Airline review: Budget carrier charges for everything, except good service

Airline

EasyJet

Route

Manchester to Paphos, Cyprus (MAN-PAF), flight EXY2269.

Takeoff – EasyJet has 188 A320s in its fleet, 20 of them in the NEO format.

Frequency

Five times weekly

Aircraft

Airbus A320neo

Class

Economy, seat 15D (aisle)

Flight time

4 hours 45 minutes (on schedule, though Flightaware logs an average delay of 10 to 20 minutes on the route)

Checking in

Check-in is theoretically completed online, with boarding passes printed in advance. But dropping bags off is a faff, largely because everyone has to go to an electronic kiosk and print off their own baggage labels before checking in the bags. It takes about five minutes, before another five to 10 minutes waiting at the oversized baggage area to send a backpack down the conveyor belt.

Loyalty scheme

EasyJet doesn’t have a points-earning frequent flyer scheme, but it does offer EasyJet Plus – a special membership for £215 ($400) a year. This bestows perks such as speedy boarding, fast track through airports, allocated seating and the ability to switch to an earlier flight for free. It’s mainly aimed at business travellers repeatedly flying the same route. Slightly weirdly, members of the Emirates Skywards scheme can spend – but not earn – points on EasyJet flights.

Baggage

If you want bigger than your tiny underseat bag, you’ll have to pay for it, with the precise charge varying by flight route. If bringing a large cabin bag – maximum dimensions 56cm x 45cm x 25cm – or checking in a case, the respective weight allowances of 15kg and 23kg are pretty generous by budget airline standards. The flipside is that the baggage charges are notably higher than competitor airlines. From experience, however, if your carry-on is a backpack, and it’s on your back, they’re not going to bother checking the dimensions and weight.

The seat

The seat – feels marginally bigger than described dimensions.

The EasyJet A320s have either 180 or 186 seats on them, depending on which specific aircraft you’re on, in a 3-3 formation. There’s a not especially generous seat pitch of 29 inches (74 centimetres), and a width of 18 inches (46 centimetres), although this is surprising to discover as the seat feels marginally bigger than that. Everyone has a mesh pocket and a tray table in front of them, but seats don’t recline, and there’s nowhere to plug in electronics.

Entertainment

If you can be bothered, you can connect to the “AirFi” service, where there are some games. Why anyone with their own phone or tablet would do this, rather than just play the games they’ve already got installed on their device, is a mystery.

EasyJet is “smiley rather than snarly”, while still being no-frills – one of several small elements that puts it on the better end of the low-cost carrier scale.Credit: Bloomberg

Service

Unlike some other European budget airlines, EasyJet’s cabin crew are clearly told that it doesn’t cost any extra to make the experience as pleasant as possible. It’s smiley rather than snarly, while still being no-frills. This is one of several small elements that puts EasyJet on the better end of the low-cost carrier scale.

Food

The in-flight food menu is pretty basic – largely sandwiches, crisps and chocolate bars. I end up getting a gammon and cheddar toastie for £4.95 ($9), and somehow the gammon is cold while the bread and cheese are warm. The beer selection – including Brewdog Punk IPA and Jubel Peach – is a lot less bland than it is on many full-service airlines, though.

Carbon emissions

235 kilograms. EasyJet offers a not especially prominent and voluntary carbon offsetting scheme, which allows you to pay up at any time before or after the flight. The airline has also committed to Net Zero flights by 2050.

One more thing

The Easyjet route map does venture slightly beyond Europe, with flights operating from Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

The price

From £89 ($172) one way in economy.*

The verdict

While plenty of other budget airlines in Europe have been and gone, one of the trailblazers of the low-cost model is still going strong. Flying with EasyJet is by no means luxurious, but there’s a geniality and value of custom that seems absent in many rivals. There’s a reason why many travellers will instinctively plump for EasyJet over its direct competitors. See Easyjet.com

Our rating out of five

★★★★

The writer flew at his own expense.

*Fares are based on those available for travel three months from the time of publication and subject to change.