I think we have finally figured out the best way to fly as a family with Easyjet–and I will be honest, this airline has become our go-to airline for domestic flights throughout the UK and Europe.
They consistently have some of the best prices and they fly over 830 routs in over 30 countries, which makes them a very accessible budget airline. Their low prices do come with a catch, though. They only allow 1 piece of hand-baggage per customer, each checked bag costs anywhere between £25-35 and if you show up with more than one piece of hand baggage, they charge you £50 to check it. This was a definite obstacle for our family, when anytime we travel we each have 2 pieces of hand baggage because of our nomadic life-style.
Last year, we would pay the extra £25-35 baggage fee to check 3 of our bags. Most airline desks allowed us to combine our baggage weight and check 6 pieces of luggage so then we were only left with one hand bag per person. This fall I found that if you pay for what the airline calls “up-front” or “extra leg room” seat, you are allowed 2 pieces of hand luggage. This costs an extra £10-18 per person, which actually ended up saving us quite a bit of money. So, instead of paying upwards of an extra £75-105 in baggage fees, we cut it down to about £60 extra in baggage fees. It was still expensive, but still a cheaper option than other domestic airlines.
This continued for a few weeks until we found out that Easyjet has an extremely family friendly option. Just purchase your tickets and when it is time to go to the airport, head over to the check-in desk and ask them about their family travel option. You will be allowed to check in up to 6 bags (this is one bag per person up to 6 people) and get priority boarding for only £10-15 total. We have done this with our last 2 Easyjet flights and it is a wonderful option for families traveling on this very family friendly airline.
The Nomad Family 