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Category: Airlines

Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Wrocław)

Another day, another train from Norwich to Luton Airport. I went via Cambridge and St. Pancras, but everything ran like clockwork so no delay repay today….

Lunch at Big Smoke.

A snack at Nolito.

And the evening meal at My Lounge.

At the boarding gate.

The boarding process was efficient and well managed. The aircraft hadn’t even arrived when they started checking boarding passes, but the aircraft seemed to be turned around quickly. The aircraft is HA-LGW and I haven’t been on this one before, although that’s not entirely surprising as it’s only been in service for just under eight weeks.

Happy passengers during the flight. The announcements during the flight were helpful and informative, the crew were friendly and everything was beautifully uneventful. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat near to the front, which was handy for border control as well as being decadent as it wasn’t a middle seat.

And safely in Wrocław on time. There wasn’t much of a wait at border control as most of the passengers had EU passports, although there was quite a lot of checking and counting my passport stamps. As I used Multipass, the flight was just £8.99, a whole arrangement that I thought was marvellous value for money. As we arrived on time and the border control checks were efficient, it meant that I was able to catch the 00:06 bus and had a 40 minute journey to the city centre, a trip which costs under £1.

August 19, 2025
Flights – London Heathrow to Los Angeles (American Airlines)

[I originally posted this in July 2018 about a flight in January 2018, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]

For a little bit of variety in January 2018, I decided to use American Airlines to get to the United States from London rather than British Airways. They’re still part of Oneworld and I think that there’s some sort of revenue share on the flights, so it wasn’t total disloyalty to British Airways….

American Airlines depart from Terminal 3 at Heathrow and the transfer process from Terminal 5 was easy with numerous airport staff available to help. The welcome desk at American Airlines was exactly that, enormously welcoming and friendly. The staff member asked if I was taking an ex-EU flight (meaning Europe rather than European Union, it’s often a cheaper way to travel, my ticket was from Ireland) which I said I was, before she added that it was becoming increasingly common.

The aircraft felt modern with the economy cabin being clean and well presented. The IFE screen was of a reasonable size given the cabin and I particularly liked the easy to access power to ensure my devices were kept nice and charged. The selection of films and television seemed quite wide ranging with some modern films being available.

It’s not rare now on airlines, but this was the first time that I’ve encountered this on my flights. It was news being fed to the aircraft whilst we were in the air, so I heard about the resignation of a Cabinet Minister.

I was going to America, so I had to have a Dr. Pepper. By “had to have”, I meant that I consider it to be a national drink of the United States, although I suspect most Americans would pick something else.

The main meal of mashed potato on minced meat (that’s not its official name) didn’t look very pretty, but it tasted better than it looked. There was some salad, which seemed superfluous to me, as well as a pleasant cherry crumble cake. The roll tasted American, so it was rather sweet.

There was ice cream handed out during the flight.

I liked the packaging, it looked exciting 🙂

Inside the box was a fajita pepper wrap on one side, and a lemon sponge cake on the other side. Served alongside another Dr. Pepper, it was a perfectly acceptable breakfast.

I liked the entire flight, indeed more than I expected. The service was polite, efficient and fast throughout. I had an aisle seat in a bank of only two seats, which although at the back of the cabin didn’t cause me any problems with noise or disturbances.

There were sufficient washrooms for the number of customers and the environment seemed clean and comfortable. British Airways seem to have had real problems recently keeping their aircraft clean, and American seemed to be more on top of that issue. It all adds to making the flight a little more pleasant.

August 13, 2025
TAP Portugal (Lisbon to Seville)

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

It’s quite a while since I’ve been on a prop plane, with this being the TAP Portugal service from Lisbon to Seville. It was a late-night flight and was to be the last flight to arrive in Seville for the day, but it was still a relatively full flight.

Given my name, I felt that this was quite apt.

This is the aircraft they used, the photo is from the airline’s in-flight magazine.

2*2 seating, all perfectly comfortable, and all kept clean and tidy.

I knew from my previous flight that TAP provide food and drink on pretty much all of their flights, although I did wonder whether that included these short hop flights. It transpired that it did, and there was a roll and drink offered to everyone, in another efficient and friendly service. I’m not quite sure what was in the roll, it seemed to be tuna, but it tasted fine.

The flight took just under one hour, and the efficiency of the entire operation did surprise me. I’ve enjoyed my two flights with TAP Portugal today, the crew had a warm and engaging attitude, and they fortunately spoke excellent English. And one more good thing, and unlike my first flight, there was absolutely no clapping when the aircraft landed. This pleased me.

August 10, 2025
Flights – British Airways (Heathrow T3 to Luxembourg)

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

My morning British Airways flight from Heathrow T3 having safely landed in Luxembourg. The load was a little light across the aircraft and the new boarding by group operated by BA was efficiently managed.

This is the breakfast on Club Europe, which as I’ve commented on before is what I think is the weakest meal that BA serve. It’s excessively salty for my taste (and I like salt….) and sits in a pool of grease, but I’m sure that it’s not an unpopular product. It’s a shame that they don’t offer the cold meats selection as an alternative though.

One minor thing which a few crew do is ask customers if they want tea or coffee when they serve the breakfast. It threw one customer, who wanted an orange juice, but thought that their selection was limited to tea or coffee. That promptly threw the crew’s service slightly as customers they’d already served then ordered additional drinks.

Indeed, the service on this flight was about as minimal as the crew could get away with, never asking if customers wanted anything else and never really being pro-active. Fortunately I’m pro-active in asking for more orange juice…. There were two crew to deal with a very light Club Europe cabin, which was just four rows and that was only half-filled.

Another problem I keep noticing on BA flights isn’t exactly a serious issue, but their cleaning crews even in their home base rarely seem to be able to check the seat pockets in the time they have. There are routinely things left in seat pockets from previous customers. Ryanair resolved this by removing seat pockets, creating a handy compromise of preventing customers from leaving things in them.

Although Club Europe customers can order from this BOB (buy-on-board) menu, it’s designed for Euro Traveller customers. Alex Cruz removed free food and drink from the Euro Traveller cabin and replaced it with this effort, operated by Bidvest. Most of the food is supplied by Marks & Spencer and the quality seems reasonable, not that I’ve ever ordered from it.

The sandwiches selection on the BOB menu.

One of the little illogicalities about the BOB menu is that the coffees that are served in Euro Traveller are much better than the ones in Club Europe. The Bidvest selection have the coffees which have in-built filters and there’s some attempt at selling branded products. The Club Europe coffees are the standard BA filter coffee efforts, and they’re not exactly a taste sensation.

The beer selection on the BOB menu.

So, another efficient flight which took just 55 minutes to get from Heathrow T3 to Luxembourg. BA continue with their strongest point though, which is to be inconsistent with their customer service.

August 1, 2025
Flights – Gatwick to Limoges (Titan Airways)

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links. Incidentally, this aircraft has now left Titan’s service and is used as a cargo aircraft in South America]

Around three weeks before my British Airways flight from Gatwick to Limoges, I received an e-mail informing me that it would be operated by Titan Airways. I had half expected at some point, from reading Flyertalk far too much, that a Gatwick flight of mine would be operated as a wet lease by Titan Airways, so I thought it’d be interesting to see how it went. I did though understand that if I had so wanted, British Airways would offer an alternative date for those who only wanted to fly on their metal.

The crew offered a friendly and engaging welcome, so my first impressions were positive. The crew were also dressed in a smart uniform and I was pleased that the lead crew member in my cabin was Polish, so I expected excellent customer service. Which I duly received throughout the flight. I was flying in Club Europe, and there were the usual BA services such as hot towels and the drinks selection was the same as BA operated flights.

I prefer the slightly more modern British Airways interior, but it was comfortable and clean. Ironically, this was a British Airways aircraft from 1992, when it came into service, until 2015, when it left service.

As I’ve commented on elsewhere, I’ve always felt that the British Airways breakfast meal is their weakest, although there’s obviously a huge element of personal taste involved in that. It wasn’t great and was way too over salted, and lacking in any real quality. Having said that, it was hot and as I understand, this is the food that would have been served if British Airways had been operating the flight.

The crew member was quick to offer extra drinks and he was efficient and seemed to be pro-active in his service. The cabin, which was quite lightly filled, was relatively small, which helped him in his efforts.

I can’t imagine why this would be of interest to anyone, but just in case, the safety card.

Disembarking at Limoges for the next adventure. It took under one minute from leaving the aircraft to getting through to the front of the airport terminal, although I was the first to disembark which helps enormously.

I’ve read a couple of people post that they were disappointed to hear that their flight was being operated by Titan Airways, but having experienced this flight, I’m not sure that they have anything to fear. The tier points, Avios and so on are obviously all the same, although I don’t think that the usual Bidvest trolley ran through the Euro Traveller cabin, although I might be wrong.

July 31, 2025
Flights – British Airways (Limoges to Gatwick)

[I originally published this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]

After a very lovely week in Limoges it was time to depart back to the UK on board Speedbird. Limoges is not an airport which is difficult to navigate and it rather makes London City Airport look large. Mine was the only flight for a few hours and it took around two minutes from entering the terminal to sitting in the departure gate area.

I don’t intend to bore people with an in-depth review of the flight, as it was all efficient and well managed. The crew were welcoming and friendly, whilst being attentive throughout the flight. I was in Club Europe and the load there was light, just five customers, which meant that the bulk of the service was conducted by one crew member.

The cabin was clean and I took my favoured seat of 2C. I say favoured, but I usually get seat 34B on Ryanair because I refuse to pay for a better seat on most flights…. But when I get some luxury, I like an aisle seat, but not on the front because I can’t be near my precious laptop.

I’ve always thought that the food across British Airways in First down to World Traveller in long haul, and in Club Europe in short-haul (since that pesky Cruz took away short-haul food) is actually pretty good. It might not be the best in the world, and can’t necessarily compete with Emirates or Singapore, but it has always met my requirements.

That is with one exception, I’m not the biggest fan of BA breakfasts, especially on short haul where there is little other choice. So I’m always overly delighted when there is a choice for breakfast and one of those options is the plate of cold meats.

The quality of the cold meats was towards the higher end of the scale, with the cheeses having a depth of taste and the tomato a particularly pleasant flavour. The meats melted in the mouth and there was a choice of four bread rolls, with the seeded one taking my fancy.

Given it was a morning flight there was a lot of champagne and wine flowing in the cabin, although just for today I felt that this was a morning for orange juice. Although the champagne did look tempting…. The crew member pro-actively offered extra rolls, drinks and checked if I needed anything else, so I didn’t go without at any time during the flight.

Due to my position in 2C it meant that I disembarked the flight first. And disembarked is the correct word, I refuse to use the word deplane…. I don’t actually like this, as it means that I feel I’m under huge pressure not to get lost as I walk towards the terminal. It’s amazing how I can deviate from what an airport can think is its idiot-proof walk towards customs.

I took this flight for purposes of securing BA status next year and it cost £84, which I think is very reasonable for a business class flight. Although, having said that (well, written that) Limoges is one of the cheapest routes for business in Europe on BA, but it’s a seasonal flight only.

July 30, 2025
Flights – Wizz Air (Cologne to Luxembourg)

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

Needing to get from Gdansk to Luxembourg in just over a day didn’t give me many affordable options. I tried to get a Ryanair flight, but there were no direct flights anywhere near, but there was the option of getting a Wizzair flight from Gdansk to Cologne and then a Flixbus from Cologne to Luxembourg. So it was a first experience of both Wizzair and Flixbus for me….

The booking process was easy to manage and surprisingly efficient, which is always reassuring. So reassuring was the process that I decided to join the Wizz Air Discount Club, which for an annual fee gives extra reductions off the price of every flight.

Quite understandably, there are strict rules about not taking photos of cabin crew on most airlines, and I noticed Wizz Air point that out in their literature. Hence why this photo is side-on of the nearby seats, rather than of the entire cabin. The seat design doesn’t feel very modern, but the cabin was clean and tidy, with the seats being sufficiently comfortable.

The boarding arrangement is very much like Ryanair, so it’s efficient, via steps and involves standing on the steps down to the tarmac for ages. But, the efficiency pleased me, everyone knew where they should be and when.

The food and drink was all reasonably priced, and approximately 25% of customers ordered at least something. The price of noodles is the same as coffee, and I thought that this would be more filling. It’s what I like getting on Amtrak in the US, and they were perfectly acceptable at €3 (around £2.60).

The selling frenzy from the cabin crew wasn’t quite as bad as Ryanair, with fewer passes down the cabin and that made it feel slightly more relaxing. However, there were still numerous different items for sale, so it wasn’t entirely peaceful.

Overall, I felt that the entire operation seemed efficient and the staff were all polite and helpful. The flight was pretty much punctual and although the surroundings weren’t exactly luxurious, they did represent excellent value for money on this occasion. I’m sure that I’ll fly with Wizz Air again soon based on this experience.

July 30, 2025
Wizz Air (Tirana to Leipzig)

To avoid any card based dramas on the bus journey back to the airport, I prepaid for my ticket online and I was transported smoothly to the rather decadent frontage of the building.

I did have a relaxing lounge visit at this point, but to surprise and delight my two loyal blog readers, I’ll post about that separately as it’s sensible to ration excitement.

It’s a large, clean and organised terminal. The security process took under three minutes and the border control was once again automated, as I didn’t need stamps, so I was through to airside within five minutes. All very efficient.

There were a lot of size checks on bags at the airport and some people got caught out. I’m afraid I’m on the side of Wizz Air here, they’re not stopping marginal bags, but they are stopping bags which are nowhere near the size limit. They must have taken around £250 or so in extra charges which is no doubt annoying for the passenger, but they probably need to try and at least be near to the official limit to have some sort of chance of getting away with it.

The aircraft registration was HA-LXB, not one that I’ve been on before. There were three buses to the aircraft and the doors of all three opened immediately, creating something of a huddle from those who felt the need to rush aboard. I just stay out of it and let the chaos play out.

Goodbye to the hills of Albania…. The journey was uneventful, the crew were once again friendly and efficient, although I couldn’t hear the announcements from the pilot. The seating Gods had given me a middle seat, but it was a relatively short flight and I kept myself amused watching YouTube videos.

And safely in Leipzig, fully ready for me to complain about Deutsche Bahn.

July 26, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Tirana)

The train from St. Pancras to Luton Airport was just £4, which I consider a bargain. That damaged chair has been like that for months, not that it’s something I have spent a great deal of time contemplating and it has become something of a familiar friend now.

The usual Thameslink train, no tables or power outlets, but they just about always have lots of seats available and the services are usually reliable.

My usual order at Big Smoke at Luton Airport, this time they didn’t accidentally overcharge me. The beer is the Electric Eye from Big Smoke themselves, a punchy citrus beer.

A pint of Menabrea and a Limoncello at Nolito. The lager was generic, clean and dull, the Limoncello not the most decadent. But the environment was comfortable and thanks to Priority Pass for funding this visit.

And then ready to board and they had a helpful staff member checking the larger bags for size, but he was letting quite a lot off that were just a little too big in an attempt to be helpful. One lady had a suitcase that would fit a hippo in and he said it was ridiculously large, but the lady said that she was Albanian and wouldn’t be paying. After some discussions and translations from other passengers, it was agreed that she had a bag within her bag, so she just had to leave the larger bag at the gate.

We all then get the boarding passes scanned and go to a different part of the room, which is barriered off from the previous part, but it’s possible to pass things over. And, back to our lady with the bag, she started to get another passenger who still hadn’t checked-in to have a look through her now discarded bag to see if there was anything she had missed. The team member was now annoyed, it gave the impression that she thought she could get the bag back over the gated area when he wasn’t looking. He went to hide the bag.

It’s the aircraft on the right, which is G-WUKV, an Airbus A321 which took me back from Kaunas a couple of weeks ago.

The boarding starts.

The seating Gods had given me a middle seat which felt sub-optimal, but I’d had a good run of being given aisle or window seats. So, I was surprised and delighted to discover that the seat they had given me was actually an emergency exit row seat.

The crew member quickly discovered that the woman in the window seat couldn’t speak English, so I was swapped with her as I obviously look good in an emergency. And I speak English, so she could explain my responsibilities. The rest of the flight was bloody awful. I’ve never experienced such noise from kids on an aircraft, I was fortunate my headphones meant I could ignore most of that. I had a kid behind kicking the seat, but his father gave me some Pringles, so I tolerated that as I’m easy to bribe. The crew struggled to keep passengers from standing up the second we landed and there was no shortage of eye rolling from the crew about the situation. The crew were impeccable, they had a lot to deal with on this flight and I was thinking about writing to the Pope to see if a couple could be made saints.

I was only mildly traumatised by the time we landed in Tirana. Border control couldn’t have been any faster, it involved going through an e-gate without seeing any border agents and my passport didn’t need stamping.

It wasn’t the most quiet and relaxed airport terminal I’d been through. The flight cost £8.99 which is impressive, but this was not the most relaxing of experiences to say the least.

July 23, 2025
Wizz Air (London Gatwick South to Faro)

Arriving at Gatwick Airport on the early morning bus…. Instead of the cinematic sweep up the driveway to an impressive departures hall, you’re unceremoniously dumped at the back of the building, which looks more like the loading dock of an industrial estate than the gateway to international travel, but as it was 05:00 it was too early to care much about this. There was no queue at security, so I was left pondering slightly why I had left my hotel so early, but better to be early than late.

I haven’t flown from Gatwick Airport for some time and I wasn’t sure if there would be space in one of the lounges using my Priority Card, but it’s fair to say that My Lounge was not packed.

Lounge food and drink which was typical fare for British airport lounges, some dry and uninteresting food alongside a dreadful lager. The sausage, bacon and hash brown were OK, I poured myself just a small amount of Cruzcampo since it was still early morning, took one mouthful and realised just how dreadful it is. The orange juice was out of cheap cartons, but in fairness to the whole arrangement, the coffee, food and orange juice was all filling enough.

Mine was the 08:00 Wizz Air flight to Faro and as usual for the airline, everything was efficient, clearly signed and without delay. There were more bag checks than usual which always adds to the drama, but once again, this didn’t impact me.

It was raining when I walked to the aircraft, it always feels a shame leaving the UK when there’s weather that I like. The aircraft registration was G-WUND, the same one that took me to an icy Tallinn a few months ago. The seating Gods had allocated me a window seat, so that was a rather handy arrangement.

Nearly at Faro and the aircraft toured up and down the coast a bit before landing. We had experienced a delay on departure, the reason for which was never mentioned, but as Wizz Air pad their schedules so much, we still seemed to manage to arrive on time. The pilots were generally decent on the number of announcements, the crew members were all personable and I fell asleep for most of the flight so don’t really know much of what happened.

It was very quickly evident that it was too hot.

The border control process felt a little chaotic, but these new machines for UK passports seemed interesting, but I wasn’t called to try them. The whole queueing arrangement was a little chaotic in places and it felt like a long wait, but it was 31 minutes in the end, which isn’t entirely unreasonable given this is a busy time of year for the airport. It does feel though that the airport in general is creaking in places with passenger numbers, so yet another extension to the building seems likely for future years.

Anyway, this was another very satisfactory experience given that the flight cost £8.99, the flight was comfortable, the boarding process was efficient and the crew were friendly. I am though getting the creeping sense that most airports in Europe are about five million passengers beyond what they were built for.

July 20, 2025