Easyjet - is Speedy Boarding necessary or do families board first anyway?

[mumemma]

Just booking Easyjet flights - first time since having dcs - and been offered Speedy Boarding for £39 extra. Mixed reviews online about the value of this but just wondered if families get priority anyway? Booking half term so maybe the whole flight will be families! I really want to be able to sit together - dd of 4 and ds of 18mths. Anyone with experience of this? Thanks.

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Thanks, I am hoping it'll be ok without paying the extra - obv not going to seat dcs on their own but with ds 18mths, I need dh close by or any other neighbouring passenger is likely to be mightily pissed off when they're kicked, headbutted, have their hair pulled, etc....

hiya, we did pay the extra for speedy boarding & I personally think it was worth it just to avoid the hassle of trying to make sure you all get sat together. We could choose our seats & the bonus was no-one wanted to sit next to a child so we ended up with a spare seat between me & dh - very handy!

rosmerta, do families board after the speedy boarding then or in the scrum with everyone else? Is there quite a high proportion of speedy boarders?

Last time I went with them Speedy boarders got first priority, then families with children under the age of 5 and then the scrum. There were only 2 speedy boarders on our flight. Ds2 isn't yet 5 so glad I didn't bother.

Just flown with easyjet, last week, with DD who is 3 months. No need to go for speedy boarding as you will get priority boarding just after speedy but before everyone else.

Sounds like Easyjet are better than Ryanair, who used to board families first but now charge for the "privilege". If you don't pay, you board in the scrum, and they couldn't care less if you sit with your children or not! Most annoying thing is that if the flight isn't busy, far from letting everyone spread out so no one has to sit next to the kicking toddler, they restrict seating to the middle of the plane...

When we flew, it was speedy boarding, then families under 5, then everyone else. But friends of ours said that when they flew they only did speedy boarding and then everyone else, families didn't get any priority. I wonder if its luck of the draw on the day?

Where are you flying from? I wonder if that makes a difference (we flew from Luton but friends from Gatwick).

I did find this on their website

I always fly from Gatwick, and we get family priority after speedy.

Presumably you can also do 2 bookings if there are 2 adults with older kids. One can go for the Speedy option and "bag" the seats?

Depends where you fly from but I wouldn't bother TBH - if you board by bus you only get a Speedy board on to the bus and not to the plane.

I've flown 3 times with Easyjet in the last couple of months and they give priority to speedy boarding, then families with children under 2 and then the rest. Ryanair are the worst ever - crap luggage allowance and don't care about small children.

Very helpful, thanks. I've booked the flights without speedy boarding now. Hopefully the entire flight will not be made up of speedy boarders and families, although as we're flying from Gatwick at half term it's a possibility, I suppose.