Hi and welcome to my second flight-report of a Easyjet flight. This time, I´ll be flying with Easyjet, in one of their newest A320, based in Switzerland. As I live in Lyon, I had a 4 hour ride to the airport and parked my car in a parking lot, just five minutes by foot from the main terminal. The parking is not too pricy: a week costs 60€.
As weather was good, the journey to the terminal was pleasant. It´s my first time flying from this airport and it looks nice.
As I am flying on Easyjet, no need to get boarding passes, neither to check hold luggage. Anyway, I had a look to EasyJet check-in counters.
I arrived nearly 3 hours before scheduled departure so I had plenty of time to visit the airport. It was modern and I didn´t feel cramped, even if it were holydays in France.
I searched for our flight on the Net and find out today´s ride : HB-JXB, a 4 year old A320.
I had a look to the FIDS: lots of EasyJet flights and flights to european capitals.
The airport of Basel is in fact also the airport of Mulhouse (France) and of Freiburg (Germany), that´s why it´s called "Euroairport". The airport is divided in two parts: the french sector and the swiss sector, where EasyJet Switzerland is based.
The airport has a good terrace, open in summer, with nice views and a strange machine.
As the boarding time was a getting closer, I passed throught security and customs. Staff was really efficient and kind.
After a forced pass throught duty free shop, I proceeded to the boarding gates.
As you can see, EasyJet has a big hub in Basel.
Euroairport´s skyview lounge wont be today´s waiting room… ;-(
Finally, I arrived to today´s gate: 21 (or 47… mystery…)
Where our bird was parked since he arrived from Berlin on the morning.
First boarding anouncement was made 40 minutes before departure…good work EasyJet! But seems like I talked too fast… we waited for 20 minutes, standing up until the staff had finish scanning all boarding passes…
Boarding was made by foot, not a problem as weather was cool (and I could take a good pic of our bird!)
I
I entered the plane by the rear door and had a good surprise: the cabin was refurbished!!
Having flown with EasyJet for a hundred flights, it was quite weird to seat in another seat that in the (ugly) ordinary EasyJet´s one.
Even after 2 minutes seated, I saw a difference: the new seats are more confortable, even if at first, they seemed really skinny.
Moreover, pitch seemed good, even for a nearly 4 hour flight…
As the boarding was made, I had a look to the content of the seat pocket and to the control tower:
After 10 minutes seated, boarding was completed…but gates were still open: the captain was missing!!! Indeed, he was late because of a traffic jam, as he was coming from Zürich… Passengers (who have paid) had to wait for the captain (who is being paid) for almost 20 minutes!!! Unrealistic…
Eventually, he arrived, apologized…and told us that the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) was out of service: he would have to start the engines separately…
At last, we pushed back (25 minutes late) and were announced that today´s flight time would be 20 minutes less than expected (3h20), because of strong tail wind.
After a short taxi, we lined up and banked away from runway 33, heading North.
We immediately turned right and flew over Basel
Zürich
Zürich Intl´Airport
The Alps
As the flight went by, the captain kept informing us about where we were flying over, about the cruising speed and altitude. We would be passing over several countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey… such an interesting flight!
Unfortunetely, there were clouds and it got dark very quickly… The crew passed by with EasyJet´s ordinary snacks, overpriced as always and I bought a water bottle, as I was thirsty
An hour and a half after, the crew informed us that, as it was one of the latest flights of the day and of the week, sandwiches twice less expensive, so I went for a bacon baguette, which tasted good and somehow, fresh!
As we were flying very high (37000 feet), descent started quite soon and we experienced some moderated turbulences. Seat belt sign switched on!
Eventually, we landed at Larnaca airport 10 minutes late. Not bad at all for an evening flight! Good work EasyJet!!
We parked in front of the terminal, exited the plane by the rear door and walked to the terminal.
As we parked at the last gate, we had a quite long walk to the cyprus customs.
On the other hand, passport control was efficient, and we were out 10 minutes after deboarding the aircraft.
The airport looks nice and modern but smells weird…
Thanks for reading until the end and don´t forget to leave a comment nor a question on the comment section below!
Alvaro Lopez.
