Review of easyJet flight Bristol → Edinburgh in Economy

Greetings travellers!

It's time to start (with a little delay), a series of reports from my busy holidays. I was working in a Protein design lab at the University of Bristol as an intern, and in the meantime travelling during weekends.
Coming up soon are following reports:
BRS-JER on easyJet A320neo
JER-LCY on BA CityFlier E190
LHR-ZRH on SWISS A330 

But today, let me take you on a journey on easyJet A320 from Bristol to Edinburgh. 

Flight details:
Flight number U2431
Route Bristol - Edinburgh
Flight date 6th August 2021, 2045 - 2155 (actual 2056 - 2151)
Scheduled flight time 1:10 (actual 0:55)
Aircraft model Airbus A320
Aircraft registration G-EZUS (nearly Jesus!)
Seating configuration Y186
Aircraft age (at the time of flight) 9.5 years
Seat number 10D
Departure gate 8 (walking gate)
Arrival gate walking gate
Load factor (approx.) 90%

With my bacteria happily growing in the lab, I could leave a bit early on Friday afternoon to go back home and grab my luggage. This time I decided, to just go with a backpack, as it's the only free item of luggage you can now take with easyJet. To take a carry on suitcase, you must reserve a seat in the front few rows or exit row (as a package with this suitcase)…

I took the bus service from close to my house, and it was totally empty - and I mean literally, I was the only person on the bus.

As we were leaving Bristol, I managed to catch the iconic landmark - Clifton Suspension Bridge, which I am living not too far from actually.

My bus service was actually not the dedicated airport shuttle, so my "private" bus stopped around 10 minutes by walk from he airport itself. But as the weather was nice, I was actually happy to have this short walk.

On the way to the terminal - a lineup of easyJets based in BRS. But my today's A320 will be from their Scottish base.

The airport is quite small and cosy, surrounded by green areas. And although I didn't like it the first time, I like it more and more with every time I fly from there.

As you can see, easyJet check in wasn't too busy, as there weren't too many evening departures. BRS is busiest in early mornings (6am). I went to the check in desk to get a printed boarding pass. This service is for free, which isn't a common thing for a low cost. I had to witness a couple crying and arguing, as they were denied to fly (they didn't have proper COVID documents for Spain).

Security was a breeze and the airside wasn't too busy either. Nearly all shops except for WHSmith were closed. They are only open in the early mornings, including the Duty Free. Aspire Lounge was still closed as well (it has now reopened).

FIDS for tonight. We are the penultimate flight for the day.

As our aircraft landed, we were already doing a pre-boarding, which is a standard procedure at BRS. The flight ended up being quite full, so everyone was stuffed in the small room that you can see above.

The incoming aircraft was delayed by a few minutes but we managed to start boarding on time. As in many UK airports, a rather strange ramp was used at the front. What do you think about easyJet's new livery? I quite like it.

First impressions on board were very nice. Two friendly cabin crew ladies at the front. A clean and fresh cabin with a nice grey-orange colour scheme. My automatically assigned seat was 10D, in the aisle.

easyJet uses the same Recaro seats that many European carriers are now switching to. While the legroom seems similar to the one you get on British Airways neos, it's definitely better than for example on TAP Portugal! I was hoping to have a whole row to myself, but soon my neighbours joined. They were a friendly couple.

A short look at our quite busy cabin.

We had a beautiful Westerly departure, with a sunset. It's just a shame that I didn't have a window to myself. I managed to use the window to my left however.

There was not much time to review everything on that short flight (:P) so quickly after departure I went to the toilet.

It was in an alright condition, not overly clean but not terrible either. I like that they keep their orange colour scheme also there.

On the way back - a picture of the cabin, it was quite a quiet flight with not too many people standing up or walking. It's a short domestic after all, and the crew also made an announcement that due to COVID, no more than 2 people should queue to the toilet an any time.

As I was quite hungry, I decided to try out the onboard service. I took a meal deal for 7.50 GBP: a ham and cheese toastie, a twirl chocolate bar and a coke. I got a scratch card for free (Hello Ryanair XD). Unfortunately I didn't win anything… I must say, even though the sandwich was warmed up, it was disgusting :/

I spent the rest of the flight reading the Airliner Magazine which I brought with myself from Poland I think. In not too long however, we were already landing in EDI. Landing was smooth, unlike what my parents experienced the same morning in EDI.

We parked at a position just next to the terminal, so we walked. It wasn't too busy an evening in Edinburgh, and as it was a domestic flight, no additional controls were needed (no PLF/test/vaccination needed either). So I was out in no time.

At the exit from the airport, this nice installation welcomed me in Edinburgh!


Thanks everyone for reading this short report,
I hope you enjoyed, even though it was a report of an LCC.
Matthevv


Spoiler - I am taking a British Airways A380 flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt this Friday (19.11.2021) in Traveller, and coming back on Sunday in Club so stay tuned :)