A bit of an EasyJet squeeze
Here’s an observation for you. I was just booking a flight for Neil, to the yUK, for a wedding and a GCSE exam, in May. I checked out a few options: Aegean – one change, land at Heathrow; EasyJet, direct, land at Gatwick; Thomas Cook, direct, can’t remember where that one ended up but it was more expensive. The EasyJet time leaving Rhodes was fine, the leaving Gatwick time was 6.30 in the morning, which means being there around 3.00 am and still needing an overnight in Rhodes (unless there comes a boat on the schedule nearer the time) but he’ll still be under 50 by then so that’s fine.
The thing with the charter flights is that you have to add on hold luggage to your booking, and pay for reserving a seat, having a meal, breathing the air and so on, and I noticed EasyJet did a slight reduction if you booked return hold baggage rather than booking each journey separately, so we did that. The flight was booked and the details printed. I noticed that at the bottom of the page, the details read:
“Checked baggage
1 checked bags between all passengers combined up to a combined weight of 20kg.”
Now hang on a minute. Apart from the fact that ‘bags’ should have been singular in that sentence, I can see a problem with this. With around 180 people boarding the same plane, don’t you think 20kg “between all passengers” is a recipe for disaster? I mean, 180 pairs of swimming trunks will probably fill it, let alone the weight of 180 ‘light cardigans for chilly evenings’ or the amount of sun lotion that flies between the yUK and Greece on each flight. I foresee scenes akin to a Cecile B DeMille movie about Egyptian slaves, with everyone cramming around the one piece of checked bags ‘between all passengers’. Imagine the mayhem as Mrs Daily Mail wants to cram in her mace spray in case she encounters anyone who is not white, or the fights that will break out when Mr Sun wants to fit in his rashers of bacon (Danish, you understand, none of this foreign rubbish), or as Mr Express insists that his union jack beach towel gets priority as it’s far superior to the Germans’ towels (which were, incidentally, made in Leipzig, Mr Express’ included). And then there’s the issue of how come we’ve paid the carriage for everyone else’s thongs and after sun… Not that many people traveling from Rhodes to the yUK will be taking after sun in that direction at that time of year, or any time of year, but still…
Of course, it means ‘between all passengers on that booking’ and it wouldn’t hurt to add those few words into the algorithm so sarcastic writer’s like me didn’t pick up on what could easily count as misinformation.
But that was how my Sunday morning was spent; checking flights and accommodation not only for that trip but also for some guests flying out for our Civil Partnership in September. (Sevasti Studios, via Olympic, have some good rates for that time of year, as do many others.) I know it’s still a long way ahead but, the sooner you book the cheaper it is and the more manageable it is financially, paying for things in advance so there’s no last minute drain on resources nearer the time.
If you are thinking of travel to Symi, then you should check out Andy’s blog at Symi Visitor which keeps us all up to date with news on ferries and flights and other travel matters. And remember to pack your things and thongs in your own luggage.
