Easyjet A319 Economy Class

Published: 30/11/2010 - Filed under: Tried & Tested » Airlines » Tried & Tested » Tried & Tested » Airlines » Easyjet »

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CHECK-IN Easyjet only offers one flight a day from London (Gatwick) to Dusseldorf, the capital of the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. I arrived the South Terminal at 1024 by train from London Bridge, and then took the shuttle train to the North Terminal, a short walk away from the station exit. The journey only takes a couple of minutes, and once inside the building I took the nearest lift up to the departures hall (you are not allowed to take suitcases on the escalator). I then turned right and followed the signs to check-in Zone E, which was very quiet on this Saturday morning.

There were four Easyjet desks open plus one for Speedy Boarding, and a line of about ten people, so it didn’t take long to be seen to. As I had checked in online the evening before and printed my boarding pass, it was just a matter of dropping my hold bag off (it cost £18 online but would have cost twice that if had paid for it at the airport).

At 1045 I made my way through security (coats and shoes with heels off, and laptops out), which was extremely quick as there weren’t very many people ahead of me. I noticed that body scanning was in operation but I was not asked to be checked. Within five minutes, I was airside. I bought some euros at a nearby Travelex, and a sandwich and a drink from Eat – upstairs on the mezzanine level overlooking departure – to consume on the flight.

BOARDING The boards read “Go to gate” from about 1100 but as the flight was at 1210 I didn’t rush. At 1130 I noticed boarding had started so walked to Gate 106, roughly eight minutes away. The waiting area was pretty quiet but people had already started queuing, with one line for passengers who had paid for Speedy Boarding and the other for standard economy class passengers.

There was a Wetherspoon Express, a World Duty-Free and a small WHSmith outlet for last-minute purchases. I took a seat by a window facing the runway until boarding actually started (Speedy Boarding first), and then joined the long line for boarding pass check. There was then a ten-minute delay in the airbridge as passengers filtered on to the aircraft and took their seats.

THE SEAT The plane was about one-third full so getting my desired window seat (25A) near the back was not a problem. The A319 is configured 3-3 (A-B-C, D-E-F), the interiors were pretty clean and the crew were welcoming. I was also fortunate that no one else was occupying the seats neat to me, so had more space to spread out it.

WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE? Row one offers the most legroom. Exit rows are ten and 11 but don’t look as if they give you much more space. Avoid middle seats B and E if you are travelling alone as they feel particularly claustrophobic. Note that the back row has no window next to it on either side.

THE FLIGHT After a safety demonstration, we pushed back at 1205 and took off five minutes late at 1215. There were then the obligatory announcements about in-flight shopping and the suggestion of “Starting off your journey with a mini bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte for £15”. The captain then warned us of some mild turbulence en route and informed us that the flight would take about one hour.

At 1240 a trolley of food and drink was brought around – the “Boutique and Bistro” in-flight magazine listed prices as £1 for 150ml Britvic mixers, £4 for 70ml spirits, £3.60 for 330ml cans of beer, £1.50 for 330ml bottles of Vittel water and £1.50 for a 50g bag of Mini Cheddars. An all-day cheese and tomato breakfast sandwich was £3.60, the John West tuna Snack pack was £3.50 and the bacon baguette £4.

ARRIVAL I ate my Eat sandwich and read the paper to pass the time until landing at 1315 (1415 local time), which was actually a little ahead of schedule despite taking of five minutes late. There was one more sales pitch (two Breo watches for £15 – perfect Christmas stocking fillers) before disembarkation from both the front and the back of the plane, down some steps and on to a shuttle bus. I was one of the first off as was sitting near the back.

We arrived at the terminal at about 1440 (the drive was only three minutes) but then had a 20-minute wait to get through passport control as there were several hundred people and only five desks open. Once landside, in baggage reclaim, my suitcase was waiting for me on the conveyor belt. A taxi to the city centre cost about €20 and took 15-20 minutes.

VERDICT A very cheap and efficient short-haul flight from Easyjet – just a shame about the long wait at passport control on arrival.

PRICE Internet rates for a return flight in January started from £57.

CONTACT easyjet.com

Jenny Southan

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