Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Gatwick Airport

  • 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….

  • Gatwick Airport – Signage

    What slightly humoured me wasn’t that something had gone technically wrong with this screen but that there were numerous passengers trying to stand sideways in an attempt to read it….. I need to get out more. Or perhaps stay in more…

  • Flights – Gatwick South to Naples (British Airways)

    This is G-GATM, the British Airways Airbus A320-200 aircraft which was flying from London Gatwick to Naples. Interestingly (well I think), this aircraft initially belonged to ACES Colombia and was operated by them in South America. They went bust in early 2004, just a year after they acquired the aircraft, and Wizz Air took it on as part of their initial fleet of planes. It remained in the Wizz Air fleet until December 2014 and it was repainted and came into use by British Airways in January 2015 as part of their new second-hand fleet to be used at Gatwick on short-haul operations.

    The boarding gate was spacious with plenty of seating and the screens were clear. The boarding process worked well and customers queued where BA wanted them to.

    On board, the flight was relatively full, although the seat next to me was left unfilled. These are exit row seats so they were spacious and the crew member reminded occupants of their responsibilities in the event of any incidents during the flight.

    There was a queue of aircraft waiting to take off, including easyJet and BA planes.

    Another BA aircraft joining us in the queue for take-off, which didn’t seem to take an overly long amount of time. Our flight ultimately actually arrived a few minutes early into Naples and it was a smooth journey with no turbulence of note.

    These look like clouds at first sight, but it’s the Alps. The captain made an announcement telling customers on the right hand side of the aircraft to look out, and as luck would have it, that was where I was sitting.

    Shortly before landing.

    Naples Airport is one of those where customers are shuttled to the terminal by bus transfer. There were two buses which left promptly and weren’t over-filled. I was slightly concerned when I saw that there were literally hundreds of people at the immigration desks, so I was anticipating a long wait. Fortunately those with passports were despatched to automated kiosks and so my wait transpired to be under three minutes from entering the terminal to leaving it.

    Overall, another smooth and successful journey with British Airways, who seem to me to be delivering some consistently impressive flights. The flight cost around £32 as a single fare in what is a crowded market as Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet all operate to Naples, along with numerous other international carriers.

  • Gatwick Airport – No.1 Lounge (South Terminal)

    I’ve written about the No. 1 Lounge at Gatwick before, but this was my second visit and I remain quite impressed by its offerings.

    The welcome from the staff member was friendly and professional, and I was offered the same menu as I had been given on my visit in early February (by same menu I mean that the contents were the same, it wasn’t the exact menu I had before). I went for the fish finger wrap, a basic item which isn’t going to overly excite in terms of the portion size or its presentation, but it’s a handy snack. I still wonder though for someone paying full price to enter the lounge in the morning whether they’d be entirely satisfied with the one item they can order.

    The main seating area in the lounge and there are power points below the seats which proved useful.

    In addition to the single item from the cooked menu that’s available, there’s also a variety of other food to choose from and this is unlimited. The mini muffins and pastries are decent quality ones, with a selection of fruits and yoghurt. There were a couple of different cheeses available, but it was the cheddar cheese which pleased me greatly, a rich and mature flavour.

    Everything in the lounge was clean and organised, although since I was the second person in, I’d have been surprised if it was all in a mess. The staff were visible and helpful, keeping the lounge clean and tidy, and I noted they were willing to help with a customer’s complex food allergens question. I was in the lounge for around 40 minutes before I decided to move on, but it’s a relaxing location in the morning to stay for longer.

  • 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.

  • 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.