Easyjet news

[cactustwirly]

They operate the low cost carrier model (yield managed, single fares only, luggage paid separately etc) but I'd agree are not bargain basement and also I'd agree they generally treat customers better than any of the true bargain basement carriers.

In US terms they are perhaps analogous to JetBlue.

With regard to what they compete on, they mostly avoid going head to head with Ryanair or Wizz for the reasons you state. They mostly compete with full service carriers.

They're very basic these days
Not much different to Wizz. They all charge you for any sort of luggage.

My last flight with them wasn't much better than Ryanair. Charges for everything, basic plane and rushed chaotic boarding.

I liked easyJet when it was good, but since COVID gone rapidly downhill pretending to be Wizz and Ryanair.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jun 2026 ==

The Middle East conflict is hollowing out the airlines' share prices and if you have the money it's a good time to try and force a takeover.

But absolutely nothing has ever been improved by the involvement of US private equity. Combining that expertise with AF/KLM's infamous service standards sounds like the fast road to bankruptcy to me.


EasyJet are many things- some good, some bad- but one thing they are not is low cost.

Their customer service levels, especially in disruption, are some of the best in the industry. But that costs money and they're competing in the part of the sector where the headline price is all that anybody ever reads. I'd rather walk barefoot than ever fly WizzAir again, but they're cheaper than EasyJet, and that's what EasyJet have chosen to compete on.

AF/KLM have SAS to sort out, I doubt they have the resources to deal with easyJet at the same time

They have a shareholding in Virgin Atlantic which is struggling also, been loss making for a number of years.

 

[Sparks807Evo]

EasyJet for me remains a cut above Ryanair on the comfort levels, particularly on the NEOs with the e-leather and the larger overhead cabin bins on the A321 variant. Onboard staff (both cabin crew and pilots) are consistently good from my experience, and the aircraft well turned out. The holidays arm combined with the strong UK regional presence has been a real plus for them.

As with anything, there are bargains out there and never found them particularly expensive if bit flexible on your destination. I have picked up some real bargains up until recently (and expect less likely now…) in the Autumn/Winter season with some sub £20 fares!

However, Ryanair from my experience have also been solid - I cannot comment on Jet2 as not been on them yet but again, hear lots of good things. It’s a competitive market and ultimately that is a positive as keeps each on their toes. The move to a loyalty scheme is promising and do think a premium angle would drive some further demand given BA’s absence in the UK for example in the UK regionals. They seem to be edging towards that encouragingly.

On the AFKL front I agree, they are rather tied up currently - Norwegian would be an interesting twist. However, I for one would be rather happy with the status quo. Being steady and not being overly risky in terms of strategy (e.g Wizz’s questionable over expansion, having to subsequently close bases) brings long term gains. Fine, it may not light up the share price but long term it is a safer bet.

The upgauging to more A320neos and A321neos from A319s will be a winner I think given the same (for A320s) or one extra headcount (for A321s) in terms of staffing costs per flight.

Ultimately Castlelake will want a bargain and I would think some investors will be wise to that, not in the least a certain shareholder with a large remaining stake.

 

[Bald Rick]

In my experience, easyjet have improved over the years. Certainly in terms of hard product.

I have only ever had two issues with them in over 50 flights:

1) pre selected seats not available due to aircraft change - refund given the day of applying for it (compare to BA, where it took 2 applications, correspondence, and two months).
2) delayed luggage, which found me within 24 hours, couriered to my hotel.

Staff generally superb, and I feel are great value. I don’t fly with anyone else short haul (although would consider Jet 2 now they are at Luton).

 

[Sparks807Evo]

In my experience, easyjet have improved over the years. Certainly in terms of hard product.

I have only ever had two issues with them in over 50 flights:

1) pre selected seats not available due to aircraft change - refund given the day of applying for it (compare to BA, where it took 2 applications, correspondence, and two months).
2) delayed luggage, which found me within 24 hours, couriered to my hotel.

Staff generally superb, and I feel are great value. I don’t fly with anyone else short haul (although would consider Jet 2 now they are at Luton).

Prompted me to check my stats and I am not far off the 50 mark now. In that time, no issues and that’s across a mix of the UK, Swiss and Europe AOCs - I concur about the staff, I have found them great with some standout examples. Was also nice to see them reintroducing the onboard magazine back in July 2024 which has given plenty of holiday inspiration…!

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it springs to mind increasingly.

 

[AlterEgo]

They operate the low cost carrier model (yield managed, single fares only, luggage paid separately etc) but I'd agree are not bargain basement and also I'd agree they generally treat customers better than any of the true bargain basement carriers.

In US terms they are perhaps analogous to JetBlue.

Not at all like Jetblue, who are not a true low cost carrier. Free WiFi and in-flight entertainment for all, best legroom in economy, free snacks, coffee, drinks, and a fun and funky vibe which is a sort of cross between Virgin and Southwest.

Jetblue offer protected connecting itineraries, dozens of codeshare airlines, a full service medium and long haul business class cabin...need I go on.

Jetblue isn't really a low cost carrier because it doesn't operate with a philosophy of absolute reduction of operating costs. That's what "low cost" means - a low cost base. Not the fares.

 

[Cross City]

Never had an issue with EasyJet across dozens of standalone flights and package holidays. They're easily my favourite UK carrier.

 

[takno]

On the AFKL front I agree, they are rather tied up currently - Norwegian would be an interesting twist. However, I for one would be rather happy with the status quo. Being steady and not being overly risky in terms of strategy (e.g Wizz’s questionable over expansion, having to subsequently close bases) brings long term gains. Fine, it may not light up the share price but long term it is a safer bet

Norwegian are the only budget carrier I'd rate higher than easyJet, and I'm quite tied into their loyalty scheme, so that would be super-annoying.

In practice I suspect that that's also one of the few they would struggle to get past the competition authorities, given that they already have SAS and there's nobody else apart from Widerøe flying much of anything within Scandinavia.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's what "low cost" means - a low cost base. Not the fares.

I'd agree it doesn't mean the fares are low (and easyJet's aren't particularly), but I think it's come to refer to the whole operating model which isn't just about them keeping costs down (I'm sure regional full-service airlines like Loganair feel constant pressure to do that) but also about the strongly yield managed, unbundled fares approach.

 

[cactustwirly]

I'd agree it doesn't mean the fares are low (and easyJet's aren't particularly), but I think it's come to refer to the whole operating model which isn't just about them keeping costs down (I'm sure regional full-service airlines like Loganair feel constant pressure to do that) but also about the strongly yield managed, unbundled fares approach.

I guess technically Euroflyer is a low cost airline in some respects. This is why it is a separate airline to reduce costs vs BA mainline.

I'd still fly BA over easyJet all day long, Euroflyer are competitive on price and BA holidays are cheaper than easyJet holidays in my experience.

If BA are a ridiculous price then I'd fly easyJet, but these days the prices are actually quite similar especially when anything bigger than a rucksack is taken into account

 

[takno]

I guess technically Euroflyer is a low cost airline in some respects. This is why it is a separate airline to reduce costs vs BA mainline.

I'd still fly BA over easyJet all day long, Euroflyer are competitive on price and BA holidays are cheaper than easyJet holidays in my experience.

If BA are a ridiculous price then I'd fly easyJet, but these days the prices are actually quite similar especially when anything bigger than a rucksack is taken into account

I don't especially mind BA, but as somebody who usually only travels with an underseat bag I find easyJet more reasonably priced, boarding and getting off rather faster and more comfortable, and the cabin pleasantly free of bags since everything tends to fit in the overheads.

The main issue with BA is that they are basically a London airline, and don't really fly anywhere I want without an expensive and time-consuming connection. Much as I dislike AFKL, they provide a much more useful service to most UK airports than BA does

 

[cactustwirly]

I don't especially mind BA, but as somebody who usually only travels with an underseat bag I find easyJet more reasonably priced, boarding and getting off rather faster and more comfortable, and the cabin pleasantly free of bags since everything tends to fit in the overheads.

The main issue with BA is that they are basically a London airline, and don't really fly anywhere I want without an expensive and time-consuming connection. Much as I dislike AFKL, they provide a much more useful service to most UK airports than BA does

Heathrow is my closest airport so it's the most convenient option with direct public transport.
Terminal 5 is by far the nicest airport experience to fly from, hands down beats Gatwick North, Luton Airport is a very poor airport to fly from too. It's worth a small premium to fly from Heathrow

Gatwick isn't so easy to get to, although GWR now have overnight trains which helps.

I guess if I lived in Manchester for example I'd be more inclined to fly easyJet

 

[WelshBluebird]

Maybe its just because I live within an quick bus ride to Bristol airport and getting to any of the larger, especially london, airports is a lot more of a pain but I struggle to see why airline matters for short haul trips. Surely its the whole journey including getting to the airport that matters? And for that I'd basically be doubling my journey time by choosing to fly from a different airport. Of course that counts both ways with different airlines serving Bristol airport depending on route - so it may end up being Ryanair etc instead of easyjet. And when multiple airlines service the same short haul route it comes down to price and flight timings rather than just which airline it is.

Of course long haul is a different kettle of fish and I can absolutely see why someone may travel to a further away airport to be able to have a more comfortable long flight! But then easyjet dont compete in that segment of the market!

 

[Bald Rick]

Heathrow is my closest airport so it's the most convenient option with direct public transport.
Terminal 5 is by far the nicest airport experience to fly from, hands down beats Gatwick North, Luton Airport is a very poor airport to fly from too. It's worth a small premium to fly from Heathrow

Opinions differ.

I find the Luton experience far preferable to, say, LHR T3 or T4. I’ve only used T5 as a passenger twice, and although there’s loads of space, the whole experience is significsntly depressed by the fact that you generally have to use BA to use it.

It helps that I’m 15 mins from Luton, but rarely less than 40mins from Heathrow.

 

[Tetchytyke]

For me, EasyJet’s big selling point is when things go wrong.

I’ve had things go wrong with them twice, both coming back to the Isle of Man, neither were their fault. One was a light aircraft crashing at Ronaldsway and one was the NATS entire systems failure.

In the latter case I took the ferry home and the reimbursement of my ferry fare was in my bank account within a week, no quibble. In the former I just booked my own my hotel in Belfast and, again, the money was back in my account in a fortnight. Ground staff are of limited help with them but they don’t play silly buggers if you sort yourself out and put a reimbursement claim in.

It’s why I’d prefer to fly easyJet over the other LCCs and why I’d rather walk than ever fly Wizz again.

The onboard experience with EasyJet is pretty grim, though. Especially the new A321s, a 28” seat pitch is horrific and three toilets for 240 people is even worse. They’re not alone in that, though: Jet2’s new A321s are the same and, having suffered one back from Lanzarote, it really has started putting me off booking a Jet2 Holiday compared to BA Holidays. BA’s A321s are snug down the back but they’re not that snug.

Sadly, we all know that decent customer service is the first thing to go the second US private equity gets their hands on anything.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jun 2026 ==

I’ve only used T5 as a passenger twice, and although there’s loads of space, the whole experience is significsntly depressed by the fact that you generally have to use BA to use it

I’d put BA ahead of EasyJet in terms of hard product and about the same in terms of onboard soft product, although EasyJet are much better at actually coming through the plane and selling you a coffee. EasyJet win hands down with customer service in disruption, though.

My opinion is clouded by the fact I had a five-hour layover at Heathrow a few weeks ago and I was able to walk up to the customer services desk and pay £95 there and then to upgrade to Club Europe. It was fantastic. Mostly through being able to spend the time waiting in Club Galleries trying (and largely succeeding) in drinking my body weight in mid-range champagne. You can’t do that with EasyJet.

 

[SWT_USER]

I guess technically Euroflyer is a low cost airline in some respects. This is why it is a separate airline to reduce costs vs BA mainline.

I'd still fly BA over easyJet all day long, Euroflyer are competitive on price and BA holidays are cheaper than easyJet holidays in my experience.

If BA are a ridiculous price then I'd fly easyJet, but these days the prices are actually quite similar especially when anything bigger than a rucksack is taken into account

I find the opposite, rarely find anything cheaper than Easy Jet holidays for our annual family package holiday.

I live next to Heathrow so would choose to fly BA, all things being equal (or BA being up to ~£50 more to allow for cost an inconvenience of getting to another airport). In terms of the on board offering there is nothing to choose between them IMO.

 

[TravelDream]

Opinions differ.

Of course they do.

Most people don't fly enough to truly compare BA, easyjet, Ryanair, Wizz etc. And, from what we see above, options at someone's local airport are important too - if you live 10 minutes from Heathrow, BA will generally be preferable to easyjet.

I have to say, I find most airlines very comparable nowadays. There isn't a huge difference between BA, easyjet, Ryanair etc. in the onboard product. Nothing that would make me pay much extra for one over the other.

I only have experience claiming compensation from a few airlines. Ryanair paid out hotel and taxi no issue at all. Qatar Airways, a supposed five star airline, were a total nightmare and had to be threatened with legal action to pay up even though I had proof issued by them.

I find the opposite, rarely find anything cheaper than Easy Jet holidays for our annual family package holiday.

This.

I have been on a few easyjet holidays and have done so solely because they've had some exceptional deals.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I find the opposite, rarely find anything cheaper than Easy Jet holidays for our annual family package holiday.

I think it depends on the holiday. I generally find that BA Holidays are the cheapest when it comes to city breaks. My experience is there's not much in it between EasyJet and BA for bucket-and-spade package holidays, but BA don't have the same breadth of choice of resorts that EasyJet do.

Jet2 are nearly always cheaper than both.

But I'm actually starting to find that, at least at the resort we go to a lot in Ibiza, it is cheaper again to book directly with the hotel and book flights separately. And that tips me more towards BA for the simple fact I can book IOM-Ibiza on one ticket with them, whereas with EasyJet (even with Worldwide) it involves two lots of bag carousel collections and two lots of bag drops.

 

[sh24]

Eastjet from Gatwick is pleasant. From Luton less so mostly due to a cramped terminal and the horrible boarding rush. From Stansted...never again.

I like the airline though, friendly, competent, efficient and very useful on provincial routes eg Bristol to Edinburgh or from London when BA's pricing goes crazy and the "hack" of V class availability turning into Avios space doesn't work.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Eastjet from Gatwick is pleasant. From Luton less so mostly due to a cramped terminal and the horrible boarding rush.

I've used Luton loads over the years and I'd take it over Gatwick. In particular walks are very short - I can be from home to departure lounge in under an hour easily by car, and if I pick the multi storey probably possible in 45 minutes...just. It takes that long to walk from gate to baggage reclaim at Gatwick. Plus I always found the Luton crews friendly and personable (I even got to recognise some of them either from multiple trips or even from the old TV show - some are still there!)

From Stansted...never again.

Stansted, I would agree, is an awful airport, terribly designed and horrendously slow to get through.

I like the airline though, friendly, competent, efficient and very useful on provincial routes eg Bristol to Edinburgh or from London when BA's pricing goes crazy and the "hack" of V class availability turning into Avios space doesn't work.

I've not used it much of late, glad to hear it's retained that personality which I feel was formed during Carolyn McCall's tenure as CEO - she really was VERY good and promoted the right corporate culture.

I don't fly as often these days, but when I did it'd generally be a case of "try easyjet.com first and only then bother looking at others if they don't do it or are way too expensive" - that's a level of corporate loyalty any business should aspire to. And I agree Wizz are, and always have been, awful - imagine painting Ryanair purple and making it worse. I've even seen things as bad as cabin crew playing on their phones during final approach - now that is an utter lack of a safety culture, which doesn't look good for an airline.

 

[Bald Rick]

My opinion is clouded by the fact I had a five-hour layover at Heathrow a few weeks ago and I was able to walk up to the customer services desk and pay £95 there and then to upgrade to Club Europe. It was fantastic. Mostly through being able to spend the time waiting in Club Galleries trying (and largely succeeding) in drinking my body weight in mid-range champagne. You can’t do that with EasyJet.

well, you can pay £67 at Luton and sit in a nice seat to drink two bottles of Lanson (bought at duty free!) whilst yo7 wait for your easyjet flight to IBZ. I shall be doing that later this year! (maybe).

 

[iannp16]

Being semi-retired and working a 2 day week and living less than an hour from Bristol airport, I use easyjet, Jet2 & KLM from there extensively and do not have a problem with any of the said airlines.

KLM is used for longer haul holidays via Amsterdam about 5 times per year and i have only ever had 1 flight cancellation with them (back from Dubai) but was swiftly re-routed on an alternative airline (Emirates and Aer LIngus Regional via Dublin) and I had received compensation back into my account the same day of arrival before i had even got home (8 hour delay).

Easyjet is exclusively used as easyjet holidays which of course includes checked hold baggage and again of the 80+ flights I have been on only once was there a problem when an A320 was substituted for an A321 coming back from Lanzarote and flight only passengers were offloaded and re-routed via Belfast back to Bristol, which caused some ugly scenes and heated exchanges at check in.

I have used easyjet holidays to Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey and Egypt and find the hotels they use are of good or even excellent quality.

I find easyjet aircraft clean and comfortable, crews very pleasant and professional and the onboard catering far better priced than the catering offering at Bristol airport.

Jet2 is again used as part of a holiday package and i find the 737-800 aircraft used from Bristol clean and comfortable and the onboard crews pleasant and professional.

The only thing i find with Jet2 holidays is you have to research the resort hotels more carefully as they use lower star rating hotels than easyjet holidays. One of the best holidays we ever had was staying in a 2 star hotel on Kalymnos island where Kathy the proprietor was 100/10 and the welcome, food and ambience was (and is as we go there every year now) unbeatable.

The only thing i have found with Jet2 is their flights rarely run on time outbound or inbound from Bristol, with an average delay of around 50 minutes. If flying to the Greek islands and a ferry connection involved to get you to your final destination it is always a bit rushed on arrival with the staff rushing you to get onto the coach to the ferry por to get the booked boat.

I cannot be bothered with the hassle of getting to any of the London airports, and use Bristol exclusively. Yes, it is a small airport and yes it is super cramped and overcrowded for the 6am wave of departures, but i do not use the catering facilities anyway and always having a pre-booked seat on whichever airline I am flying with, and never ever taking more than 20 minutes to get through security i will use the airport and the airlines every time.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Easyjet is exclusively used as easyjet holidays which of course includes checked hold baggage

Only for bucket-and-spade holidays. They don't include a hold bag for city breaks.

 

[cactustwirly]

Only for bucket-and-spade holidays. They don't include a hold bag for city breaks.

BA holidays include checked bags and seats selection at check-in as standard on holidays

 

[Tetchytyke]

BA holidays include checked bags and seats selection at check-in as standard on holidays

Yeah. Between that and genuine through-ticketing off the island (rather than EasyJet Worldwide's insurance policy), it is why I generally prefer BA Holidays.

Which reminds me, BA have a sale on...

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

easyJet is still my preferred airline at Manchester or Liverpool, but I've used them less since Covid.
Things don't seem as good value these days, with higher prices and poorer luggage rules (as all the LCCs).

I also find their flight schedules are not as convenient as they were - not enough mid-day flights to cities, they are increasingly too early/late and to beach destinations to suit their holiday trade.
Fights I used to use (eg Munich) are now out of scope for booking onward journeys by rail.
Matching outward and return legs at convenient times (for European capitals) seems increasingly difficult.

 

[takno]

easyJet is still my preferred airline at Manchester or Liverpool, but I've used them less since Covid.
Things don't seem as good value these days, with higher prices and poorer luggage rules (as all the LCCs).

I also find their flight schedules are not as convenient as they were - not enough mid-day flights to cities, they are increasingly too early/late and to beach destinations to suit their holiday trade.
Fights I used to use (eg Munich) are now out of scope for booking onward journeys by rail.
Matching outward and return legs at convenient times (for European capitals) seems increasingly difficult.

I think the post Brexit split between easyJet UK and easyJet Europe has probably had some quite negative effects on certain routes from the UK. They do seem generally intent on a slightly more Ryanair style model of flying from everywhere to everywhere even if they can only manage one flight a day or week.

 

[route101]

Eastjet from Gatwick is pleasant. From Luton less so mostly due to a cramped terminal and the horrible boarding rush. From Stansted...never again.

I like the airline though, friendly, competent, efficient and very useful on provincial routes eg Bristol to Edinburgh or from London when BA's pricing goes crazy and the "hack" of V class availability turning into Avios space doesn't work.

I was at Luton on Sunday morning, very busy. I thought it would get busier later on. Boarding was called a good 45 minutes before departure.

Not many Easyjet flights from Stansted now, mostly domestics.

Easyjet from Scotland to Bristol and Southampton, are handy routes.

BA prices on domestic flights can be crazy, I think its cheaper at times to conect from Europe through LHR.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Jun 2026 ==

I usually check in online and fetch a physical boarding pass at the airport. Last two times the check in agents have noted I have checked in online. The first time all was ok and the guy printed one off. The second time at Ljubljana, the lady couldn't understand why I wanted a paper boarding pass. I said I forgot I checked in but she couldn't understand that. She said go straight through security but she did print one off eventually. Perhaps it now shows on their system if you have checked in online now. At Glasgow, nothing was mentioned and boarding pass printed.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jun 2026 ==

Southend to Edinburgh route is back.

 

[Sparks807Evo]

Movement this morning on this - https://www.reuters.com/business/bu...lakes-third-625p-a-share-proposal-2026-06-22/

Castlelake on Monday disclosed its £4.74 billion ($6.26 billion) takeover bid for easyJet (EZJ.L), opens new tab, backed by former Malaysia Airlines CEO Peter Bellew, after the budget carrier rejected three proposals from the U.S. investment firm.
Minneapolis-based Castlelake, which manages about $38 billion in assets and has invested more than $24 billion ⁠in aviation since 2005, said the publication would allow easyJet shareholders to consider the bid's merits and relay their views to easyJet ahead of a June 26 deadline for a formal offer. "Following the rejection of three proposals by the easyJet Board, and given its unwillingness to engage meaningfully, Castlelake is announcing this Third Proposal," the firm said in a statement.
EasyJet could not be immediately reached for comment.
Castlelake's £6.25 per share proposal represents a premium of about 57% to ‌easyJet's ⁠share price of £3.94 on May 29 before Castlelake disclosed its interest in the low-cost carrier and follows two previous bids of £5.6 and £6.0 each. Castlelake did not provide details for a possible fourth bid.

Castlelake taking quite an aggressive stance. I am not exactly buoyed by Bellew being involved - his previous time at EasyJet as COO (before being replaced by the current COO David Morgan in 2022) at the airline was “interesting” to say the least.

Given the long term growth plans with more NEOs on the way which should grow revenue and profitability, as well as hopefully lower oil prices again, I would feel 625p per share is still going to be too low.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Castlelake taking quite an aggressive stance. I am not exactly buoyed by Bellew being involved - his previous time at EasyJet as COO (before being replaced by the current COO David Morgan in 2022) at the airline was “interesting” to say the least.

Castlelake are supposedly only a 49% minority investor in the vehicle being used to attempt the takeover, but the details of the other investors are sketchy. Castlelake would need other investors from within the EU to be able to complete the hostile takeover as EU airlines are not allowed to be majority owned by investors from outside the EU.

Bellew, an EU national, apparently has a significant stake in EasyJet already on behalf of Castlelake and would be a major investor in the new entity. But it's not immediately obvious where he's got that sort of money from without a hidden backer. It's the same with the other supposed EU investor Mark Breen, they're both successful businessmen but not £2.5bn successful. So where are they getting the money from? I can only guess it'll be loaned to them by Castlelake.

EasyJet are saying they're recommending the offer be rejected and have specifically referred to what they called "opaque" ownership.

 

[John R]

I would have thought the EU would be unhappy with any significant loans from outside the EU if it meant that control actually did vest with Castlelake, as Bellew et al were effectively puppets and took directions from Castlelake (or another ex-EU company).