I recently flew from Glasgow to Paris Charles de Gaulle with easyJet, and I must say I was not sure what to expect.
The flights were roughly the same as each other, but it is the experience on the ground I really want to talk about today, as both airports provided very different experiences from each other.
EZY 6883 from Glasgow
I was flying on Thursday March 17th 2022 from Glasgow. When I arrived at the airport the easyJet automated bag drop queue was busy but moving with passengers waiting for flights to Paris, Amsterdam and Belfast.
Before I reached the bag drop machines, a very friendly member of staff checked our Covid documentation (for France this is proof of vaccination and a sworn statement.)
Bag drop kiosks are new for me, but they guide you through it step by step and the staff are available to help should you get confused.
It was then upstairs to security which was busy but again fast moving, with staff being on hand to direct customers and keep them moving.
Boarding was through Gate 8, which is located on the east wing of the airport downstairs – lifts are available!
Staff at the boarding gate were friendly as always, however, when flying easyJet, ensure you have the correct masks, as fabric ones will not be accepted.
As to be expected with a low cost carrier, boarding was via stairs, make sure you check your boarding pass as it will tell you which set to use, and please use the correct ones as boarding at the front with a seat at the back of the plane just slows everyone down.
The crew onboard were the same as every other easyJet flight I have taken – fantastic! However, catering had not been loaded in Glasgow, so it might be worth buying something in the terminal.
The flight itself was uneventful and lasted 82 minutes, however, a long taxi in Paris added another 10 or so minutes to our time onboard.
All in all, the experience on this flight with Glasgow Airport and easyJet had been very pleasant and relaxing.
EZY 6884 to Glasgow
I was travelling back on Tuesday 22nd March, and this experience left a lot to be desired I’m sorry to say.
I arrived at the airport 2hr and 30 mins before departure, however, bag drop for easyJet only opens 2 hours before departure.
After having a coffee I walked the 10 minutes to terminal 2B and was greeted with a massive queue at bag drop.
After a 60 minute wait I finally dropped my bag off, meaning I had 1 hour until departure. I made my way to security, which was a shambles.
The usual queuing system was in place for a hall that was empty, so when the passenger in front of me climbed under the rope to skip the walk, naturally a member of staff started shouting at him in French and pointing rather aggressively at his partner.
Having been selected for a “random” check I was finally allowed to proceed. At this point I had around 40 minutes until the departure time.
It was here I remembered that because of Brexit my passport needed to be stamped, so having joined the passport control queue and waiting whilst the agent stamped my passport on a different page then my French entry stamp (wasting a page) I was finally able to proceed.
Now it is here I checked the departure screens to find my flight on final call, so me and 6 other passengers had to run across the terminal to gate B21.
The flight was just average with a lack of catering again, but a good flight crew who made up for it.
Arrival into Glasgow Airport was a breath of fresh air, with friendly ground crew and very helpful passport control agents who helped when my passport stopped working in the automated machines.
Would I do this again?
Willingly, no. I would avoid flying into Paris Charles de Gaulle again, and would use Orly to the south of the city.
I want to stress that none of the issues on this trip were directly the fault of easyJet, but rather poor airport management.
George Nugent Travels 