Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Gatwick Airport

  • 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.

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

    This is the second time I’ve done this flight this month, around a three hour flight from Malta to Gatwick South. Here’s the aircraft, ready and waiting. Some of the highlights that were visible outside during the flight included seeing Malta from the air and also Mount Etna.

    The flight seemed quite light initially, but there was a sudden burst of passengers who filled up most of the front cabin. I’m not sure whether they all came from the lounge at the same time or whether there was a delay at passport control, but it was busier than the flight out the previous Sunday.

    The aircraft hadn’t been very well cleaned though, the cleaners hadn’t taken extraneous items out of seat pockets and there was some litter on the floor. Malta is served by airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet and others, and if British Airways wants to be seen as a better option it does need to sort out this constant cleanliness issue.

    I’ve reused this image from the last flight, since it’s the same menu.

    For some variety I went for the main course of Parmesan, rocket, penne pasta and lemon peppered chicken. The pasta was well seasoned and the mustard seeds added texture and flavour, with the chicken being tender and the peppered lemon coating was surprisingly quite strong. All very pleasant, with the chocolate and cherry torte being rich and luxurious… The Coastal Cheddar was excellent, whilst the Somerset Brie seemed unexceptional, although I prefer harder cheeses.

    The crew were helpful and efficient throughout, not particularly pro-active in offering additional items, but it was easy enough to ask for anything else. The service was though always professional and there was a relaxed feel to proceedings.

    The flight landed just a few minutes later than expected due to heavy headwinds, and the pilot made a few updates during the flight giving information about what could be seen out of the window.

    So another efficient and well managed flight….

     

  • 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.

  • Gatwick Airport – Early Morning

    Gatwick Airport has the advantage that they open security early on in the morning, one of the earliest that I’m aware of in a major UK airport. So, I was able to go through the security process at 02.45 as I’d had enough of exploring the landside area. I’m not sure why more people don’t go through security, as they would at Stansted, as it’s not the best environment landside.

    It’s not surprising, but there weren’t very many of us who had decided to go through to airside at this time of the morning…..

  • Gatwick Airport – Grain Store (Visit 2)

    This was my second visit to the Grain Store at Gatwick Airport, which is part of the Priority Pass scheme. The timing is quite fortunate, as this restaurant opens at 04.00, with the BA lounge not opening until 05.15, so this fills in a useful time slot for when I have an early flight.

    I try to avoid arriving at any restaurant at the exact moment it opens, just in case the staff aren’t quite ready and I have to stand there looking confused and slightly desperate to get in. Fortunately,  this time there were two other customers by the time that I arrived at 04.05, so I didn’t look any more out of place than usual.

    The coffee art wasn’t quite up the standard of last time, but it tasted fine.

    I’m trying to work my way round the menu, so this time I went for the Eggs Benedict. It was brought out after six minutes and it looked well presented and an effort had been made with the garnish. The ham was of a decent quality and the eggs were cooked so that the yolk came gushing out in a satisfying manner. The muffin was a bit over-toasted, but I prefer it like that. The egg white itself had a slightly strange taste that I’m not sure how they’d achieved, but it was more unusual than unpleasant.

    The price of this meal and drink was covered by the Priority Pass scheme, but it seemed unusual for this meal to be priced at £11.50, which is more than the Full English. Even given airport prices, the £11.50 does seem to be at the slightly higher end of the pricing scale and more expensive than what the neighbouring  Jamie’s restaurant charges.

    The service was efficient and polite, if not particularly engaging, with the payment process being prompt and without any undue delays. The dining environment was also clean and comfortable, the open-plan nature of the restaurant suits it well. All in all though, I’m still pleased that this restaurant is part of Priority Pass, it adds a little variety to the whole scheme.

  • Gatwick Airport – Travel Insurance

    I’ve never seen one of these at an airport, the facility to buy travel insurance at a kiosk just before getting on a flight. It’s certainly not a bad idea though……

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

    Here’s Speedbird on the tarmac of Malta airport, looking rather elegant in the morning sun. It was my first time departing from Malta airport and it’s a small, but well managed, operation. Actually, that’s with the exception of when I got to the airport and my flight wasn’t listed on the departures board. Which led to a very quick check of if there were two airports or if the flight had been cancelled. It didn’t appear on the boards for another two hours, by which time I was already in the airport lounge.

    The boarding process was the usual slightly confused little arrangement, where the staff called boarding groups one to three, but not many people seemed to either hear or listen. And those who did listen didn’t seem to understand what the staff member was talking about.

    So the upshot of that arrangement is that the staff member had to start turning people away who tried to board before they should, with this mini walk of shame hardly a great way to treat passengers. Anyway, I was in boarding group one and I wanted to board promptly for a change as I needed to put my bag in the overhead lockers.

    I commented on seat 1C a few days ago on my flight from Gatwick South to Malta, it’s fine other than it’s where the wardrobe once was. So, the aircraft wasn’t designed to have a seat where they’ve now put one, so it’s important for the occupant of seat 1C to be careful to avoid anyone’s bag coming towards them when they board. On this, I fortunately succeeded at keeping my knees from other bags as I was in seated in 1C.

    I’m not a big fan of these front row seats, as my bag has to go in the overhead lockers, and it’s just easy to have it at my feet. The layout of the aircraft means that my bag has to go back three rows, always a challenge to recover at the end of the flight. Fortunately the helpful passenger in the row behind me rescued my bag, and also the bag belonging to the occupant of 1A.

    Here’s a photo of an aircraft door.

    The menus and hot towels were handed out before take-off, although the crew member apologised that they were cold (the towels, not the menus). I liked the sound of all three of the meal choices, and was very pleased with the starter, dessert and cheeses.

    The pre-meal snack and drink. My second alcoholic drink of the year, a gin and tonic. It came with ice and lemon, and it tasted like I expected gin to taste. Unfortunately, I have no special knowledge of gin to even be able to try to explain it.

    The meal, which was roasted chicken with morel mushroom and spring onion casserole with thyme roasted potatoes. The advantage of sitting in seat 1C is that I know that I can get my first choice of meal (unless something really bad has gone wrong with the catering).

    The meal was well presented and all of the elements were at the appropriate temperature. I’m not a fan of chicken skin which isn’t crispy, it just tastes of fat, so I peeled that off. The rest of the chicken was tender and moist, with the sauce having a decent flavour. I’m not that big on mushrooms either, but they weren’t really an important part of the dish. The vegetables were about as good as vegetables get, but the potatoes were moreish.

    The cheddar cheeses was excellent, and the olives, tomatoes and feta cheese added to the whole proceedings. As there was a bowlful of bread rolls left I was able to get a couple of them, with the butter actually having some taste and not the generic rubbish that is served in some places. The dessert was rich, a chocolate and cherry torte which was like a Black Forest Gateau.

    The whole cabin service was efficient and pleasant, with the cabin crew being pro-active in offering extra drinks. They were so pro-active with me they asked if I wanted a second champagne and I hadn’t had a first, but it seemed rude to decline at least one glass. BA have switched from serving champagne in mini bottles to using full size bottles and it was Champagne de Castelnau (I didn’t know this from just the taste obviously, it’s printed on the menu).

    The flight apparently arrived in a few minutes late, although I only know this because the pilot explained that there were strong headwinds which slowed down progress. There was also a fair amount of turbulence towards the beginning of the flight, but fortunately the cabin crew had already got to row two and so I had my drink.

    Overall, I felt that this was a pretty strong performance from BA given their historic achievement of inconsistency. The crew member was saying that she was called in and hadn’t expected to be working today, but she seemed on top of the service. All in all, rather lovely.

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

    The British Airways aircraft at Malta Airport having just arrived in the morning sun.

    But, back to the start of the flight. The flight boarded early and the new group system was being enforced by the staff member at the desk, she sent someone back to the seating area who was none too pleased at that. But, if you’re going to have a group boarding system, it does need enforcing.

    The flight was around 70% full and everyone had boarded about 15 minutes before the expected take-off. There was then a delay when something went wrong with the aircraft that an engineer checked to examine, but that only took a few minutes extra.

    I was seated in 1A, so this was my view for the flight. As I understand seats 1A and 1C (there isn’t a 1B) have been created from where the wardrobe used to be. And as a reminder of that, a customer asked to put their coat up, a service which can no longer be offered. Seat 1C isn’t a great seat, as it’s exposed when boarded, so anyone sitting there is likely to get their knees banged by customers boarding the aircraft.

    The menu card.

    I’m not usually a tea drinker, but the peppermint tea seemed refreshing given the early morning start.

    The breakfast, which was perfect for my needs and is much better in my view than the cooked full English breakfast option they offer. Although, more people went for the cooked full English than for the plate of cured meats and cheeses, so it still seems a popular option.

    I looked out of the window and thought that the clouds looked like mountains. There was a reason for this, these are mountains poking up through the clouds.

    My first sight of Malta.

    The service on the flight was pro-active, indeed on the higher end of my BA experiences. The meal service was efficient and I got my first choice of food, although that was rather inevitable sitting in Row 1 as unlike long-haul, they just go straight to back in Club Europe.

    All in all, a rather lovely flight.

  • Gatwick Airport – Grain Store

    I think I’ll be here quite a few times in 2019, not for any other reason but this restaurant is included in the Priority Pass scheme. More common in the United States, this is ideal for people who have unlimited access cards, as it means Priority Pass will pay for the first £15 of any bill for cardholders. So, I might as well take advantage when at Gatwick Airport.

    Nice and comfortable surroundings, not very busy at 04:30 in the morning, although that’s to be expected. Most people tend to be in a hotel, rather than faffing around the airport during the early hours of the morning (and the late hours of the night). All clean and well presented, with quite an airy and open design.

    The bar area.

    The latte, well presented with some coffee art on top, flavour was fine and served at the appropriate hot temperature.

    I don’t usually do full English breakfasts, but decided to use this as a benchmark to judge the restaurant. I opted out of the mushrooms and they pro-actively offered me more tomato or more beans, so I went with the tomato. The presentation was quite clean, so it looked a reasonably well put together meal.

    The sausages were adequate, a decent depth of flavour, but they had a slightly watery texture. The bacon was streaky and this was fine for a couple of the rashers, but one was heavily under-cooked for my taste. I spent my usual couple of minutes cutting the fat off. The eggs weren’t good, the white had a strangely firm texture and was devoid of any taste, which the yolk was only just runny, so it was a little over-cooked. The tomatoes and baked beans were fine, there’s not a great deal that can go wrong there. For this to be described as a full English there probably needs to be another ingredient, whether that’s black pudding, hash browns or something else to add a little extra to the proceedings.

    The service was efficient and polite, with my Priority Pass payment method going through without any difficulties. They seem geared up to the whole Priority Pass process, as there’s a large sign at the entrance and some other customers seemed to be paying in the same way. I hope that this idea catches on in the UK, it’s a handy back-up for when the main Priority Pass lounges get too full.