Jet2 has cemented its places as the UK’s largest tour operator and the 3rd largest UK based airline. Part of the carriers success has come from its suppossed relentless focus on customer service, with claims such as “Which? Recommened Provider”, “Friendly, Low Fares” and “Convenient Flight Times and Frequencies”, but with all that said, how do these claims hold when they are subject to third party outstation employees rather than Jet2’s own staff?
To find out, I flew with Jet2 from Prague to Glasgow on their first flight of the Winter 2026/2027 season, and given I have flown this route 12 times previously, I think I have a solid baseline for what to expect, especially as 10 of those were with Jet2 (plus easyJet and the now defunct FlyGlobespan).
Check-In Experience
I used the Jet2 app to check-in the night before and collect my boarding pass, as well as adding a 22kg bag to my booking that would be put in the aircraft hold. This process was easy enough and the Jet2 app did appear to be behaving itself.
On the morning of my flight I made my way to Prague Airport Terminal 1 approximately 90 minutes before departure. Despite Glasgow being the only flight departing with the airline, and with a very light load, 3 desks were open and I had my bag checked-in within 60 seconds of arriving at the desk. Unlike their UK bases, and some holiday destinations, the check-in staff at Prague Airport are not employed by Jet2, but rather by their handling agent Menzies Aviation.
Once checked-in I made my way through passport control, which like check-in was incredible quiet (foreshadowing here), and was processed in a little over 1 minute.
Security Experience
Terminal 1 at Prague Airport is unique compared to any other airport I have used in that rather than a central security area, security checks are conducted at the boarding gate.
The gate for this particular flight (departing at 1150) was displayed at 1040, and I made my way to the boarding gate shortly after.
Most gates in Prague have their own dedicated security checkpoint, but todays flight was departing Gate A6, which shares its security checkpoint with Gates A7/8/9, and the queue clearly showed these were well used gates.
Looking at FlightRadar24 showed that an easyJet flight to Bristol departed from Gate A9 at 1110, this was an Airbus A321NEO with 235 seats. Our flight to Glasgow was next at 1150 on a Boeing 737-800 with 189 seats from Gate A6, then Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2110 to Baku at 1215 from Gate A7.
Those 3 flights were expected to be processed in quick succession using just 3 security lanes, with 100ml liquid restrictions still enforced, and all electronics required to be removed from your bags. It became clear quickly this was not a fast moving queue.
Noticing the queue was putting people dangerously close to missing their flight, Prague Airport security staff outright refused to prioritise the queue by flight, insisting Glasgow passengers in the queue were “too late” and “everyone here is going to Glasgow”, neither of which was true, especially as we had joined the queue before the bag drop for this flight closed!
As I was waiting to walk through security the flight dispatcher came and shouted “anyone for Glasgow” to which a couple of passengers shouted “yes”, but still no priority given by security staff.
I finally cleared security at 1141 and ran to the boarding podium and explained the remaining passengers were still in the queue. The gate staff were not able to do much, however, the dispatcher did intervene again.
I made my way onto the aircraft and took my assigned seat, 3F, fully prepared for the remaining passenger (including my family member) to be offloaded. Thankfully, the remaining two passengers were able to board the flight, however, not until after the departure time had already passed.
The Inflight Experience
The flight itself was not busy, this was the first Jet2 flight on the route since May so it is understandable.
After a short taxi to Runway 24 we departed Prague at 1212 and made our way back to Glasgow.
The inflight service started with pre-ordered meals being served, quickly followed by the bar service.
On this particular flight we did order from the service;
- 1x Irn Bru @ £2.90
- 1x Diet Coke @ £2.90
- 1x Biscoff Chocolate Bar (part of a deal with the Haribo for £6.50)
- 1x 220g Haribo Travel Parade bag (part of a deal with the Chocolate for £6.50)
All the items we wanted were available and our total bill was £12.30
Not long after the bar service the crew then commenced the inflight duty free service, and unusually we did order from this as well;
- 1x La Vie Est Belle Perfume @ £43.80 (I think, I didn’t pay for it and it certainly isn’t mine)
- 1x Jet2 Boeing 737-800 model in Jet2.com livery @ £13
- 1x Jet2 Playing Cards @ £5
All the items we wanted were available and our total bill was around £63.80
Purchasing from both services gave us the chance to interact with all 4 cabin crew on this flight, all of whom were excellent and made sure that we had everything we wanted. The crew were also happy to answer any questions we had, and were more than happy to talk to any passengers on the flight about anything.
Alongside the two bar services, the crew also passed through the cabin regularly collecting rubbish, and the cabin was spotless when we boarded.
Arrival Experience in Glasgow Airport
In a word, this was excellent, and a far better experience than I had arriving into Prague at the start of the week (read more here).
Our aircaft parked on Stand 32, the furthest gate from passport control in Glasgow that does not require the use of a bus. Despite this, we cleared passport control, collected my bag, had a 2 minute chat with the Jet2 rep in baggage reclaim and still made it outside in 12 minutes!
It’s not as if we were the only flight that had arrived, baggage reclaim was busy with people waiting, and even though we were only in Row 3, the bag was still waiting for us, not us waiting for us.
We decided to head into Glasgow to catch our train, and the 500 Express bus was sitting waiting to depart, well the 2nd one was, one left as we got there. If you include the 10 minute wait for the bus to depart, we made it from the aircraft parking to the bus leaving in 23 minutes, an incredible achievement.
Does Jet2’s “Friendly Low Fares” Claim Pass This Flight?
Jet2 themselves were fantastic, a really great onboard team, a flightdeck crew that kept us informed throughout the flight and friendly reps in the terminal really do put weight behind the “Friendly” claim.
This flight was booked on October 8th and was taken on October 30th.
As this was a one-way booking from Prague, prices are in CZK and not GBP, the approximate converted prices are;
- Flight: £74.32
- Seat 3F: £21.40
- 22kg bag: £46.80
That works out at a total cost of £142.52 combined cost, and remember, that fare also included a 10kg cabin bag. Once that is considered I would say this was excellent value.
Although Jet2 themselves were great, the first impression created in the terminal at security really did tarnish the experience, and I would say has the potential to significantly damage the Jet2 brand to customers who are not as used to travelling as myself.
With Jet2 promissing the whole journey being smooth, 3rd party staff are a vulnerability in their chain, and in this case, the entire journey was impacted by Prague Airport security.
What I think would have helped keep things in order is either a member of the security staff showing an ounce of initative, or Jet2 having a rep of their own present in the terminal to identify these issues and take control of the situation, as well as feeding back complaints directly to Prague Airport, who I must say after this trip have seriously damaged their reputation with myself. Those who know me well will know that I am normally a supporter of Prague Airport and how great it is, but this trip really undid 20 years of reputation building in less than 3 hours.