Tuesday 18 December 2012

EasyJet offer in-flight entertainment

Last month EasyJet announced a revolution in air travel. They had, according to the announcement, listened to their customers and decided to offer "allocated seating". Genius! They came to the market with the idea that you did not need "allocated seating" and that a free-for-all-fight was the best way to board a plane.

Some suspicious types might wonder if the change in policy was down to a trial they had run which proved that, on average, it was quicker to board a plane if you had allocated seats. So they could keep to their schedules.

On my first "allocated seat" flight last week I logged on and was faced with the option of paying £3 for choosing my seat. A bargain I thought given that FlyMayBe would charge £6. I even held back from criticising them for the under hand way of milking £3 each way out of my pocket to have an allocated seat - it was worth it I thought. I had assumed that people who did not pay £3 would be subject to the usual free fro all fight for seats. This, I figured, meant I must be getting some sort of priority boarding. In my head I heard the announcement "Flight EZY424 to Bristol is ready for boarding - speedy boarders first then allocated seat boarders".

No. Everyone gets a seat allocated. If you don't pay £3 to choose your seat you get given one for free!!!

In my advancing years I am becoming calmer and more able to deal with this kind of corporate spite. I learned my lesson and ignored the box saying £3 to choose your seat when I went to Bristol yesterday. I found I got an even better seat than the one I had paid for last week. Happy days!

Better still EasyJet had realised that passengers were missing the spectacle of the free-for-all-fights that entertained us in the days of free-for-all-seating - they laid on a fight when we landed between a big Scot with a huge backpack and a small German in a pork-pie hat. It kicked off when the Scot slung his backpack over his shoulder just as the wee German was trying to get into the aisle behind him hitting him square in the face. The German retaliated with a hefty push forward nearly knocking over ten people standing in the aisle waiting for the doors to open. The big Scot retaliated with a shove of his own and another ten people in the opposite direction went wobbling down the aisle.

I simply sat and watched the entertainment before thanking the captain as I left the plane.


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