Easy Jet- Speedy Boarding

[jepa]

Can anyone tell me whether its worth paying the extra cost for Speedy Boarding with Easy Jet?
I'm going to France in August with DH DD 7 and DS 5?
So for the four of us it would be an extra £74
thank you

yes

so long as you are prepared to go "Speedy Boarding that's us, come on you lot" in a loud voice and force your way through the people who haven't speedy boarded paid with your elbows

in that case, which I have always been fine doing, then yes absolutely worthwhile to sit together and get on first

Not worth it unless you've got lots of spare dosh. When they announce that the speedy boarders can now board, half the passengers stand up - they've all paid extra

I haven't paid for 3 adults and one toddler. I just figure if we don't sit together my DS will just be passed around once the seatbelt sign is off.
Damn BA for not flying to Alicante! Maybe I would with 2 children though that need a seat, but surely not even Easyjet would allow a 5 year old to sit on their own - speedy boarding or not!?

We travelled with them in December and didn't bother. We just got to the gate early and bagged our spot on the way there :) On the return flight they changed the gate and we were about half way down the normal queue. There were 8 of us including 5 adults and 3 children. We managed to sit together on each leg of the journey with no problem.

We figured that so long as each child was sat next to one adult it didn't matter. As it was it really wasn't a probem at all and we all sat together.

PS If I was travelling without children i would question it if a 5 year old on their own (I appreciate they wouldn't really be on their own but still) was sat next to me (I would be nice to them BTW) but would not be prepared to take responsibility for them.

We figured that very few people would be happy to take responsibility for a child not their own, so would be more willing to move than take on that responsibility.

Once the speedyboarders have got on, people with children are next so you should get seats together anyway

people with children under 5 are next

I have seen people with children under 10 go up at that point and they don't turn them away

LadyBiscuit - they have been very strict on the two easyJet flights I have been on. One said under 3s only and one (the Dec one) said under 5s. And they stuck to it, no exceptions.

Ooh gosh, perhaps it was just me being lucky. Hmm in that case, perhaps it is worth paying the extra. Sorry for duff advice OP

Ww still don;t pay the extra and have never had a problem.

At UK airports you also get a dedicated check-in, that is worth it for us. Last summer there were horrendous queues due to computer breakdown, people were queuing right out the airport door and we got to go right through all of that to a much smaller line.

But for non-UK airports definitely not worth it if you have under 5s as there is no special check-in and the Speedy Boarders and families go on the first bus together to the plane. But IME Easyjet is much stricter on the age limit then eg BA who said priority was for under 5s but let us go first with a 7 year old.

Brilliant - thank you
Think I just might

I never do, out of pure bloody minded principle more than anything - just another way to load more charges onto the cost of the flight. Having said that, I get more panicky every year that we will not sit together (only three of us though), as more and more people do seem to do speedy boarding, which in a way defeats the purpose because there is now a huge 'speedy boarding' queue!

We have been lucky so far though, and am still pleased we haven't gone with it. Also, worth checking the individual airports. As has been said here before, if you board a bus to take you to the plane, you end up boarding it first, but getting off last, so then in mad scramble for seats anyway (Luton is one).

However, if you are coming back from Nice, they are very strict and 'speedy boarders' have priority and will get seats first, but that also means that you end up standing in very hot tunnel for longer waiting for the crew to open the plane doors.

sorry, meant to add, the alternative is to check in online, as soon as you can, so will be first of the non speedy boarders.

Has anyone ever actually tested this one out? I mean, as in refusing to pay the ripoff speedy boarding fee and ending up with 4 scattered seats and 2 small children under 5? What exactly do the flight attendants do about it? Allow you to dump your children next to complete strangers?
And wasn't there a case recently where BA (?) refused to let a man sit next to an unrelated, unaccompanied minor in case there was an allegation of child abuse.
I believe Easyjet are playing on the fears of parents and forcing encouraging them to pay for something that they would be able to have anyway, namely seats together with their small children.

Although it might have changed by now, DifficultEasyJet allowed me to board with my DC directly after the speedy boarders - DC were aged 13 & 15!!!! (but small for their age :)) I wasn't going to disagree...

Galletti, maybe not worth it at Luton but at Gatwick there are 2 buses to the plane, one for Speedy Boarders and families with under 5s and one for the rest. SB and families board their bus first which goes to the plane while the other bus is loading so you definitely do get priority over non-SB but no difference to families with under 5s re the bus, although as I said the SB have an exclusive priority check-in that sold it to us.

It has been like this for both our Easyjet flights from Gatwick. I think in practice most people would move to allow small kids to sit with their parents, we have used SB because DS1 is 11 now and perfectly able to sit alone, but I know he would be upset to do this if DS2 was sitting with one of us.