Jet2 Review: Flying a Boeing 737 Classic in Tip-Top Shape from Paris CDG to Leeds Bradford
Background
In January 2020, my six-month work contract in Paris was nearing its end. My first introduction to the world of full-time work after completing my undergraduate degree was thoroughly enjoyable and enabled me to fly on a host of interesting aircraft across France. It was thus with some sadness that I planned my departure from the French capital, although I would be happy to get back home for two weeks of rest and relaxation before heading to Dubai for my next adventure.
Counting my pennies after Christmas, I thought it sensible to pick a cheap and direct route back to Britain, and thus soon took to Skyscanner to look for cheap fares. Seeking to depart on the final day of January, I searched Skyscanner for flights to Birmingham and Manchester – the two most convenient airports near my hometown (Sheffield), with direct services to Paris. Somewhat surprisingly, one-way flights to both were rather extortionate, with only a very small handful of one-way fares priced at less than £100.
Having commenced operations in 2003, Jet2 is an airline that has been omnipresent throughout my aviation enthusiast career. As a boy, the carrier’s silver Boeing 737 Classics and Boeing 757s were a permanent fixture of my trips to Manchester Airport to watch the aircraft. Back then, whilst the airline was by no means small or insignificant, I had never imagined that in a relatively short space of time, it would grow to become Britain’s third-largest carrier. As of January 2020, Jet2 operates a total of 94 aircraft – namely Airbus A321s Boeing 737-300s, Boeing 737-800s and Boeing 757-200s. With its sole focus being on leisure operations, Jet2 operates a plethora of services from the UK to holiday destinations across Europe. However, being the last scheduled passenger operator of Boeing 737 Classics in the UK, I had been wanting to catch a ride on one of these jets for quite some time. Thus, as soon as I remembered that Jet2 deployed their Boeing 737-300s on their route between Leeds Bradford and Paris CDG, I stopped browsing overpriced Air France and Flybe fares and made a beeline for Jet2’s website.
Whilst Jet2 may have a sizable route network across Europe, the airline has a somewhat limited service to Paris, providing the French capital’s sole link to Jet2’s home at Leeds Bradford four times per week (as per winter 2019/20 schedules). With departures on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, the route primarily caters for weekend breakers.
As soon as I landed on Jet2’s unsurprisingly red homepage, I was presented with a flashing neon advertisement for the airline’s £30 flights to Spain. However, wanting to fly in the opposite direction to Leeds, I instead turned to the search engine on the left side of the screen which, fully aware of my location, already featured ‘Paris CDG Terminal 3’ and ‘Leeds Bradford’ in the departure and arrival fields respectively. Moments after entering my desired departure date of 31/1, I was presented with the low-fare calendar for the remainder of January. I was delighted to see that tickets for the 31/1 departure were the cheapest one-way fares between Paris and Leeds for the month – the basic fare was priced at €65. Without delay, I selected this flight, a convenient 1415 departure, I steamed on to the next page. On this page, I was required to enter my details and presented with the option of adding 22kg of hold luggage for a pricey €30.97. Notably, I was also asked to select whether I wanted to check-in online or at the airport – a no-brainer given the additional €15 I would have been forced to pay had I gone for the airport option! Declining both extras, I was presented with a warning advising me of my hold luggage-less booking before I moved on to the next page – seat selection.
Whilst there was no mention of the flight’s scheduled aircraft type during the entire booking process, upon checking the seat map, I was delighted to see that this featured an aircraft with only 26 rows, hinting that the flight would be conducted with a Boeing 737-300. With extra legroom seats priced at €18.17 and regular ones for €12.90, the options here were far from a bargain. However, a 10% discount code for seat selection was on display above the seat map in a sneaky attempt to convince passengers they were getting a good deal from this! Whilst a ‘normal’ passenger would likely gloss over this page as they cautiously hop through the minefield of optional extras, I selected Seat 19F. Falling victim to this temptation despite holding the belief that the flight would be rather empty. As I neared the end of the booking process, I was shown one final optional extras page. On this, I was given the option of pre-ordering sandwiches for €5.55, with an impressive total of two on offer – either cheese ploughmans or tuna and sweetcorn). In addition, travel insurance, car hire and the interesting option to ‘guarantee your hand luggage’ for €2.58 was also provided – this prevents hand luggage from ending up in the hold in the case of a full flight. After quite the journey, I arrived at the payment page and was presented with the €75.87 bill. Fortunately, paying for this was straightforward and after making payment I was directed to a page with the words ‘Fantastic! You’re going to Leeds Bradford…’.
Check-In
Seeing as I had reserved a seat during the booking process, checking in online would not have been a priority were it not for the hefty charge imposed by Jet2 for those wishing to check in at the airport. Fortunately seeing as online check-in is possible from 28 days to five hours before departure, I had plenty of time to do this. Having been a little put off by Jet2’s website during the booking process, I decided to utilise the airline’s app to check-in. Once downloaded, I opened this up and headed over to the booking management section. After entering my details, I was presented with a countdown until the check-in closure time as well as a list of optional extras that could be added to my booking. Having not been presented with the option to add any passport details during the booking process, I was first required to enter all the required details before being taken through a couple of pages of optional extras. After sidestepping past Jet2’s final opportunities to sell (sort of) I received my mobile boarding pass and was set to go!
Unsurprisingly given the endless options presented during both the booking and check-in processes, in true low cost carrier style, Jet2 seized every possible opportunity to sell their additional services in the weeks leading up to the flight. Between booking and departure, I received a total of eight emails advertising all the additional services mentioned above. Interestingly, one of these emails advertised the wide selection of pre-orderable hot meals, despite the option to only add sandwiches to the booking given the flight’s short duration.
The Journey
Commencing my journey from near Filles du Calvaire metro station on the eastern side of central Paris, the logical way of getting to the airport would be to take the RER B from Gare du Nord, rather than heading across town to Opera to catch the Roissybus. Whilst I had not anticipated a particularly difficult journey, given the RER B’s frequent temperamental nature and the fact that the line was still not fully in operation given the ongoing strikes, I decided to head out onto the streets cautiously early at 1000. After crossing Place de Republique under Paris’ infamous grey winter skies, I made my way up the slight hill that leads to two of Paris’ major stations are located and within 30 minutes of my departure, I headed into Gare du Nord. As I made my way through the main departure hall I caught a glimpse of a Eurostar waiting to head to London, a reminder that were it not for my love of aircraft, I could be back home within about five hours rather than the seven to eight hours that my journey would take. From the main departure hall, I headed down the escalators towards the RER platforms and the ticket machines. Like many in the city, uncertainty at the start of the month regarding the ongoing strikes and their subsequent disruption to transport options meant that I had not renewed my Navigo pass for January and I was thus left with no option but to buy a paper ticket. With a one-way ticket to Terminal 1 station costing €10.30, I would most certainly not describe this as cheap and given the level of service provided by RATP/SNCF on the route, it is hardly fantastic value for money. Nevertheless, this is the cheapest of the three main ways of getting from downtown Paris to CDG Airport, with the others being the Roissybus and the Le Bus Direct services with these costing €12 and €18 respectively. Plus, no premium is charged for those who wish those RER services that run directly to the airport without stopping.
Once I had a ticket in hand, I headed down to platform level with eight minutes to spare until the next non-stop departure to Paris CDG. Eight minutes later, I found myself sitting in a relatively empty and typically grubby and battered train as it pulled away from the platform, soon emerging into the open air as we sped through Paris’ northern suburbs. Having spent most of the previous months trapped in Central Paris, I enjoyed the sights of the journey as we weaved north through residential and industrial areas which soon faded away as we approached the airport. Only slightly over 20 minutes after leaving Gare du Nord, the train pulled up to the penultimate stop on its journey, where, like most, I disembarked and headed up the escalators.
Enjoying a relatively central position in the massive expanse of Paris CDG Airport, reaching Terminal 3 from Terminal 1 station (otherwise known as Roissypole) is by no means a difficult task. This involves a well-signposted five-minute walk under a covered walkway and through a small tunnel – protecting all from the rain but not from the chilly temperatures of winter. However, seeing as I had buckets of time, I stopped off at the Ya Café underneath the Ibis Hotel for a cheap and reasonable cappuccino before continuing onwards to the terminal. After a short break, I continued onwards and soon found myself in the landside area of Terminal 3. Whilst distinctively low cost in style and of relatively little architectural merit (at least from my uneducated standpoint), the terminal is bright and modern and appeared to be clean. In addition, with no more than fifteen flights departing until the end of the day, the landside portion of the terminal was virtually empty.
With little to do in the landside area, I proceeded to the security check area which was unsurprisingly empty given the lack of passengers throughout the terminal. Having been guided to a checkpoint with only one other passenger, I did not expect this to be a long process, however, given said passenger’s failure to remove liquids from his bag, it took a good five minutes until I was through to the airside area. Serving as the start and finish points for flights to both Schengen and non-schengen destinations, the terminal is split into two – Hall A and Hall B. The former serves only destinations in the Schengen area and the latter services to non-schengen destinations. Seeing no reason not to, I headed straight for Hall B, arriving at the empty immigration area moments later. With no immigration officials in sight at the passport check desks, I headed for the automated gates which were supervised by an airport worker. After my passport was scanned, I entered through the first set of gates which then closed behind me before having my photo taken. After this, the machine appeared to freeze and I was stuck in this for some time until the airport worker was able to find an immigration official.
Once found, I was able to enter Hall B which was almost as deserted as the landside area with the flight to Leeds being the only departure until that evening. Had I not wished to head to Yorkshire, had I been willing to wait for six hours, I could have also headed to Bucharest, Fes or Tunis on Blue Air, Air Arabia Maroc and Novelair respectively. Or travelled a little further and boarded a HiFly service bound for Hanoi set to depart that night. In addition, three mysterious flights operated by AirX, ASL and Volotela bound for an airport with the false IATA code ‘ZZY’ listed on the FIDS simply as ‘Ville Union Européenne’.
Like the landside area, Hall B is relatively modern and given the lack of passengers, this was rather spacious. However, unlike the landside area, the terminal seemed to be not in the cleanest of states, with plenty of rubbish lying around. In addition, disappointingly I had to do some searching to find a plug socket that actually worked. Facilities-wise, the terminal is not exactly the place to be if you’re looking to spend a day out, however with a duty free shop, a Relay and a Pret-a-Manger, these prove to be sufficient for an hour or two of waiting. From an aviation enthusiast’s perspective however, the terminal leaves a lot to be desired. Being on the ground floor and with blast barriers standing between the terminal and the apron outside, views were limited to the tails of a small collection of aircraft outside, namely an Air Transat Airbus A330 pushing back as it commenced its transatlantic journey to Montreal, a Vueling Airbus A320 and my highlight, an AirX Boeing 737-500, 9H-AHA.
As I waited, I opened up FlightRadar24 to track the inbound flight from Leeds, which revealed that a Swedish-registered Norwegian Boeing 737-800 was on final approach to Paris CDG, squawking 7700, an emergency having interrupted its flight from Bergen to Lanzarote.
Focusing on my original task, I was pleased to see that as scheduled, a Boeing 737-300 would be operating the flight and that this had departed Leeds Bradford on time and was set to land in Paris ten minutes ahead of schedule. Whilst I had hoped that the last remaining ‘vintage’ Boeing 737-300QC in Jet2’s fleet would be operating the flight, instead, a significantly younger Boeing 737-3U3, G-GDFO, would be taking me up to Yorkshire that afternoon. Having made its first flight in February 1998, at the time of my flight, that particular Boeing 737 was almost 22 years old and had been in the skies virtually non-stop since its delivery to America West Airlines in September 1998. Originally intended for Garuda Indonesia, the aircraft instead commenced its life flying around the skies of North America, doing so until February 2007 when the aircraft commenced a new life in Europe flying holidaymakers for Thomsonfly as G-THOP. As a result of Thomson Airways’ fleet renewal and the replacement of their fleet of Boeing 737 Classics with Boeing 737-800s, in November 2012 the aircraft was flown to Lasham for short-term storage and preparation for its new life with Jet2, reentering service in February 2013 sporting the colours of Jet2Holidays and registration G-GDFO, later receiving a pair of winglets, transforming the aircraft into a fake Boeing 737-700. According to Avherald, the aircraft experienced one major event during its time with Jet2 when the aircraft flew into a flock of seagulls as it departed from Newcastle. In the week before my flight, the aircraft had conducted a total of only three flights, these involving a return trip to Salzburg six days before my flight and the outbound leg to Paris CDG!
As time passed, passengers slowly filtered into the hall, however, the terminal still seemed to feel relatively empty. Less than ten minutes after the aircraft had landed, at 1330 boarding was called, by which time a queue of passengers could already be seen waiting. As soon as this was announced, a single ground agent took responsibility for all roles – checking boarding passes, and passports and ensuring passengers’ bags were of a suitable size for transport in the cabin in addition to writing down the seat numbers of passengers as they proceeded onto the waiting bus. Given the fact that all the above responsibilities fell to one person, unsurprisingly it took quite a while to get to the front of the queue. After ten minutes of shuffling forward, I had my mobile boarding pass scanned and headed onto the chilly bus. Within a few minutes, with almost the entire load of passengers onboard, the doors closed and the bus made a very quick journey to Stand 007, passing the aforementioned Boeing 737-500 and a Vueling Airbus A320 on the way. As soon as we came to a halt, the majority of the passengers turned to the doors as if holding the belief that the aircraft would depart without them. However, seeing as the aircraft was still being readied for the flight ahead it took some time until boarding commenced. After around eight minutes of waiting on the bus, one of the cabin crew members came down the stairs holding a couple of rubbish bags before heading back up into the aircraft. As soon as this rubbish removal was complete, one of the ramp workers gave a thumbs up to the bus driver after which the doors opened and the passengers spilled onto the apron.
After snapping some photos of the shiny and well-polished jet, I clambered up the rear steps and stepped into the rear galley where I received a lukewarm welcome from two of the flight’s four cabin crew members. After showing my mobile boarding pass, I headed into the cabin and soon arrived at row 19 where I found seats D and E occupied by a mother and her baby and F occupied by their heaps of baggage. Being one of the last passengers to disembark the bus and with plenty of space remaining at the rear of the aircraft, I retreated to Seat 24F without a word, hoping that none of the stragglers from the second bus would come to take that seat. My first impression of the aircraft was good. Not only did the cabin appear to have been well-cleaned during the turnaround, but it also appeared in great condition without any wear and tear. Onboard, each of the aircraft’s 149 passenger seats is provided by Acro Aircraft Seating and is covered in either red or grey faux leather. Whilst these are undeniably thin, I was surprised to find them acceptably comfortable and I was pleased with the amount of legroom which seemed to be above average for a leisure carrier. Onboard, Jet2 appeared to have significantly customised the interior of the aircraft, with bright red bulkheads and subtle advertisements on each overhead locker listing some of the airline’s destinations. Turning to the seat pocket, this contained a copy of the winter 2019/20 edition of Jet2’s inflight magazine, Jet Away, a duty free catalogue, a copy of the Mmmenu and of course the all-important safety card and sick bag. Interestingly, I noted that the safety card was a generic Boeing 737-300/800 card rather than being unique to the Boeing 737-300.
Given the fact that I was merely squatting in Seat 24F, I was rather pleased when the second bus came and went and nobody had kicked me out of my new seat. Once all passengers appeared to be onboard, the joyful tones of S Club 7’s Don’t Stop Moving came to an end with an automated announcement regarding ‘Onboard Together’ – the airline’s policies to prevent disruptive behaviour from passengers. Having anticipated a somewhat empty flight, I was rather surprised by the fact that this was around three-quarters full. That afternoon, there was a wide mix of passengers, both British and French as well as passengers from further afield. Many of those onboard appeared to fly flying alone and smartly dressed in business attire indicating the purposes of each of their trips. Five minutes before our scheduled departure time the doors were closed and the Captain performed a brief announcement. During this, aside from the expected word of thanks for choosing to fly with Jet2, the flight time and weather were also brought up as well as an introduction to all other crew members onboard the flight, going through each crew member by name.
A few minutes after this announcement had been undertaken made, at 1415 on the dot, the aircraft was pushed back from its stand and the two CFM56-3C1 engines spooled up, resulting in the heavy scent of aviation fuel filling the cabin. As we headed backwards, the cabin crew performed a quick safety demo to a pre-recorded announcement which was played in English only, this finishing shortly after our taxi to Runway 27L commenced.
Considering the expansive size of Paris CDG, our taxi to the runway was incredibly short lasting no more than five minutes and involved no pauses whatsoever. During this journey fairly little could be seen in terms of aircraft aside from a trio of twenty-first century widebodies – an Air France Airbus A350, a Norwegian Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and the highlight of the three, HiFly’s Airbus A380 wearing the ‘Save the Coral Reefs’ livery. Interestingly, this jet was the Hanoi-bound departure listed on the departure boards. Several hours after landing in Hanoi, the whale would head up to Wuhan before operating a ‘coronavirus charter’ ferrying French nationals to Paris CDG.
Seeing as we were likely some way from our maximum takeoff weight, our departure that afternoon was conducted from an intersection and, after taxiing onto the runway, at 1425 the two engines roared into life and we conducted a rolling takeoff on Runway 27L. Interestingly, this was initially conducted in tandem with a Travel Service Boeing 737-800 touching down on the parallel runway. Soon enough, the aircraft rotated upwards, and, seeing as I found myself on the right-hand side of the aircraft, there was relatively little to see during the initial stages of the descent bar fields and the occasional town.
Once we had soared over the airport perimeter, we passed over the town of Goussainville and I kept my eyes peeled for the grass airstrip at Enghien Moisselles from where I had undertaken several flights over the past months. Unfortunately, we turned north before reaching the airfield and clouds soon rolled in below the aircraft. Several short minutes after our departure, the crew were released from their seats and an automated announcement was broadcast which asked passengers to remain in their seats a little longer whilst the crew prepared for the ‘famously friendly service’. Five minutes after leaving Paris CDG, the aircraft passed through 10,000 feet and the seatbelt signs were switched off. At this time, one final glimpse of France could be had in the form of Creil, this easily recognisable thanks to the decommissioned runway at the town’s military base. After this the clouds swept in completely and no views could had for much of the flight.
Inside, as soon as the seat belt signs were switched off, the cabin crew commenced their BoB service. As mentioned in the introduction, seeing as the flight was well under the 2H25 flight time required for the pre-ordering of hot meals, only two pre-reservable hot sandwiches were offered. However, were I on a longer flight, the airline has an impressive selection of nineteen pre-reservable meals! Having rejected the two sandwiches, my only option for nourishment during the short flight was to turn to the buy-on-board menu. Assuming full stock availability, Jet2 offers a reasonably expansive selection of food and drinks aboard their flights with six sandwiches and four hot meals advertised alongside a wide selection of snacks and drinks – both soft and hard. In terms of price, as one would expect, prices are rather inflated when compared to those items for sale on the ground, however, I would say that on average they are no more expensive than those of any other European LCC. A little strangely seeing as the majority of Jet2’s destinations are within the Eurozone, prices are listed in GBP only with no mention of Euros. As the BoB had commenced from the rear of the aircraft, I ended up being one of the first passengers to be served, with both crew members conducting this asking me whether I would like to purchase anything in a lively and friendly manner. Having had a couple of coffees and a packet of biscuits in the terminal, I rejected this offer and the trolley headed up into the cabin, the crew appearing to have little success as they passed through the cabin. As they conducted this, our aircraft reached its maximum altitude for the flight, a relatively low height of 30,000 feet.
Whilst clouds meant that little could be seen below, a later check of Flightradar revealed that twenty minutes after takeoff, the Boeing 737 headed out over the Channel, crossing the coastline in between Le Touquet and Boulogne-sur-Mer. After a crossing that lasted a total of five minutes, the aircraft made landfall in between the Kent towns of Dungeness and Folkestone. Sitting on the right-hand side of the aircraft, had the weather below not been atypically British, I would have been welcomed back by the sight of the White Cliffs of Dover followed by the picturesque Kent Downs. Instead little could be seen as we neared the midpoint of the journey, heading up through Kent and crossing the Thames Estuary before flying high above Essex. With not a great amount of time left, I decided to head to one of the two lavatories at the rear of the cabin and entered without waiting. Despite being slightly retro in style, like the rest of the cabin, this appeared to be clean and in good condition so no complaints here. Upon returning to my seat, I began to feel a little uncomfortable thanks to the icy blast coming from the air vents – the chilly temperature of the cabin remained even after closing these.
Whilst some form of wifi-based inflight entertainment system may be welcome on the airline’s long slogs to and from the Canaries or their occasional Transatlantic charters to New York, I could hardly complain about the fact that entertainment onboard was limited to the winter 2019/20 edition of the airline’s JetAway magazine. Targeting those looking to book their summer holidays, virtually all of the magazine consisted of travel articles detailing sunny summer destinations from Croatia to Turkey and everywhere in between. Ultimately, each article was linked to a Jet2 destination and served as an advertisement for their accommodation and flights. However, unlike on most airlines, the inflight magazine was devoid of any overt advertisements which made for a reasonably pleasant read.
Shortly after passing Bedford, the aircraft could be felt commencing its descent, this was officially confirmed moments later by the Captain who made one final announcement, thanking us for flying with Jet2 and informing us that we had 25 minutes to go until Leeds. During this, some rather significant bumps could be felt leading to the seat belt sign being promptly switched on mid-announcement which was followed by the crew hurriedly passing through the cabin to ensure all was secure for our arrival. This was followed by an automated announcement featuring the usual warnings regarding seatbelts, tray tables and luggage as the aircraft continued its descent.
As we headed downwards, the turbulence continued and proved itself to be rather violent at times, resulting in audible gasps from several of my fellow passengers. Meanwhile, outside the aircraft, the clouds below were slowly starting to clear, which, seeing as I had hoped to see my hometown of Sheffield from above, was good news. At 1412 UK time, the town of Chesterfield came into view as we sank through 15,000 feet. Unfortunately, a patch of clouds lingered over Sheffield and so I was out of luck for spotting my family home from the air. As we headed away from the city and over the infamously named town of Penistone (pronounced Penn-iss-ton) the clouds below parted revealing the town of Barnsley as we headed into West Yorkshire. Here we turned over the brown and green fields towards Wakefield.
After passing over Wakefield, the Boeing 737 gently turned towards Leeds’ city centre and established itself on the approach for Runway 32. As we neared the city, the flaps were gradually extended, followed by the landing gear as we neared the city. As we sunk down over Leeds, good views were offered of a portion of the city centre although my unfamiliarity with the city meant that I could not recognise most of the landmarks visible during the approach.
However, despite not being a cricket fan, nor being incredibly passionate about railways, I did recognise both the Headingly Cricket Ground and Neville Hill railway depot as we passed over the city. Soon enough, the landscapes below transformed from Leeds’ leafy suburbs to the semi-rural area that surrounds the airport. Exactly one hour after leaving the sunny skies of Paris behind, the aircraft wobbled and rolled in the strong winds as we headed down over fields before sinking over the perimeter fence and coming back down to earth with an almighty bump.
Perhaps desperate for a break, the pilots initiated some rather harsh braking which required me to secure my bag with my foot to stop this from heading forward. As we slowed, I was incredibly surprised to catch sight of an engineless Boeing 737-800 wearing the white and orange colours of Chinese airline Okay Airways alongside eleven Jet2 aircraft with examples of all types in the airline’s full-time fleet. As we turned off, I was equally surprised to see another Okay Airways liveried Boeing 737-800 at the maintenance area, alongside a Jet2 Boeing 737-800 and a French TBM-850 that had arrived earlier in the day from Laval Entrammes Airport which sits in between Rennes and Le Mans. As I had suspected, both ex-Okay Airways aircraft had been delivered to Jet2 from the Chinese carrier and were awaiting their entry into service. As we turned off the runway, yet another automated announcement rang out, this time thanking us for flying with Jet2 and advertising £60 discount vouchers for Jet2’s package holidays available from the crew. It then dawned on me that, strangely, this had been my first ever flight lacking any sort of announcement from any of the cabin crew!
After a short taxi, our Boeing 737 turned left into Stand 18R at the very end of the ramp, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule and the two engines spooled down before the seat belt signs pinged off. As is often the case, almost the entire cabin took this as their cue to stand up and rush towards the exits, however, it was another five minutes or so until disembarkation actually commenced. Seeing no point in rushing to exit the aircraft, especially seeing as we would all be taking the same bus to the terminal, I ended up being one of the last passengers to leave the aircraft. Once I had thanked the crew, I headed down the steps and squeezed myself onto the waiting bus. Moments after I boarded the bus, the doors were closed and we proceeded slowly down the flightline consisting of eight Jet2 aircraft and a comparatively miniscule Eastern Airways Jetstream 41 before arriving at the entrance to the terminal.
Having been squeezed up against the doors of the bus, I ended up being one of the first to disembark once we reached the terminal. From the doors, it was a short escalator ride and a walk to the immigration area. Whilst the majority of Britain’s airports now have automatic immigration gates, as of winter 2020, these are disappointingly absent from Leeds Bradford Airport. Given the limited number of immigration booths, at busy times I suspect substantial queues can be found for those looking to enter the UK. Thankfully, my flight had arrived during a quiet period and, having been one of the first to disembark the bus, I found myself near the front of the queue for one of the three open counters. After a couple of minutes of waiting, one of the army of Jet2 representatives pointed me in the direction of a desk and I handed over my passport to an unusually cheerful immigration officer. A few moments later this was handed back to me and I officially re-entered the UK. With no hold luggage, I made a beeline for the exit and emerged in the landside area. Admittedly, whilst my journey through Leeds Bradford Airport had been brief, the airport seemed both cramped and dated, and ultimately in need of modernisation. After a two-hour car journey, I arrived back in my hometown of Sheffield, bringing an end to my journey.
Summary
With a fair few awards and many good reviews, I had expected above-average LCC service from Jet2 and I am happy to report that that is what I received. Throughout the flight I found the crew to be cheerful, friendly and polite, and importantly the aircraft appeared to be clean and in tip-top condition. In fact, the aircraft was undoubtedly the least battered Boeing 737 Classic I have had the pleasure of flying in recent years. Needless to say, I would consider flying with them again if the opportunity arises!
