Flight Only / Airline and Airports

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Is speedy boarding worth it?

We are flying to Valencia from Stansted on Saturday and speedy boarding is still available at a total cost of £26 (2 of us return). It would appear that there are dedicated check in desks at Stansted but not Valencia.

We will be at the airport over 2 hours before our flight anyway and will check in straight away (hopefully). Also not too bothered about getting a window seat - one either side of aisle is fine with us.

Pippa
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I don't think so, as you say you will be at the airport as the desk opens for check in, We have only flown on two occassions with EJ and have checked in early both times and placed in section A, the EJ staff have controllled things well keeping passengers to their allotted slots and we have had a choice of suitable seats. This opinion has been based on our experience, I look for value when flying and what with charges for bags, check in etc the £26 is too much for me and does not represent value but for those with children it can save worry.

Dave ;)
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finally got a reply from Easyjet to say that they are sending me an insurance letter. They also want me to write or email them to say that I want the seats to be released - bit of a cheek really considering the fact that I can't get any money back off them! I'm not cancelling the seats yet though as I am waiting to see if the November flights will go on sale before 19th June and have also asked my friend to ask her GP if he will fill in the travel insurance forms (it was her surgeon who refused!)

Watch this space!
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Thanks David - think I'll save the £26 for something better!!

Pippa
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Personally I wouldnt bother with SB. I never do and always just push my way through the
scrum and onto the plane fast. Also, just chance your luck and go up to board with speedy boarders. I always get on and I haven't paid for it. Some airports are better than others.
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Then it is people like you who make a mockery of the whole boarding procedure. If everyone queued up in the proper boarding order which is mostly determined by when you check in then we wouldn't have these scrums at the boarding gate.

Why can't people act in an orderly manner instead of just barging through regardless of who they are pushing out of the way.

Pippa
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I agree with you Pippa - last year I got shoved out of the way by a male on the way down to the plane at Gatwick - he obviously left any manners he had at home. :really I fly quite often with easyjet and get to the airport early to get group A or B so I can get an aisle seat if I'm travelling alone. I once got asked to move to a middle seat so a family could sit together and refused unless another there was another aisle seat available. Basically, get there early and hope the proper boarding procedures are kept.
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The trouble is Easyjet don't police their bording procedures properly, they rely on people acting decently and this allows ignorant people to take advantage. The scrum that takes place round the entrance from the gate down to where you get to go on the plane is one of the most unpleasant aspects of an Easyjet flight and shows many people at their very worst. I do to a certain extent blame Easyjet though as they have taken extra money off of people for priority boarding and should ensure that is what they get. It cant be rocket science to sort it out. I have seen the elderly pushed out of the way by the young, but few care about that kind of thing these days. :(
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This is one of the reasons that I do not like flying with Easyjet - much preferred Air Berlin from Stansted who allocated seats but sadly have cut back on their routes. Until we as a nation go back to having good manners and get rid of the attitude of everyone for themselves we will have these awful scenes.

I am sure it would not cost Easyjet much to allocate seats - I'm sure it would actually speed up boarding as everyone would know where they were to sit.

Whether we book any more flights with them will depend on how these flights go I think. We have flown twice with them before - once to Palma and once to Valencia and it wasn't too bad but the flights were not full and on the Palma one I was using crutches so some people (but by no means all) did let me through.

Pippa
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This might sound like a bit for the Easyjet defence in a way. When i fly with Easyjet from my local airport to where I'm going. The ground staff (not actually Easyjet staff - it's handling agents they use) will tell passengers who are trying to barge through, e.g on group B but trying to board with group A or with speedy boarders, they will get told to get back until the group they are in are called. And they are not happy - my view is, should've checked in earlier if they could. But, at other airports it's a scrum/race to try and get on the plane first.
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Yes Miss Highlander, That has been our experience on the two flights we have taken with EJ, I felt that the ground staff did a very good job in quite difficult circumstances unfortunately for them dealing with absolute chancers. I am very happy to fly Easy Jet and look forward to Madrid in September.

Dave :wave:
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I have travelled with Easyjet many times from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast airports, and must say that I have never witnessed or experienced any sort of scrum. Everything has always been very orderly and well controlled. Perhaps it is just a problem at certain airports.

David :wave
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Our experience is the same, David. We fly from Gatwick and nearly always use EasyJet. We do move as far forward as we can before our number is called, but we (and people around us doing the same thing) are well aware that we must stand back and let people with earlier boarding priority through in front of us. We have seen many people turned back if they try to go through the gate before they are called, and we've never been involved in anything like a scrum!
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I hope Stansted is well behaved then!!

Pippa
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Fear not Pippa! Stansted is very well behaved ..... and if you were flying R***air, if you tried to barge in you might not be allowed on the flight at all.

In my opinion, Greenshoes, your attitude is very selfish. Not all speedy boarders are those who want a good seat on the aircraft, but some - like me last week - who need a bit of extra time to get settled and if a person like you were to barge me, you might actually do me physical harm (having been recently discharged from hospital).

I sincerely hope that people who share your attitude are firmly invited to remain in the boarding lounge until those entitled to early boarding have boarded, and then made to go to the back of the queue. I've certainly witnessed this at Basel and Stansted. And serve them right.
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Thanks for that Alsacienne - I do hope you are feeling better now.

Personally I think that people like Greenshoes should not be allowed to board at all - that way they wouldn't try it again would they? Thank goodness we do not all have that selfish attitude.

Pippa
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Have to agree about Stansted. Was well behaved when I flew with EJ from there earlier on in the year
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I think it might also depend on the time of year you travel. I was travelling at the begining of the six week school holidays & from Gatwick and I felt the check in at the desks was a bit of a scrum. Originally there were two desks which became four closer to check in closing so people from the back surged forward, in an uncrontolled manner at that point.

There were a dozen young lads all with surf boards taller than me & I kind of got mixed up in the surf boards & lads and lost my family. :rofl (although I guess there might be worse places to spend a holiday :really )

There was also a problem at the gate with people trying to queue jump as has been mentioned.

On the plus side we did get an airbridge and everything else about the flight was excellent. It was also 320 pounds cheaper than BA. I would certainly fly with them again.

Doe :sun2
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