It meant a very early start to catch the 0650 departure from Bristol to Edinburgh.

This is the busiest time of day for departures at Bristol airport with eleven easyJets alone leaving by 0830.

However, being January there were not so many charters so the terminal was a fairly comfortable experience with only around a five-minute wait in the security queue. Last time I was there at the same time in September it took over half an hour.

Once our Airbus A319 was fully boarded there was an unpleasant shock when the captain announced a small technical problem which he hoped would be resolved in two or three minutes. An engineer entered the flight deck and did the trick.

Flight time turned out to be exactly one hour. The cabin crew was friendly enough and service adequate.

I like the 319s. They have higher seat backs than the easyJet Boeing 737s and leg room is fine, for a short flight anyway.

We had minimal information from the flight deck, no doubt the technical hitch had given them other priorities. We landed more or less on time, having made up our late start, although the timetable is a generous one. The flight was only around two-thirds full.

We returned the same day on the last flight, again on a 319. We left Edinburgh fifty minutes late because the inbound was delayed. Made up some time and landed at Bristol at 2240 hours, just twenty-five minutes behind schedule after a quick flight of fifty minutes.

We had a bit more input from the flight deck this time including the fact that the night was a clear one and Belfast could be easily made out to the west as we flew down the northwest side of the UK mainland; and so it could.

A similar attitude from the cabin crew as the one in the morning made for another pleasant flight, although this time the aircraft was almost full.

I find easyJet to be a competent airline from a passenger perspective. What you see is what you get and if you want any more you have to pay, whether for speedy boarding or for onboard refreshment.