easyJet

[petkow]

This is completely off topic for a telecom forum, but I am posting it here (and not elsewhere) for a good reason. This is worth reading if you need to make bookings on easyJet and intend to pay in Euros. I am not sure how much this is common knowledge, but I accidently discovered a while ago that easyJet regurlarly overcharge customers who pay in euros by as much as 20%. I am not sure if it is a glitch or a money making scheme, but I suspect it has something to do with them being a British registered airline (and who do their accounting in Pound Sterling), and also because of the extremely poor exchange rate of the GBP against the EUR these days.

I do not want to make this too public, as I do regularly make use of this 'glitch', and so I am only posting this here on ppgsm and not on any other travel related forum. (Therefore I would appreciate it if members here not unnecessarily post this elsewhere, and to use this information with discretion).

By default Easyjet lists prices for flights originating in Eurozone countries in Euros. You can also select to change the currency in a convenient drop-down box, after you have added a flight to your basket. Now this part is nothing new at all, and is quite well-known. What this drop down box does is a conversion at what appears to be quite a decent exchange rate. For example, it can be handy for people from the UK, who require to put a EUR transaction through in GBP (e.g. to make use of a cheaper UK debit card, or for the purposes of expenses/invoicing).

So all very good it appears.... Well not quite!! The real GBP prices from their booking engine are systematically around 20% lower than their stated EUR prices. This is true of any flight anywhere on their network, even those that do not come from or go to the UK (e.g. a flight from Germany to Spain). The problem is, these 'true' GBP prices are not usually visible unless you are originating your flight in the UK.

However, you can see the GBP price by first selecting any one-way flight which originates in the UK, and then selecting "Add more Flights". Then search for the flight(s) that you are originally after. You can then remove the first unwanted flight from your basket. The prices of the new flights will still be listed in GBP! You can chose to go ahead at this stage and pay in GBP, but consider this option carefully as your EUR bank might end up charging you more for an overseas GBP transaction. However, you can avoid this, pay in EUR and still make a significant saving by just applying the drop down exchange rate converter to convert the price from GBP back to EUR. The price will still be lower than the original.

The example I have is for a randomly selected one way flight this Friday from Paris to London. In this example, my intention is to pay in GBP, so the final price is in GBP. However, it's just an example. I also did a similar one just now for a flight from Madrid to Lisbon where the first and the last prices were both in EUR and savings were still around 20%.

Have a look at the link with the image of 3 screen shots of my basket. (I hope it works)
Screen 1 shows the default price.
Screen 2 shows the default price converted in GBP by using the drop down.
Screen 3 shows the true GBP price.
Notice that this is more than a 20% saving. Obviously you can make significant cash savings on more expensive last minute type flights.

[babble]

petkow,

Thanks for the tip and clear explanation.

babble

[inquisitor]

Very interesting. Unfortunately EasyJet don't serve any nearby airport.

Anyway thanks for sharing!

P.S.: Where are those screenshots from? Is that an iphone app or just a mobile website?

[petkow]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

Is that an iphone app or just a mobile website?

Who me? iNever

It's actually the RHS of any easyJet booking page on a normal full-width desktop browser. It puts a nice compact Basket there with a push-pin. Although I may not agree with their overcharging, I will give easyJet full marks for their web design. Currently about 1002 times better than Ryanair's awful web layout! (Though most of that is intentional customer 'confusion' factor)

p.s. None are optimal... but there's Zürich, Basel, München...

[inquisitor]

Sorry for accusing you of owning an iPhone - didn't intend to offend you. I guess the last nights with the Android SDK made me see apps everywhere. I should have seen from the arrow button of the drop down list that these screenshots were taken under Win XP.

Regarding airports, they are all too far away if you consider the relatively small amount I could save on a short haul flight and especially parking fees at Zürich and Munich airport, where a week costs € 50-250.