a toastie with caviar on top, whilst sipping prosecco on an easy jet flight is maybe the wildest thing I've ever seen from my many flights with easy jet
Remember the TV show Come Fly with me from the makers of little Britain. " do you want a speedy boarding pass, we've sold one to everyone on the flight" XD
I've heard from people buying Speedy Boarding that, due to poor staff and management of people and queues, they opened the gate and everyone all came in at once, so speedy boarders ended up having to queue with everyone else.
@@beardednose i flew from gatwick last year and speedy boarding was done first and they were held on the air bridge so they didn't get on any quicker as normal tickets were also waiting in the same space
I fly a lot of budget airlines. The thing about "priority boarding" is that nobody's buying it for the actual priority boarding, but so that you can bring on a cabin bag. Without buying the priority option, these carriers give you personal/under-seat item only. A lot of the time, they don't even bother boarding priority passengers early and just have everyone board at the same time anyway. I also don't find paying for lounges to be worth it. £35 will get you a sit down meal at any airport restaurant if that's what you want. Otherwise, go to burger king for £10 and plug your phone in there too. Honestly though, that Ryanair Panini looked pretty good. I may have to eye that up myself next time.
I noticed that they usually start with the priority queue and then when thats empty they immediately switch to the normal queue so if you have priority but don't want to stand in the queue the entire time you will have some people from the normal Queue in front of you. They also often do Pre Boarding so everyone just has to wait anyways because they want everyone to walk straight onto the plane as soon as it's ready.
Priority boarding makes no sense to me, you want to be the last passenger on not the first. Why spend extra money just so I'm stuck on the airplane for longer instead of just relaxing in a cozy spot in the airport. The overhead cabin bags are the only reason to do priority boarding with any airline.
I fly EasyJet regularly from Gatwick and I have to say they offer a great experience for regular flyers. EasyJet Plus allows you to select seats for free when booking your flight and I regularly sit in seat 1A when I fly. Also as a regular flyer I’m a member of the Flying Club (invitation only) and it also allows me to make changes to my flight with (date/time/name) for free with no admin charges. EasyJet Plus also provides Speedy boarding and Fasttrack at some airports (Gatwick included). Great video. Have just discovered your channel. Well done mate. You’re very personable and straight to the point. :)
i work as a flight attendant for a lower budget airline in europe. i love how you make sure to mention that so many people pay for priority boarding and it end up being not worth it. i have this discussion daily about people being mad for it. they don’t seem to realize there are over a 100 other passengers wanting the same thing as them, their suitcase near them (especially above their heads). there are 70 spaces for suitcases at the plane i work at mostly. this isn’t even 50% of the people we can take on board. so if everyone wants their hand luggage with them and not underneath the plane, it won’t happen. the ground staff needs to count to 70 and the rest can’t fit in the overhead bins. i also have discussions about this very very often. one small detail i noticed is about the 1st row seat normally not being sold often. i almost never have them completely free of almost free with an extra seat. often on full flights they will be given away randomly. if there is a space you can get charged to sit there on the plane. i always do this because the charge will go to the flight staff (depends on the airline) and so do many of my colleagues. it’s cheaper to book it beforehand than assuming it will be free to move later on
I’m the same but probably for a different airline, however if there is space available we usually just let people move around but they are usually fully booked
I work as senior cabin crew for Wizz and I am based in Warsaw now (your LTN-WAW flight was operated by WAW base) and previously I was based in LTN for 4,5 years so I know this airport very well too. Sooo nice to see your video travelling our airline and other low costs, thanks for creating it! :)
So glad to hear you are not a fan of Stanstead either! I fly from their more often than I like and its always a drag - im not going to gatekeep so for those that need to fly from there: If you want to pass security a little faster, go to the queue for fast track and assistance (same as in the video) the middle lane is a normal security line that takes you to the far right of the airport security lines. When you get through, if you absolutely hate the duty-free smells and sales tactics, you can purchase a fast pass and skip all this and come out past all this, the door is to the left towards the toilets as soon as you have gone past the first WH Smiths from security. If the departure lounge is super busy, don’t forget about the “not-so secret” downstairs seating. Follow the signs for “more seating” / towards the platform for the light rail to other gates, take the escalator downstairs and immediately turn back on yourself when at the bottom. It will open up into a whole other waiting area with info screens!
I've used the security lane on the right next to fast track before at Stansted. It's basically a free fast-track lane because it looks like it's part of fast track! Good tip!
So, the thing to consider here is the easyjet plus card. its about 200 quid, but gives you priority boarding, extra overhead storage, speedy security and a choice of seats near the front included. Basically its like the standard plus upgrade on a ticket, with security at some airports too. guess it depends where you fly, but most flights i`ve looked at its about 45+ each way for the standard plus upgrade, so if you do 3+ return trips a year with easyjet then it`s worth it (if you need/want the extras like seats and baggage), if you fly once, just pay for the extra itself.
I have the equivalent with WizzAir and it's easily paid for itself with the included trolley bag in cabin etc. Alas EasyJet doesn't come up as a route option, otherwise I'd surely have that, and if RyanAir had a similar plus card I'd grab it in a second! (Yes, I travel a lot in Europe.)
I don't know if easyJet are considered an "Ultra Low Cost Carrier" like the other two. More like just a "Low Cost Carrier". I think this is how they position themselves as well.
I think the moment you don't even get a carry-on bag for free you've got into ultra LCC territory. That being said, Easyjet at least sits you with your travelling companions for free, which Ryanair and Wizz don't and make you buy seat selection if you don't want to sit apart.
Considering they don't charge for printing boarding passes and checking you in at the airport, yeah, definitely not on the same level. The check in being available 30 days before is also a huge difference when you just buy a ticket without any add ons. The anxiety I feel everytime I see the notification to check in in those 24hours before the flight with ryanair is not the best ahah. I worked with Wizz at the airport and they'd charge 47€ per person for check in... Insane amount, especially if you were travelling with a larger group.
Depending on where you hail from, a good analogy would be Southwest stateside. They provide a cheaper alternative to legacy carriers, with a narrow-body only fleet and greater frequencies of point-to-point services, but their pricing is not rock-bottom for basic fares.
One thing I probably would have done on that Ryanair flight is moved over and sit in 1B. Since 1C was also empty this would mean you could spread your legs and arms on both sides which imo would be a lot more comfortable.
I've gone through Stansted plenty a time and never actually minded it. I always found somewhere to sit, decent food (at too high prices) and no issues with security (given enough lead time) or "standard" boarding. If you have sufficient patience, you can save a good amount of money and the plane leaves just as quickly as if you had spent more.
Good to see videos for the vast majority of air travellers. Really enjoyed the video, informative and full of tips. Only ever flown easyJet which were on time and flew me to the main airport of where I wanted to go every time I have used them.
Brought some sunshine to my day! A couple of ideas for enhancing that "first class" experience; 1) (Carefully) pack a real glass champagne flute in your carry-on bag that you can bring out with a flourish and pour the Prosecco into, 2) consider "harvesting" small packs of high quality toiletries from hotels, department store free samples, etc, that you can pamper yourself with in the bathroom (or even buying some if available) - it's the small luxuries that count. Also, if you're really going to adopt the 1st class mindset, you need to stop worrying about what the person across the aisle thinks when you deploy the caviar!😀 With regard to buying the extra seat, I did wonder if it might introduce a possible ethical dilemma. What happens if the guy in 1C, noticing that the middle seat is empty "by luck", decides to monopolize it by dumping his laptop bag / newspaper / empty drinks bottles, etc on it? Do you "claim" it as your seat, having paid for it? Or do you just put up and shut up? Or do you monopolize it first and run the risk of your neighbour calling Foul, then explaining that you bought the extra seat, then watching the look of bemused disbelief spread across his face?🤨 ETA: We took the Luton - Warsaw flight with WizzAir once and had priority boarding. Having "priority boarded", we were shuttled into a glass-sided corridor to stand for 20 minutes and could watch the "non Priority" passengers continue to enjoy the relative comfort of the seated gate area! Might be gate-dependent I guess.
I have experienced Air Asia and Air Asia X among the ultra low cost carriers. Those short haul fights were quite good. It helped that their FastPass gave me FastTrack immigration and security at Kuala Lumpur, increased carry on allowance, and priority boarding for what easyJet charges for FastTrack alone. The food was also quite tasty for around $5 extra.
Liking the concept and a good review as always. For me, business class on a budget airline is having the middle seat free, first class is having the entire row to yourself!
Business class on a narrowbody airplane like the a320 and the 737, is just that. Economy class seats with a free middle seat. If you want real business class seats you have to watch out for the sparingly used wide body flights within Europe, like the B777 to Istanbul.
@@Psi-Storm outside of europe, narrowbody first class is usually 2-2 seating on wider seats. Sometimes they do 1-1 using the airline's widebody business class
I find the 1A seat kinda awkward in Ryanair, as the cabin crew sits directly in front of you and there is nothing in-between you and them, meaning that they face you the whole flight. I'm glad you enjoyed it though, it seems like you even had a nice chat with them. But to me, this detail seems worth mentioning, as it makes the experience slightly different - in my case, if I'm flying with Ryanair, I pick 1F instead of 1A.
Booking the middle seat, even in a normal economy row, is the best hack ever. I do it all the time. And you don't pay tax on the second seat. Great concept and viewing.
If you put the correct "EXTRA SEAT" name it should be fine. If they do sit someone there for operational reasons I'm sure you'd be able to claim a refund for the ticket and seat fee. (I've even seen the middle seat in BA Club Europe being filled when trying to work through flight cancellation backlogs).
I flew with Ryanair from Funchal to Lisboa for €9.99. They ended up issuing me with seat 1A. Guess it was my lucky day. Only downside of they seat is as mentioned in the video. You can feel abit cramped if someone is sitting next to you, because of the door. Still blows my mind that they sell you a flight ticket for a cost of a takeaway meal
Well, I'm glad that the algorithm suggested your channel to me. What a great video. New subscriber looking forward to watching your other stuff. I really enjoyed watching this. Totally into the extra seat hack, too. :)
A great tip for Salzburg airport as I am a frequent flyer there - on the top floor there is a fabulous self service restaurant serving up traditional Austrian food alongside freshly made pizzas. Next door there is a waiter service restaurant which feels very special to have in an airport of this size, though it’s not always open.
I’m usually not fond of travel videos, as some of them includes unnecessary clips that took way longer than I expected. However, this video got me through the end. Loved it!! 😊
Agree with Yann’s conclusions. Wizz is the most expensive of the LLCs, and although its planes are newer on average there are some filthy floors and clapped out seats in the fleet. LTN is preferable to STN any day of the week, but both are inferior to LHR which, if booking ahead or using/buying Avios, can get you into Club Europe for a similar outlay. Enjoyed seeing Yann’s personality in this one 👍
I've flown Wizz a fair amount recently and have always ended up on the newer A321neos (which are fairly nice), but in the past I've flown on some of their older A320s and the state of them was as you describe. And definitely agree - LHR is always my go to
@@FlyManYannunfortunately it's not just their A320s. I've flown 2 years old A321neo and it was super dirty, the floor had black dirt, the seats were broken and the crew was terrible. Unfortunately I don't understand their system, because they really have the newest fleet and I would assume they would be the best
I am a regular traveller with Wizz and I have to say that instead of choosing the 1A seats , you should go with the 2nd row of emergency seats. They have as much leg room and if you are going to reserve the middle seat, you can lift your armrest. Definately a big bonus. I was never a fan of the 1st row as the armrests don't go up. I found your tip useful for booking the middle seat and I am definitely going to use that next time I fly. But unless it's a full flight or you are unlucky to have a couple seated next to you , it is safe to assume that then middle seat is going to be empty. My lick has been 60% of tuemtines the middle seat has been empty. I also haven't privilege pass with Wizz as I do fly them often. Awesome airline !
Great video to compare 3 main Europe LCCs with 3 London airports! I still "miss" the time when travelling with Ryanair with 3 pounds only what they called "volcanic eruption sales" in 2010s! eager to see your coming videos!
That's a good fun review! You had a better easyJet experience than me, I flew MAN - PMI, PMI - MAN at the weekend with easyJet and the crew ran out of sandwiches/hot food options on a 10:25 flight.
Yeah I noticed this on some of my flights, unless you were in the first few rows, the food options ran out fairly quickly. Surprising that even on a first flight of the day they don't have full catering...
When I flew to Budapest I did a cost comparison between easyjet and BA. The ticket for BA which included a checked bag was a couple of pounds more expensive than easyjet with the added checked bag. With the cost of getting to either Luton (easyjet) or Heathrow (BA), the BA option was considerably cheaper.
Very much enjoyed this video, if only to confirm that I'd rather pay BA for Club Europe! But it was good to see the different airlines and how they charge for various extras! I'm flying Easyjet in the next month, hand baggage only, so only purchased my seat selection and not priority boarding. Glad I made that decision now!!
Great vid.. definitely sounds like paying for fast track security is worth it. Lounges seem pretty expensive, and priority boarding depends on how many others book it on the day.
Fast track is definitely worth it in my opinion. Lounges are expensive if you pay the full rate but I would usually access them using a lounge card (via a credit card) which means it is usually free (or discounted). Priority boarding is great if there's only a few of you but as was the case in this video, a lot of people had it which negates the benefits.
On Wizz there can be max of 50% of Priority pax (due to overheads capacity) so that means 115. I'm not sure that's the same case with others, but people buy Priority on Wizz just for the carry on mostly. From my experience usually less than half of those passengers use the priority lane at the gate. A long time ago there was a separate service for a large cabin bag and wizz express lane which actually was good as there was top of like 20-30 Prio Boarding passengers.
i am terrified of flying, so i am using your videos as an exposure therapy , the fact that you really like flying helps me come to terms with the idea of flying ( but I don't honestly believe that one can love flying, i just can't wrap i around my head😅😅😅). p.s. the idea of getting all the extras is amazing
easyjet left me stranded this week after cancelling my flight with no one at the airport to speak to and only AI chatbots online. Ryanair got me home so they win for me by default 😂
It's been years since I've travelled with Easyjet, but I found the flight and crew pleasent each time I travelled. My recent flight was with Wizz from Luton to Istanbul, and I was pleasantly surprised! I would definitely fly with them again. My next flight will be to Antalya as a package holiday with Easyjet. I usually fly from East Midlands Airport as that closest to me, but when I was comparing holidays, I found that flying from EMA with Jet2 was £900 more than flying from Luton with Easyjet. Everything was like for like too.
I'm a OW FF, and haven't tried an LLC here. I appreciate your method of doing things. Recline on SH should be off limits - even on flag carriers. It can really spoil a flight.
I used to buy Easyjet speedy boarding but so often it does not exist. Usually herded like cattle and stand on the air bridge or in a small holding space for 20 minutes.
Love the concept of this video, Yann. I flew easyJet once from Gatwick to Berlin, didn't pay for any of the priority extras, definitely didn't take caviar on board, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The flight was on time, boarding was organised and efficient, the crew were really friendly and laid back, and everything went smoothly. The alternative was Lufthansa or British Airways, and tbh, the savings on the easyJet flight were hard to ignore, which is why I went with this. Would definitely fly with them again. No, it wasn't first class, but then I wouldn't have been paying for Business Class on those legacy carriers anyway (I'll leave that to my friend Yann!). Cheers for an interesting video, hope you enjoyed your time in those three interesting European cities... which one was your favourite?
Glad you enjoyed the video! I usually prefer to fly BA on short hauls because of my status, but if the price is a lot cheaper on LCCs, then I usually just fly with them. If it's a case of paying £50 for easyJet or £80 for BA then I'l go with BA. But recently I was flying to Milan and EZY was £100 and BA was £300 - of course I flew with EZY because the value of fast track, lounges and priority boarding clearly isn't worth the extra £200. To answer your question, I would have probably said Budapest, but since I've been here before I'll go for a different one. When I flew to Warsaw, I actually caught a train straight to Krakow and had a great few days there, so I'll go with Krakow 🇵🇱
@@FlyManYann I’d love to visit Budapest. It looks amazing. I spent a week in Krakow a few years ago and really loved it. And yeah… it definitely depends on the difference in price as to whether it’s worth flying on the low cost carriers or not. Enjoy your next trip Yann. 🫶✈️
Not a low cost carrier, but to get the extra seat on Tui if travelling as a couple, Boeing 787-9 (789) go for row 32 seats B&C or G&H as the third seat (A & J) are never used unless booked as three seats by a family. Quite often the middle seats DE&F are not booked either, but this is less guaranteed. plus you get loads of leg room,
Ryanair has the worst seat ever. And they are famous for a hard landing. Be prepared. My neck hurt two days because the plane fell abruptly down nearly three meter.
I think most budget carriers now require that you purchase speedy boarding in order to bring an overhead bag, which would be why so many people also had it. I personally find the planes are normally quite uncomfortable, and I've been stuck in the tunnel before the plane too, so I normally wait in the pre-boarding area until I see people walking onto the plane. Makes boarding feel much smoother, but I also normally just travel with an under-seat bag
Nice comparison. I'm not sure that easyJet is considered an "ultra" low cost carrier though. It's not actually that different from short haul BA economy these days, especially now that BA charge for hold baggage, food etc. on many of its short haul routes. It's when airlines start charging for things like airport check-in that the word "ultra" kicks in!
That's fair. BA short haul has definitely lowered to a more LCC standard in the past few years to compete with the actual LCCs. easyJet actually let me print my BP at the airport but I assumed it was because I paid for speedy boarding, it looks like they don't charge for this, only Wizz and Ryanair.
@andybaker2456 I just said something very similar below, I didn't see your comment beforehand, but I agree, easyJet kind of position themselves between Ryanair / Wizz and the "mainstream" carriers. I actually read somewhere that everyone assumes "Low Cost" means low cost to the passengers, but actually it means low operating costs to the airlines, which if you look at some easyJet fares (£500+ basic fare UK to Cyprus one way, for example) rings true!
Honestly as long as one is doing reasonable, the airport lounge is a must when travelling. If you buy one drink and small meal out in the concourse it's going to run you close to 30 clams anyways. Might as well get all you wish to partake. Thank you for the video.
Great idea this video! Thanks! But as you said - worth to consider 1st class on BA or any other of Lufthansas, Air France, Austrian etc. My best expereince - Austrian. Food wise, crowd wise, politness, great landings etc. OK, planes may be older but their food, which is free even in economy! wins all the time
You’re right about Ryanair having hard landings. Last time I flew with them from EMA - Barcelona El Prat, the landing was undoubtedly the hardest landing I’ve ever experienced 😉
Overhead space for carry-on luggage is a good point, but otherwise I will never understand priority boarding. I was alway happy to be one of the last passengers to board, enjoy the lounge and spend as little time as possible in the cramped space on the aircraft...
25:45 before you even said it, the moment I saw the chairs I thought "those are the best seats of the three flights", who cares about a color, comfort is what counts. Fun video.
worth mentioning that “priority boarding” doesn’t mean that you pay to get on the plane faster, it means that you get put on the plane ahead of the people without overhead luggage because you have overhead luggage, so it’s faster for the airline to get those people on first. you’ll notice that there is no way to get priority boarding without also getting overhead luggage allowance
Flying Ryanair, caviar packed - haha! Really interesting and informative video. I'm amazed how much the Priority Boarding costs (and how many people bought it) but it seems it also includes cabin bag? If a lounge is that busy, may as well just eat in a restaurant. You made the very point I was going to which is BA Club Europe flights can be found one way for £200 or less and would include all of these perks. It is amazing how cheap the base price is with low cost carriers - and how much the extras are.
Speedy boarding passes: *Check-in lady:* Would you like to buy a speedy boarding pass for £50? *Passenger:* Yes, please *Check-in lady:* There you are, sir, one speedy boarding pass *Passenger:* Do you sell many of these? *Check-in lady:* Yes! So far we've sold one to everyone on the flight. Have a great flight 🙂
The 2 things I've noticed since flying for years is that online check in used to be easy and no queues but now lots of people do it so no longer an advantage and the same with easy loading used to be only a few people but loads do it now so only an advantage to the airline not the customer. This is one of the best comparison of the budget airlines I have seen but are no good to me because I want a flight that gets me from my local airport at the time I want and arrives there the same doesn't matter how much it costs within reason.
I love Wizz Air to Warsaw and always take a backpack and grab flights for around £10. Sometimes if I am tired I will pay for an allocated seat and thats from £5-£12
Awesome video! Looks way better than our low cost carriers in the US. I find that more often than not, my travel is mostly influenced by the people I encounter. Anyway, I’m lucky that I’m Executive Platinum on AA so I get upgraded almost every flight. No low cost carriers for me in the US. It’s not worth the savings!
Hi Yan, really informative video, thanks so much. Question - when paying for the extra seat what happens with the associated boarding pass for that seat? Do you have to scan both your own boarding pass and the “extra seat” pass when going through the e-gates pre-security? Also when boarding at the gate?
Having visited that easyjet lounge once myself, I think they saw you reviewing and wanted to get you out before you tried the buffet food or a coffee 😂
Hey ! Nice video, but there's one thing I don't get : When you book an extra leg room seat (such as 1A) with Easyjet, the priority boarding is included in the price. At least, from GVA! How do I know ? We always book 1A, 1C (+1D and 1F, if we travel with 2 friends) And, yes, the -small- fee for the fast sec lane worth it
Lovely video 😊 And also really useful as we have this stretch on our itinerary for 2025 😀👍 You make it look like an easy walk, but I am not totally convinced 😄 I see some ascents here and there on the map 😁 Thank you!
It's interesting that you would even consider using the expression "first class" for what you've shown here. I thankfully only once in my life had to fly with a low-cost carrier from DUS to ALC. I booked the entire first two rows (using slight variations of my name), and it was still cheaper than any of the other flights I normally take within Europe. As a highest-tier customer on LHG averaging well over 200 flights a year, watching your video, I appreciate again how comfortable I can travel and what true first class experience I actually get to experience almost daily. On the other hand, I can also appreciate how far IAG and other affiliate low-cost airlines have come, especially when it comes to the digital booking experience. This is a well-done overview, beautifully & carefully produced and informative, and I thank you for that. I wish you all the best with the channel, and maybe one day you'll get to experience true first class international flying.
Even though LGW and LHR have more passengers travel through I actually feel they are much less busy than Stansted. I preferred LGW and LHR but LCY is closer to home. Went from LGW North on Monday easyjet to Malta
How about a video trying out the aether private terminal at Manchester airport when it opens in the autumn? I’d love to see that in addition to an easyJet or Jet2 flight from there! I didn’t know you could pay for an extra seat on easyJet simply by buying one as Extra Seat - great info, thanks!
My observations would be that I agree with you about Stanstead. I have only done it once but it was such a bad experience that my wife and I said we would never fly from there again. I think that , as most people even doing a long weekend city break would have a suitcase, especially a couple which would at minimum share a hold luggage suitcase, you may have offered a more real life comparison by incorporating it. Going back to the different carriers, I have not flown Wizzair but to have the hold luggage incorporated into their Priority Experience price is appealing and I would be interested to know what the other two carriers cost would have been in that situation. Great Vlog nonetheless.
If I was to fly low-cost I would consider some of those options, looks fun. For us BA gives us a stress free experience when we fly to the UK, worth the small extra cost if there even is a difference.
I took the front row seat in easyjet once but there was no wall and i was sitting facing in front of one FA for the whole departure and arrival was a bit awkward
Things I took away from this video: 1) Priority boarding is overpriced, especially if everyone buys it. 2) Fast Track security is impressively quicker than normal security AND good value for money. 3) Lounge access is a bit of a hit and miss but prebook otherwise you'll be declined during busy times. 4) If you are a lone traveller, buying the seat next to you makes the flight experience better. However, these are standard on business class tickets on the more premium airliners (BA,) + a meal and drink onboard + extra baggage + lounge access + fast track security at London airports. 5) You have to buy food on budget airlines. I've just checked BA Business Class from London to Warsaw and its £258.00, which is near enough the same as Wizz Air, and similar to the others. In this case, I would go business class on BA. However, if you don't care about the fancy things and want a cheap ticket, these budget airlines are a good alternative.
I would like to hear how people that have a large case to check in can take advantage of the VIP lounge. Many airlines wont let you check the case in more than 2 hours before the flight, so by the time you have queued to drop your bag, and got through security there isn't much time to enjoy the lounge before your flight is called.
New subscriber here. I’ve just done 4 flights in a week with easyJet. 3 of them were delayed by an hour each time. Not really a fan of theirs. Despite Ryanair’s hard landings, I actually prefer their routes. And I like stansted lol.
Was a great video, thanks. I always think Easyjet is a bit better. It's a personal preference, but I booked Ryanair for my next trip as the flight times were better.
Glad you enjoyed! I've flown a lot with easyJet and always found them good. Makes sense to book the better flight times, at the end of the day most European flights are only a few hours and the general experience is roughly the same.
I didn't know about the Extra Seat trick with Easyjet. I would definitely do it. How does it work in practice though? Do you need to have two boarding passes printed and scanned at the gate to ensure the extra seat you've booked and paid for isn't given away to a standby passenger?
I flew to Grenoble in France from Luton with Wizz Air for £8.90 each way! Under £18 return and I only took hand luggage so no extra cost - was amazing!
I really love Stansted. Because of the Duty Free Shop :P Also, I really enjoy Ryanair flights. Price is good, I always buy the front row seat (1A or 1F depending on the trip, what is to see). I buy exactly 2 scratch cards for my fun. And usually eat a sandwich and drink a fanta. It's always an awesome experience - and a huge bang for my buck.
Have flown with Ryanair a few times from Dublin. Found that generally the first few rows are occupied by families and screaming babies. Personally I go for the emergency seats at the wings, as you get extra leg room. But the seats are a bit narrower so can be a bit snug. However no shoulder rubbing as the cabin crew don't usually allow people that could get stuck in the seat on an emergency landing from sitting there. Have flown with WestJet a few times to Canada, and the seating can be a little bit odd, in that one of the rows is missing a seat due to the shape of the aircraft. This means that should you book the seat behind the "missing" seat, you get loads of legroom. However, it's a gamble, as I got put in a non-Westjet plane once that didn't have the missing seat, and my knees were planted in the seat in front.
I like the trick of 'best seat on worst airline' Did it recently down to Florida on Spirit Airway's 'Big Front Seat' It was not bad. And a few years ago, did Norwegian's Business class for less than Virgin or BA's Economy. That was luxurious, and included lounge access! Now our luggage didn't make our plane, as is typical of a bad airline, but otherwise great.
I have used both Ryanair and Westjet and both were not the best flights i have taken. Will ne taking a Wizz Air in March and finding put of it is any better!
Last time I flew I looked at Ryan Air and Aer Lingus. I realised if I paid for all extras at Ryan Air, the things already included in Aer Lingus, price was more expensive than Aer Lingus.
a toastie with caviar on top, whilst sipping prosecco on an easy jet flight is maybe the wildest thing I've ever seen from my many flights with easy jet
It’s not Prosecco. It’s Cava.
@@MatthewBreckenridge-pg7mi oh well, it’s close enough
@@Kj_Gamer2614 anf it's 'lumpfish roe'... A rather similar experience to caviar... But still. A much reduced fish egg eating experience
imagine what the guy sitting in 1c was thinking
@@MatthewBreckenridge-pg7mi cava you can't get that in most countries
Remember the TV show Come Fly with me from the makers of little Britain. " do you want a speedy boarding pass, we've sold one to everyone on the flight" XD
I've heard from people buying Speedy Boarding that, due to poor staff and management of people and queues, they opened the gate and everyone all came in at once, so speedy boarders ended up having to queue with everyone else.
@@beardednose i flew from gatwick last year and speedy boarding was done first and they were held on the air bridge so they didn't get on any quicker as normal tickets were also waiting in the same space
@@beardednose This happened to me with RyanAir lol
@@princethe7No mklllmll ok I’ll m I’m llppppolllpppoph
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I fly a lot of budget airlines. The thing about "priority boarding" is that nobody's buying it for the actual priority boarding, but so that you can bring on a cabin bag. Without buying the priority option, these carriers give you personal/under-seat item only. A lot of the time, they don't even bother boarding priority passengers early and just have everyone board at the same time anyway.
I also don't find paying for lounges to be worth it. £35 will get you a sit down meal at any airport restaurant if that's what you want. Otherwise, go to burger king for £10 and plug your phone in there too.
Honestly though, that Ryanair Panini looked pretty good. I may have to eye that up myself next time.
I've flown easy a few times. Each time when priority we boarded first. This was at Gatwick and in Portugal..
What about just booking the extra seat instead of priority/cabinbag. Can I just store my bag on there? And I have extra room as well.
I noticed that they usually start with the priority queue and then when thats empty they immediately switch to the normal queue so if you have priority but don't want to stand in the queue the entire time you will have some people from the normal Queue in front of you. They also often do Pre Boarding so everyone just has to wait anyways because they want everyone to walk straight onto the plane as soon as it's ready.
Definitely not for safety reasons 😂@@Flywolf79
Priority boarding makes no sense to me, you want to be the last passenger on not the first.
Why spend extra money just so I'm stuck on the airplane for longer instead of just relaxing in a cozy spot in the airport.
The overhead cabin bags are the only reason to do priority boarding with any airline.
I fly EasyJet regularly from Gatwick and I have to say they offer a great experience for regular flyers. EasyJet Plus allows you to select seats for free when booking your flight and I regularly sit in seat 1A when I fly. Also as a regular flyer I’m a member of the Flying Club (invitation only) and it also allows me to make changes to my flight with (date/time/name) for free with no admin charges. EasyJet Plus also provides Speedy boarding and Fasttrack at some airports (Gatwick included). Great video. Have just discovered your channel. Well done mate. You’re very personable and straight to the point. :)
i work as a flight attendant for a lower budget airline in europe.
i love how you make sure to mention that so many people pay for priority boarding and it end up being not worth it. i have this discussion daily about people being mad for it. they don’t seem to realize there are over a 100 other passengers wanting the same thing as them, their suitcase near them (especially above their heads). there are 70 spaces for suitcases at the plane i work at mostly. this isn’t even 50% of the people we can take on board.
so if everyone wants their hand luggage with them and not underneath the plane, it won’t happen. the ground staff needs to count to 70 and the rest can’t fit in the overhead bins. i also have discussions about this very very often.
one small detail i noticed is about the 1st row seat normally not being sold often. i almost never have them completely free of almost free with an extra seat. often on full flights they will be given away randomly. if there is a space you can get charged to sit there on the plane. i always do this because the charge will go to the flight staff (depends on the airline) and so do many of my colleagues. it’s cheaper to book it beforehand than assuming it will be free to move later on
I’m the same but probably for a different airline, however if there is space available we usually just let people move around but they are usually fully booked
I work as senior cabin crew for Wizz and I am based in Warsaw now (your LTN-WAW flight was operated by WAW base) and previously I was based in LTN for 4,5 years so I know this airport very well too. Sooo nice to see your video travelling our airline and other low costs, thanks for creating it! :)
So glad to hear you are not a fan of Stanstead either! I fly from their more often than I like and its always a drag - im not going to gatekeep so for those that need to fly from there:
If you want to pass security a little faster, go to the queue for fast track and assistance (same as in the video) the middle lane is a normal security line that takes you to the far right of the airport security lines.
When you get through, if you absolutely hate the duty-free smells and sales tactics, you can purchase a fast pass and skip all this and come out past all this, the door is to the left towards the toilets as soon as you have gone past the first WH Smiths from security.
If the departure lounge is super busy, don’t forget about the “not-so secret” downstairs seating. Follow the signs for “more seating” / towards the platform for the light rail to other gates, take the escalator downstairs and immediately turn back on yourself when at the bottom. It will open up into a whole other waiting area with info screens!
I've used the security lane on the right next to fast track before at Stansted. It's basically a free fast-track lane because it looks like it's part of fast track! Good tip!
I am also happy to hear other people bashing Stanstead. It's an awful airport to get stuck in
I watch A LOT of Travel Videos but finally a fresh new take on this!
Wow thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
At 10:19 when his easyjet landed he's walking we're i walked a million or so times😂
Finally! An Av Geek who is fun and likes to enjoy themselves. So many others don’t even enjoy a drink. Boring. Bravo Yann 🤩
Reminds me of the scene on Come Fly With Me where they sell a priority boarding ticket to every passenger.
Omar Baba, flylo 😂
Thats exactly what I was thinking too lol
So, the thing to consider here is the easyjet plus card. its about 200 quid, but gives you priority boarding, extra overhead storage, speedy security and a choice of seats near the front included.
Basically its like the standard plus upgrade on a ticket, with security at some airports too. guess it depends where you fly, but most flights i`ve looked at its about 45+ each way for the standard plus upgrade, so if you do 3+ return trips a year with easyjet then it`s worth it (if you need/want the extras like seats and baggage), if you fly once, just pay for the extra itself.
That's really useful - thank you!
I have the equivalent with WizzAir and it's easily paid for itself with the included trolley bag in cabin etc. Alas EasyJet doesn't come up as a route option, otherwise I'd surely have that, and if RyanAir had a similar plus card I'd grab it in a second! (Yes, I travel a lot in Europe.)
Interesting
I don't know if easyJet are considered an "Ultra Low Cost Carrier" like the other two. More like just a "Low Cost Carrier". I think this is how they position themselves as well.
I think the moment you don't even get a carry-on bag for free you've got into ultra LCC territory. That being said, Easyjet at least sits you with your travelling companions for free, which Ryanair and Wizz don't and make you buy seat selection if you don't want to sit apart.
@@yaziyoeven full service carriers are charging you extra to take a bag on board nowadays
Easyjet are so much more expensive than Ryanair
Considering they don't charge for printing boarding passes and checking you in at the airport, yeah, definitely not on the same level. The check in being available 30 days before is also a huge difference when you just buy a ticket without any add ons. The anxiety I feel everytime I see the notification to check in in those 24hours before the flight with ryanair is not the best ahah. I worked with Wizz at the airport and they'd charge 47€ per person for check in... Insane amount, especially if you were travelling with a larger group.
Depending on where you hail from, a good analogy would be Southwest stateside. They provide a cheaper alternative to legacy carriers, with a narrow-body only fleet and greater frequencies of point-to-point services, but their pricing is not rock-bottom for basic fares.
One thing I probably would have done on that Ryanair flight is moved over and sit in 1B. Since 1C was also empty this would mean you could spread your legs and arms on both sides which imo would be a lot more comfortable.
I've gone through Stansted plenty a time and never actually minded it. I always found somewhere to sit, decent food (at too high prices) and no issues with security (given enough lead time) or "standard" boarding. If you have sufficient patience, you can save a good amount of money and the plane leaves just as quickly as if you had spent more.
Good to see videos for the vast majority of air travellers.
Really enjoyed the video, informative and full of tips.
Only ever flown easyJet which were on time and flew me to the main airport of where I wanted to go every time I have used them.
Brought some sunshine to my day!
A couple of ideas for enhancing that "first class" experience; 1) (Carefully) pack a real glass champagne flute in your carry-on bag that you can bring out with a flourish and pour the Prosecco into, 2) consider "harvesting" small packs of high quality toiletries from hotels, department store free samples, etc, that you can pamper yourself with in the bathroom (or even buying some if available) - it's the small luxuries that count. Also, if you're really going to adopt the 1st class mindset, you need to stop worrying about what the person across the aisle thinks when you deploy the caviar!😀
With regard to buying the extra seat, I did wonder if it might introduce a possible ethical dilemma. What happens if the guy in 1C, noticing that the middle seat is empty "by luck", decides to monopolize it by dumping his laptop bag / newspaper / empty drinks bottles, etc on it? Do you "claim" it as your seat, having paid for it? Or do you just put up and shut up? Or do you monopolize it first and run the risk of your neighbour calling Foul, then explaining that you bought the extra seat, then watching the look of bemused disbelief spread across his face?🤨
ETA: We took the Luton - Warsaw flight with WizzAir once and had priority boarding. Having "priority boarded", we were shuttled into a glass-sided corridor to stand for 20 minutes and could watch the "non Priority" passengers continue to enjoy the relative comfort of the seated gate area! Might be gate-dependent I guess.
Great review. Love the novelty of doing first class reviews of low-cost airlines. Subscribed.
Glad you enjoyed - thanks for subscribing!
I have experienced Air Asia and Air Asia X among the ultra low cost carriers. Those short haul fights were quite good. It helped that their FastPass gave me FastTrack immigration and security at Kuala Lumpur, increased carry on allowance, and priority boarding for what easyJet charges for FastTrack alone. The food was also quite tasty for around $5 extra.
Liking the concept and a good review as always. For me, business class on a budget airline is having the middle seat free, first class is having the entire row to yourself!
So Ryanair was the only true first class flight 😆 thanks for watching!
Business class on a narrowbody airplane like the a320 and the 737, is just that. Economy class seats with a free middle seat. If you want real business class seats you have to watch out for the sparingly used wide body flights within Europe, like the B777 to Istanbul.
@@Psi-Storm outside of europe, narrowbody first class is usually 2-2 seating on wider seats. Sometimes they do 1-1 using the airline's widebody business class
I find the 1A seat kinda awkward in Ryanair, as the cabin crew sits directly in front of you and there is nothing in-between you and them, meaning that they face you the whole flight.
I'm glad you enjoyed it though, it seems like you even had a nice chat with them. But to me, this detail seems worth mentioning, as it makes the experience slightly different - in my case, if I'm flying with Ryanair, I pick 1F instead of 1A.
Sometimes those seats also have hard armrests which made it very uncomfortable for me
Booking the middle seat, even in a normal economy row, is the best hack ever. I do it all the time. And you don't pay tax on the second seat. Great concept and viewing.
I had no idea you don’t have to pay tax on it, how do you go about refunding the tax or not paying it in the first place?
@@TheShlongman hi the airline just does apply the tax to the second seat..
@@Nae395how do they know not to apply the tax?
Does it come off after filling the details in as on the video?
@@TheShlongman when you book extra seat it knows its a comfort seat and unoccupied so nil tax
after flying Easyjet for 10 years, i never knew you could reserve the seat next to you! This is gold! (no pun intended with BA)
It doesn't always work as I found out. For some flights they over book and fill all seats even when you book the seat next to you.
@@anthonykerr8795 do you get a refund?
If you put the correct "EXTRA SEAT" name it should be fine. If they do sit someone there for operational reasons I'm sure you'd be able to claim a refund for the ticket and seat fee. (I've even seen the middle seat in BA Club Europe being filled when trying to work through flight cancellation backlogs).
@@FlyManYanncan you just ad a family member with the right details to the seat next to you ,pay for it and them not just in up ?
@@FlyManYann Thanks for this information, I will be requesting a refund for my last flight right now. Great channel BTW
I flew with Ryanair from Funchal to Lisboa for €9.99. They ended up issuing me with seat 1A. Guess it was my lucky day. Only downside of they seat is as mentioned in the video. You can feel abit cramped if someone is sitting next to you, because of the door.
Still blows my mind that they sell you a flight ticket for a cost of a takeaway meal
So never book 1A but 1B
@@tvamsterdamonlineI would rather choose the aisle seat or middle seat in row 1. Way more comfortable
Well, I'm glad that the algorithm suggested your channel to me. What a great video. New subscriber looking forward to watching your other stuff. I really enjoyed watching this. Totally into the extra seat hack, too. :)
A great tip for Salzburg airport as I am a frequent flyer there - on the top floor there is a fabulous self service restaurant serving up traditional Austrian food alongside freshly made pizzas. Next door there is a waiter service restaurant which feels very special to have in an airport of this size, though it’s not always open.
Its very cathartic to see someone splurge on the extras i normally cant afford so this is a fun watch
I’m usually not fond of travel videos, as some of them includes unnecessary clips that took way longer than I expected. However, this video got me through the end. Loved it!! 😊
Agree with Yann’s conclusions. Wizz is the most expensive of the LLCs, and although its planes are newer on average there are some filthy floors and clapped out seats in the fleet. LTN is preferable to STN any day of the week, but both are inferior to LHR which, if booking ahead or using/buying Avios, can get you into Club Europe for a similar outlay. Enjoyed seeing Yann’s personality in this one 👍
I've flown Wizz a fair amount recently and have always ended up on the newer A321neos (which are fairly nice), but in the past I've flown on some of their older A320s and the state of them was as you describe. And definitely agree - LHR is always my go to
@@FlyManYannunfortunately it's not just their A320s. I've flown 2 years old A321neo and it was super dirty, the floor had black dirt, the seats were broken and the crew was terrible. Unfortunately I don't understand their system, because they really have the newest fleet and I would assume they would be the best
They are also much more unreliable and prone to frequent schedule changes and cancellations
I am a regular traveller with Wizz and I have to say that instead of choosing the 1A seats , you should go with the 2nd row of emergency seats. They have as much leg room and if you are going to reserve the middle seat, you can lift your armrest. Definately a big bonus. I was never a fan of the 1st row as the armrests don't go up. I found your tip useful for booking the middle seat and I am definitely going to use that next time I fly. But unless it's a full flight or you are unlucky to have a couple seated next to you , it is safe to assume that then middle seat is going to be empty. My lick has been 60% of tuemtines the middle seat has been empty. I also haven't privilege pass with Wizz as I do fly them often. Awesome airline !
Great video to compare 3 main Europe LCCs with 3 London airports! I still "miss" the time when travelling with Ryanair with 3 pounds only what they called "volcanic eruption sales" in 2010s! eager to see your coming videos!
That's a good fun review! You had a better easyJet experience than me, I flew MAN - PMI, PMI - MAN at the weekend with easyJet and the crew ran out of sandwiches/hot food options on a 10:25 flight.
Yeah I noticed this on some of my flights, unless you were in the first few rows, the food options ran out fairly quickly. Surprising that even on a first flight of the day they don't have full catering...
When I flew to Budapest I did a cost comparison between easyjet and BA. The ticket for BA which included a checked bag was a couple of pounds more expensive than easyjet with the added checked bag. With the cost of getting to either Luton (easyjet) or Heathrow (BA), the BA option was considerably cheaper.
Very much enjoyed this video, if only to confirm that I'd rather pay BA for Club Europe! But it was good to see the different airlines and how they charge for various extras! I'm flying Easyjet in the next month, hand baggage only, so only purchased my seat selection and not priority boarding. Glad I made that decision now!!
Great video, liked this different challenge style of content!
Thank you - was trying something different, glad you enjoyed it!
Great vid.. definitely sounds like paying for fast track security is worth it.
Lounges seem pretty expensive, and priority boarding depends on how many others book it on the day.
Fast track is definitely worth it in my opinion. Lounges are expensive if you pay the full rate but I would usually access them using a lounge card (via a credit card) which means it is usually free (or discounted). Priority boarding is great if there's only a few of you but as was the case in this video, a lot of people had it which negates the benefits.
Lounges almost as expensive as the flight, I'll be happy in normal lounge.
On Wizz there can be max of 50% of Priority pax (due to overheads capacity) so that means 115. I'm not sure that's the same case with others, but people buy Priority on Wizz just for the carry on mostly. From my experience usually less than half of those passengers use the priority lane at the gate. A long time ago there was a separate service for a large cabin bag and wizz express lane which actually was good as there was top of like 20-30 Prio Boarding passengers.
i am terrified of flying, so i am using your videos as an exposure therapy , the fact that you really like flying helps me come to terms with the idea of flying ( but I don't honestly believe that one can love flying, i just can't wrap i around my head😅😅😅). p.s. the idea of getting all the extras is amazing
Read "Taking the Fear out of Flying" by Maurice Yaffe. The classic on overcoming your fears
easyjet left me stranded this week after cancelling my flight with no one at the airport to speak to and only AI chatbots online. Ryanair got me home so they win for me by default 😂
Fascinating video. Especially in a bit about purchasing the extra seat… something I didn’t know but will be doing from now on.
Great video. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought the comparisons were brilliant. Very well played and subbed! 😊
It's been years since I've travelled with Easyjet, but I found the flight and crew pleasent each time I travelled. My recent flight was with Wizz from Luton to Istanbul, and I was pleasantly surprised! I would definitely fly with them again.
My next flight will be to Antalya as a package holiday with Easyjet. I usually fly from East Midlands Airport as that closest to me, but when I was comparing holidays, I found that flying from EMA with Jet2 was £900 more than flying from Luton with Easyjet. Everything was like for like too.
I'm a OW FF, and haven't tried an LLC here. I appreciate your method of doing things.
Recline on SH should be off limits - even on flag carriers. It can really spoil a flight.
I used to buy Easyjet speedy boarding but so often it does not exist. Usually herded like cattle and stand on the air bridge or in a small holding space for 20 minutes.
Yep - exactly what happened to me here! And depending on where you are it can get really hot or cold being stuck on those jet bridges for a long time.
Love the concept of this video, Yann. I flew easyJet once from Gatwick to Berlin, didn't pay for any of the priority extras, definitely didn't take caviar on board, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The flight was on time, boarding was organised and efficient, the crew were really friendly and laid back, and everything went smoothly. The alternative was Lufthansa or British Airways, and tbh, the savings on the easyJet flight were hard to ignore, which is why I went with this. Would definitely fly with them again. No, it wasn't first class, but then I wouldn't have been paying for Business Class on those legacy carriers anyway (I'll leave that to my friend Yann!). Cheers for an interesting video, hope you enjoyed your time in those three interesting European cities... which one was your favourite?
Glad you enjoyed the video! I usually prefer to fly BA on short hauls because of my status, but if the price is a lot cheaper on LCCs, then I usually just fly with them. If it's a case of paying £50 for easyJet or £80 for BA then I'l go with BA. But recently I was flying to Milan and EZY was £100 and BA was £300 - of course I flew with EZY because the value of fast track, lounges and priority boarding clearly isn't worth the extra £200. To answer your question, I would have probably said Budapest, but since I've been here before I'll go for a different one. When I flew to Warsaw, I actually caught a train straight to Krakow and had a great few days there, so I'll go with Krakow 🇵🇱
@@FlyManYann I’d love to visit Budapest. It looks amazing. I spent a week in Krakow a few years ago and really loved it. And yeah… it definitely depends on the difference in price as to whether it’s worth flying on the low cost carriers or not. Enjoy your next trip Yann. 🫶✈️
Not a low cost carrier, but to get the extra seat on Tui if travelling as a couple, Boeing 787-9 (789) go for row 32 seats B&C or G&H as the third seat (A & J) are never used unless booked as three seats by a family. Quite often the middle seats DE&F are not booked either, but this is less guaranteed. plus you get loads of leg room,
really interesting video. something underrated was the pacing for the video. I didn't even notice that 30min had gone by.
As an American I get to experience RYAN AIR for first time this October from Glasgow to Dublin. Highlight of my trip and hope I’m not let down 🤣
Ryanair has the worst seat ever. And they are famous for a hard landing. Be prepared. My neck hurt two days because the plane fell abruptly down nearly three meter.
Enjoy being disappointed
You'll regret it
good thing is, it's a short flight. Their seats are horrible
@@vkdrkI think you guys are acting like it is worse than it actually is. I am 6'5 and its fine for a 3 hour flight.
I think most budget carriers now require that you purchase speedy boarding in order to bring an overhead bag, which would be why so many people also had it.
I personally find the planes are normally quite uncomfortable, and I've been stuck in the tunnel before the plane too, so I normally wait in the pre-boarding area until I see people walking onto the plane. Makes boarding feel much smoother, but I also normally just travel with an under-seat bag
I really hope your channel gets more attention soon, because I love your style of content
Nice comparison. I'm not sure that easyJet is considered an "ultra" low cost carrier though. It's not actually that different from short haul BA economy these days, especially now that BA charge for hold baggage, food etc. on many of its short haul routes. It's when airlines start charging for things like airport check-in that the word "ultra" kicks in!
That's fair. BA short haul has definitely lowered to a more LCC standard in the past few years to compete with the actual LCCs. easyJet actually let me print my BP at the airport but I assumed it was because I paid for speedy boarding, it looks like they don't charge for this, only Wizz and Ryanair.
@andybaker2456 I just said something very similar below, I didn't see your comment beforehand, but I agree, easyJet kind of position themselves between Ryanair / Wizz and the "mainstream" carriers. I actually read somewhere that everyone assumes "Low Cost" means low cost to the passengers, but actually it means low operating costs to the airlines, which if you look at some easyJet fares (£500+ basic fare UK to Cyprus one way, for example) rings true!
Nice Video Yann, I second you on Stanstead being the worst airport to fly out from London. Keep up the good work
Honestly as long as one is doing reasonable, the airport lounge is a must when travelling. If you buy one drink and small meal out in the concourse it's going to run you close to 30 clams anyways. Might as well get all you wish to partake. Thank you for the video.
Great idea this video! Thanks! But as you said - worth to consider 1st class on BA or any other of Lufthansas, Air France, Austrian etc. My best expereince - Austrian. Food wise, crowd wise, politness, great landings etc. OK, planes may be older but their food, which is free even in economy! wins all the time
You’re right about Ryanair having hard landings. Last time I flew with them from EMA - Barcelona El Prat, the landing was undoubtedly the hardest landing I’ve ever experienced 😉
Caviar on a ham and cheese toasty seriously ... I love it 😂
That's not really caviar though. That lumpfish caviar is about 5 pounds a jar.
Great video. When you moved that plate for the pancake it reminded me of myself. It was in the right spot to begin with!
Overhead space for carry-on luggage is a good point, but otherwise I will never understand priority boarding. I was alway happy to be one of the last passengers to board, enjoy the lounge and spend as little time as possible in the cramped space on the aircraft...
Loved this video and really LOL’d at the caviar part. Thanks for making this!
Fun video, and helpful tip about the extra seat. If you go on a Ryanair 737 MAX, try seat 2A for epic legroom as there is no A seat in Row 1.
But do you really want to be near the door on a Max?
25:45 before you even said it, the moment I saw the chairs I thought "those are the best seats of the three flights", who cares about a color, comfort is what counts.
Fun video.
Terrific review. I travel a lot and this was one of the best reviews I've seen.
Imagine paying for the seat next to you to be empty, the dream of every flight reporter 🤪🤪
Love how before you hit the lounge you were sober, and then afterwards were definitely not lol
worth mentioning that “priority boarding” doesn’t mean that you pay to get on the plane faster, it means that you get put on the plane ahead of the people without overhead luggage because you have overhead luggage, so it’s faster for the airline to get those people on first. you’ll notice that there is no way to get priority boarding without also getting overhead luggage allowance
Flying Ryanair, caviar packed - haha! Really interesting and informative video. I'm amazed how much the Priority Boarding costs (and how many people bought it) but it seems it also includes cabin bag? If a lounge is that busy, may as well just eat in a restaurant. You made the very point I was going to which is BA Club Europe flights can be found one way for £200 or less and would include all of these perks. It is amazing how cheap the base price is with low cost carriers - and how much the extras are.
Speedy boarding passes:
*Check-in lady:* Would you like to buy a speedy boarding pass for £50?
*Passenger:* Yes, please
*Check-in lady:* There you are, sir, one speedy boarding pass
*Passenger:* Do you sell many of these?
*Check-in lady:* Yes! So far we've sold one to everyone on the flight. Have a great flight 🙂
Very cool and unique video, subscribed and now working my way through your videos!
great video, yann- must have been fun - all that prosecco
The 2 things I've noticed since flying for years is that online check in used to be easy and no queues but now lots of people do it so no longer an advantage and the same with easy loading used to be only a few people but loads do it now so only an advantage to the airline not the customer. This is one of the best comparison of the budget airlines I have seen but are no good to me because I want a flight that gets me from my local airport at the time I want and arrives there the same doesn't matter how much it costs within reason.
I love Wizz Air to Warsaw and always take a backpack and grab flights for around £10. Sometimes if I am tired I will pay for an allocated seat and thats from £5-£12
This video makes you channel deserve way more than 6k subscribers. Subscribed.
Awesome video! Looks way better than our low cost carriers in the US. I find that more often than not, my travel is mostly influenced by the people I encounter. Anyway, I’m lucky that I’m Executive Platinum on AA so I get upgraded almost every flight. No low cost carriers for me in the US. It’s not worth the savings!
Hi Yan, really informative video, thanks so much.
Question - when paying for the extra seat what happens with the associated boarding pass for that seat? Do you have to scan both your own boarding pass and the “extra seat” pass when going through the e-gates pre-security? Also when boarding at the gate?
Having visited that easyjet lounge once myself, I think they saw you reviewing and wanted to get you out before you tried the buffet food or a coffee 😂
Hey ! Nice video, but there's one thing I don't get : When you book an extra leg room seat (such as 1A) with Easyjet, the priority boarding is included in the price. At least, from GVA!
How do I know ? We always book 1A, 1C (+1D and 1F, if we travel with 2 friends)
And, yes, the -small- fee for the fast sec lane worth it
Lovely video 😊 And also really useful as we have this stretch on our itinerary for 2025 😀👍 You make it look like an easy walk, but I am not totally convinced 😄 I see some ascents here and there on the map 😁 Thank you!
It's interesting that you would even consider using the expression "first class" for what you've shown here. I thankfully only once in my life had to fly with a low-cost carrier from DUS to ALC. I booked the entire first two rows (using slight variations of my name), and it was still cheaper than any of the other flights I normally take within Europe. As a highest-tier customer on LHG averaging well over 200 flights a year, watching your video, I appreciate again how comfortable I can travel and what true first class experience I actually get to experience almost daily. On the other hand, I can also appreciate how far IAG and other affiliate low-cost airlines have come, especially when it comes to the digital booking experience. This is a well-done overview, beautifully & carefully produced and informative, and I thank you for that. I wish you all the best with the channel, and maybe one day you'll get to experience true first class international flying.
Oh how the other half live 😂
The reason why other people can’t have nice things
Even though LGW and LHR have more passengers travel through I actually feel they are much less busy than Stansted. I preferred LGW and LHR but LCY is closer to home.
Went from LGW North on Monday easyjet to Malta
Fast track security is a great upgrade. For future reference you get more leg room on the over wing seats.
Loved this tho I'd prefer the seat 1c while extra 1b. Seat 1a has nil for shoulder room
How about a video trying out the aether private terminal at Manchester airport when it opens in the autumn? I’d love to see that in addition to an easyJet or Jet2 flight from there! I didn’t know you could pay for an extra seat on easyJet simply by buying one as Extra Seat - great info, thanks!
Flynas has a fancy airport lounge in Jeddah as well! Great video, loved it and going to be travelling on all three of these airlines very soon haha!
Flynas is a sub of Saudia
My observations would be that I agree with you about Stanstead. I have only done it once but it was such a bad experience that my wife and I said we would never fly from there again. I think that , as most people even doing a long weekend city break would have a suitcase, especially a couple which would at minimum share a hold luggage suitcase, you may have offered a more real life comparison by incorporating it. Going back to the different carriers, I have not flown Wizzair but to have the hold luggage incorporated into their Priority Experience price is appealing and I would be interested to know what the other two carriers cost would have been in that situation. Great Vlog nonetheless.
If I was to fly low-cost I would consider some of those options, looks fun. For us BA gives us a stress free experience when we fly to the UK, worth the small extra cost if there even is a difference.
I took the front row seat in easyjet once but there was no wall and i was sitting facing in front of one FA for the whole departure and arrival was a bit awkward
Yeah it's definitely a bit awkward - for the Ryanair flight in this video I was facing 2 crew on take off and landing!
Things I took away from this video: 1) Priority boarding is overpriced, especially if everyone buys it. 2) Fast Track security is impressively quicker than normal security AND good value for money. 3) Lounge access is a bit of a hit and miss but prebook otherwise you'll be declined during busy times. 4) If you are a lone traveller, buying the seat next to you makes the flight experience better. However, these are standard on business class tickets on the more premium airliners (BA,) + a meal and drink onboard + extra baggage + lounge access + fast track security at London airports. 5) You have to buy food on budget airlines.
I've just checked BA Business Class from London to Warsaw and its £258.00, which is near enough the same as Wizz Air, and similar to the others. In this case, I would go business class on BA. However, if you don't care about the fancy things and want a cheap ticket, these budget airlines are a good alternative.
I would like to hear how people that have a large case to check in can take advantage of the VIP lounge. Many airlines wont let you check the case in more than 2 hours before the flight, so by the time you have queued to drop your bag, and got through security there isn't much time to enjoy the lounge before your flight is called.
New subscriber here. I’ve just done 4 flights in a week with easyJet. 3 of them were delayed by an hour each time. Not really a fan of theirs. Despite Ryanair’s hard landings, I actually prefer their routes. And I like stansted lol.
Really fun and original idea for an aviation video. I've not seen anyone else do this. 🎉
Appreciate it 🙏
I've been buying extra seat on Wizz for years now so I can travel with my cello. I've never called costumer service to confirm my extra seat.
I reckon you're skinnier than me... the front row seat because the tray is in the arm rest was a bit too narrow for me, at least on EasyJet!
Was a great video, thanks. I always think Easyjet is a bit better. It's a personal preference, but I booked Ryanair for my next trip as the flight times were better.
Glad you enjoyed! I've flown a lot with easyJet and always found them good. Makes sense to book the better flight times, at the end of the day most European flights are only a few hours and the general experience is roughly the same.
Just dont expect to land anywhere near your actual destination 😅
I didn't know about the Extra Seat trick with Easyjet. I would definitely do it. How does it work in practice though? Do you need to have two boarding passes printed and scanned at the gate to ensure the extra seat you've booked and paid for isn't given away to a standby passenger?
I flew to Grenoble in France from Luton with Wizz Air for £8.90 each way! Under £18 return and I only took hand luggage so no extra cost - was amazing!
I’d like the se what lounge is available departing from Newcastle on Ryan air!
I really love Stansted. Because of the Duty Free Shop :P Also, I really enjoy Ryanair flights. Price is good, I always buy the front row seat (1A or 1F depending on the trip, what is to see). I buy exactly 2 scratch cards for my fun. And usually eat a sandwich and drink a fanta.
It's always an awesome experience - and a huge bang for my buck.
Oh yeah, and row1 is empty lots of the time.
Have flown with Ryanair a few times from Dublin. Found that generally the first few rows are occupied by families and screaming babies. Personally I go for the emergency seats at the wings, as you get extra leg room. But the seats are a bit narrower so can be a bit snug. However no shoulder rubbing as the cabin crew don't usually allow people that could get stuck in the seat on an emergency landing from sitting there.
Have flown with WestJet a few times to Canada, and the seating can be a little bit odd, in that one of the rows is missing a seat due to the shape of the aircraft. This means that should you book the seat behind the "missing" seat, you get loads of legroom. However, it's a gamble, as I got put in a non-Westjet plane once that didn't have the missing seat, and my knees were planted in the seat in front.
I like the trick of 'best seat on worst airline' Did it recently down to Florida on Spirit Airway's 'Big Front Seat' It was not bad. And a few years ago, did Norwegian's Business class for less than Virgin or BA's Economy. That was luxurious, and included lounge access! Now our luggage didn't make our plane, as is typical of a bad airline, but otherwise great.
I have used both Ryanair and Westjet and both were not the best flights i have taken.
Will ne taking a Wizz Air in March and finding put of it is any better!
Last time I flew I looked at Ryan Air and Aer Lingus. I realised if I paid for all extras at Ryan Air, the things already included in Aer Lingus, price was more expensive than Aer Lingus.
Nice review. Must have been a bit of a come down for you after real first class flights! 😂 Looking handsome as always 😊
Honestly, with the middle seat empty, it was fairly comfortable. But to be fair, it was only 2 hours 😅