Introduction

On April 3rd 2023, I took a flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport from Leeds Bradford Airport. It was my first time flying with the low-cost leisure airline Jet2 but also my first time on board a 737-300! Naturally I was rather excited for this flight and I was certainly not let down! Read on to find out…

Airport Experience

Arriving into Leeds Bradford Airport via an airport taxi, I was greeted by a rather small terminal building that held a similar resemblance to “London” Southend Airport. Following signs that pointed towards departures, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jet2 had their own separate check-in/service building. After entering the crimson-filled Jet2 area, I got my passport & visa checked by the very friendly agent at the Customer Helpdesk. Once my passport had been checked, I headed over to the security area which, like the check-in area, there weren’t many people in it.

After passing through security, I roamed the duty-free area and food court for around an hour before my flight was called for boarding. Leeds Bradford Airport has an ample range of duty-free stores selling the usual stuff; perfume, overpriced chocolates, alcohol and unique electronics. It also has a rather small food court, consisting of a sandwich shop and a Burger King. This was also the first time where I have seen a Burger King or a fast food restaurant selling beer on tap! The food court provides a nice, leisurely seating area, as well as a view of the airport apron.

Boarding

When my flight was called, I walked towards the departures hall and to Gate 2. The gates at Leeds Bradford Airport are very small with minimal seating areas, I’ve seen domestic airports in rural Thailand with larger gate areas. Luckily, Jet2’s boarding techniques were very efficient. The gate agents cleared families with small children, elderly people and all the usual people first. My boarding group was called next. After my boarding pass was scanned by the gate agent, I was directed towards the ramp where I walked towards the glistening 737-300. The first thing I noticed about the aircraft before I entered was the absence of “eyebrow windows” which had been covered up with white paint.

Upon entering the aircraft’s rear via the air stairs, I was greeted by the cabin crew who pointed me towards my seat (24F). The cabin seemed to be in good shape, although upon closer inspection, remnants of the past were still present. These will be mentioned later on. Jet2’s cabin features overhead bins, which are plastered with red stripes and holiday destinations that they fly to. This is also the first time that I have seen nets that have been attached inside overhead bins to stop bags from sliding out. The seats were in a red and grey colour scheme which added some colour to the cabin environment. Throughout the entirety of boarding, Jet2’s iconic boarding music; “Hold my hand” by Jess Glynne, was blasting through the speakers. This is the first time I’ve seen passengers singing along to an airline’s boarding music.

Seat Review

There are too many great things to be said about the seat so I’ll try to squeeze them all in. The seat, despite not appearing to have a generous amount of padding, was very comfortable. A very generous amount of legroom and knee room was given as well, this took me by surprise as this isn’t what low-cost airlines are known for. In addition to the great seat, it was well cleaned and the seat-back was modern and minimalistic.

The seat-back held a tray table that was clean and large, there was an exclusive metal cup holder which was very convenient for take-off and landing, although there was no seat pocket a storage rack on the seat that made up for it. The storage rack/unusual seat pocket is seen on easyJet’s A321 as well. It held an inflight menu, a safety card, an air-sickness bag and a magazine. One thing that was peculiar about this aircraft was that there was no window blind, it simply didn’t seem to exist. Overall, the seat was brilliant!

Take-off

After boarding, we pushed back and the cabin crew did the usual safety demonstration. One thing that I can credit Jet2 on is their pre-recorded announcements that make crew announcements audible.

The Boeing 737-300 taxiied towards the runway at Leeds Bradford Airport and the engines roared as we sped down the runway before lifting off above West Yorkshire’s picturesque landscape and over Calder Valley. The take-off was very powerful, with the cabin rattling so hard that one of the overhead bins opened! It wasn’t long after take-off when the seatbelt light was turned off, and the cabin crew immediately started the meal service.

Catering Service

Jet2 gives you the choice of pre-ordering a meal on all of their flights. On shorter flights, sandwiches, wraps and pizza twists are available. On longer flights (eg, LBA-PMI) meals such as pasta, curries and salads are served on board. I ordered a ham & cheese toastie and a margherita pizza twist when booking. The ham & cheese toastie was pretty average; easyJet wins this one, but the pizza twist wasn’t bad at all, just very damp. Jet2 serves a range of snacks, hot and cold drinks (including Yorkshire Tea) and hot meals on board.

Cabin Cleanliness & Lavatory Review

The cabin was bright, colourful and quite clean. There were no obvious uncleaned areas, but there were some bits of grime wedged in the ridges of the armest and windows. Jet2’s 737-300s are equipped with 3 on-board lavatories, one at the front and two at the rear. The toilets were clean and well stocked but noticeably quite old. The tap and sink had the old metal and plastic look from the “90s and the tap didn’t work very well.

Photo Gallery & Flight In General

The flight was smooth and short, while waiting to use the lavatory, I discovered the 737-300’s galley which was a real “blast from the past”. Much of the placards and signs in the galley were the originals from when the aircraft G-GDFM, flew with Virgin Express Ireland. In addition to this, lots of machinery and decoration was still authentic and hadn’t been retrofitted. This included the Passenger Announcement handset & system.

Descent & Landing

Shortly after the catering service had finished, another pre-recorded announcement played, indicating that our descent into Paris Charles de Gaulle had started. With around 10 minutes left of the actual flight time left, we descended below the clouds and the River Seine came into view. The cabin crew did a diligent pre-landing inspection of the cabin, and a few minutes later cabin crew were told to take their seats for landing. After passing by central Paris and the Eiffel Tower, we touched down at Paris CDG Airport. The landing was quite hard, and this time, two overhead bins opened. After taxiing to a stand, we deboarded via air stairs where an airport bus took us to Charles de Gaulle Terminal 3.

Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 3

After clearing a rather long immigration line at Terminal 3, I entered the baggage claim area and was pleasantly surprised by how spacious, clean, modern and brightly-lit the area was. Although Terminal 3 is the smallest terminal at Charles de Gaulle, it has a relaxed, laid-back environment. Upon clearing customs, I was let out into an even more brightly-lit arrivals hall. There aren’t many shops in the arrivals hall, one bakery and a few vending machines. I then exited the airport and took a taxi into Paris.

Conclusion

Overall, Jet2 provided a great flight experience from Leeds Bradford Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Starting with the airport experience at LBA, there were short waiting times and the boarding was very quick. The cabin crew on my flight were very friendly, down to earth and made a real effort to engage with passengers. The seat was comfortable and provided great legroom & kneeroom, in addition to this the airplane was clean. The catering on board was somewhat mediocre but food and drinks were priced reasonably. I would fly Jet2 again any day!

InterCaribbean 716, Bridgetown to Saint Vincent

Landside

After staying for one night at Bellevue House in the parish of St Michael on Barbados, we left this charming little guest house in a pre-booked bus and headed for Grantley Adams International Airport. We arrived at the semi-outdoor check-in area, which was relatively silent on all airlines, with the only open counter being the one for InterCaribbean Airlines, who we were flying with.

We checked in our bags, which itself was a slight issue, as there are very strict baggage limits onboard the aircraft. After checking in the bags, I looked at my boarding pass. It stated that my flight left Bridgetown airport at 1230, with primary boarding beginning at 1205. I went to the departure board to corroborate this information and was incredibly confused.

It stated that JY716, our flight to Kingstown, St Vincent, and the Grenadines, was to be leaving from Gate 9 at 1100. Considering it was 1035, it confused me. Nevertheless, we trusted the boarding pass and headed on through security. One of the trays of a family member of mine spilled over inside the x-ray machine, which I have never seen before.

Airside

We headed on through relatively quickly and into the practically deserted departure lounge. The departure board issue was still baffling us, as it still showed the aircraft departing at 1100, even though when we looked at the time on our phones, it was 1120.

In order to try and solve this mystery, my mother traveled to Gate 9 to enquire about this, where a staff member apologized in an incredibly calm manner and told us to be there at 1200. We did arrive at 1200, where there was some slight confusion as VQ-TPS, an Embraer ERJ-145 and the newest member of the InterCaribbean fleet, was boarding at the same time from the same gate for a flight to Antigua. Whilst the passengers for this flight were beginning to board, we saw VQ-TDG, our Embraer EMB-120, land in from Saint Vincent.

Boarding

After a short boarding process, in which seemingly all passengers with non-Caribbean passports were shunted to one side, we headed out onto the ramp and towards the EMB-120. We waited outside the airport for a moment, and the first few passengers began to attempt to board the aircraft, but due to several issues, the sole cabin crew member turned them away and stated that they had to board us by need first.

A passenger who was in a wheelchair and her companion boarded first, followed by a Scottish-American family with very young children, and then came us, as we were traveling with a few relatively young children. It turns out that they did the boarding process to ensure that no children were traveling in the emergency exit row. Our group boarded, and I sat in my seat for flight 7A.

InterCaribbean organized the EMB-120 in a 2-1 configuration, meaning I sat in the solo seat on the left of the aircraft. It is a very small aircraft, with seemingly just 10 rows, with all but the back row being in this 2-1 configuration, whereas the last row is 4 seats altogether. The safety briefing was carried out, and the cabin crew member informed us that we all had to switch off all electronic devices, meaning I was unable to get a video of the takeoff out of BGI as I had hoped.

Takeoff and Inflight

We taxied to Runway 09 and immediately took off from the Barbadian airport. Runway 09 departures from BGI take you to the west, so the pilots gave us a full view of the island out of the left-hand side as we began to turn ourselves to the west and in the direction of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The route between Bridgetown, Barbados, Kingstown, St Vincent, and the Grenadines is an especially interesting one. Two airlines operate the route, and both offer vastly different products. The first is the InterCaribbean route, which operates multiple times a day using the Embraer EMB-120. The second is a continuation of Virgin Atlantic’s route from London Heathrow to Barbados, which operates using either an Airbus A330-300 or a Boeing 787-9, which operates every 3 days.

The first option is definitely more of an experience. Shortly after we got into the air, and the seatbelt signs flickered on, we hit a patch of turbulence due to the weather conditions, a common occurrence in the Caribbean. The aircraft began to swerve between clouds and rain patches, but in the end, all was fine. I leafed through the InterCaribbean inflight magazine and read about their newest flight, from Providenciales to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, which takes place at a shockingly infrequent once a month!

Landing

After not long at all, probably only 15 minutes, the seatbelt sign was re-instituted for landing. We began our approach to Argyle International Airport, which follows the coastline of the island, giving a great view. We touched down calmly and taxied to the gate. Deboarding was quite swift, and so we entered the immigration hall. Unfortunately, our flight had landed just after a Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737-800 had landed from New York JFK, meaning the hall was very busy.

The passport checks were slow, as they had two different lines, meaning nobody was quite sure where to go. Furthermore, they kept the doors open, meaning we could still hear the noise of the EMB-120 as it prepared for departure back to Bridgetown. This meant that the questions being asked by the clearly stressed immigration officers were not very easy to hear, extending the time.

Eventually, we got through, where the bags from JY716 had been taken from the aircraft and dropped on the floor. However, SVD airport has manual customs checks, and our arrival at the same time as the Caribbean 737 was once again a problem. The passengers onboard that flight seemingly had multiple suitcases each, and each passenger was being interviewed for ages.

When we walked up to the customs desk, with one bag per person, we handed the passports over, and were asked where we were staying. When we told the customs officer, he immediately returned them and allowed us into St Vincent. The process in St Vincent is one of the worst I have ever seen, but the flight itself was not bad at all, and a fun experience!

Introduction

After booking my flight only 2 days before the travel date, I made my way to London Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal, the larger of the two. I was excited to fly easyJet, although it is a low-cost airline, as I had not flown with them in almost 5 years! If you travel by car and plan to park at the airport in the North Terminal, you have the option of taking a very long walk well over 30 minutes or taking the Airport Shuttle Bus that arrives every 12 minutes.

Keep in mind that the transfer bus gets very, very crowded even at 4 AM. As I booked only 2 days before travelling, I was faced with high prices, up to 4 times the usual price. The return ticket cost £430/€487.69. Then I was ambushed by the hold luggage price of £110/€124.76 per person for 23KG which I had to pay too.

Advice for flying with easyJet

1. easyJet has an online app that can be downloaded on the App Store (iOS) and the Google Play Store (Android). The app makes travelling with them a lot easier as you can download boarding passes in addition to saving time with online check-in.
2. As easyJet is a low-cost airline, complimentary food and beverages are not offered unless you purchase a voucher online. I would recommend you buy outside food and beverages from an airport supermarket or bring some from home just to simply save money.
3. If you’re feeling thirsty on board, then you are allowed a cup of water if you ask the cabin crew. It should be free of charge (as of Feb 2023).
4. easyJet policy states that the gate will close 30 minutes before departure time, as a few passengers learnt, exceptions would not be made.

Check-in & Airport Experience

After arriving at the North Terminal via the packed airport shuttle bus, I headed over towards the easyJet check-in counters to find that they were, like the airport shuttle bus, spilling with people. As I was late for my flight, easyJet ground staff were able to usher some other people and myself who were on the same flight to the front check-in desks and bag drop machines. I had checked in the day before online and therefore I was able to use the bag drop machines, they are simple to use but if you are travelling on a passport that requires a pre-paid visa at your destination, a staff member will have to manually approve it which can take a long time. Dropping off the bags was a relief, as I could now move over to airport security.

Gatwick Airport’s security in the North terminal is a large space and has many members of security staff, making the process smoother than its competitors, such as Luton and Stansted. There isn’t much to say about the security area at the North terminal apart from that really.

Gatwick North Terminal Airside

The duty-free area in the North terminal is probably the worst smelling out of all the airports that I’ve been to. The thousands of perfumes that you walk past mix with each other and block your nose with their overly sweet stench making you want to get out of that area as fast as possible. Although part of the duty-free area may smell bad, apart from that, there is a good range of restaurants and other retail stores. A notification from easyJet’s mobile application on my phone popped up saying that my flight would be departing from gate 45A, so I headed over to it with just 10 minutes to spare before they closed the gate.

Boarding

The gate attendant scanned my passport and online boarding pass. 5 minutes after I had found myself a seat at the gate area a bus pulled up outside and 100 or so passengers clambered in. Unfortunately, as the bus was too full to take on any more passengers, I had to wait for the second bus. Just as the bus doors shut, I spotted a group of 3 people who had turned up just after the gate had closed. Sadly for them, they were denied entry. The bus ride to our Airbus A319, registered G-EZAY took about 10 minutes which gave me an opportunity to snap some photos of the TUI planes which were parked on the apron. I was one of the last to leave the airport bus so I spent some time taking photos of the glistening fuselage whilst I walked towards the stairs by the rear of the airplane.

The cabin crew greeted the passengers as we entered and we were pointed towards our seats. My seat was 24A. Row 24 is the second-last row of the aircraft. My first impressions of the cabin were that it was clean, the seatbelts were presented nicely (not common on low-cost airlines) and the seats seemed to be narrower than I remembered.

Seat Review

Seat 24A is a window seat with a limited view of the wing, but most of it is still visible. The seat itself was decked out in the slightly outdated and scratchy grey padding, which was dotted with a square, orange pattern. Although the seat was rather worn-down it still proved to be relatively comfortable and worked well for the 2 hour flight. As for the legroom, it was adequate with decent space for my knees. Unfortunately, one thing that I noticed that had gone from the seats was the function to recline, these were installed previously but were probably removed in order to fit more seats in. The tray table was clean and sturdy and the seat pocket contained a safety card and an inflight duty-free magazine but no air sickness bag was provided. Above each seat are a reading light, a flight attendant call button and individual air conditioning vents. I also noticed there was a large crack in the panel above my head, the cabin was showing signs of wear and tear elsewhere too, such as the overhead lockers being quite scratched on the outside and some information stickers were collecting dirt and peeling.

Flight Delayed & Take-Off

Just as the flight attendants were about to close the door, the captain made an announcement saying that due to low visibility and bad weather in Salzburg, the safest bet to avoid landing in Munich or Vienna would be to delay the flight by 1 hour. Upon hearing this, groans were heard and after a 40 minute wait, another announcement was made. This time we were informed that a warning light in the cockpit had gone off and that there was reportedly a problem with one of our engines.

The captain then said we would taxi to a remote stand so that the engineers could fix the problem after the crew had done the safety demonstration. After the brief safety demonstration, another announcement came from the pilots. Because our flight had been delayed, the ground crew who were supposed to remove our detachable boarding stairs had moved onto service another flight, meaning we would have to wait for a new set of crew. Approximately 20 minutes later the boarding stairs were removed and our A319-100 was pushed back. I noticed that after pushing back our flight just taxied towards the runway and not towards a remote stand, hence the aircraft that followed us and the A321 NEO in front of us waiting for the runway to be vacated so it could take off.

Approx. time of take-off: 8:30AM

After a while, we turned onto the runway and before I knew it, flight EZY 8557 stormed down the runway and lifted up into the azure blue, leaving London behind.

Catering Service

Around 20 to 30 minutes after departure, the cabin crew rolled out the trolleys and went around the cabin to start the catering service. I had purchased an online meal voucher with the easyJet website when I had checked in with them online. I had bought it for just £8/€9.04 and it was worth £10/€11.31. When the cabin crew had reached my seat, I showed them my boarding pass which indicated that I had a meal voucher and ordered from their “Meal Deal” section for £8.50/€9.61.

easyJet serves a wide variety of hot and cold meals including wraps, pastries, pizza, sandwiches, instant porridge and even a tapas box. Cold, hot and alcoholic beverages are also up for purchase. Of course, they are highly priced. I ordered a can of Diet Coke, a Kit Kat and a Ham & Cheese toastie. To my surprise, the toastie was flavourful and tasted great. I also noticed that around 40% of the passengers had purchased food items on board, usually you’d expect a lot less people to do this due to the unappealing nature of airplane food and the expensive prices. Nonetheless, the catering on this flight was of a high standard.

Cabin Cleanliness & Lavatory Review

As aforementioned, the cabin was clean and so was the tray table. It was evident that the cabin had been well kept over the years. I went to check out the rear lavatory just after the meal service had ended and found it to be very clean and well stocked. Of course, this being an A319, the lavatory was a little cramped.

Photo Gallery & Flight In General

The flight after take-off was relatively uneventful, on the way down we did hit some occasional spots of mild turbulence though. As it was the holiday season, the airspace was very busy, there were planes flying beside and underneath us all the time. A little while after the meal service, the cabin crew made an announcement that they were coming around to collect donations for UNICEF that was helping victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake. As of March 2023, easyJet reported that over £300,000 had been raised to help the earthquake survivors!

Descent & Landing

A little while after the catering service had finished, the seatbelt light re-appeared and an announcement was made, informing us that we were starting our descent towards Salzburg WA Mozart Airport. Just before we dropped below the sea of clouds I spotted a few mountains that were piercing the cloud carpet. Within seconds, we were below the clouds, and my view of Salzburg was obscured by thick fog . The final approach was bumpy and after a short while, we touched down at Salzburg Airport. After a while we tax-ied to a parking stand and we disembarked via stairs.

Salzburg Airport Terminal 1

As soon as I disembarked the aircraft, ramp crew directed me to walk towards the terminal. After entering the airport I went through passport control relatively quickly. Note that anybody wearing head coverings will have to remove them at passport control, this includes religious coverings. After passport control, you pass onto the landside of the terminal and enter the baggage claim area which is modern and clean.

However, one thing I will complain about is the rip-off ATM cash machines in the airport, particularly the BARGELD ones, which take quite a high commission rate. Upon entering the landside part of Salzburg Airport Terminal 1, I headed towards the tourist information desk located on the other side of the airport. There are many duty free options as you go through the landside; including a supermarket, bakery, coffee shop and more. The staff at the information desk were very friendly and helpful. One thing that I noticed was that the airport was very very empty, and there were hardly any passengers However, I discovered that this was clearly not the case when I returned a week later.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it was a decent flight. Sure some parts could have been better, but after all easyJet is a budget airline. The staff were polite and professional; the seats were comfortable and had good legroom despite the fact that they could no longer recline; the catering service was quite expensive but had a good range of meals and tasted great; and the airplane was clean. I will definitely be flying easyJet again in the future.