LOL it's very odd behaviour on Easyjet flights as the queuing and boarding is a bit of a nightmare but actually once passengers are on the aircraft it seems to become a bit more civilised. I don't know if it is the mental relief of getting on and the stress being over as I have seen a few people swap seats so that families with young kids can sit together? My OH did this last year as there was a spare seat next to so by moving a mum and child could sit together.

There are often three or four of us but we go on last and agree to sit separate if needs be its normally only 2ish hours and we are all plugged into iPods and pads anyway, spending the journey willing the seat in front of us not to recline!

Thanks for the responses everybody. Easyjet prices for this flight were pretty much on a par with other airlines, it was the fact I could fly from my local airport that did it for me, and we did book well in advance, so budget airline doesn't come into it for this rant !!!

As Andy66 said, I don't expect special treatment because I had children with me, what I expected was for my children to be safe. As an airline passenger, for whatever airline you fly with you are expected to adhere to all the terms, conditions, security etc, not to abuse the staff, blah blah, however you expect the same back from them, to travel in a safe manner and to be treated with absolute respect.. This wasn't the case.

I sound like I am moaning, but I really don't complain about things, I am a plug the ipod in and get on with it person, but there really isn't any excuse for putting my family, and to be fair other families who were in the same position at the time at risk. Not only that, the mood really could've turned very sour quickly.. we all know what happens then.

We flew with Easyjet recently on our trip to Malta from Newcastle. I'd looked at booking Jet2 first as I prefer their seating arrangements ie you can book your seat or you are allocated your seat at check-in. Unfortunately Jet2 don't fly to Malta, so reluctantly I had to book EJ. I say reluctantly as it's the herd mentality that puts me off flying with them.

Holidays can be stressful enough, have I packed my hair straighteners for eg :yikes, did I lock the back door? Hope hubby doesn't loose the passports! Then getting to the airport, praying there isn't a tail back on the motorway, burst tyre etc. On arrival at the airport you then hope the queue for the check-in isn't greeting you at the door. Once your bags have been taken from you, you should then be able to chill, relax and think 'that's it I'm on my way'. Not to have to worry about queueing for ages and pushing onto a bus just in order to get a seat with your family.

I'm not actually bothered about a seat with hubby, I'm more concerned about there being space for our hand luggage in the overhead lockers, as, more and more people I've noticed are taking full advantage of the none weight restriction. Gone are the days of a carrier bag from Smiths containing a paper and sandwich.

The system EJ has in place spoils the holiday atmosphere in my opinion. People 'watching' others in case they are sneakily edging forward, those less mobile getting irritated because they aren't as fast on their legs as others & are being overtaken in the rush. Babies, young children & OAP's totally ignored as passengers with huge hand luggage bags barge past without a second thought.

We got talking to people waiting to board in Malta and everyone said the same thing, that they'd rather pay a little extra and be allocated a seat at check-in. It makes sense. It's more relaxing for the passengers, makes life far easier for the ground staff, EJ would get a bit of extra cash and so everyone's happy.

I do hope EJ bring in seat allocation, it would certainly get my vote. At the moment, if given the choice between flights with EJ or Jet2, Jet2 would be my first choice even if I was paying a little more.

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

The system EJ has in place spoils the holiday atmosphere in my opinion. People 'watching' others in case they are sneakily edging forward, those less mobile getting irritated because they aren't as fast on their legs as others & are being overtaken in the rush. Babies, young children & OAP's totally ignored as passengers with huge hand luggage bags barge past without a second .

I totally agree with you , it really does bring out the worst in people and I think the agents try their best to control boarding , but soon as control is lost you end up with the situation that baldy man26 had to experience and as he said the mood can turn sour quite easily .
I have booked speedy boarding mainly because I don't like queuing for checkin and the bag drop queue is usually just as bad especially at gatwick as they have so many flights and do multi checkin , and so far by having speedy boarding we have managed to get ex legroom seats in row 11 or 12 , or is it 12 & 13 ??? As everyone else seems to have a fight over row 1 !!!

I hope baldy man has or does put a written complaint in because if you don't let them know how are they going to be able to put things right ? Perhaps if this sort of thing comes up a lot they might look at changing the boarding system or exert more authority when the boarding process starts , also you said that speedy boarders were some of the last to get on and they have paid for a service they have not received , surely it's in easyjets interests to keep these people happy otherwise they won't pay extra next time if the system doesn't work or worse still fly with another airline, I think that you are justified in being unhappy because you are looking at it from a safety point of view and not just moaning for the sake of it , I would like to think that easyjet should take your points seriously as it also puts their staff in a difficult situation trying to sort out these issues .

I have to say I really don’t understand the EasyJet/Ryanair bias towards rugby scrum boarding.
The computers are cheap these days.
Checkin ALWAYS has to be done, whether online or at a desk.
And the computer could say what seat....
Ryanair/Easyjet don’t have the problem of other airlines of a huge variety of airplanes and seat layouts. It’s nearly always a 737. Simples.
Most airlines are these days printing boarding cards on what seems like bogroll
– so it cannot be the cost of the cardboard.
Why don’t they stop this crazy nonsense which will, one day, possibly lead to violence and someone getting hurt. Fix it BEFORE there’s a real problem.
The airports authority ought to exert, well .... authority!!
ALLOCATE seats – ALL of them. Print seat allocations on bogroll.
And no rugbyscrum.
If folk want to pre-pick their seats to be next to exits, windows, or sexy cabin crew, then do the usual RyanAir/EasyJet thing - and charge for it.
Elsewise, you get what the computer gave you.
Simples??
Could someone from RyanAir/EasyJet reading this, kindly explain how they save lots of money by forcing people to fight for seats on aircraft?

well put UKBill couldnt agree more, my poor old Mum struggled last year with all that pushing and shoving just to get a seat with my step Dad.. it was awful, and queuing to get on the plane she was nearly pushed down stairs by the throng of poeple behind her as she goes slow.. the queues were really long and we went all round the place at Bristol just to board
chilly

It's not the airline's fault, just the nasty selfishness of the travelling public.

But they create the panic Alsa . I'll admit we get in the queue too and I have even been known to run for the back steps .. a little girl on the bus challenged me to a race once and because it was all a bit of fun at the time I gave her one . Made a right idiot of myself and once the laughter had died down not particularly proud of myself .

However back to their reasons for continuing with this scrum mentality . I dont think it has a lot to do with cost of producing a pre-allocated seat , it cant possibly do for the reasons stated by UKbill .I believe it's more to with the fact that they want the fastest boarding they can possibly get in order to turn their planes round fast and lets be fair they do a pretty good job of it . Never once have we had a delay on an EJ flight .

Never thought of it that way Lyn - you could well be right

I take your point Lyn, but still feel that the travelling public contribute to the hysteria when boarding aircraft where seats have not been allocated in advance.

For years, Britain was associated with our ability to form a disciplined queue. It was almost a matter of national pride and fair play. Other countries considered it to be a distinctive trait of 'Britishness'.

Sadly I think that this discipline and self-control has been lost in the last few years.

HOWEVER ... back on topic, it would be good to see allocated seating or some subdivision of check-in timings applied to low cost carriers using the UK. In the US, Southwest Airlines was the role model for Ryanair, and they manage their boarding speedily and without stress. Maybe EJ and others should look over the pond.

lynwestie wrote:

However back to their reasons for continuing with this scrum mentality . I dont think it has a lot to do with cost of producing a pre-allocated seat , it cant possibly do for the reasons stated by UKbill .I believe it's more to with the fact that they want the fastest boarding they can possibly get in order to turn their planes round fast and lets be fair they do a pretty good job of it . Never once have we had a delay on an EJ flight .

I have never thought of that either Lyn but you may well be right. In which case its unlikely that they will change to allocating seat numbers on many flights.

Whilst it appears to be the most uncivilised boarding process in the world. It is quick. Passengers on an EJ flight certainly seem to get in their seats quicker than on a TC charter and they rarely miss their slots. It must mean they can keep their planes flying longer. I guess the only answer if you find it unsafe or intolerable is to fly with someone else although you would think they had some duty of care to ensure nobody gets hurt they might say it was passenger behaviour led. I've never had a delay on EJ.

having just booked a flight on EJ.. this topic is quite scary !... suppose we can't be bothered to go charging to the front of queue's maiming old folk and trampling on children... will we still get a seat ?... or do people do stupid things like a family of four sitting on 4 rows so they all get a window seat ??

Don't stress about it Steve. I think it depends which airport you board at as to how much of a scrum there is.

There should be a queue for Speedy Boarders then another one will start long before boarding time. Just make sure you are reasonably near the front of the queue. If they bus you to the plane, use the back stairs rather than the front where most people head for and you should pretty much have your choice of seat.

We found their plane to be spotless with decent leg room. Huge dimensions on their hand luggage and no weight limit, but only one bag/rucksack/case per person.

luci

I've flown with Easyjet four times in the last eighteen months, have never paid for speedy boarding, have never been separated from the people with whom I was travelling and have never felt myself to be in a 'scrum'

DS is 4 and still has a high back booster seat at home. We've never been able to rent one with a car from Alicante and have only been able to hire a booster cushion which is OK for DD 8.

I've tried contacting Easyjet about taking the high back booster with us but get different answers - some say I have to pay, others said I don't have to pay... A friend recently took two booster cushions and didn't pay. I wondered if there was a limit on the age of the child you could take a seat for.

Has any one got any experience please? Goldcar want to charge me €48 for each booster seat (including 1 that isn't the right sort for my DS) and I can check another case in for £28 if necessary but it's a case of getting it in the car to the airport;-)

TIA

Su

I shall move your post from the Costa Blanca forum to our Easyjet topic in the Flights forum where it may get a better response.

luci

AskCy wrote:

having just booked a flight on EJ.. this topic is quite scary !... suppose we can't be bothered to go charging to the front of queue's maiming old folk and trampling on children... will we still get a seat ?... or do people do stupid things like a family of four sitting on 4 rows so they all get a window seat ??

Steve I agree with Luci and Pippy, there's nothing wrong with the flight itself. It did sort of put me off knowing there was going to be this 'dash' but both journeys were fine.

On the outbound we boarded from the rear and got the middle exit row seats. On the return we were about 4 rows from the front. Leg room was fine, and no-one spread their group out to my knowledge. One bloke on our return leg was sitting in the aisle seat with no-one in the two remaining seats, a couple asked for the seats and he stood to let them pass. His wife was in the aisle seat across from him so they obviously both preferred aisle seats.

The airport in Malta is nice too, on landing I was impressed at how clean it looked, very shiny floors!

Steve I actually like EJ .Other than the queing their flights I think are very good . Ive never had one delayed , there appears to be more legroom than some of the charter flight's I've taken and everything seems to run very smoothly. You dont need to trample over children & old folk just to get a seat together . Just join the queue at some point and head for the back steps . If you are in the last 10-20 people to board you can realisticaly expect to be seperated but it's only for a few hours and your wife might like a bit of peace for the short trip

I think that you have summed it up well Lyn. You will always get people who want that bit more