EasyJet from Luton

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Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

Just got back this evening from Berlin with easyJet. Here's the report.

Flight #1
Monday 29 August

EZY2103
London Luton - Berlin Schoenefeld
B737-300 G-IGOK :mad:
STD - 0630
ATD - 0643

STA - 0925
ETA - 0905

Travelled up to Luton night before as we live quite a bit from there and so we could leave at a suitable hour for our early departure. I was eager to find out what Luton looked like now, after hearing about some changes that have taken place. Check in was brilliant at 4.20 in the morning - we checked in at desk 42 and this was open for flights to Warsaw and Berlin. Just at that time, the easyJet sales desk opened but I saw no ITV film crew filming the next series of 'Airline', although the passengers in front of us were sent there as they had forgotten to change someone's name. Anyway, went upsatirs to a new area to security control which was nice and efficient. New departure lounge is nice and different - light and modern but not much was open at the horrendous time we went through, although the one or two shops and restaurants that were open were OK. The sun began to rise as I sat down by the big window looking at a First Choice Airways A320 (C-GTDH) , Britannia 757 and Monarch 757. At around 5.45 the flight was called to board at gate 16, a short 5 minute walk away. Upon descending some stairs, I entered a small 'lobby' area where the desk is to enter the gate. Naturally the walls are all painted in easyJet orange and signs with all their destinations on it. We were told we were to go to row A - easyJet now operate a system of boarding by check-in/security number. i.e. the earlier you check in, the earlier you board and get better choice of seat. A short walk awaited at about 6.15 to G-IGOK, an old 'Go' plane which i had been on before. I boarded at the front and was greeted by an older member of cabin crew who checked the boarding cards and told us we could sit anywhere. I chose row 8 i think and took my seat - good legroom and i'm 6 foot 3 so was quite impressed. We shut up doors very quickly afterwards as there was only, i'd say, 100 PAX on the flight, so plenty of spare room. Then the captain introduced himself and we were to depart to the west and turn towards Clacton initially, climbing to 35000 feet. That done, we were 'strongly invited' to watch the safety demo of 'this easyjet 737-300 series aricraft' as we taxied out to runway 26. We passed the other aircraft listed above, plus an easyjet 737 that i had not seen before and a recently arrived Britannia 767-200 (G-BRIF). A Ryanair 737-800 took off before us and it was not long before we were back-tracking to the threshold of runway 26. It was a rolling take off and we accelerated very quickly, passing a Ryanair 738 and and EZY 737 waiting for us to go. We took to the air about level with the 'easyLand' building and took off over Luton town. Nice smooth flight but they seemed to have a problem with the front loo as all 3 of them were using plastic gloves at one point to clear something with their hands down the loo ... needless to say i did'nt buy anything from the drinks/food trolley afterwards. After about and hour of flight we descended down with Berlin on our right had side, before turning right, around the city and landing on the southwesterly runway (22L i think) at around 0905 local (15 minutes early). We got the usual announcements plus one which we'd all never heard before: " ...We're pleased to say we've landed 15 minutes early, so we arrive early, go to great destinations and have the best looking crew around (which was quite ironic given she was a bit old)", but it got a few laughs from the back. taxied up next to a Ryanair 737-800 to Stansted. Waited 15 minutes at passport control as German immigration insist on doing many checks on your passport but one advantage was that the bags were ready and waiting.

Flight #2
Thursday 1 September

EZY2106
Berlin Schoenefeld - London Luton
B737-300 G-IGOP :mad:
STD - 1640
ATD - 1730

STA - 1735
ETA - 1805

After a wonderful 3 nights in the wonderful German captial, it was time to leave on easyJet again. Easyjet use their own dedicated check in area at Schoenefeld, and flights open 3 hours before departure. They force you now, where and when available, to use the self service check in. It's jsut like any other self service desk except this is the first time you actually have to put the luggage labels on yourself! Much easier though than queuing up for ages. Berlin Schoenefeld after security is nothing spectacular at all - 2 shops, cafe and Burger King. Killing 3 hours is slightly difficult, especailly as also there is hardly any aircraft 'action' for long periods of the afternoon. At 1540 (one hour before STD) we were called to Gate 61 where again they had the ABCD row layout. We waited and waited and waited in the boiling heat for well over and hour until 1650 until our plane G-IGOP arrived 35 minues late, which saw a rush of easyJet arrivals within about 10 minutes and the groundstaff looked as if they were struggling. I was disappointed now as I was expecting a 737NG, and now I've been on 4 737-300 flights in less than a month!!!!! I was getting a bit peeved off now but then the preboards were allowed to go on, followed by us in row A from the back. I chose row 19 F, behind the wing. Amazingly, we all boarded a full plane in only 7 minutes as we had a tight ATC slot. We made it though and we pushed back after starting engines, as I presume the APU wasn't working and we needed external air. No air conditioning was available either until in the climb so was very hot and stuffy onboard. We taxied to 04R extremely quickly, passing Aeroflot, easyjet and germanwings planes (plus german policemen patrolling the airside areas on horses) before doing a rolling takeoff. After climbing straight out for about 3 minutes we went 180 degrees on ourselves and went back over the aircraft and had a gorgeous view of Berlin and the 2 other airports, Tegel and Tempelhof. The weather then changed from being glorius sunshine to chopy weather as thunderstorms gathered around, but we were high enough to avoid most of the turbulence. Couldn't really hear much from the pilot, but i did detect around an hour later that we were decending down to land at luton on the westerly runway in decent weather. In flight service was attentive and welcoming but the man behind me was not happy with his Capuccino calling it 'digusting' whilst another person said it was 'excellent' - cabin crew took no notice of him and i think he was a little annoyed. The decent seemed to take a long time today but after a while the clouds broke and we turned a bit before passing Dunstable to the right (I think) and the A1 before landing very hard on the runway with very little flare it seemed. An easyJet 737 and a Thomsonfly 757 were waiting to depart. 30 minutes late wasn't ideal but i suppose it was better than never. We taxied in past a USA Air Force 757 before parking up and disembarking. Walked to the terminal building, got to the new passport control area and then hit a huge queue of people waiting for bags from about 7 flights on only 3 conveyor belts - nightmare. Fortunately they appeared quick and we were off.

RATINGS

Punctuality 7/10 :)
Service 8/10 :)
Comfort 6/10 (return flight was awful compared to outbound) :o
Price of ticket 9/10 :D

Overall 75% :)

A good, typical easyJet flight with a small delay but otherwise just what i wanted.

Tom
(pictures to follow)

Original post

Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

selected pictures

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 5,019

Nice pics there Tom!! I like the one with the aircraft shadow. Good report aswell

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 679

Nice report there, enjoyed reading it. :)

Because LTN doesn't have the biggest runway in the World they like to get it down pretty quickly, so that would explain for the firm touchdown.

Flex 35

Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

I was thinking that as well Flex 35. Unlike Gatwick (which i usually go from) they can't afford to do it wrong where as at EGKK before I've 'floated' it seems for ages. Thanks for the comments