Speedy boarding can be a joke - depending on the airport, all you get speedily boarded onto is the bus to the aircraft, and then you have to battle everyone else to get on board anyway. A couple of years ago, I was standing on one of these pesky buses near a group of Swiss people who were very annoyed to have found that SB just got them a seat on the bus, no advantage in the (then) free-for-all that was unallocated seating.

Numbers of bags have been an issue for me as well; especially departing Britain, easyjet staff will not normally allow more than one bag per person at the gate, so everyone ends up stuffing everything into their small suitcase just before their boarding pass is checked, and immediately pulling it out again the other side of the counter. I have done this many times, and always make sure everything will fit, but am always aggrieved at the number of (usually...) men who swan past with their man bag and their computer bag and their suitcase and and and. Having had my little rant, I also have to say none of this stops me taking advantage of easyjet's cheap and cheerful fares.

Hobs

If only!

Last week we arrived at Geneva 2 hours before the flight. The Easyjet queue stretched from entrance 5 back to entrance 3. We stood patiently in line carrying a 3 month old baby. By the time we reached check-in we were told we were 2 minutes late. We were not the only ones that day that missed their flights because there is absolutely no management of the single queue for all flights. Of course, we then had to pay another 200CHF and luckily were able to get the next flight.

I guess speedy boarding would have prevented this miserable experience.

On the way back, we were made to queue on the stairs and aircraft gangway for 45 minutes because the plane was not ready to board. Not much fun with a baby either. The speedy boarders suffered the same fate though.

Speedy boarding means simply you get the opportunity to be in the first few to board. Total waste of money as I would rather be the last few to board that way I spend less time on the plane. I struggle to understand why people want to use a budget airline and then want the perks of a mor mainstream airline. If you want guaranteed seats and those sort of things then dont bother with budget airlines

Nope!

Speedy boarding means you are called first in the departure lounge to board the plane. It's nothing to do with check/bag drop prior to security.

I had this experience at Geneva 2 years ago on the Saturday before Christmas. All we needed was to drop our bag off. 2.5 hours early meant we did it. They were calling flights to bring passengers to the front of the queue, which was a bit self-defeating as it meant a longer wait for those still in the queue, until they too had to be brought to the front of the queue...

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... but there was a separate, much shorter check-in queue for speedy boarding

I am surprised Salie- as normally if there is a big queue they will call when it gets very close to a specific flight time, and go up and down the queue calling people to go forwards- and jump the queue. I've seen this all over for EasyJet, both in CH and abroad. Good job you got on the next flight.

We were once help up because on the crash on the MWay between Lausanne and Geneva- and EasyJet staff, who were aware of the problem, were great. Luckily the flight was slightly delayed anyway, and they got us on despite us being quite a bit beyond last boarding time.

On a typical intra-Euro flight (i.e. less than 2 hours flying time) I rather spend a little more time sitting on the plane than standing in line at the airport.

Plus: Early boarding usually mitigates issues with carry-on luggage. Since I avoid to check bags whenever possible, that's very important to me.

They did call but we had no idea that we were expected to simply go under the barriers and jump the queue ourselves. We expected to see a member of staff walking down the queue, checking if anyone on flight xxx was in it. This is what normally happens with most airlines. The girl behind us did leave the queue to ask an Easyjet employee what to do and she was told to simply wait in the queue. She missed the flight too.

Now I know what you're supposed to do, it would not happen again.

We arrived at the airport with 2 hours 20 mins to go but took 20 minutes to find a space to drop off the car for Easy-park. Again, we should have allowed more time considering it was Saturday before xmas.

A normal and globally accepted behavior if you are that late is to walk straight to the front of the queue and explain situation. You then get sorted and let on seen it done loads of times

Was into that situation myself once. Our flight got called and we got out of the queue and run to the front. Still had to wait half an hour for security and were running all the way to the gate but we got on that plane.

Often, there's no choice. I'd rather travel with a budget airline than travel to an airport much further away. If I can make the experience a little more comfortable along the way, then even better.

To be honest, there's not much to choose between Easyjet and the legacy airlines when flying in Europe these days anyway. And I'd rather pay for food than have the crappy Swiss butter silseli, if I'm hungry.

It's unusual for a "Anybody flying to xxxx?" shout not to be made just before closing too.

I looked at this but the benefits are not worth the cost. I think Easyjet are turning into another Ryanair in terms of their rip everyone off agenda and add on costs and poor customer service. Thats MHO

I fly Swiss whenever possible even if its a bit more with no charges for hold luggage and two pieces of hand luggage and laptop and free food / drinks on the plane. Never had a problem with them. They still recognise customer service which seems to have declined with other airlines.

We had the same issue at Gatwick when we were about to check in our hold luggage. We heard of all other flights being called except for Basel and when I jumped the queue forcefully as it was nearing our departure time the check-in clerk said that it was too late to check-in now, and a jobs worth supervisor told us to catch the next flight and pay again. Luckily, when we queued to buy the tickets the lady on that desk saw us queuing for over an hour and called the supervisor to explain that we did arrive on time at the airport and we're queuing all this time. Thanks to the lady we didn't have to pay again but in this situation it's your words against them but luckily the lady saved the day but we still had to wait for next plane.

They should definitely have a ticket numbered waiting system when you arrive at the airport so that you can prove when you arrived and not have to pay again.

I've given up on Easyjet for many reasons, but I've had all the experiences mentioned on this forum.
I've bought speedy boarding and then been bussed with no priority given to sb passengers on arrival at the aircraft and, sometimes, having paid to book in a suitcase, I'm then confronted by others in the queue with the same suitcase, being allowed on the plane with it, even though there's no way it would fit into the Easyjet size box.
I've also waited in the Easyjet queue for over an hour, whereas BA and Swiss have a very fast bag drop-off system.
I now travel with BA into Heathrow Terminal 5 and have noticed that, booking sufficiently in advance, I end up with more or less the same price as Easyjet, once I've paid for a suitcase. I need a suitcase for spending two weeks in London.
Also the Gatwick Express now costs a fortune and often isn't running, whereas Terminal 5 is on the Piccadilly Line with stops closer to my side of London too.

I recently got my easy jet card and think it's definitely worth it.
I do travel often (once or twice a month) and I am saving quiet a lot on allocated seats (up to 15 francs per way).

You also save time queues and stress at the airport, and are guaranteed a slightly bigger carry on since you can board the plane before the rest and have enough place to put in in the over head space!

Getting on first won't get you to your destination any earlier. If you are travelling with just hand luggage (max 50 x 40 x 20 for guarantee) there is some benefit in getting a seat close to the exit so that you can be one of the first off.

If you have hold luggage, there is little benefit in this.

Probably mostly right, but I've been on a flight where a larger (but "legal") bag was offloaded to allow a "guaranteed" size bag to take its place.

It seemed an odd decision, though, because I thought the point of the smaller bag was that it yould fit under the seat in front of you (and it seemed the wrong part of the aircraft to be from a bulkhead or exit row).

Still not worthy in 2019?

This no longer exists. It was dropped without an announcement by EJ.