easyJet - Affordable as a pair of jeans

Budget airline easyJet was started up in 1995 by Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, when it was one of the first airlines to offer no-frills scheduled flights. Initially just working from a telephone booking centre at London Luton airport, their first online booking was made in April 1998. Soon after, easyJet was to pave the way for the boom in low cost air travel to Europe and it is now the second largest budget airline. In the last 12 months they handled in the region of 44 million passengers.

easyJet Routes and Destinations

From Britain, easyJet operates scheduled international flights from 12 UK airports: Belfast, Bristol, Liverpool, London Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bournemouth. Domestic flights also depart from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Newcastle, Inverness. Liverpool, Jersey and the London airports. For the latest see: easyJet routemap.
EasyJet flies to main European airports, with a particularly good choice of cities in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Recently they expanded into north Africa, with flights to Marrakech and Agadir from Gatwick.
With hub airports all over Europe, easyJet's total number of European flight routes lies around 440.

Low priced return airfares from £33 return...

If travelling to Amsterdam check prices starting at under £40 from 8 British airports.

There are some great value last minute bargains to Berlin Airport from Belfast, Newcastle, Luton, Gatwick and Bristol with fares as low as £38.

Our choice for a weekend away is Krakow from Liverpool and Luton from just £45.

There is a new low cost route to Pisa from Bristol from £49.

Fly direct to Athens for less than £90 rtn from London Luton or Gatwick airport.

Reviews

Customer opinion about easyJet is very good generally. There are some gripes in case of delays or check-in queues and some passengers would prefer allocated seats. However, fares, service and flights are considered satisfactory and efficient in most cases.

Other Useful Information

Booking Tips	Book well in advance for the best prices. There is an internet booking fee* of £2.95, unless you pay by Visa Electron card. Telephone bookings are more expensive and are not encouraged. No tickets are issued, your booking reference number is needed for check-in. Also remember that children under 14 years must travel accompanied by an adult. Credit/debit card bookings are subject to an additional percentage fee, see: *latest easyJet payment fees. EasyJet contact numbers: Telephone bookings and web support 0905 560 7777 (£1/min). Sales or changes to existing bookings only 0905 821 0905 (65p/min). Customer Services 0871 244 2366 (10p/min).
Baggage charges and allowance	Free hand luggage has no weight restriction, but must be no larger than 55x40x20cm. EasyJet baggage charge for checked-in baggage is currently £8 per bag, this fee increases if you check-in more than 2 bags. Baggage charges are only shown during the booking process. Maximum allowance is 20kg per person, but up to 50kg is allowed on for an extra fee: Excess baggage charge costs £6/kg prepaid, more if paid at airport. Any single piece must weigh no more than 32 kg. Sports equipment up to 50kg in total can travel for £18.50 prepaid, or £26 if paid at airport, (no single item must weigh more than 32kg). Folding wheelchairs go free.
Check in	Check-in desks are open from 2 hours to up to 40 minutes before scheduled departure, gate boarding deadline is 25 minutes. Check-in early for the best seats. Online check-in is possible with hand luggage only, from 60 days to 2 hours before flight. EasyJet does not operate a connecting flight service, their advice is to allow at least 2 hours for transfers.
Seats	Easyjet seat pitch (legroom) is a small 29 inches, seat width is 17.5 inches. All seats are the same class, those who checked in earliest usually board first. Passengers board the aircraft like a bus and choose seats themselves, so there can be a rush to get on. The easyJet Speedy Boarding option costs from £6, this puts you at the front of the gate queue.
Flight Changes	Name/date changes can be done online and cost £22.50 per change per one-way flight plus any fare increase. Cancellation is possible only by telephone within 24 hours of making the original booking, cancellation fees are £22.50 per person per journey. Missed flights are not refundable. You are allowed to catch the next available flight for £38, provided you are at the airport within 2 hours of your original flight departure. You can also hop onto an earlier flight free of charge. For refunds, cancellations, enquiries call easyJet Customer Services (see Booking Tips). There is no customer email address. For more information see: detailed regulations.
Food	Inflight meals are not included, but a fair selection of drinks, sweets and snacks are sold on board.
Fleet	The easyJet fleet consists of 175 aircraft with average age of just over 3 years, mostly Airbus-A319 (156 seats), with also some Airbus A320-200 (180 seats) and Boeing-737 (149 seats).

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