In March, I have arranged to take an easyjet flight from Madrid to Amsterdam via London Luton. While it is probably not the most convenient way to get to Amsterdam, the roundtrip is quite inexpensive (about $150.00 U.S.). I was more or less wondering if anybody has anything to say about this airline.

yes, it's a brill service, it,s cheep and you get what you pay for, a no frills airline.

It's wonderful

Have a search through this site for easyJet and you will see a few things (positive) that I and maybe one or two others have had to say on them.

Jo-Anne

I'm an airline employee (not Easyjet though) but I have to say I have heard good things about them. Look out for special deals though and booking over the internet is certainly the better option. Don't expect meals, special services, etc - they do the job by getting you there! I work for BMI British Midland who go from Heathrow to Madrid and are worth looking at for special deals WITH the frills (meals, etc) but bear in mind that any Summer deals WON'T come out until after April 1st from the UK with almost any airline.

Sponge Cake

I don't think that 27 is too old for a goalkeeper!!!

The reason I got my easyJet flights for £70 return from Liverpool to Madrid in middle of August, is because I signed up for e-mail notification from them when they put their summer flights on sale (which was 21 December 2000)and I was sad enough to sit infront of the computer at the designated time ready to do business. I had selected our flights and had them booked and confirmed all within 10 minutes.

This is ideal if you know, like we did, exactly when we wanted to go, but for anyone deciding closer to the time when they want to go, it has it's disadvantages - i.e. higher prices and less choice of flight times etc.

Of course, you don't get any of the extras that such as BMI have to offer either. Having said that, on a flight as short as the one to Madrid, it is quite refreshing not to have people moving up and down the isles with trolleys etc, it's quite relaxing and quiet!

Thanks for your input.

By the way, are you able to play your football matches at the moment? My sons' matches have been dogged this season for either foot and mouth problems, waterlogging, or frozen pitches (so many frozen pitches that some games were actually played on them to catch up with a backlog of matches, and the goalies told not to dive! As if!)

Jo-Anne



[This message has been edited by Jo-Anne (edited 03-25-2001).]

Hi Jo-Anne,

thanks for that!

you're right, booking last minute where scheduled flights are concerned very rarely bring up the good deals - a popular misconception, but even if you're sad enough to sit in front of a computer scouring for a cheap deal (as I have done many a time!) it could bring you that bargain you've been looking for. I was really impressed with Ryanair when I used them recently at £28 return to Verona!!! (cheaper than it costs me to get to London on the train I reckon!)

btw nope, very few matches recently - we'd be better off taking up water polo

Tim

As an ex-keeper myself, I wince when I remember those frozen pitches back in Blighty! Anyway, don't know if you've seen this, but follow Rob's thread down and think of a phrase that says something about one man's meat being another man's poison?
http://www.madridman.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000265.html


[This message has been edited by Anchovy Front (edited 03-27-2001).]

Now that I have returned home, I know all about EasyJet. I know you are dying to know what I thought. Well, I suppose any flight that gets one there cant be considered completely bad. This is a really no frills airline. Seats are not assigned and it is first come, first served. I would fly them again, but think I would do a little more complete comparrison before booking. For myself, having a 6 hour layover in field somewhere outside of London was not a good time. Good thing is that the flight was delayed for an hour. In total, I spent 12 hours getting from Amsterdam to Madrid. It was VERY cheap, but think it would possible not be bad to pay some more in order to have a bit better service.

I flew with easyjet from Liverpool to Madrid last month, and will be using them again in June. It is definately worth booking well in advance to get the cheapest fare. There was a delay to my flight due to a collision on the runway and that was a pain in the neck, but the return journey was on time. I think the simple booking system online is the best and will certainly be using them in future.

GO airlines have apparently pulled out of UK-Madrid, which I think leaves EasyJet as the only "no-frills" carrier serving the route. What mjames probably suffered from is that they don't do through-ticketing on their routes, so if you do a 2-leg journey, you're taking 2 completely separate flights (2 check ins etc).

not only were there separate check-ins for every leg, the lines had a tendency to be long. What was I expecting - first class at these incredibly cheap prices? As time passes I have to say that for as cheap as the fares are, if one gets there, they should have no complaints! If you are interested in economy, this airline is wonderful!!!

One issue that those traveling from North America should consider, when buying their tickets, is related to connecting flights. In some cases the flights aren't considered as contiguous (adjoining) in their issue.

That means that there is "no guarantee" on the next flight, or leg, if you prefer. If you miss it, there is no recourse for a different flight. You end up paying for the flight you didn't make, and end up paying for a different flight.

This can happen when you buy your tickets through sources that are offering "best buy" services, and unless you get the guarantee for each leg of your flight... be cautious.

Though it hasn't happened to me, it did to a family of four that I know of, that was destined for Spain. Their airline links were from San Antonio to NYC, to London, and then to Madrid. Their plane arrived too late in NYC for the second flight, and they ended up losing all four tickets for the next two legs, because the airline bookings were not considered part of a "continued flight package."

Sometimes... what appears as a great deal... isn't what you thought

This may sound like a rare situation but if it ends up happening...

Wolf

I've flown to Spain regularly with both Go and EasyJet and found Go vastly better. If they've discontinued their service to Madrid then I guess you're stuck with EasyJet. Wasn't there a post on here recently though (help me out here MM) from someone who's flight was delayed for ages and eventually cancelled altogether, the cause being that the budget carriers' "slots" come last in precedence to all the big airlines and if there's a delay they get pushed back and back and may eventually be delayed for so long they have to be cancelled.

ok....the airline employee is back! You're right about the slots. Generally, the larger airlines will get the slots first as they hold the larger account. British Airways, for instance, will always beat anyone! one other thing is that the airlines' only responsibility is to get the passenger from A to B (no-one said it had to be by air!!) - some airlines, noticeably the larger ones, will make more of an effort than the no-frills ones, but you may find yourself going by bus part-way! Still, as I've said in a previous post here, I think Easyjet is good value consistently, but DO check out other airlines to Madrid (so that'd be British Midland and Iberia) as there are bargains to be had from time to time with the "frills" airlines too - good luck.

On the topic of delays, EasyJet offer a full refund on any part of your flight where you're delayed more than 4 hours. As they sell outward and return legs of their flights separately, this can sometimes be a substantial part of the overall cost. For instance, my wife and I were delayed flying to Malaga at new year, due to snow. We left 5 hours late. EasyJet refunded us the £80 (each) that that part of the journey cost. As the return leg only cost £20 each, we ended up getting 2 return flights to Spain for £40, at the cost of a 5 hour delay! Not bad value, however you look at it.

Sponge Cake

As I am someone who has only booked easyJet can you tell me how I would go about booking a BM bargain flight? (I don't need one now, but maybe in the future?

I also noticed that British Midland are currently doing some kind of promotion through the Telegraph.

This is probably a very stupid question, but do BM ever fly from Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds? :o

Thanks

Jo-Anne

Hi Jo-Anne,

Sorry for the late reply - best bet is just to visit the British Midland website - www.flybmi.com and take a look at any deals on there. Unfortunately they only fly out of London Heathrow to Madrid - you can take connecting flights from either Leeds Bradford or Manchester but this will be a bit more expensive unfortunately. I live in north Derbys so London is a trek for me too. Anyway, for your information, British Airways are the only airline flying from Manchester & Birmingham (to my knowledge) and they also go from Heathrow, along with British Midland and Iberia - worth checking any of these websites because ALL airlines compete against eachother and have deals from time to time that can certainly rival Easyjet. Good luck.