Despite decent service, this airline’s seats are just too small

The airline: Jet2

• Route Rome Fiumicino to Manchester, flight LS988.
• Frequency Four times a week
• Aircraft Boeing 737-800
• Class Economy; seat 15F
• Flight time 2 hours, 20 minutes (arriving 22 minutes ahead of schedule)

Jet2 is the UK’s top-rated airline for service.Credit:

Checking in

Having checked in online, the boarding pass saved to my phone, I get to stroll straight to security, all cool and insouciant. A glance at the check-in desks shows only a couple of people in the queue.

Baggage

I can do the above because I’m travelling with hand luggage only – something that is increasingly difficult to do on Europe’s ever more stingy budget airlines. Jet2 is a throwback to a kinder age, permitting everyone to take a 10 kilogram bag, with fairly generous maximum measurements of 56cm by 45cm by 25cm. You’re also allowed one “small, personal item” to put under the seat. If checking in baggage, you get a surprisingly capacious 22 kilograms in return for an extra €45.15 ($79).

Loyalty scheme

It’s called My Jet2 but is not really a loyalty scheme – more a collection of discount codes for people who bother to sign in. It is not a member of any airline alliances, so don’t go expecting Qantas or Virgin Australia points.

The seat

Seats are exceedingly narrow.Credit:

There’s a simple 3-3 layout, with alternating red and grey plastic seats. It’s a disgrace that plummeting standards elsewhere make the 29.5-inch (75-centimetre) pitch seem relatively spacious for a short-haul European flight, but the 17-inch (43-centimetre) seat width is largely responsible for most of the discomfort. As a well-practised pie consumer, that’s just too small, and the rebellion against ever-shrinking seats can’t come soon enough.

The seats do not recline.Credit: David Whitley

The seats are fairly hard and don’t recline. There’s a slot above the unfolding tray table for the emergency procedures card, menu, in-flight shopping magazine and sick bag, plus a separate pull-out metal loop for storing cups or glasses in.

Entertainment + tech

Jet2’s idea of entertainment is playing British pop singer Jess Glynne’s 2015 single Hold My Hand over and over again. The airline, bafflingly, has adopted it as some sort of incredibly annoying signature jingle, and we get to hear it three times before take-off. Otherwise, there’s no magazine, no Wi-Fi and no powerpoint or USB port for you charge from as you listen to Jess Glynne on your own device.

Service

British consumer magazine Which? rates Jet2 as the best British airline. This is partly about the generosity on baggage allowance, but a lot to do with customer views on the service. There’s a reputation for friendly efficiency, with few problems, which is what I encounter too. The recorded announcements in cloying children’s TV presenter voices are a minor irritant, though.

Food

There’s a limited menu of sandwiches available, but at least some of them are a little unusual – such as the onion bhaji mango wrap – and they’re all available. That’s something when rival airlines (cough, Ryanair and WizzAir) have extensive menus but hardly anything on the actual cart. My £5 ($10.40) cheese and ham toastie is about what you’d expect from a coffee shop chain, but I wish I’d waited for the second round of service, where all the sandwiches were suddenly half price.

Sustainability

Jet2 environmental efforts include investing in a Sustainable Aviation Fuel plant, going electric with more than half of its ground service equipment and cutting out more than 22 million single use plastics in 2023. It doesn’t have a Net Zero pledge.*

One more thing

Once upon a time, Jet2 saved its unsolicited exposure to Jess Glynne for passengers in the north of England. However, it now operates flights to dozens of European hotspots from Birmingham, Bristol, London Stansted, Glasgow, Belfast and Edinburgh.

The price

I paid €102 ($178), booking a month ahead, for a flight in January.

The verdict

Jet2 performs well, by the extremely low standards of European budget airlines.Credit: David Whitley

By the Mariana Trench-low standards of European budget airlines, Jet2 does well. But it’s still a squeeze, and boy does it need to widen its playlist.

Our rating out of five

★★★½

The writer flew at his own expense. See jet2.com

*For more information about air travel and sustainability, see iata.org

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

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