Friday 27 February 2009

EasyJet, London Gatwick to Barcelona

At Gatwick, EasyJet has plenty of desks open and short check-in queues for the evening flight to Barcelona. Even though you can also get through security quickly, you still need to be at the airport early - EasyJet tries to close the gate up to 40minutes before departure time. There are no allocated seats, but you can pay for "speedy boarding" to be among the first passengers on the plane. On board, the seats are narrow and they don't recline backwards even a little, but legroom is okay for a two-hour flight for anyone under six foot. Around you, the orange staff uniforms, orange trimmings and orange safety card give the cabin the ambiance of a fast-food joint, which is appropriate given the food on offer.

Strewn with typos
In-flight entertainment is primarily the cabin crew, on commission, cheerfully trying to sell stuff over the tannoy. You can hide behind the surprisingly respectable in-flight magazine, which is strewn with typos, but has some decent travel photos and punchy descriptions, aimed at young party goers, of the cities EasyJet flies to. But the drinks on-board are expensive and, after the late evening return flight to Gatwick, your baggage may take quite a while to appear. 6/10