The leading cut-price airlines, Ryanair and EasyJet, show no signs of cutting back on their services to France this year and are introducing a number of new routes.

Probably the most important in terms of passenger numbers is likely to be the Ryanair service from London Gatwick to Marseille, due to begin operations on 30th April. However EasyJet expect substantial interest in their new service from East Midlands direct to Nice, starting on 2nd April.

Bristol also has a new EasyJet connection to Nice from the 13th of this month but many more forthcoming new destinations with Ryanair. From 2nd July Bristol will become linked with Limoges, Montpellier, and Toulon-Hyères, and with Perpignan from the following day.

EasyJet continues to have no weight limit on hand baggage, so long as you can lift it yourself into the overhead locker: their cabin crew is strictly forbidden to help for health and safety reasons. With EasyJet, if you arrive so early at the airport that their previous flight to your destination has not left yet, you can take up any spare seats on that flight instead at no extra charge. If you arrive late but no later than two hours after your scheduled flight time, the fee for finding you a seat on the next available flight is a flat rate of £35. 

Despite the relaxation of cabin baggage security rules, Ryanair continue to insist on one item only weighing a maximum of 10kg. There is no getting round this restriction: passengers have to place handbags, laptops and items purchased in the terminal into the bag they intend taking on the plane. Ryanair re-emphasized this policy for 2009 after one passenger recently attempted to carry five items of hand baggage on board. They all ended up in the hold. 

From our February 2009 newsletter