Hello everyone and welcome to my second Flight report!
In August I decided to take my dad somewhere for a one-day spotting trip with me. I considered many options where to go and in the end decided for Milan´s Malpensa airport. By searching the internet I knew it was not going to be a perfect location for plane spotting, but it´s easy to reach with a reasonable traffic also consisting of few heavies. I also found a good return fare of 55EUR through the Easyjet website and immediately went for it. Other possibilities were CSA and Austrian but their prices were twice as high compared to Easyjet. Also Ryanair flies from my home town Brno to Bergamo from where you can get to Milan pretty easily. But this time we wanted to go to Malpensa due to more interesting traffic and possibility of returning on same day, which was impossible with Ryanair.
I checked us in around 10 days before departure day. This proved to be a good decision because one day before departure, Easyjet´s online systems went completelly down and it was impossible to reserve a flight or check in online. This lead to huge queues at the airports and it caused delays and also some flight cancellations. That made me worried a bit, but everything was fixed some 12 hours prior to our departure.
Flying Easyjet to MXP meant we had to get to PRG first. We opted for train as usual to get there. Weather in Czech republic was pretty far from perfect last weeks - always cloudy with some rain and temperatures not getting over 12°C. Fortunately forecast said weather was going to be nice at Milan, sunny with temperatures around 20°C. What a nice change from the weather here.
We arrived at the airport well in advance to have some time to watch movements from the observation terrace. Unfortunately it started to rain a lot when we got there meaning we had to back off until the rain stops. Dad bought a coffee and after few minutes rain was over allowing us to return for spotting.
QS B737s
OK A320
AF A320
KL F70
This plane, OK-MEH took me home from AYT last year. She was in old CSA livery yet that time
SN RJ100 arrived from BRU
In PRG there are these banners telling you how to distinguish between concrete aircrafts. We don´t need it, right? :-)
View of gates C. Note the smoke which city of Kladno produces
Then it was just about time to go to security. An hour before it was almost empty there but when it was our time there were queues already. Fortunately it didn´t take too long and we were airside.
OS Dash 8 being boarded. Some two minutes earlier man ran past us. I suspect it was a man being anounced as only remaining one to reach gate C13 for flight to VIE. A minute later he ran past us in opossite direction, heading to C13. I´m not very sure if he managed to make it.
OK ATRs
Gate area
LT ERJ175
40 minutes to departure we found out D6 is our departure gate. There was already an unpleasant queue when we got there..
Our gate area
This bag tester caught few people with their bags being too big to what is allowed by U2. This of course started argues between staff and pax. I still don´t understand why people buy cheap fly tickets and are unable to obey the rules of airlines … Am I the only?
Our aircraft for this leg G-EZBU hiding at the last gate
Boarding started over 20 minutes late, but no-one informed us we´re going to be delayed. I overheard two staff members discussion, one asking the other Is the plane here already?. The second one answered yes, it´s here for 20 minutes already. That sounded a bit funny to me, as I saw the plane arriving gate only some 3 minutes ago.
First I thought everyone will board through the bridge but when we reached to our plane, we were turned to go down to apron and board through the rear stairs, as was everyone else sitting in rows 15-26
Up the stairs
AF A319
DY 738
Flight EZY 2582
Date: 16/10/2013 Departure airport: PRG - Prague Vaclav Havel Arrival airport: MXP - Milan Malpensa Airline: Easyjet Aircraft: Airbus A319-111, G-EZBU, 6,5 years in service Seat: 17F STD: 12:30 STA: 13:55 Leaving gate: 13:15 Arriving gate: 14:35
My: 18th flight overall 3rd on Airbus A319 1st on Easyjet 1st on G-EZBU
When onboard, I settled down in my seat 17F with my dad taking 17E. Seat was comfortable except of legroom. No recline also. Flight was almost full, I found only 1 seat vacant
Legroom first felt horrible, but after some time I quite got used to it and it was ok for an hour long flight
There was nothing much to see from window as our gate was at the eastern end of airport
After pushback. We started taxiing late and by the time we reached RWY 24 we were over 40 minutes delayed
B2 B737
S7 A320
SU A320
Take off video
There was relatively strong crosswind and when we began our take off roll we could feel that pilots were steering from left to right quite hard.
Climbing. We initially flew into some clouds but some 5 minutes after departure Seat belt sign went off.
Cabin after take off
BoB service began some 15 minutes after departure. I went only for a beer. It costed 4EUR and I was not particularly impressed with it.. There were some more drink and snack options to buy in Boutique and Bistro magazine, but nothing what I had find a necessity to me. Cabin crew then also offered tickets for buses to Milan, which can be helpful when going on to the city. IFE consisted only of Traveller magazine. As I had a window seat, my IFE was only looking through the window. Weather down there was cloudy, so not very much to see for first 20 minutes.
Weather began improving when approaching the Alps and I started believe in good weather at Milan
Beautiful Alps, love that sight
Flying over Lecco, already descending
Now over Milan suburbs, note Malpensa airport above the wing
Finishing right turn to line-up for landing 35L
Landing video
Flying Easyjet to Malpensa means you are going to Terminal 2 now being served only by Easyjet. It´s located in the north part of the airport right between 35L and 35R runways.
Brother, U2 A319
Parking at the gate. Poor guy with the stairs there. Seemed those stairs were far heavier to what he could be able to move
Disembarking, good-bye with cabin crew who were nice and polite during the flight
When going down the stairs, this mighty Emirates 777 departed MXP
Bye bye G-EZBU, you did a good job out there
U2 A319 with Alps as background
We then proceeded towards T2 arrival hall which was quite a walk for this small terminal. About T2 there is nothing much to say. It´s really low cost terminal, but for this kind of flights and those money I think it´s just ok.
Since that we had some 5 hours to move around the airport and watch aircrafts departing 35L. Maybe I would attach some shots to report of returning flight, which I plan to make within a week.
Thank you for reading and once again, your comments are most welcomed!
Cheers, Michael
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Verdict
easyJet
5.9/10
Cabin6.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi4.0
Buy-on-board menu5.5
Prague - PRG
7.6/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness9.0
Milan - MXP
6.6/10
Efficiency7.0
Access6.5
Services6.5
Cleanliness6.5
Conclusion
Easyjet really impressed us. I´m no Ryanair hater, but U2 has just done the work better. They do lowcost but in very nice way. Cabin was comfortable enough, clean and nice. Cabin crew were nice and professional. IFE was as for lowcost usual - only some magazines, no TVs. Same can be said about BoB service.
If I´m about to fly to Milan next time, I can go for Easyjet without any trouble. You pay very small money and still get a nice value.
Malpensa Terminal 2 is ok as well. If you want to get to Milan, there are direct buses. Connection to Terminal 1 also operates, for free I guess.
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Thanks for this FR. 55€ for a return flight is definitely worth the money! I hope you were able to find a nice spotting location MXP isn't really known for that. Beautiful views of the Alps, you got lucky with the weather!
Well no, I do need plane identification hints (I am the laughing stock of this website on that matter), but not for the Dash 8 and ATR72 that I know well. I like the idea that they put this kind of panel for the general public. The more passengers know about aviation, the better. Maybe the problem with the carry-on luggage strict size rule is that some airlines are quite lenient about it and others aren't. It is not always correlated with the price of the ticket. Frequent flyers know which rules are really enforced where, but many passengers don't and take chances where they should not. I have a very old remembrance of the tightness of U2's seat pitch, but I agree that it was worth the money for a short flight. Great views of the Alps - you chose the correct side of the aircraft with regards to the sun's direction. Thanks for this report which is definitely not low cost ! ;)
You are right about carry-on bag that some airlines are quite tolerant. But still when booking tickets with low-cost carrier, you are always informed of the allowed size in a way you feel it´s going to be strictly checked. As for the Alps, we reserved seats right-side due to Sun position during our flight, just as you said
Thanks for this very well written report. It's been a long time since I last flew with easyJet. By the way the airport that can be seen in one of your Alps photos is INN (you can even see the center of Innsbruck on the right hand side). Nice to see photos from PRG. I've been there several times and I loved it!
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7 Comments
Great views of the Alps
55€ for a return flight is definitely worth the money!
I hope you were able to find a nice spotting location MXP isn't really known for that.
Beautiful views of the Alps, you got lucky with the weather!
Maybe the problem with the carry-on luggage strict size rule is that some airlines are quite lenient about it and others aren't. It is not always correlated with the price of the ticket. Frequent flyers know which rules are really enforced where, but many passengers don't and take chances where they should not.
I have a very old remembrance of the tightness of U2's seat pitch, but I agree that it was worth the money for a short flight.
Great views of the Alps - you chose the correct side of the aircraft with regards to the sun's direction.
Thanks for this report which is definitely not low cost ! ;)
As for the Alps, we reserved seats right-side due to Sun position during our flight, just as you said
-Jetisfaction
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