As long as you read all the small print properly, there are loads and loads of advantages to flying with Easyjet. The earlier you manage to book, the cheaper your flight will be and, as time passes more and more routes are added to a constantly updated network that sprawls across mainland Europe like some gigantic spider's web.

Bear in mind that not all easyJets destinations operate an all year round service. For example, the London services to Mykonos and Rhodes are strictly high summer. A lot of people also tend to forget that Easyjet offers point-to-point flights within the UK. For example, you can fly from Newcastle to Bristol and Stansted, and thus avoid overcrowded roads and trains.

Most of the big cities such as Manchester, Luton, Newcastle and airports such as Gatwick offer convenient, one-way flights to mainland Europe. Athens is accessible from a number of airports, as is Istanbul. Paris is served from Newcastle and London Airports, while the balmy, exotic French Riviera can be reached from Nice, which also has Easyjet flights from Newcastle and London.

An nice twist is provided by flights from London to Madeira, offering some very welcome winter sunshine at prices that won't break that piggy bank. The ski resorts of Switzerland and the French Alps all have direct flights from all of London's airports, though some of these might be from Stansted or Luton rather than Gatwick.

The Easyjet experience is fairly basic, but it is also easy, uncomplicated, and it gets you from A to B in reasonable time, at a reasonable cost. For passengers flying from Newcastle to Rome or Barcelona, Easyjet is by far the best option, with direct flights that don't require a change of plane. Leg room is generally no better or worse than full- service scheduled airlines, and for a supplement you can buy a 'speedy boarding' option, that gives you priority access to the plane before the bulk of the other passengers.

EasyJet flies from all major Scottish airports such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen to Mediterranean hot spots such as Majorca, Ibiza and Malaga in Spain, as well as some of the Italian cities already mentioned. All in all, the airline covers most of the United Kingdom, including direct flights from Belfast to the mainland UK, and the ability to connect on to other parts of Europe.