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Tag: Gatwick Airport

Wizz Air (Wrocław to Gatwick Airport)

And another Wizz Air flight, this time from Wrocław to Gatwick Airport once again. It’s a handy flight time this as it’s in the early afternoon, making it much easier to get back to Norwich without having to rush for trains.

There’s my flight, the 14:45 to Gatwick Airport South. This is a spacious and well organised airport, with the security process only taking a few minutes.

A quick visit to the lounge. They have a decent choice of craft beer, a rather good Greek salad and lots of meat products.

I didn’t experience any issues with my new passport, so that’s one less burden to have to deal with when arriving or departing from a Polish airport. They haven’t introduced the new entry and exit system yet, but I don’t think it’s long away from introduction and the kiosks are already set-up and just roped off.

The boarding process was efficient and easy, another smooth Wizz Air operation here, although we had a wait of around fifteen minutes on the air bridge.

We then had a nice wait in the rain. The aircraft was G-WUKV, it’s the third time that I’ve flown on this plane in case anyone wanted to know that.

The seating Gods had allocated me a window seat, so that was a positive for the journey, giving me a lovely view of the now rainy Wrocław. The flight was only around 75% full which meant that passengers could move themselves around a bit, so I probably wouldn’t have been stuck on a middle seat.

Some clouds. This was taken near Gatwick Airport, but we were caught on yet another series of loops as we waited for our landing slot. The flight was quiet and the crew members were efficient and polite, the whole arrangement as once again well managed. There was no queue at the border control at Gatwick Airport, so I was able to get straight through the kiosks there.

The flight cost £8.99 which is quite clearly excellent value, with the aircraft landing on time and there were no eventful moments during the flight. I had a quick nap during the two hour flight and I’ve again been surprised and delighted by Wizz Air.

October 22, 2025
Wizz Air (Wrocław to Gatwick Airport)

Wrocław is the city of these little gnomes and this is the one welcoming passengers to the airport.

I didn’t love it a few days ago, but I feel we’re friends again now.

My 14:55 flight looked like that it would be on time. The security process was fast and efficient, with the airport feeling clean and organised. But, it’s Poland, I can’t remember it not being like that.

A quick visit to the airport lounge. I was very pleased with the Greek salad arrangement, the range of beers and the peaceful nature of the place.

Safely at the gate.

The queue took longer than I had anticipated, which wasn’t great as the sun was bounding into the airport from the windows, so I was too hot. But, I didn’t complain other than to about 18 friends on WhatsApp.

A little unusually for Wizz Air, they were boarding via the airbridge only. The seating Gods had been favourable yet again, giving me a window seat. The aircraft was G-XLRB and I don’t think I’ve been on that aircraft before, although it’s only a few weeks old and so that isn’t a surprise.

It’s not very visible, but that’s London in the background. The crew were friendly and everything, yet again, went as expected. There were frequent announcements from the pilot about the delay and the whole arrangement felt relaxed.

We’d been delayed before taking off because of a limited number of slots at Gatwick Airport and there was also some faffing about in a holding cycle before landing.

And back into Gatwick airport. We were around one hour late, but I had a big gap before my train home, so all was well. This is the last flight for a few weeks, I coped admirably I thought….

September 14, 2025
Wizz Air (Faro to London Gatwick South)

I had the choice of paying about £4 for a convenient bus service from the hotel to the airport or traipsing two miles along lanes. Anyway, here we are.

The view over to Faro on my walk. It was far too hot, but since it was about 08:00 in the morning, it wasn’t yet at its hottest.

Safely at the delights of Faro Airport.

The airport felt busy, with more non-Schengen flights than Schengen, which is unusual for a European airport. It seems though that there are more passengers to the UK and Ireland than every other destination added together, presenting a challenge when you have to have two segregated areas of the airport.

Ryanair has recently complained to the Portuguese Government about border control delays at Faro, Lisbon and Porto, with long delays now being commonplace. As mentioned, Faro has a lot of flights to the UK and this is clearly placing a burden on the airport authorities and the volume of passengers was high. It took me 38 minutes to get from the outside of the terminal to airside and through border control, which is longer than I’d normally expect but it doesn’t feel at all unreasonable although others have waited much longer recently. As I’m ever cautious, I had allowed an extra hour in case of delay, but this must be traumatic for anyone who is late for their flight. You can pay for premium security, but I’m not sure if that follows through to border control which is where the longer wait it.

I’ve been fortunate over the last year with my Priority Pass card, I’ve never been refused or had to wait more than a few minutes, but I did suspect I’d struggle today. However, I timed it well to ensure that I could charge devices and have a quick breakfast in the lounge. The pasteis de nata was delicious, the coffee was rich, there were endless crisps and they had a small bottle of awful Portuguese beer, so I was happy.

At the gate and there’s an odd glass wall here which I assume is a throwback to a previous airport set-up, but it has created something of a pinch-point now. There wasn’t much seating downstairs, but there was a fair amount tucked away upstairs.

I wasn’t surprised that we needed to get on buses to the aircraft, nearly every departure seemed to be a bus gate.

There are several airlines lined up in the background, with at least five of them being back to the UK.

The boarding process, and aircraft G-WUND is the same one that took me out to Faro a couple of days ago.

As the seating Gods had given me a window seat, I thought I’d take a photo of the views over southern Portugal.

Flying over northern Spain.

As I had taken photos of other bits of coastline, here’s the UK and it was much cloudier which pleased me. I’ve had enough of the heat to last me the rest of the year.

There’s London in the background with all of its grey glory and I accept that I’m not likely to win any photographic competitions with this effort. The flight was, yet again, comfortable and organised, with everything being clean and tidy. The crew were friendly, the pilots made clear announcements and the service was just efficient. And no-one applauded when the aircraft landed, so there’s another win.

Back at Gatwick Airport and the security process was faultless with no queue at all, although I’ve rarely had any problems at Gatwick in the past. All told, a very lovely flight and another bargain for £8.99.

July 21, 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
Evening Meal in Warsaw, Breakfast in Rome and Lunch in Guildford (Wizz Air Multipass)

Firstly, I didn’t quite intend this odd way of getting back to the UK, but I had gone to Warsaw for a few days and needed to get back for something. I’ve been using my relatively new Wizz Air Multipass, which I’ll post an update about soon as I’m rather pleased with it, and the only way of getting back was via Rome.

So, I started yesterday evening from Warsaw’s central railway station.

There’s the flight at 20:40.

Always a delight to be in the Preludium lounge, which is the Schengen lounge so it’s one I’ve only been in a couple of times over the years (and I think one of those was because of Covid and they only opened a couple of the lounges). Thanks to Priority Pass for this.

Boarding.

I had been randomly given an aisle seat, but a cabin crew member came over to me and said they were looking for an English speaker to sit by the emergency exit door. It’s always odd this, a Hungarian airline flying from Poland to Italy, but I was an ideal choice I decided. I certainly had enough space and the flight was less than half full.

Safely into Rome and there was a little collection of artefacts to look at.

I was genuinely impressed at Rome Fiumicino airport, it’s been well designed, it’s spacious, modern and functional. I have been to Rome before, but this reminded me that I haven’t been in several years and I must go back.

I found a seating area and I thought it was interesting that the police checked the passports of most people in the seating area. The airport says that only those with tickets can stay overnight, so perhaps this is their way of checking someone isn’t there rather too frequently. The police were very polite and the time passed quickly.

I went through security at 03:00 and it remained quiet in the non-Schengen zone for some time after that.

A rhino.

There are a range of times for the Plaza Premium Lounge and most suggested that it opened at 05:00. I meandered nearby so I knew where to go, but it seemed open at 04:40 and I asked about the opening time and the friendly staff member said I could come in immediately. Thanks once again Priority Pass.

I didn’t have any of them, but the hot food options.

Just delightful. I’ll write a fuller report of this lounge, but this is very much the sort of breakfast I was hoping for.

And then pastries came out, and they were delicious.

And a double espresso to keep me awake. Rich and decadent. With several meringues (I kept getting more) to provide the sugar boost.

Second flight and I was fortunate to have an aisle seat again, with no-one in the middle seat.

Into Gatwick Airport.

A quick coffee stop in Redhill.

And then Wetherspoons in Guildford.

All really rather lovely, but longer reports to follow for my two loyal blog readers.

January 20, 2025
British Airways – Future of Gatwick

It’s not looking great for London Gatwick Airport, my flight from there to Faro in March 2021 with British Airways has been switched to London Heathrow. Although this is quite handy as BA have let me switch to a better timed return for no extra charge, it’s a little sad to think that there are no plans for the South Terminal to re-open in the near future. Seems a long time ago since I was in the South Terminal ready to fly to Malta, but it was only March 2020.

September 17, 2020
British Airways (Gatwick South to Malta) – Fourth Time

And my fourth visit to the delightful island of Malta….

Earlier on in the day the flight was expected to be delayed by around ninety minutes due to adverse weather conditions, but there was then a change in aircraft and the delay became relatively minor. Not that this was a problem, we had arrived at Gatwick early, so we had plenty of time in the BA lounge. The gate was called and it was once again the set of gates at the end of the long corridor, a little bit of a walk from the main terminal. The boarding process was though very well managed, with all the customers boarded by group and this was carefully enforced. There are enough seats in the area as well for customers to wait before boarding.

Parked up at Gatwick, the aircraft G-EUUT, which has been operated by BA since 2007, which I was on when I returned from Palma to Gatwick South in November last year. The aircraft that I should have been on today, before the aircraft change this afternoon, was the one which went tech last year en route to Palma…..

I had an exit row aisle seat and Liam had the middle seat, although the window seat wasn’t used so we had the row of three emergency exit row seats between us. The flight was uneventful, which is a useful thing for a flight to be, with the buy on board seeming to be quite popular on this evening’s flight. Then there was just the matter of getting through border control at Malta airport and then the checks for the Coronavirus where everyone was corralled through a checkpoint….

The flight wasn’t unreasonably priced, costing £44 for a single journey, which I reduced by using Avios. The flight, which took just under three hours, was around 80% full, which meant it wasn’t sufficiently busy to cause problems with space in the overhead lockers.

February 29, 2020
Flights – Palma Mallorca to Gatwick South (British Airways)

My flight to Palma last week didn’t go entirely smoothly, but I’m impressed that British Airways have already agreed to pay the EU261 compensation on this, which is very efficient of them. The aircraft for this flight was the Airbus A320 G-EUUT, an aircraft British Airways have had since it was new in 2007 (although it now has 180 seats, which is 30 more seats since it was first brought into use, which shows how the aircraft has been densified).

The queue to board, all orderly. I liked Palma Airport, it’s spacious and there are plenty of places to eat, to sit and to wait. I suspect that it is much busier during the summer months and customers then might find it slightly less spacious, but the terminal all seemed comfortable and modern.

This seems to be the standard out-station way of splitting the groups, although the group numbers are still called consecutively. There didn’t seem to be any real delays in boarding, but British Airways have started to get people to wait on the airbridge in a style which is more Ryanair and easyJet. Apparently this speeds up boarding, but I can’t imagine that it’s by much.

I shifted from the window exit row seat to the aisle exit row seat the day before the flight, I prefer aisle seats as I like being able to get out without disturbing anyone. Not that I got up during the flight, but it’s nice to have the option. I’ve had a little run, which has run its course, of booking window seats though as the views are sometimes worth it. Incidentally, the crew were very tolerant of the number of people who had bags under the seat in exit rows, despite about eight announcements not to do this. Also, I had no-one next to me, so it felt all very spacious.

My bag, sitting quietly in the corner, in my full view at all times. I can’t imagine anyone would want to steal it, but I like it being visible. I did note the number of customers who put their bag in the lockers and then walked to their seat, often what seemed another twenty rows back. This then meant that some customers boarding a little later couldn’t find locker space to near their seat, so had to walk back past their seats to stow their bags. That’s fine when boarding, but it’s more of a challenge going against the flow when disembarking.

The crew seemed competent and professional, with the pilot making appropriate announcements throughout the flight. The flight landed a few minutes early and I was particularly pleased that I was able to leave the airport terminal within ten minutes of the aircraft doors opening. All told, all very lovely, and the cost of the flight was around £25 each way.

November 15, 2019
Norwich to Gatwick Airport by Overnight Train

The train from Norwich to London Liverpool Street wasn’t very busy, around a handful of passengers in each carriage. Although, slightly irritatingly, I had to change carriage after getting all comfortable as I discovered the power didn’t work in the one that I had chosen. The conductor was a friendly and affable man, with the train being spotlessly clean since the cleaners spent around thirty minutes on it, cleaning it both inside and out.

Safely at London Liverpool Street, arriving on time. I noticed customers in two carriages couldn’t get out, an unfortunate side effect of these slam shut doors. I, being ever helpful, opened one door when walking by, whilst the others managed to unfree themselves from their trap.

Although I had a ticket to use public transport from London Liverpool Street to London Blackfriars, the underground was just shutting down and the times suggested by GWR didn’t seem to actually correspond to any underground trains. So, since I like walking, I went for the option of the 25-minute walk across the city.

I’ve never seen the above church, which is St Ethelburga’s at Bishopgate, near to Liverpool Street station, which just goes to show how unobservant that I can be… It’s one of the few surviving medieval churches in the city centre and there were once two shops at the front of the building, but these have since been removed. It was also one of the churches which allowed divorcees to remarry, which wasn’t quite within the rules of the time. Although the building has mostly survived, even through the London Blitz, it didn’t entirely make it through an IRA bomb placed outside in 1993, which destroyed 70% of the building.

The Bank of England.

St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Safely at Blackfriars station, where I promptly went up the wrong escalator and reached the platform for trains to Luton Airport. Hopefully no-one noticed me going up one escalator and then straight back down the one next to it.

This was awkward, I’d reached the correct platform, which was Platform 1, and noticed there was a train ready and waiting to depart to Three Bridges. This is also the train to Gatwick Airport and the passenger in front of me ran for the train, where as I thought I’d have a little meander around as I was hardly in a rush. And then I heard the station staff call out that they’d hold the train for me, so I do a slightly fast walk to get a train that I didn’t really need to get.

I thought I looked quite smooth and nonplussed in walking towards the train, although I might have actually rushed and been less lackadaisical if it was a train I was actually trying to get.

On board the Thameslink service from London Blackfriars to Gatwick Airport.

The train arrived on time at Gatwick Airport.

Inside the terminal, one of the few times that the ticket machines are so underused. Incidentally, my railway ticket failed to open the barriers and I noted that Gatwick Airport had employed a member of barrier staff who didn’t burden himself in using his customer service skills. But, since he was standing there at 01:00 in the morning, perhaps it’s not entirely fair to expect him to be anything other than fed up.

And here we are at Gatwick Airport arrivals at South Terminal, arriving around 30 minutes earlier than expected as I accidentally caught a train I hadn’t intended to get at London Blackfriars. The ticket cost just over £20, which I think is reasonable given the distance travelled and the comfort provided. It just now means I have to faff about for my flight, but I like the adventure really….

November 7, 2019
Flights – Naples to Gatwick South (British Airways)

This is the last British Airways flight of the day from Naples to Gatwick Airport, which had only a light load with around 50% of seats taken. The aircraft was an A320, flight registration G-GATN, with this being another purchase by BA in 2015 to bolster their Gatwick fleet. The aircraft had previously belonged to TAM Airlines, a Brazilian airline, for just over a decade.

The boarding arrangements were a little ridiculous, as although customers were called through by their group number this just meant that they got to stand outside for longer waiting for the bus to the aircraft. The bus was over-filled so it managed to be an uncomfortable journey for many customers, although I had fortunately found myself a seat for the brief transfer. Priority customers were mainly then on the wrong side of the bus when it disembarked, which I noted upset a couple of people.

I had an emergency exit row seat and had all three of the seats to myself, which was marvellous. The crew were friendly and a little informal for British Airways, but that’s something I think works, airlines can be too serious otherwise. I couldn’t see clearly into the Club Europe cabin, but it looked as though the eight rows were occupied by the grand total of one customer.

The crew took orders for food and drink via their tablet and hand-delivered them, rather than traipsing the trolley through the cabin. I liked this service style as it meant that there was less disturbance, and it wasn’t a slow process as not many customers purchased anything. The aircraft cabin remained dark for the flight so that customers could sleep, indeed it was so dark that I struggled slightly to find my seat again after visiting the washroom.

The flight arrived into Gatwick a little early and the pilot made the appropriate announcements in what felt like a friendly tone. I’ll mark this down as yet another smooth and comfortable flight from British Airways, it’s making it hard for me to be tempted back to Wizz Air and Ryanair….

May 17, 2019