Week 1 - Research of journey experiences for existing budget airlines: James Birkbeck

Easyjet reviews:

·         Easyjet will cancel flights without hesitation if they feel there’s going to be a problem, not reschedule - cancel. They then decide if to reschedule the flight in a few days but will otherwise just give you a refund.

·         Higher budget airlines tend to have contingency plans for when problems arise, but Easyjet is not good at that.

·         There have been some bad cases if flights being cancelled, and the passengers not being informed for several hours of the changes, (when they were told the flight would be 3 days later.) They claimed Easyjet to be unfriendly and unorganised.

·         Openly abusive manner of charging you for your extra baggage.

·         Because they are a budget airline, they care more about themselves than the paying passengers. To save time the following day, they left a plane at one end of the airport at the opposite (wrong) terminal and shunted the passengers onto a coach instead of arriving at the correct terminal, taking 77 minutes.

·         Many passengers rated Easyjet to be a perfectly adequate budget airline experience.

·         A system called Speedy Boarding, where you pay a little extra to get on the plane faster. Often people jump the line or people have to queue who’ve paid, meaning you’ve wasted you money.

In a nutshell, Easyjet are a good budget airline, and fair value for money, good catering, staff, regular boarding and departure, but a reoccurring problem is with weather and subsequent cancellations, etc. Easyjet ‘go to pot’ as soon as there is an issue, and the airport was described as chaotic, and the staff too. You just have to be lucky and hope that there is no reason for a rescheduling or cancellation, or you’re not going to leave the ground for several hours.

Easyjet booking:             

It’s Straightforward to find flights. They offer you a lot of extras like leg room, ‘Speedy Boarding,’ extra bags, chose your seats, etc. The price is shown immediately, no hidden costs. Travel insurance and cheap cancellation offered as well, just in case. They even help you find a hotel for when you land. The booking process is extremely easy for first time users and a lot simpler than the British Airways process. 

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/

http://www.airlinequality.com/

Primary research into Easyjet:

Easyjet questions:

1.     Was it easy to book, and please tell me a little about booking.

2.     Was it easy to get onto the plane, all the way from leaving the house to boarding the plane. What was it like? Decent? Good staff, food, comfort? etc.

3.     What about departures? Was it easy to get off and leave the airport? Were the staff helpful and was it clearly signposted, etc.

Easyjet answers:

1.     Very easy to book, did it online. Simple found what flight I wanted and when it was, filled in how much baggage, returning or not, where I wanted to sit, stuff like that, then paid and it was easy. Printed out my boarding pass.

2.     Got a lift to the airport, and very easily found my plane. All signposted, never got confused once. Nice experience, exciting. Friendly and accepting staff, didn't need to be fed, probably would have been quite steep in price, the flight was too short for a meal. Comfortable chairs indeed. The window I sat next to was dirty so I had to clean it to see out, but when it was clean (apart from it being small) the views were beautiful.

3.     Easier to leave the airport than enter it. Very easy. Welcoming staff, easily signposted. Followed a long tunnel and it was the way out. Simple. 

Jet2 reviews:    

·         Decent company but perhaps should set different planes of particular routes so they don’t have to refuel.

·         737 services are short range, 757 are long, but heat up due to their engines.

·         Mixed reviews on seating… some say it’s good and suits the disabled well, but others say it’s terrible. They have hard plastic backed seats which tall people’s knees dig into.

·         Some mention of the planes being very old and in disrepair, tape and kitchen paper, etc.

·         Slow refreshments service.

·         Unorganised. They sold extra-legroom seats that didn’t exist on the flight. Also, booked legroom seats that were occupied upon arrival, and all they got from the staff was a shrug of the shoulders. Also, when new aircraft was requested, the staff’s response was ‘well you’ll have to start paying more.” Unprofessional response.

·         Mixed responses. Some say that it is good for value, good staff, catering and comfort but many others disagree.

Generally the planes are old and need to be repaired. The staffing is mostly friendly but can sometimes appear unprofessional. No real complaints about the food. Better organisation than Easyjet when it comes to rescheduling delayed or cancelled flights, but older planes and much less comfortable. Some say the seats are ok, but they appear overall to be in need of modification.

Jet2 booking:

Already, there seem to be fewer destinations to fly to with Jet2. The booking experience is not as good as Easyjet. It’s not as straightforward, but despite this it is still relatively easy to book flights, and they do offer all the important services like Easyjet does. It is the sort of service I would expect for this airline.

http://www.airlinequality.com/

Easyjet and Jet2 personal review

The reoccurring problem with Easyjet is its lack of ability to resolve issues brought about by delays. Flights are postponed with little alteration information, and cancelled without a second’s consideration for the passengers. Many passengers end up grounded for hours and even suspended for days if there is a problem, and there are cases of the staff acting unprofessionally in these instances. The apparent problem is trying to keep the passengers informed, as many end up clueless as to what will happen. Easyjet needs to ensure that their staff are prepared to deal with these eventualities, as it is the staff who will have to deal with the angry and worried passengers. Also, there are several cases where a serious lack of organisation has caused delays and unnecessary panic, which will inevitably drive passengers away, even things like de-icing the plane.

Jet2 appear to be the worst out of the two companies. Their planes are outdated and unrepaired, and there seems to be a lack of organisation and competence with their staff and booking systems too, and these are simply easy to resolve things like double booking and untrained staff. The problem that Jet2 seem to be experiencing is the fact that because they are a budget airline service, they don’t have the money to repair their planes. As long as they are safe and useable the aircraft can still be used, but this drives away customers, even those who don’t mind a cheaper experience. In order for a budget airline to be successful, the imperative tasks that it carries out must be performed with high standards, in order to make the experience as good as it can be. The fact that these companies cannot offer some of the services that the more expensive airlines can means that what they do offer needs to be of the best quality.

Brazil

Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras overview:

Good flight experience all around. Their main problem is dealing with delays. It was described as chaos and passengers were informed they’d be put on a flight that didn't exist, and they were finally told to come back in 2-3 days.

Gol Transportes Aéreos overview:

Lack of clear English speaking staff and communications. It has been described as a ‘low budget airline with the price of full service airline.’ Lack of entertainment and service aboard flights. Irritating to book online.

India

GoAir overview:

They have to use buses to transport passengers to the planes, and they are old and in need of replacement. You can offer your mobile number for text alert messages, but some didn’t get the message that a flight was delayed, and there was little other info anywhere else. Definitely a no-thrills airflight.

Indigo Airlines overview:

During a delay in bad weather the airline spoke to a passenger and professionally rearranged his flight at no extra cost. Their seats are uncomfortable and very cramped, and they don’t have much chance to clean the plane because as soon as one lot disembarks, another boards. They try to make the experience more comical by adding quirky little gags to their snacks and steps etc. Company bought ticket which needed credit card, so they had to buy another ticket. Charges for everything they can it seems. Chaotic delays.

Spicejet overview:

Poor seating conditions. Slow check-in compared to other airlines. They sent texts to Indian local phones giving details of delays, but only to local phones. Emails would’ve been good too, otherwise those without local phones wouldn’t have known. Poor organisation during delays and cancellations, e.g. 200+ international passengers left in limbo without accommodation. Credit cards needs to be yours in order to board.  

Jetlite overview:

Lack of legroom and shoulder room. Several old planes in need of replacement.

China

Spring Airlines overview:

All English announcements are recorded, so anything new will be in mandarin, not English. Poor seating comfort. On board auctions which are annoying. Lack of clear communications. No English payment methods online. On board exercise routines!

Juneyao Airlines overview:

Lack of English communications and staff understanding. Poor delay organisation.