There is a limited number allowed to book speedy boarding, which is why it is sometimes sold out. We use it & the check in is great, & always managed to sit together. When we went on the bus once, all speedy boarders were taken to the plane first, so no problem.

We used easyjet for the first time this year in mid July Edinburgh to Palma and we booked speedy boarding plus. I was very impressed by easy jet firstly on arriving at Edinburgh to check the queue for normal check in was horrendous wheras speedy boarding has seperate check in only one couple in front of us checked in within minutes. Yes you have to be at the gate in plenty of time but we sat at the bar near the gate and had some drinks very relaxed and soon as they called speedy boarding we were right up there no problems everything was very orderly and relaxed first on plane. Arriving at Palma our luggage appeared on the carousel within minutes we were told by someone that easy jet pay a higher premium to get their luggage off plane quicker due to quick turnaround required dont know if this is true or not. On return journey the queue for normal boarding at Palma was incerdibly long !!! we were really glad we had booked speedy boarding again checked in within minutes and again no hassle boarding plane. All in all I would definitly recommend easy jet and speedy boarding especially in height of summer may be different in winter. The staff on the plane were also excellent.

Good post Car, generated a lot of opinion.

The speedy boarding option is a relatively expensive extra I feel, and there are no guartantees that you will get seats together. If you go for this as others have said, you need to get yourselves to the gate but beware, queues form early and you may find that many of those people are in boarding group B not speedy boarders and you could find you have lost your chance. Also as has been said earlier SB sometimes means you first on the bus (which probably means last on the plane!). However if you have young kids and for peace of mind you could go for it. It can be a bit of a bunfight though and you may need to be assertive, not always easy with young kids in tow.!

For older kids and adults, it is probably not so much a problem, in fact they may prefer a bit of independance. Personally I usually ask at checkin how many people are on the flight. The planes take about 156 I think, so you can get an idea how busy the flight is and your chances of getting seats together. If it is full get to the gate in good time and be prepared to queue.

If on the plane you are stuck, watch out for couples where one is in the aisle and the other at the window. Chance are they will not want you sitting in the middle and will :rolleyes: kindly offer to move !. At least you may get 2 aisle seats together.

I must say I prefer to have allocated seats but the low cost airlines don't seem to like this. I suspect it has the effect of getting everone on the plane quicker in the rush for seats.

Despite the above I would not be put off too much. Easyjet are much preferable to the other low cost airline run by Mr O' L in my opinion.

Adios

Dave

Yes, Easyjet are pretty good really - have used them for years now, to Palma as well as other destinations and in all that time have never had any sort of problem. Planes always on time (well, almost), no lost luggage. Can't say that of other airlines we have used. In fact my other half now uses Easyjet (where possible) for all his business travel too because they have proved more reliable as well as cheaper.

Many thanks to everyones replies which have helped me get a feel for easyjet.
I have at least three return flights to re-book for next year now that BMI have stopped flying to Palma. I think I will try the speedy boarding for the first flight and see how it goes and then possibly add it afterwards to the next flight if I feel it necessary. Our kids are 11 and 10, so we will not qualify for boarding second and although not young young, they would probably still rather sit with one of us. My hubbie is probably more of a problem than the kids as he is a bad flier and absolutely HAS to have an aisle seat or he gets panicky!!!
I personally would be extremely happy if I could sit on my own away from the little darlings and enjoy a peaceful, bicker free, relaxing G & T to start my holiday!!! LoL :D Perhaps I could engineer that!
Many thanks once again and I shall let everyone know how I got on!!

Car

I wouldn't bother paying the extra

At the end of the day there is a seat for everyone and if you do pay for easyboard and then others "nip in" .... what do you do , ignore them and then spend the flight feeling cheated or take them to task and risk an unplesant start to the holiday

Ask yourself , does it really matter that you all sit together , the flight is only a couple of hours long and once you are up in the air you can wander over to where your hubby and kids are sitting and have a quick word should you have the inclination or need to

If your kids don't sit with each other then they can't bicker, presumably they will have ipods/nintendo's / a good book to read to pass the time so won't really need to be sat next to anyone in terms of needing to talk for company ( unless this is their first flight when they may be nervous or want to experience the occasion together )

Also, if they do end up sitting next to "strangers" , what a greatopportunity to have a chat ..... I for one have ended up sitting next to a youngster that isn;t my own on several flights and had the most interesting of conversations. If your kids are at all shy, most peole seeing they are on their own will show soe interest in them, start off a conversation and make them feel at home

If they do end up sat apart from you , give them their own money to buy whatever they want to eat on the plane .... they will feel so grown up and probably appreciate the independance ( and so what if they buy rubbish to eat, they're on their hols )

I sometimes think we underestimate our kids ability to do things for themselves ......... I know I was initially concerned the time I needed my daughter to fly out to Palma on her own when she was 14 ......... needn't have worried a jot ...... she couldn't understand what the fuss was about.

it's about time EJ stopped offering speedy boarding, & allocated seats like proper airlines do - that was the majority view on the last EJ forum I contributed to

as for sitting with your kids, is any airline going to let youngsters sit next to strangers if the parents object ? I think not. Familes with children under 10 get priority after speedy boarders anyway

please don't encourage EJ by continuing to buy speedy boarding !

I think if EJ allocated seats at check in it would make the whole process much longer. EJ also seemed to get everyone on the flight, seated and away much quicker this year than when I have flown with holiday airlines in the past. I will use speedy boarding again unless the cost goes up dramatically.

I agree with smg. All the time people pay for these so called extras the more these budget airliners will pile them on. As already said we are only talking about a 2 hour flight! What is the point of trying to go for a cheap flight then adding on the extras? May as well have gone with the airline that includes all these standard - may even end up cheaper in the long run.
As for children sitting next to strangers - again I agree with smg. This just won't happen unless of course the strangers have been checked as being suitable strangers to allow your kids to be within a mile of, as per the news today lol! Oh - that will be an extra, of course!

Priority boarding works well at some airports but the last time we flew with Easyjet (I think from Malaga airport) we were had to get a bus to the plane and the people with priority boarding were on the same bus as people without it. We did not pay for priority boarding but got on the plane first as we were first off the bus.

We travel twice a month with Easyjet from Gatwick and in our experience Speedy Boarders account for about 10% of the travellers. SB takes preference before SA (special assistance), then group A and then group B. If you don't want to pay for everyone just pay for one person and get them to hold the seats. If you do this then make sure you go past the flight attendant who is positioned half way down the plane as this practice is discouraged but what he can't see won't cause a problem. (he is almost always looking forward) In 5 years of travelling I have never seen a family split up; people always shuffle around to help. It is not as bad as it sounds.

Unfortunately the airline we normally fly with which includes all the extras was nearly double the price of EJ even including all the extras

Don't try this on a flight that I'm on ! :mad:

Im afraid it does put the backs up of quite a few passengers and some do get just a little vocal about it! Easyjet has started to announce on the plance that this is not acceptable practice either.