Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Luton Airport

Wizz Air (Katowice to London Luton)

[Apologies I published this early if anyone saw a half finished post!]

I was connecting at Katowice Airport to fly to London Luton, although there was no airside connection available. I also discovered that the security area at Terminal A wasn’t open for thirty more minutes, so the process was hardly rushed.

Mine was the 19:45 flight and I had the advantage of popping to the airport lounge, but I wrote about that separately.

The boarding process was all efficient, but there was a particular focus on checking bag sizes on this flight. The lady was walking down the queue and she spoke to me briefly before telling me that my bag was fine, but a fair few were being stopped and charged extra money. One guy was charged four times for his family, so around £320, so it was a profitable exercise for Wizz Air. Although, the rules are very clear, so the customers took a risk.

This lady was charged £80, she might have been a little unlucky. It’s fair to say that she wasn’t very pleased and she asked a couple of us whether we’d been charged as well.

The aircraft is 9H-WAD, yet another one that I haven’t been on before and this has been part of the Wizz Air fleet since 2022.

Everything was smooth and well managed yet again, although the seating Gods had given me a middle seat which wasn’t ideal. However, the flight was only two hours so it’s hardly traumatic. The flight cost the usual £8.99 with my Multipass and the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly and everything worked as it should.

We landed into London Luton on time and I had a hotel just a short walk away from the airport, which is always something that I look forward to. This marked the end of my one week stay in Poland, Romania and Germany, another successful trip that was made a lot easier with my cheap Wizz Air flights.

April 17, 2026
Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to London Luton)

I’ve already mentioned that there was a bit of a delay getting to the Etiuda lounge, but it was peaceful and calm when I got here.

The food selection which was all looking nicely presented and appetising.

Delicious.

With all my devices charged and having had enough food and drink, I departed for the gate. The bad news is that it was a bus gate.

The good news was that I was nearly the first to board the second bus to the aircraft, which meant I had some space to stand in the corner. Little victories and all that.

There was a group of quite loud British people who were excitedly telling each other what marvellous drugs they’d taken in Poland and they were going to get drunk on the plane. More of that soon.

Anyway, the aircraft was 9H-WNY and I haven’t been on it before, but it’s yet another new aircraft having only been delivered to Wizz Air in 2025. Their fleet is certainly mostly new and shiny….

The flight was smooth and, yet again, free of any issues. The seating Gods gave me a middle seat, but the people either side were both quiet and didn’t fidget about, so it was a smooth flight.

Back to the lads who claimed that they were going to get drunk on board…. They didn’t expect the Polish crew to reject their demands. Impeccably handled by the crew, the whole arrangement felt safe, well managed and professional.

And back at Luton Airport….. Wooo. We were actually slightly early and there were minimal delays at the border, which meant that I was rather early for my train.

The flight cost £8.99 and Wizz Air didn’t let me down here. A clean aircraft, efficient boarding, a friendly crew and everything felt well managed.

April 1, 2026
Wizz Air (London Luton to Wrocław)

Safely at Luton Airport nice and early, as usual. The security process was smooth and efficient, taking less than five minutes from when I scanned my boarding card.

I popped into Big Smoke with my Priority Pass card and had the usual delicious chicken tenders and a slightly less delicious alcohol free Stella. The service is always friendly and efficient here, with plenty of power points to ensure I didn’t have to stress about that.

And then into Nolito for a healthy snack with pineapple juice. It’s quite pricey and I’m not sure that the quality here quite justified the price, but as it was free, I decided that I’d cope.

By then, it was getting nearer the time when boarding started, with my flight being the penultimate out of the airport that day. I rather like days such as this with an evening flight, I get a chance to get on top of everything work wise and nothing feels rushed.

The boarding process was smooth, well managed and everything was clear. The staff here were friendly and personable, it was all efficient and organised.

And then the boarding, I was towards the back of the aircraft and boarded via the rear doors.

The aircraft was HA-LGM, which is yet another one that I haven’t been on before. It was newly delivered to the airline in July 2024 and inside everything was clean and in a decent state of repair.

I have little to report about the flight, as once again, it was operated by Wizz Air with professionalism and efficiency. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat with no-one next to me, the announcements were clear, the crew were friendly and it was all peaceful and organised. We landed on time and the pilots kept us informed of what was going on.

The one negative, which wasn’t the fault of the airline, is that they had expected steps to be brought to the back of the aircraft in Wrocław, but they instead used a jet bridge. That meant it took a bit longer for me to disembark with a wait of nearly fifteen minutes on board. This isn’t a problem, but there’s one bus an hour that departs the airport at night and I didn’t really want to miss it as it was already late enough.

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the advantages of flying on Wizz Air as a passenger with a British passport is that there aren’t generally many of us (and that is obviously a generalisation). Indeed, despite disembarking almost last, there were only two people ahead of me in the queue at border control. This meant that I was able to get through the border quicker than most holders of EU passports, a rare treat, although I’d still quite like an EU passport once again…

Anyway, the efficiency here meant that I was outside the airport with fifteen minutes to spare before the night bus turned up. Another rather lovely flight and a bargain for just £8.99. And it’s lovely to be back in Poland.

March 25, 2026
Wizz Air (London Luton to Timișoara)

There’s my friend Liam departing after kindly dropping me off at Luton Airport and it’s always a delight being back here. Well, it isn’t, but travel is about being positive.

I decided to just stay at the airport overnight, it’s not worth the faffing about leaving the hotel early to get here. And, it’s a more thrifty option. Here’s the airside area shortly after it opened.

My usual visit to Big Smoke with my Priority Pass card and it’s not often that I’m here early enough for the breakfast menu. The £18 allowance doesn’t allow a huge amount of decadence here with prices ever rising.

The poached eggs on avocado with sourdough bread served alongside a pineapple juice was a suitable breakfast for 04:00. It’s half-term this week and the airport was very busy, with Big Smoke being at capacity for much of the time that I was there.

Orange juice, latte and granola at Nolito, where I merrily waited until I got an alert on my phone with the gate number.

Coffee acquired. I’m not sure why the Wizz Air app mentioned the gate number before it was announced, as it led to several customers arriving to see no gate information and then asking staff members for help. It’s handy to get extra time to arrive at the gate though.

With the gate now announced I managed to be the first to queue up, with boarding commencing nearly immediately. This was one of the flights where Wizz Air had mentioned that there might be €100 in Wizz Air credits for volunteering not to fly. I have little interest in this, it would deny me getting any UK261 compensation if they were planning to refuse me.

There’s the aircraft positively glimmering in the morning sun.

The turnaround on these flights is something to behold, we were boarding within fifteen minutes of these passengers disembarking.

Boarding the aircraft, which was registration HA-LWQ, an Airbus A320 which Wizz Air have had in their fleet since 2012 and that I don’t think I’ve been on before.

This is one of the older aircraft in the fleet and these are the old fashioned seats that I haven’t seen in some time. I was pleased that the seating Gods had allocated me an aisle seat as the flight was just about full.

The aircraft was clean, but it felt a little rickety in places, as is perhaps evident with those yellow pieces of tape indicating the damaged overhead lockers. As for the flight, it all seemed well managed, although I was asleep for most of it so all manner of havoc could have been happening and I wouldn’t have known. I hope that I didn’t miss out on any drama though….

And safely at Timișoara Airport, a little earlier than expected. It took only around twenty minutes to get through border control, there were few British people on board and they delayed matters slightly because of the EES.

February 16, 2026
Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin Airport to London Luton)

I decided that it wasn’t worth leaving the airport as my inbound flight from Madeira reached Warsaw at around 22:45 and my outbound flight to London Luton airport left at 06:00. I would have only reached a city centre hotel by 00:00 and then had to leave it at 03:00, which felt a little wasteful.

There was an hour left in the landside McDonalds before it closed, so I used that opportunity to get a little snack and charge my devices up. Although, it transpired that there were numerous power outlets dotted around the landside area of the terminal.

Very Christmassy.

It was all a bit decadent for me, but they’d certainly made an effort with their Christmas decorations.

I had a little meander around the airport to pass the time, watching an Irish passenger having an argument with the armed airport police after they told him not to leave his bag unattended. They won that argument with their line “would you like to discuss this in an interview room?” in perfect English, which I felt was suitably friendly and he backed down.

I bought these from the shop as breakfast as the lounge didn’t open until 05:00 and it’s the other end of the airport from my gate, so I didn’t want to risk it.

I was one of the first people through to the airside area.

Who needs sleep when you can explore a mostly closed airside terminal?

I found a seat with a power outlet and made a determined effort not to fall asleep and miss my flight. There were clear announcements from the gate staff and the boarding process was once again clearly signed and operated efficiently.

The aircraft was around a five minute bus journey from the terminal, it wasn’t the most pleasant of transfers given how many people they’d shoved on the bus. It felt a little endless and I’m sure we went via the city centre.

It was aircraft registration 9H-WNW, another new plane for me. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat and I decided that I would now have a little nap on the flight home. Everything went to plan with the flight, with helpful crew, clear updates from the pilots and the aircraft was clean and tidy.

With that, it was a walk to Luton Airport Parkway railway station, the one that I’ve decided is the worst run in the country, before getting a train to St. Alban’s, confusing the gateline staff, then returning to Norwich via London, Cambridge and Ely. All really rather lovely and that was the end of my travels for the year…..

December 24, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin Airport)

Another day, another trip by train to the airport. I went from Norwich via Cambridge due to work being completed on the Norwich to Ipswich line, with a change at King’s Cross railway station. Surprisingly, the first section of the journey wasn’t that busy, despite it being on a two carriage train that can be really quite packed.

I picked up my free Greggs sausage roll and then boarded the Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway.

At Big Smoke, the chicken tenders and freshly squeezed orange juice were a beautifully paired meal. Who needs anything more decadent than this? This is always a handy restaurant as it’s included with Priority Pass and they have plenty of power outlets to charge devices.

Mine was the 19:35 flight to Warsaw, all looking on time. It’s not a bad timed flight, it gets into Warsaw at around 22:30 their time, which is fine as long as I get out of there by the time the last train leaves at 23:45.

A pint of Menabrea and some olives at Nolito.

Some bloody awful non alcoholic Heineken alongside some odd chicken thing at My Lounge. Nice teas though, alongside the usual dirty cutlery. I’ve noticed they’ve had a few negative reviews about the cutlery, it feels odd that they haven’t made any effort to fix this.

Boarding was announced early and then they were swiftly dealing with passengers at the gate. As usual, it was clear where non-priority passengers such as myself needed to go, I like clarity.

Boarding and the seating Gods had given me a middle seat which is never ideal, but wasn’t too problematic on this flight. The aircraft was 9H-WDX, an aircraft that I have been on before when doing this journey the other way around.

The flight was very busy with nearly no free seats. I will write the same as ever about the flight, which is that the crew were friendly, the service was efficient and the pilots made clear and appropriate announcements.

There wasn’t much of a wait at border control at Warsaw airport, so I made good time and was able to get a train to the city centre. It was then just a ten minute walk to the Novotel hotel where I was spending the night, which is one of my favourite accommodation options in Europe.

I had only decided a couple of days before what I’d be doing this week and I ended up on a route that was perhaps not entirely well thought through, but there was adventure and so that’s sufficient to keep me functioning.

December 17, 2025
Wizz Air (Venice Marco Polo to London Luton)

After a comfortable enough lounge visit, I meandered to the gate to take me back to London Luton. I do this on a regular basis, but I have to credit Wizz Air with one of the most efficient boarding processes that I’ve seen, it’s always clear where to stand which is something that other airlines seem unable to deliver.

Just a little pause though as we were waiting for the bus to take us to our aircraft. This is the British Airways A319 aircraft G-EUPJ which is decorated in the old BEA (British European Airways) livery. It’s perhaps one of the most beautiful looking liveries I’ve seen, a marvellous idea of BA to use this piece of history.

I was on board the rather more modern Wizz Air branded aircraft, registration 9H-WDM. We arrived there on a bus to add a little extra tension to the whole arrangement.

The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat near the centre of the aircraft and I had pledged not to swap seats after the debacle of getting to Venice and missing out on a goodie bag…..

Views of Venice over the water are visible from the airport.

Anyway, I board and I’m immediately asked by a passenger if I’d swap my seat to let an elderly couple sit together. After checking there were no goodie bags in the seat back, I agreed, although I would prefer that people book a seat if they really want to sit next to each other to avoid all this faffing about.

Incidentally, this reminds me of a Wizz Air flight recently, and I’ve forgotten which one, where a couple asked a lady in the window seat if she’d move so the husband could sit with his wife and child. The husband said that he was in seat 15B which was “near the window”. That’s one of the more arrogant statements that I’ve heard, putting emotional pressure to get a lady to move from her window seat to a middle seat. For avoidance of any doubt, I would have absolutely refused.

Safely back at Luton Airport. The flight was peaceful, I didn’t miss out on any goodie bags and the service was efficient as ever.

And the ever exciting 20 minute walk to Luton Airport Parkway, a railway station which amuses me as perhaps the most unhappy with the new station manager that I’m aware of, the staff appear to be in permanent uproar there for reasons unknown. Anyway, the flight was £8.99 and another bargain from my perspective.

December 17, 2025
Wizz Air (Bucharest Henri Coandăto to London Luton)

After a peaceful night at the Ibis Styles Bucharest Airport, I decided to walk to the airport which is about a fifteen minute walk. Not all of the pavement was like this shall we say, but it was an easy walk and for those without baggage it’s not worth using a shuttle. Although I might not be the best touchpoint on this as I think that anything involving under one hour of walking isn’t worth getting transport for.

The Gendarme Heroes Monument at the entrance to the airport.

I had some minor issues finding my way into the airport terminal, which is evidently not designed for people walking there, but here’s the main entrance. It transpired that this was the arrivals terminal, but there is a connection via an internal corridor to the departures terminal.

As I had departed too early for the hotel’s free breakfast, they had instead given me a drink, yoghurt, croissant and I saved the banana and yoghurt drink for the airport. There’s no lounge here, so this just had to suffice.

I’m sure that the airport will look lovely when the work is finished, but it feels a bit like a building site at the moment.

The departures terminal.

There’s my flight, the 07:10 to London Luton.

There wasn’t much of a check of my passport at the airport, but the security there were all friendly and I was able to find a quiet spot to wait for my flight. There isn’t a great deal of space here, but the gate staff did their best to ensure that passengers weren’t left waiting.

This photo is from the arrival at Luton Airport, as there was an air bridge so I couldn’t get an external photo. The seating Gods had put me in 34F, which is a window seat, so that worked nicely for me. The aircraft is 9H-WNP and for about the tenth flight in a row, I have to report that I haven’t been on this one before either.

I was asleep for most of the flight, but everything I saw was well managed, professional and efficient. I really don’t understand how people have issues with Wizz Air on such a regular basis, as I find their cabin crew and pilots to be as good as on any other airline.

And that was the end of this trip, which started on my first birthday weekend with Liam, Ross, Richard and I going to Cardiff. After travelling to Italy, Slovenia, Albania, Greece and Romania (albeit the last three quite quickly) I had a train back to Norwich and some happy memories of a very lovely trip, with thanks to Steve, Bev and Susanna joining me in Italy and Slovenia.

December 14, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport)

For those confused where we are in my riveting blog, I’m now going back a couple of weeks as I had to get from Cardiff to Ljubljana using whatever means possible, but I could only get flights costing £9 with Wizz Air Multi Pass. My first expedition was to get to Rome, then to work the rest out afterwards. There’s my flight, the 21:40.

A quick visit to Big Smoke and due to increasing prices of what is covered by Priority Pass, I’ve cut down to pineapple juice and chicken tenders. All very healthy.

Calamari and pineapple juice at Nolito and I’m never entirely surprised and delighted by their calamari so I’m going to shake things up and change this order up next time. I should probably get out more….

Oh great, it’s nearly Christmas.

The Rome flight was delayed by around 40 minutes, meaning that it was the last one out of Luton Airport in the evening. This means that everyone sitting here was going to Rome, unless they were perhaps muddled up.

It’s all happening now!

Here we are, the last flight out of Luton Airport.

Boarding and this is aircraft registration HA-LGV, seemingly another one (from my extensive records that aren’t anywhere near complete) that I haven’t been on before.

There were quite a lot of sleepy passengers on this flight, which was around 80% full. As ever with Wizz Air, the flight was well managed, the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly and absolutely nothing went wrong. There’s a lot to be said for uneventful flights. The seating Gods gave me an aisle seat for this flight, so that was handy.

We all disembarked from the front of the aircraft as they wanted to use a jet bridge for this late arriving flight, but then there was no-one to unlock the door. So I stood here for a few minutes.

At this point it was decided that we’d be getting a bus to the terminal and this is always a slight faff. But, I was in no rush.

Safely in Rome and I got to use the semi-automated digital border control system for the first time, as Poland doesn’t seem to be using it fully yet. There was quite a queue for this, but it was all painless.

A helpful service…. I sat here for a while as the baggage reclaim, which I never have a need to use, had some power points and I wanted to be fully charged for my next little adventure. By fully charged I mean my devices, I was not fully charged as this was a sleepless overnight onwards expedition.

December 3, 2025
Tredegar House to Luton Airport

Leaving Tredegar House, my first birthday weekend (as in the first of two, I’m not aged one) was coming to an end, with Richard walking to his car to go to one of his specialist locations. But, this wasn’t before a lady called upon Liam to fix her car, which he did admirably. Given that Ross isn’t a confident driver, I can’t drive and Richard drives into hedges, she picked the right person from the four of us.

Anyway, off Richard went. Richard was a little sad as he doesn’t like his car any more as he’s seen how nice a car Liam now has. Ross commented this was evident by the amount of junk thrown on the back seat as Richard tries to hide looking at the car itself. But we didn’t say anything.

We crossed over the Severn Bridge.

Back into sunny England, this is the Second Severn Crossing, more formally known as the Prince of Wales Bridge.

The end of a rather lovely weekend in Wales. We stopped at a JD Wetherspoon in Maidenhead, which is Liam’s hometown but more about that in another post (about the pub, not Liam’s family history).

Always a bit sad, but there go Liam and Ross after dropping me off at Luton Travelodge, as I only do decadent travel.

I’ve stayed here a few times before, it’s nowhere near the airport but I like walking.

The room was clean and comfortable, located at the far end of a corridor away from the lift, just as I like it.

In the morning, I walked the three miles into the centre of Luton whilst listening to podcasts, nothing like a bit of politics to start the week.

A very nice, and keenly priced, breakfast at JD Wetherspoon. I fancied a hot chocolate, but Keir Starmer has banned them, but the coffees tasted fine and the breakfast was cooked perfectly.

Then to collect my free weekly Greggs sausage roll, this didn’t disappoint.

Then another three mile walk to Luton Airport as I’m not paying for that DART. The weather was tolerable, the walk was not really exciting, but it’s good for the soul to walk six miles before a flight I’ve decided. With that, I needed to work out how to get to Ljubljana for my second birthday weekend….

December 2, 2025