I was not at all late! the plane was a small airbus and entrance by tunnel so running etc won't change place in queue! the fact of no seat allocation and inappropriate travel companions for my daughter made me question the possible safety of a lone child! I'm sorry I asked now!

ledkr in answer to your original question, how does it save budget airlines money, the 'quoted' reason is that it makes people arrive at the gate earlier and board in a rush allowing them to keep their 45 minute turnaround times. Airlines with allocated seats have longer turnaround times as when passengers have a numbered seat, they know there is no need to rush.

That is at least the reason quoted by the airlines, whether it's true or not I don't know. But I agree, if an airline doesn't take unaccompanied children, then makes them travel unaccompanied anyway it does seem a bit pointless. And you're right from a safety point of view you need a 'responsible' adult with a child to assist with evacuation/fitting of oxygen mask etc.

Tis strange. It would make more sense if the families with kids under 5 category was extended to under 12 or something similar.

D

thanks d the plane was delayed for an hour anyway haha and me and dh were saying it must be annoying for the staff to have to fend off anxious parents most flights.
Also apart from the obvious safety concerns how about the fact that some kids get nervous on take off or landing or even if there is some turbulence. My dd always reaches for my hand in this case.I also dont think i would in any other circumstances leave her out of my sight with a stranger!
Are you on the feb ante natal thread?i recognise the name?

priority boarding depends on the airport. We last flew with a 3 and a 8 as we had flew only a few year ago and I can't walk very well we walked 4 across and would'nt let anyone pass but some airport I think Berlin is one you have to go up and down stairs and no one tell you so if you have a child in a pushchair you board last as you have to fold pushchair to get down the stairs next time we fly we will book help and play the disabled card

ledkr yes I am [wave]!

And yes paying for priority boarding doesn't always mean you get on the plane earlier. It can mean you get on the bus earlier and are at the back of the crowd getting onto the plane, especially if (as has happened to us a few times) more than one bus is loaded at the same time and they depart and arrive at the aircraft at the same time.

It is a rip-off in a lot of locations.

D

it's not just ej that's like this.

in fact, i'm surprised that so many people say that they stick to their boarding priorities - i have been reduced to shouting & pushing people aside when dd was young, as they were deliberately blocking our way & the staff appeared not to 'see' us. I've also watched, many times, as the staff say they're boarding people with ticket numbers 1 to 20, then happily let through people with ticket number 51 etc. haven't flown with any of them for a while, so maybe they are better, but my experience was that staff did nothing to reinforce the rules.

it's not just the budget airlines, though. recently, we were flying across the States & used a 'proper' airline. For some reason they didn't allow online seat selection (available free from the time you book your ticket), nor would customer services help me out beforehand, nor would they explain why the system wasn't working. all i got was an email with 'the gate staff will reseat you' in it. when i got to the gate i got a weary 'if i can find seats' response. the plane had quite a few empty seats, so not because they had overbooked the plane.

i've even had me & dd separated on an overnight long haul, and gone to the lengths of finding the phone number to speak to someone before they bothered to put us together. as i keep pointing out, it would be BLISS to be on a plane alone for a night. not so sure the other passengers would like it, though.

We have travelled Ryanair and easyjet on a number of occasions with our kids.

If you don't manage to get seats together give your young children a bar of chocolate, some sticky sweets, some cream cake or a drink in an open glass and watch the people sitting next to him offer to move quick style!

we used to fly ryanair because the locations of the airports were just better for us. it was not very nice but dh and I are a good team :) one of us to get the seats while the other left the pushchair by the plane.
now we fly easyjet because ryanair is not going to the destination anymore and I am quite happy. they let priority boarders and disabled people on first and let them settle, then it*s families with small children, again they let us settle and only after that the rest of the passengers get on. staff was friendlier (at least the flight crew, check in people were another matter).

flew with ryanair recently (sadly only airline that flies to airport nearest my parents) with a just 2 yr old. I refuse to bustle for seats when it's just me and him and refuse to pay extra (because I know they can't allow me and him to sit separately). so i wait patiently to to the end, fold the buggy, struggle down the steps alone, the plane was full and then they HAD to move some people to get me seated with him. ALL BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO ALLOW PARENTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN TO BOARD FIRST. I hate budget (especially ryanair) with a vengence and whereever possible book with cheaper normal airlines but I go out of my way to make it difficult for them so that they know how stupid their system is. They don't seem to understand that NO ONE wants to sit next to small kids, no one wants to move for small kids, so boarding them first is best for everyone!