What are opinions on airlines ?

[Chris_S]

A-a-a-ah Airlines. Where do I start?

I would have sent this yesterday, but a shovel went through the phone line outside (not me wielding it)…

Firstly, regarding the North South divide: we get ripped off down South as well you know (no Jet2!, etc).  That apart, note that it's farther to go from up North, so fuel costs are greater (think shuttle costs from Heathrow to Manchester/Leeds/Glasgow, etc.).

Airline experience?

Thomas Cook: (aka. Thomas C*ook) penultimate choice (RyanAir would hold the last choice if asked).  Worst cabin service, even worse customer service, and basically give a new definition to the airline acronym SLC (That's Self-Loading-Cargo).  You were lucky to get any positive response from them, as whenever we made any comments we were always told it was someone else's problem, and take it up with them.  So we did - never been back by choice.

EasyJet: (aka. QueasyJet) Better, but disorganised.  You pay for priority boarding, but it's ignored and abused by any regular EasyJet passenger since they know they can get away with it.  Hate getting drinks in Plastic bags (though this may have changed since our last experience). Better than LyingAir, but tend to treat SLC as a commodity, rather than people travelling for (eventual) pleasure purposes.  Strangely, our cases get 2-3kg heavier on EasyJet's check-in scales.

Jet2: no experience, as they don't do Southern Posh softies.

Monarch: Unlikely to go bust, though they are still restructuring after changing from a family owned outfit last year to a fund management/Investor type ownership.  Due to change all their aircraft in the next few years from Airbus to Boeing, reflecting their US-based owners.  Leg room is pretty typical, but you can check on www.seatguru.com; though the 'new' slim seats are a bit deficient in the cushion padding.  All the flight changes this year were primarily down to the abandonment of bookings by so many for Turkey.  They dumped under-booked flights to rationalise them.  That said, they are now fully scheduled, and do no charters at all, so regular slots have been a bit volatile while these changes occurred.  Price-wise they vary, and can be remarkably cheap on some flights and the most expensive on others, due principally to the EasyJet/RyanAir model of seat pricing.  You HAVE to check daily, though it used to be Thursday was a good day to book, it seems to be Wednesday or Monday now, but this varies.

Thomson/TUI:  Haven't used them for years (well, since they were Britannia), so can't comment accurately, but they are German, so perhaps someone else may have experience here?  Brexit/Euro may affect their pricing, methinks. (as it probably will LyingAir, being Irish)

British Airways:  What we tend to use these days, even though Gatwick is not local.  Flight times could be better, but they are prone to getting the bucket and spade flight to Spain in before the Turkey flights (like many airlines), so that just pushes the Turkey arrival late.  That said, they are rarely on-time, due to the Spain flights, but the better luggage allowance, the service and attitude at each end, free drinks, snacks, no scratch cards, no bucket circulation for your 'spare' change, and the sheer professionalism swing things for us.  Price-wise they can be cheaper than the 'budget' airline, and sometimes not - you have to do your comparisons to see how it goes, bearing in mind the enhanced package you get.

Pegasus / Turkish / Norwegian: not used any of these, but the Istanbul stopover, tends to discourage us from considering them.

All in all, you have to do your research.  The Budget ones are more likely to find ways of emptying your wallet after the booking, and have less elbow room to cross-fund uneconomic flights; Flag carriers can balance routes for cost, but in the end they are all trying to make money!

I get a bit ethical, and are more likely to favour someone who looks on me as a (valued?) customer rather than a cash-cow who can be abused to satisfy their greed, even though it may not be like flying Imperial Airways in the old days!

Oh, us privileged, not ripped off southerners, don't have Airbridges if we use Luton.  Not even an umbrella as you queue to get on the Airbus/Boeing! The only other airports that I've used that are similar are Uluru, Alice Springs and Mahé.  Weather's different at those though, and you don't have all the staircases to go up and down.

[Blue Lizard]

It's noticeable that when you get to the airport (Gatwick I don't know about others?) having printed off boarding passes at home you now have to weigh your own bags(Easyjet)..print your own luggage ticket and attach said ticket to bags before shooting off yourbags on the conveyor.now less staffare being employed to do these things are flights cheaper? are they eck as like!
 I fully expect next year to be asked   "can you push a drinks trolley?" and "can you fly a plane?"  

[Babs]

Interesting how different peoples experience of the same company can be? We flew to Spain earlier this year, Bristish Airways out and easyjet back....give me easyjet for a short haul flight any time. Yes you may have to pay for everything you consume but I'd rather that than have an inedible (in my OH words, and he will eat most things) sandwich thrown at you, I didn't even bother as there was no choice and I don't eat red meat.....pastrami seems an odd thing to put in mass produced sandwiches.
We have a good little pattern going on when we fly easyjet to Kalkan. Lunch at Gatwick, the Lebonese restaurant is good, then buy a nice sandwich/salad from Pret or Eat to have either on our transfer to Kalkan or when we arrive......just st in time for a night cap! 
Roll on October!
Saying this we are flying with BA in January when we go on our "special birthday" holiday but then there was no choice in terms of direct flights but I'm expecting/hoping long haul to be better!

[samson]

two different airline stories to offer from experience today.

we are in Kalkan at the moment. My daughter and partner are due to fly back home this Saturday with BA. She fell on Saturday and broke her foot and is now in a plaster cast and crutches. she phoned BA today to advise them that she would need assistance and also that her leg would to be elevated for the journey. The flight is not full but she was told that she would have to purchase an extra seat (at considerable cost)!

Winge number two.
we are here for four weeks but decided we would like to go home a week early. we are with Monarch so checked how much a flight would be on July 21st. Then i remembered that on "manage your bookings" page that there is an option to change your flight to a different day so expected that it may be cheaper to do that . NO! would have cost us £40 more to transfer to the same flight i had looked at ten minutes earlier

[Sezkalkan]

Since buying our place here last September we have used nobody but Easyjet. 1) because we can fly from Stansted 2) because they seem to be cheaper and 3) with hand luggage there is no limit on weight.  We haven't had a bad experience, in fact our last 2 flights have got into Dalaman early.
I do still have a look at the other airlines occasionally just in case they have a special offer from Gatwick, but the others seem to cost so much more.

Easyjet have been brilliant and hope they will continue to be 👍🏼.

I just need them to start flying from Southend and I'll be perfect!

[Chris_S]

Just some initial thoughts:

a nice sandwich/salad from Pret or Eat

An oxymoron surely, at least in our experience!  However this doesn't excuse rubbish food on flights.  Long Haul bottom line: Premium Economy, proper cutlery, at least!

Samson: did you try using the travel insurers, they should be able to sort out the proper assistance following fracture with the airline.

When looking at web pages for flights, try accessing the page in 'private' or whatever mode your browser uses.  Websites can tell where you've looked (from the cookies) and adjust their prices accordingly.  'Private' mode deletes the cookies when you exit, so the website doesn't know.

Also, some airlines will give different prices according to the number of passengers.  If their are four of you, it will ignore the two cheaper seats (for example) and price them all the same.  Check with one seat first - it may well be cheaper!

Also note that SqueasyJet and LyingAir, often extend their listed flight times so that they appear to arrive early more often, where in fact that are merely on time.

[samson]

insurers are dealing with BA at the moment 

[Babs]

Why so cynical Chris_s? Yes you can get a nice sandwich or salad from Pret or Eat!

[brian j p]

We normally use Monarch(1)   or Jet2(2) from Leeds::::

(1) Monarch =early morning flights going out which is good if you prefer over afternoons ,   never had a cancelation or date/time change , decent aircraft and are updating fleet , service is good  both at check-in in and on-board  , Seats are  uncomfortable , legroom is awful   

(2) Jet2,  mid-afternoon flights going out,   so no problems there , never had a cancelation or date/time change , service is good  both at check-in in and on-board,  decent aircraft  especial the big boing's  , service is good  , Seats are  comfortable , legroom   is best ever without having to pay extra . 

Out of the two options -    flying out easy morning (06:00)   or mid-afternoon 14:00), I prefer the mid-afternoon as we get a full night’s sleep prior to flight day. OH prefers the early morning as we get to Kalkan in the afternoon and get an extra half day in resort. Both airlines tend to fly back from Dalaman at between 21:00 - 23:00     which if fine, both airlines like to sell as much as possible on board which is understandable   -you have to expect that if we want reasonably cheap tickets.  We do two trips per year April/May and Sept/Oct and get ticket on average for £175 per person return   which I think is very good value   ,   WE used to use Thomas Cook when they flew from Leeds and found them to be similar to Monarch   in terms of comfort i.e. not the most comfortable seats and crap legroom unless you fork out extra

[Chris_S]

Babs: not cynical - nothing they do appeals (to us), their (Pret's) ingredients cause some doubt, (sourcing, pricing and additives) and the choice leaves something to be desired (seems to be focused on metro individuals and Sunday supplement recipes - what's wrong with more traditional ingredients?).

It seems traditional type fillings are passé in favour of quinoa and huckleberry with a Lebanese marjoram mayonnaisse. (I jest).

That said, if we do get a sandwich, it'll be M&S landside (if there is one).  Generally we tend to have a sensible lunch (all-day breakfast anyone?) and forgo everything subsequently (in an endeavour to right the wrongs of the foregoing indulgence!).

Kalkan has a way of assuaging the hunger the following day, as we all know.

Each to their own, I suppose, plus ça change.

[samson]

easy jet are great unless you need help once you have landed. In March l we were diverted to Liverpool instead of landing at Gatwick due to a hurricane. when inside the terminal we were told that we had to make our own way back to Gatwick. !

[msr]

We use Easy jet from Stansted, have no trouble with them at all, the odd delay but that is not down to the airline. They are a no frills airline and apart from the odd coffee on board never use their in flight service. This year the flights were not moved or cancelled like many of Thomas Cook flights and we flew back on time 12 hours after the military coup took place.For a 4 hour flight they are fine with reasonable flight times. We book tickets the day they are released and have got some pretty good fares. Only take hand luggage which cuts down the cost. My son who joined us this year flew from Manchester with Thomas Cook, as the flight was cheaper than the Jet2 from Leeds which is his nearest airport. Never again, the flight time was changed 3 times!!

[JenJen]

I love Easyjet but have never used them for Turkey. Worst I've been with is Monarch - no leg room, poor service and bad food. Used to like Jet2 but they put their prices up dramatically so we always use Thomas Cook now, but only if we can get extra leg room or the plane is a 2-4-2 configuration as we're both quite tall and get squashed otherwise! It's really easy to add extra allowance online cheaply if you do a bit too much shopping on holiday too :-)

[kalkan4eva]

We found the extra leg room seats with Monarch better than easyJet extra leg room - each to their own. We love easyJet, their flights are really excellent for the price, I just cant live with their evening flights anymore

[MartynE]

After trying all of them several times, we always come back to Easyjet. Always book speedy boarding and thus get extra legroom and extra hand luggage. Mind you the return flight times are a bit challenging, but overall it's worth it.

Don't mind Monarch as a reserve option.

TC is a no-no...I object to being a sardine

[Cuddles]

I used Pegasus to go out in May. Outward there was plenty of time to transfer from the International terminal to the Domestic (unlike the Christmas 18 months previously when it was touch and go with no-one about to help.) Coming home, the transfer was the other way round and although the hold bags go through automatically, I had to go through passport control and security. The first had a queue all the way back to the entrance (about 100 people) with just one kiosk open (of about 10 or more) until I got close to the front with time running out, then they opened another. There were two security scanners (and at least six closed) open with long queues. I made it to the gate at the second 'last' call.
I note now that Pegasus are offering a pre-paid option to use a fast track lane for passport control. How long before EasyJet et al decide to offer this for their flights?

[Lucy Lou]

easy jet are great unless you need help once you have landed. In March l we were diverted to Liverpool instead of landing at Gatwick due to a hurricane. when inside the terminal we were told that we had to make our own way back to Gatwick. !

Samson, how on earth did you get back to Gatwick ?!  However you did it must have needed a lot of time & expense.

[Chris_S]

Samson

EasyJet should have arranged for you to get to Gatwick.

Their contract with you was to take you to Gatwick and it is their responsibility to get you there.

Sue them.

[samson]

in response to my comment about us being told that we had to make our own way home.
 Easy jet were telling passengers to get a taxi from outside the terminal and it would cost about £350 but to keep the receipt and claim later. a few of us stood our ground and said it was "duty of care" to get us back to Gatwick. felt really sorry for the girl on the Easy jet desk who was nearly in tears as she stated no transport could be found as it was a Bank Holiday.
about thirty of us just stated that they had to! to be fair no one lost their temper (being british and civilised) eventually after being in the terminal building since 4am (we had sat on the tarmac since 2am) a coach was found to deliver us back to Gatwick at 10.30 am via Luton! the whole journey was 27 hours door to door.
 we have found out since that no one got money back for the taxi fares from Liverpool ! we were refused payment for the taxi we had waiting for us who had turned up at Gatwick the night before as it was still showing as landing albeit 2 hours late.
we obviously had to pay again the next day when he collected us.

Rant Over !

[Sezkalkan]

Does anyone know when the easyjet flights will be out for May 2017?

Annav and anybody else interested, I printed out Easyjets 2017 release schedule, which was published on 'moneysavingexpert' recently:-

For flights 26 Mar - 25 June / tickets go on sale Sept 16
For flights 26 Jun - 10 Sep / tickets go on sale Oct 16
For flights 11 Sept - 28 Oct / tickets go on sale Dec 16

They say if you 'like' Easyjets Facebook page, apparently they announce it on there a couple of days before.

I haven't had a problem with Easyjet - they've been excellent over the last year. Flew back with them on Weds this week and took off and landed at Stansted 35 minutes early!