Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Gatwick

  • Gatwick Airport – Grain Store (Visit 4)

    As I’ve posted about (three times before), the Grain Store is part of the Priority Pass scheme at Gatwick Airport South Terminal. I visited here this morning at around 5am and it was moderately busy inside with a staff member promptly acknowledging me on entry. There’s a choice of more cafe style seating or restaurant seating, but as usual, I went for the latter.

    I’m working slowly around the menu and since I haven’t had tea here before, I went for something new. I have next to no knowledge about tea, but it tasted fine to me and there were enough for over two cups full. It was nicely presented in a black teapot and the water was at boiling temperature.

    The chorizo, avocado and poached egg on toast. There was an interesting variety of temperatures going on, with the egg, chorizo and toast being hot and the avocado, feta cheese and the plate all being cold. The presentation was just a little odd as well with some random elements around the plate, it’d have probably looked better on a slightly smaller plate. Anyway, that sounds like I’m overly concerned about the plate used, which isn’t really the case.

    The egg was cooked perfectly so that it was runny when I cut into it, with the portion size of the chorizo in particular being generous. The avocado was evenly spread and had a decent flavour, although it had made the toast quite moist. The toast and chorizo did though both add texture and the chorizo had a firm but pleasant taste to it.

    There was no check back during the meal and the service seemed a little scripted, but it was efficient and the food and drink was brought over promptly. The restaurant was clean and seemed organised, with the pricing being reasonable given the quality offered. The meal price came to £14, which was within the £15 allowance which is provided for by Priority Pass.

  • Megabus (Heathrow T5 to Gatwick)

    Today I’m going from Heathrow T5 to Gatwick, ready for a flight tomorrow. Usually I’d get the Underground Piccadilly line up from Heathrow and then get a train to Gatwick from Blackfriars with Thameslink all using Oyster. However, since it was early morning that would mean that the prices to do that would cost getting towards £20 and it would also take a couple of hours.

    I checked the National Express price, and that remains at a ridiculous £26 for a single journey.  Although it’s a convenient service to take, I find it unfortunate that a company price gouges like that, it’s not a great image for tourists. The price is so ridiculous that for any group of two people, it’s just as cheap to take an Uber.

    Fortunately, the wonderful Megabus have taken an interest in this route. If booked ahead this ticket can be under £10, although mine was £15 booked just before the journey. This is more expensive than going from Norwich to London with Megabus, but at least it’s a chunk cheaper than National Express and I’m sure they have some high overheads to operate to and from airports.

    The bus arrived on time, at 10.00, with a scheduled journey time of 70 minutes. It was clear from the ticket details where to wait for the bus, although the actual information at the bus stop could be clearer as it was nearly all for National Express. I was confident that I was in the right place though and there were Heathrow staff nearby to offer assistance to anyone who wanted it.

    The driver looked at the ticket on my phone seemingly confused, although he must have seen hundreds of them before. He looked at his watch, looked puzzled and so perhaps he thought it was a different time of the day to what it actually was. Who knows…. The driver didn’t exact engage like the American Megabus drivers, but that’s not unexpected.

    I got the seats at the top and there were plenty of working power outlets and there was also wi-fi available.

    I had a lovely view of the sweeping countryside. Well, the motorway.

    This photo doesn’t really show it, but there were an alarming number of chips and cracks on the bus’s windscreen. I can’t imagine that it’ll last too many more journeys. The driver seemed competent though and his driving was professional and smooth throughout.

    Anyway, the bus arrived into Gatwick early, so the journey took just 50 minutes. For the price I think this is a really decent service and hopefully it’ll take some trade away from National Express who I think are over-charging quite heavily for such a short route with such a captive market.

  • British Airways (Turin to Gatwick South)

    I was at first slightly confused when the BA app told me that my flight would be 21 minutes late departing and 92 minutes late arriving into Gatwick South. It transpired when we boarded that this information was correct, the inbound flight had been delayed by bad weather at Gatwick and we had now missed our slot in Turin. Fortunately the delay wasn’t quite that bad in the end and the pilots were good at keeping customers informed.

    The Club Europe cabin stretched back six rows, although there were only five customers in those seats. The main cabin was relatively busy, but by no means packed. I went for my usual afternoon drink of Gin and Tonic.

    I was a little disappointed by the food, not because of what I was served, but because I saw what other customers thought of it. I thought that the salmon on quinoa was excellent, with a depth of taste, fresh flavours and it was nicely presented.

    However, one customer rejected it and wanted a sandwich and another asked where the toasties had gone. Toasties? This isn’t what I’d personally want on a flight, it’s stodgy and uninventive in my view and I’m glad BA got rid of it last year.

    The service was polite and efficient, although the cabin manager did get caught talking to a customer for quite a while and even I could sense other customers wanting another drink.

    The flight made up a little bit of time en route, so what looked like it could be a delay of a couple of hours got halved. All in all I thought this was another well managed flight. Unfortunately, after a run of Club Europe flights, I’m back in economy for my next few excursions with BA so I will no longer be able to praise the improved Club Europe catering arrangements.

  • British Airways (Gatwick South to Turin)

    This is my first visit to Turin, flying with British Airways from Gatwick South. Initially the flight seemed busy and so I expected it to be a busy service, especially as they had been making announcements and sending texts during the day offering to place hand baggage in the hold for free. This is normally done to free up space in the cabin for what hand baggage there is, so I expected a busy flight. I was seated in Club Europe and it transpired that there was just two of us in the front cabin……

    We were around fifteen minutes late departing because the aircraft broke. Or, to be more precise, there was a problem with an on-board computer and an engineer had to switch something around.

    The crew member serving the Club Europe cabin wasn’t really strained during the flight if I’m being honest, there’s a limit to how much hassle two customers can be. Anyway, I opted for a gin and tonic as my drink, and the other customer opted for a gin and slimline tonic just to mix things up a bit (literally as well).

    The crew member was pro-active and visible for the flight though, as with just two customers it might have been easy for her just to sit on a jump seat and have a little rest. But she didn’t and the service was always attentive and efficient.

    British Airways had loaded the grand total of two meals for this flight, both different to each other, although both were based around salads. For reasons unknown to me the crew member had also heated up around eighteen rolls and scones, of which I had two and the other customer had none.

    The meal was fine and the ham tasted better than the photo suggests. The pork pie had some flavour, the generous amount of pickle added some texture and the Cheddar cheese was excellent. The lettuce leaf was more decorative, and it didn’t really perform that function with any great merit, and the tomato and mozzarella tasted as anyone might expect them to.

    For several years I’ve liked the scones served by British Airways and I take the Cornish approach to these things, jam first and then the clotted cream.

    The Alps.

    The suburbs of Turin.

    Turin as the sun starts to set. The flight landed on time, making up the slightly late departure, and I deliberately let the other customer in Club Europe disembark first so that I could follow him (just to the security area, not to the city centre). All  very efficient.

  • Gatwick Airport – A320 and A380

    These are what I think are an Emirates A380 to Dubai and an easyJet A320 behind it, a reminder of just what a size difference there is between the two aircraft.

  • Gatwick Airport – Grain Store (Visit 3)

    I’m slowly working through the menu at the Grain Store at Gatwick Airport as access is included with my Priority Pass card. The limit is £15 and on my previous visits I’ve had a breakfast, primarily because I’ve been flying early in the morning and the restaurant only serves breakfasts then…..

    So, this is the first time that I’ve had a later flight from Gatwick South, and so I thought I’d try the restaurant’s Thai crispy squid with a spicy sauce and their sea salt fries. And some sparkling water on the side, which all came to under £14, so within the budget.

    I’m often nervous about ordering squid as it can be overcooked so easily, and it’s not a cheap dish to order. However, the squid here was perfect and melted in the mouth, so it was better than I expected. Appropriately salted chips which were crispy on the exterior and fluffy on the interior went well with the squid, so I thought that it was a cleanly presented and decent quality meal.

    The service was attentive and polite throughout, although I was only in the restaurant for under thirty minutes, which was my deliberate choice rather than me being rushed out. Wagamama next door was full with a queue out of the door, whilst Grain had tens of empty tables, but I’m not sure that many people have really heard of Grain and inevitably just go with the chains.

    Anyway, a perfectly good meal and I’m glad that I popped in. Again.

  • Flights – Malta to London Gatwick South (British Airways) (Third Time)

    This is the return flight on my third, and likely final, visit to Malta in 2019. The flight was full today so the usual A320 was used and the boarding was organised, if not particularly rushed. The Club Europe cabin cabin stretched back eight rows and the Euro Traveller cabin also looked nearly full, so a busy flight.

    No menu card photo on this journey as the crew couldn’t find them. The meal options were though salmon salad, butter chicken with rice & mini naan and some sort of risotto. Nearly everyone in the first few rows went for the chicken and I couldn’t hear if they ran out by the time that they got to the eighth row.

    BA do curries well, and this was no exception, a decent amount of chicken and it was tender and moist. The naan was soft and I liked the mini side salad. The dessert of some kind of strawberry cheesecake was also excellent, and the cheese selection had a really good cheddar as usual. One of the better meals that I’ve had on BA in the Club Europe cabin.

    The crew were friendly, efficient and warm, although there was perhaps a lot more potential for engagement. The problem is that I tend to set the best crews as my benchmark, so sometimes other perfectly competent crews don’t seem quite as good in comparison. However, it was easy to get a second gin and tonic, which is my current drink of the month, and sparkling waters.

    I took similar photos a couple of weeks ago since the aircraft inevitably took the same route, so here’s another of Valletta, the capital of Malta.

    Lots of mountains on the way back, these big hills are the Alps.

    The flight arrived around on time and Gatwick impressed me again, as I was able to leave the airport within six minutes of the aircraft doors opening. This has been happening on a continual basis recently, I’m becoming very impressed at Gatwick.

    Overall, all rather lovely again.

  • British Airways (Gatwick South to Malta) – Third Time

    Back to an A320 for this British Airways flight from Gatwick South to Malta, the third and final (well, for the foreseeable future) of my trips to the islands. This is aircraft G-GATK which was for ten years part of the Wizzair fleet, and before that it was operated by ACES Colombia.

    Boarding was efficient at Gatwick, with customers being called through by order of priority. There was a problem with the number of bags being taken on board and it was a full flight, so the ground staff did ask passengers if they’d put their luggage in the hold. There was a remarkable variety of reasons why customers refused, such as “my medicines are in here”, “my book is in the bag” and my favourite one of them all, “no, I’m here first, get someone else to put their bag in the hold”. The customer said it with a powerful sense of entitlement if nothing else…. I don’t use the overhead lockers, which makes matters easier for me. Boarding was made harder for the crew by the lack of assistance from customers, but I think they’re more than used to it by now.

    There’s an inevitable Groundhog Day feel to this, it’s of course the same menu as I had on the flight last week.

    I’m not particularly keen on the British Airways Full English breakfast, so I didn’t even try to change my option for the sake of having a different photo….. I was, to my knowledge, the only person who went for the meat platter, other passengers went for the cooked breakfast options. It’s not startlingly exciting, but it’s a reliable and comfortable cold option.

    Service was professional and efficient throughout, with customers served from the front to the back of the cabin and the crew were available with top-ups of drinks. The cabin was clean, one of the airline’s inconsistencies, and the disembarkation was speedy. The only slight delay was that we had landed just after an easyJet service, which meant that there was about a 20-minute delay at border control.

  • London Gatwick Airport South – No.1 Lounge

    There are two priority pass options at Gatwick Airport South, one is the Grain Store and the other is No. 1 Lounge, which I hadn’t visited until today. There seemed to be an undue haste from a small number of other visitors to get into the lounge, perhaps with a fear of missing out, and they were merrily barging people out of the way. I’m not entirely that they benefited from their extra 15 seconds of time in the lounge, but I hope that they did.

    The lounge was turning people away who had flights more than three hours after they were trying to enter, although I had pro-actively mentioned I was only staying for an hour (which was true) and the staff member didn’t mention that my flight didn’t meet the three hour rule requirement either.

    Visitors get handed this menu when they enter and they can order one item free of charge as part of the lounge entry. The staff members in the lounge all seemed quite helpful and everything seemed clean and organised. I had arrived too early to try it, but the pear and blue cheese salad seemed interesting. For anyone who wants another meal, then there’s a £4 charge for additional items ordered from the menu.

    I opted for the fish finger wrap, which was presented with a heap of crisps, of which I approved of. The wrap wasn’t exactly large in size, but it tasted fine and the tartare sauce added some taste and texture. It’s basic, but of a perfectly reasonable quality.

    There are also some pastries and muffins available, as well as some cereals and porridge at another counter.

    The coffee was particularly decent, and there were also self-serve sodas and fresh juices available.

    The library area of the lounge, some considerable effort has gone into the design of the interiors. It’s not an enormous lounge, so I can understand the capacity issues, although it was inevitably rather empty at the time of my visit, which was 4am…..

    I’m aware from reviews that there are often capacity restrictions which limit visitors from lounge entry schemes such as Priority Pass. The lounge does guarantee that they’ll let individuals in from such schemes if they pay a £5 reservation fee in advance, something which I’m really not sure is in the spirit of the scheme.

    Comfortable as the lounge was, I’m not sure that I’d pay the standard entrance fee to the lounge, which is £32 in advance or £40 for those paying the walk-up rate. Actually, I definitely wouldn’t pay those sort of sums, but for those who want to binge drink alcohol, that does represent reasonable value for money over other dining options at the airport. Although that brings the lounge all manner of reputational issues that it probably doesn’t need.

  • British Airways (Gatwick South to Malta) – Second Time

    The BA plane having arrived in Malta, this is G-DBCK, which is a former BMI A319 aircraft. I understand that this one might not be in the fleet for much longer.

    The flight load was very light, only 32 passengers across both cabins, meaning I had the row to myself. The seats aren’t the best in the fleet, although it’s inevitably comfortable when there’s no-one in front and no-one else in the row. A light load means customers want to change seat, but a crew member had to stop customers moving about the cabin for take-off on the instruction of the pilot because of the trim.

    The menu for the flight.

    I thought that the crew were meant to go front to back to take food orders, but they seemed a bit erratic in how they took orders. No matter, I got what I wanted, the meat platter which was as I had enjoyed before. Although it was served cold, and I know it’s meant to be cold, but it wasn’t far off being frozen. Those strawberries were rather pleasant, and all told, it was a nice light meal.

    The crew were polite, but they didn’t have the engagement of the crew member I had from Luxembourg the other day. I spent a lot of the flight asleep though so it all seemed to go quickly.

    I moved to the window seat when the pilot mentioned that we were flying over Sicily.

    Back in Malta.

    Disembarking, or deplaning as the Americans call it, via the steps. All on time, this was a comfortable flight. I’m aware it’s January, but it did seem a much lighter flight in terms of customer numbers than I’d have expected.