Diamond Jubilee Part 4 - An easyJet experience Luton to Paris

After finishing my day sightseeing at Sandringham, Norfolk, I drove the rental car down to London Luton and dropped it off. It was time to head to Paris and easyJet would be taking me there on one of their Airbus A319's. It would be my first ever trip on easyJet.

After arriving at  the airport I saw this cute sign at the Pret a Manger sign, Keep It Clean For The Queen. I thought that was really cute and it's just freat to see so much national pride for their Queen. Her face or references to her were simply everywhere you went around England which I really love.

Departures Display at Luton - easyJet dominates

Spotted a Monarch A321

At easyJet dominated Luton there is very very  little to do if you have time to waste before your flight. Unfortunately I had arrived quite early so I was faced with about 2 hours of sitting in a seat sipping on a Starbucks coffee and having dinner at Pret a Manger. It only takes a few minutes to do the lap around the small shopping area and once that's done there is nothing else to do. The passengers are all held in the main shopping zone until your flight is called and then you head to the gate holding area. My flight EZY2441 was eventually called and off I went to Gate 15, to be greeted by a huge queue.

The queue was right up the stairs and it took ages before my boarding pass was eventually scanned, only to find I was then in another holding pen full of people. I was beginning to feel like I was in a herd of sheep, it was over crowded and we were called to the gate area well before the aircraft had even landed, so it meant a long time of standing.

Boarding pass scan , holding area 1

Once boarding passes were scanned we were lead into this holding pen with no seating

After standing in the holding pen for about 20 minutes, which eventually filled to capacity I was beginning to regret flying low cost. This was NOT a pleasant experience. Eventually our Airbus A319 arrived:

FLIGHT: easyJet 2441
ROUTE: London Luton to Paris Charles de Gaulle
CLASS: Economy
LOAD: 156 (100%)

AIRCRAFT: Airbus A319 G-EZDR (3.5 years old at time of flight)

SCHEDULED DEPARTURE: 19.00
ACTUAL DEPARTURE: 19.12

SCHEDULED ARRIVAL: 21.20
ACTUAL ARRIVAL: 21.26

ACTUAL FLIGHT TIME: 1 hour 14 minutes

 There was not a spare seat left by the time boarding was complete. We got under way about 12 minutes late.

The seats are extremely basic and leg room is almost non existent but that' exactly what I expected to I was not disappointed. I actually didn't really take anymore photos so the rest of the trip was very routine. The sun set soon after we departed so there was nothing to see outside. The flight attendants did offer a snack service but I chose not to purchase anything.

Service was adequate and it was nice to be able to fly into the major hub of Charles de Gaulle with easy train connection to the centre of Paris. Overall, at a price of about AUD60 for this flight including baggage I was quite satisfied. I would fly easyJet again if I had to, but it's a shame there isn't more to do and see at Luton airport considering the number of flights departing from  there.