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Tag: Luton Airport

Luton Airport – Efficient Priority Pass Service after Big Smoke Overcharge

The title of this post sounds rather tabloidy, but there we go, it’s 04:00 in the morning at Luton Airport and I’m going to take what excitement I can. One thing that I’ve discovered is that Big Smoke are one of the first outlets to open airside at the airport, being open at 03:00 which is earlier than their advertised time and an hour ahead of many other venues. That at least was handy.

The service was friendly, but the restaurant was in something of a state. The sauce bottles had a not inconsiderable amount of dried up bits of sauce on them and the menu was so sticky that it was hard to open. The surfaces had also not been cleaned the night before, nor had the floor, which felt an odd situation. But, it was early and I was content. I was using Priority Pass which gets me £18 to spend and I specifically mentioned, as I always do, that I had zero guests.

However, almost immediately I received an e-mail confirming that Priority Pass had helpfully charged me £18 for my guest, the one that I didn’t have. I queried this and the staff member insisted that was right and I should have been charged. It evidently wasn’t and I showed him he had typed two guests. After some faffing about he came back and told me to make a claim with my bank. This is a ridiculous way of doing it, that would be a chargeback for Priority Pass, as well as a heap of paperwork for them and the bank. So, I asked for someone else and the manager, who really didn’t seem that engaged either way, came over.

The manager repeated the poor advice and I queried what happened if Big Smoke said there were two people and not just one? They said that they couldn’t do anything, so I asked if they could just note on a receipt that there was just one guest. The manager didn’t show any interest and she didn’t do that, she just ignored the situation. Fortunately, I discovered that Priority Pass have a 24 hour call centre and so I phoned it, at 03:30 in the morning which I thought was rather decent. After some internal querying what to do, Priority Pass said that as I was still at the restaurant they were willing to refund the extra guest as it was a mistake.

No-one came over to check on this situation, so I meandered off. It’s hardly the issue of the century, but I’m not keen on managers shifting responsibility to other people and causing others a heap of work when they could have easily dealt with it. Moan over….

June 26, 2025
Wizz Air (Warsaw to London Luton)

A quick breakfast in the lounge and I’m always delighted to have a Greek salad. I had two as I was so delighted. This is the Etiuda Lounge which is in the non-Schengen one, although I usually go to the Preludium Lounge which is in the Schengen area. My logic is that I’ve been caught at border control for quite some time on a few occasions and I now prefer to clear that bureaucratic gauntlet first, lest I be detained indefinitely while someone scrutinises my passport like a cursed manuscript. I noticed that the border control agent was being very assiduous with the stamps of the passenger in front, indeed, the English traveller said “I’ve got too many stamps” which didn’t bode well for me. Anyway, the border agent looked through my passport and looked like he didn’t have the energy to deal with it, so just stamped it.

After my starter and main course of Greek salad, along with mochas and Fanta, I had a dessert of chocolate and beer. I think there are some healthy elements to that meal.

Anyway, after a peaceful time in the lounge, it was time to board. Yet again, the process was well managed, clearly signed and efficient. They were doing numerous bag checks but they didn’t look very long at mine, the benefit of having a soft bag. It’s the firmer type bags they stop, with a few customers charged £80 or so for having bags that are too big. The moral of this story really is pack like you’re going on a short hike and not moving house.

I had a middle seat, but when I boarded there was someone in my seat and I queried it in my perfect English. The Polish guy pointed at the lady in the window seat and said “wife here, I sit here, you sit there?” pointing at the aisle seat. This to me was a win, I like an aisle seat. He did proceed to spill slightly into my seat space like an enthusiastic houseplant, but I forgave him. The aisle seat was mine, and that was victory enough. The seating Gods work in a mysterious way.

The aircraft was 9H-WDX, an Airbus A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since December 2023 and yet another aircraft that I don’t think I’ve been on (this exact one, I’ve been on rather too many A321s….).

And back at London Luton. The whole process was efficient again, nothing of note to write about as the crew were friendly, the pilots were informative and the aircraft was clean. The border at Luton Airport was busy, but I was through within twenty minutes. That now means I have two hours in McDonald’s by the railway station before my train back home, but I’m sure it’ll speed on by.

June 20, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Gdansk)

Luton Airport doesn’t do connecting flights as they’re a point to point airport which meant I went landside after coming off my earlier flight that day and then couldn’t go airside again as it was too long before my flight. I thought about walking into the delights of Luton town centre but it was too hot and I wasn’t brave enough to risk dehydration for cultural enrichment. I instead spent some time at the Pret landside whilst wondering how early I could go through security and I think the answer is six hours. After going through I meandered to Avalon which is included in the Priority Pass card and they are always helpful in offering extras to take it up to the allowed £18 value.

I then popped to Big Smoke which I find consistently decent and they have a range of beers available. I was seated whilst the waiter went to find the Priority Pass machine and then another waiter told me that I wasn’t allowed to seat myself. As a consistent rule follower I was inwardly most put out that I looked like someone that would transgress the obvious rules of a restaurant, but my original waiter came back and shooed away the interloper.

My normal selection at Nolito is pineapple juice and calmari. For the second time over recent months, these calamari were inedible, dripping in grease and the texture was all wrong. It’s annoying from the perspective of when they get it right, they’re really rather good. I declined the offer of them making more as I thought it was time to pop to the lounge. I’ll try something different next time. The state of that laptop as well, it gets quite compressed when in my bag which makes the screen look dirty and seemingly stops four of the keys from working properly,

My Lounge said they were busy but No 1 Lounge had space, so I went there for the first time. It’s a much smaller lounge than I had expected, but it was near empty and the staff were friendly. This is the main meal of pulled chicken with potatoes, it was entirely agreeable. I’ve written before, but the value from these lounges at full-price is questionable unless you drink a lot of alcohol. They’ve over £30 to get in, so most people would be better off just sitting in a restaurant in the airport terminal. If you want a lot of drink, the lounge proposition is better. I had my usual one Birra Moretti as that’s always enough of that.

There weren’t any capacity issues in this lounge and it all feels modern, comfortable and clean. There were also plenty of power points which was handy.

It was then time, finally, to head to the boarding gate. All very efficient again from Wizz Air with the signage being clear.

The aircraft was HA-LXJ, an Airbus A321 they’ve owned since September 2016, so one of the oldest in their fleet and I don’t think I’ve been on it before.

I thought that the seating Gods had given me a middle seat and they sort of had, but there was no aisle seat as it was this crew seat which faces the other way. This was all rather fortunate, it meant that the seat was effectively an aisle seat which meant that I had the space I hoped for. The elderly gentleman in the aisle seat kept busy for the entire flight: up, down, into his bag, back again, rustling, unwrapping, standing, sitting, wandering, repacking. A one-man tribute to the art of perpetual motion. Each to their own, but I was glad that I was able to lean into the crew seat (as the crew weren’t in it other than for take-off and landing) to get some peace.

We landed slightly early and the flight was once again a delight, with the crew being efficient and helpful, with the pilots making announcements that were appropriate and interesting. Wizz Air have an ability to operate flights which are just efficient and not noteworthy, which is really just as an airline would want it.

Unfortunately, there was an issue with my passport again and I was the last person to leave border control. The staff tried to count the stamps in my passport, just hours after this happened in Kaunas, and thought I had spent too long in the EU. Three staff this time came to count the stamps and they were apologetic as they said they had to do it, but the senior staff member did a count and said the matter was fine. I’ve realised the problem here, nearly every airport stamps my passport out next to the corresponding entry stamp. However, the Romanian stamps are slightly less careful and there’s one page which makes it look like I’ve been in the EU for twelve weeks solidly. I’ll definitely be glad when this new IT system is introduced as the current situation is sub-optimal. Luckily I had booked the cheap airport hotel which was only a five minute walk, so only just after 01:00 I arrived there safely….

June 19, 2025
Wizz Air (Kaunas to London Luton)

A relatively early morning as I needed to get the bus from central Kaunas to the airport. It’s the rather excellent price of €0.7 by card, but I had a euro coin left over and so decided to splash out with that as that’s the slightly more expensive cash fare. It’s a 40 minute journey, so certainly value for money. Incidentally, I’ve just realised that I didn’t write any of my trip to Kaunas (I visited late last year) up on this blog so that’s another little project that needs resolving.

They’re still busy extending the airport,the work should be completed later this year.

That’s my flight, the 11:10 to London Luton. Incidentally, the reason that I am writing these flights up with some efficiency, whereas other things fall behind, is that they’re so similar I get the details muddled up. Let’s be honest, once you’ve flown Wizz Air four times in a week, it’s all shades of fuchsia (or whatever colour their planes are) and faint diesel.

Spotlessly clean with seats and power points everywhere.

The gate was busy, but that’s because they are short on space, but that problem is resolved soon. As an unexpected highlight, the border control agent decided to count the stamps in my passport. This turned into a rather intense session of EU arithmetic, during which she seemed briefly convinced I’d overstayed. After fifteen minutes of counting, squinting and light diplomacy, we all agreed I was well within my 90-day limit. Thanks to the efficiencies of Brexit, I have 90 EU stamps in my passport so this is not a quick calculation, but the new integrated IT system will be rolling into place soon.

We were sent outside to board the aircraft before the arriving passengers had managed to get off, which did mean we had a wait on the airport apron of around 25 minutes. I’m not too fussed about this, I like the breeze and the seem of diesel fumes, but for those with kids it’s probably sub-optimal. Especially if they run off, although none did that today.

The new extension to the airport is visible on the airside.

And getting ready to board G-WUKV, the usual Wizz Air Airbus A321. I do check, from my partial records, if I’ve been on an aircraft before and this one took me from Belgrade to London Luton last year.

The seating Gods gave me a window seat and I got to see Amsterdam as we flew overhead.

And safely back into London Luton airport, on time and with a very short queue at border control. As ever, this was another well run flight from Wizz Air and cost £8.99 thanks to Multi Pass. All rather lovely.

June 17, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin)

And a flight to Warsaw for my last week of dental work and I’ve been very brave by all accounts. For completeness, I thought I’d include the photos of the lounge visits from my Priority Pass card before the flight, as I’m like that….. I received a notification that the aircraft was running around thirty minutes late, which allowed a little extra time for these visits. This is Big Smoke and the chicken tenders and Electric Eye beer which was hazy, hoppy and a bit tropical.

The Calamari and pineapple juice at Nolito, primarily as they’d run out of orange juice.

And the My Lounge, which was full when I first went but I joined the on-line queue and headed to Nolito instead. Thirty minutes later I received a message saying that I could check-in. The cutlery here was filthy as usual, but everything else felt clean and organised. The staff were friendly and the beer, Birra Moretti, was generic and dull.

Anyway, I digress.

This is the first Wizz Air flight that I can remember where the boarding process was unclear. The priority (not me) and non-priority (me) queues weren’t very clear and a staff member came down after some time to try and resolve the confusion. The gates are poorly marked here rather than it being a Wizz Air issue, but fortunately I arrived early enough to work the whole arrangement out, but I noticed some stressed customers after me.

There we go, confirmation that I was in the right queue…..

It felt a longer wait than usual to board the aircraft, but nothing unreasonable, and all of the staff seemed helpful if not one that seemed a little frazzled by customers. The aircraft was HA-LVE, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before, an Airbus A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since July 2019.

The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat towards the rear of the aircraft, which I felt was very agreeable. Two other customers had been barging past other customers and I just let them past me, they seemed to have an issue with personal space and numerous other customers just let them go by. It transpired that they were sitting next to me on the aircraft, so it was efficient that they had gone ahead of me given that I had the aisle seat. The flight was without issue once again, with the pilot making regular announcements. I think I was asleep for most of the flight, I get easily tired now that I’m 30.

And safely into a rainy Warsaw around an hour after the original expected arrival time. As the flight had cost me under £9 with Multi Pass, I was happy with the whole arrangement. The border control was efficient and more personable than I’ve experienced recently, some others ahead me in the queue were being asked the purpose of their visit, but I just got “welcome back to Poland” so perhaps they’ve got fed up with asking.

June 11, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Budapest)

There’s not a lot for me to write about this flight as Wizz Air are so efficient that matters always seem to go as planned. But I’ll write about it for my own memory, this flight cost me £8.99 as it was booked with the Wizz Air Multipass and it’s the 19:25 flight to Budapest from London Luton Airport. As an aside and despite what the board noted, the gate was shown from 18:25 although at that point the incoming aircraft hadn’t even parked up.

The flight was departing from Gate 31 and, as usual, the signage was clear so that customers knew where to go whether they were priority (not me) or non-priority (me). British Airways never really managed this, they ended up with a mass of people (somewhat more commonly and rather unkindly called gate lice) standing in a random pattern near to the boarding gates and thus blocking everyone else.

There’s the aircraft arriving and before the customers had deplaned (I know some people hate that word, but I like it). It’s 9H-WNT, an Airbus A321 which only entered service in late January 2025. Given how new it is, I’m fairly sure that I haven’t been on it yet. Customers waited excitedly on the stairs and the gate staff were generally tolerant of some bags that were too large, but they did charge those who were evidently way over the limit. I’m always slightly surprised how many people push this, it’s quite an expensive exercise to be charged extra at the gate and I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.

Boarding the aircraft and the seat Gods had given me an aisle seat in what was a nearly full service. The flight was uneventful, we sat on the runway (not literally obviously, we were in a plane) for 20 minutes as they waited for a slot from air traffic control, but there were regular announcements and the crew were endlessly polite. The crew were efficient and helpful, with quite a number of passengers purchasing food and drink as the trolley went up and down the aisle. A group of younger customers, who looked like they were about 16, applauded after the aircraft landed and I did secretly hope that they would be barred for life, but then I thought that might be a little excessive.

And landing at Budapest airport pretty much on time. Wizz Air pad their schedules a bit, so the late departure was made up en route and so they could accurately state that there was no delay. In terms of timings, I was impressed as this photo was taken at 23:13 when I was leaving the aircraft and I was at the Ibis Styles hotel reception at 23:20. I think that seven minutes is perhaps the fastest that I’ve gone from the aircraft, through border control, through security and into the hotel.

June 2, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin)

I usually don’t write anything about the flights I take, but a change is as good as a rest and all that. I’m not sure that Luton Airport has really mastered the art of returning flights efficiently, but the security process is now quite efficient. I have to confess to pure idiocy during security when I managed to leave my belt on during the security scan. I blame the confusion on their policy of leaving liquids and laptops in the bag which throws my system. The member of security staff was though not deterred and, thankfully, my brief masterclass in how not to do security seemed to escape wider notice, preserving my fragile dignity in aviation matters.

They announced the gate quite early, an hour before the flight, the delights of Gate 32 beckoned. Having endured the boarding methodologies back in my BA days, which often resembled a polite but ultimately confusing game of human Tetris, Wizz Air’s approach felt refreshingly straightforward. Every passenger knows, or should know, where to go from signage and they didn’t take long to board everyone. Admittedly, that leads to a lot of waiting on the stairs in the airport terminal to board, but at least it feels efficient although it’s less ideal for people who prefer to have a little sit down rather than balance themselves and their luggage on steps.

The aircraft was ready and for the sake of completion, the registration is 9H-wNE, the same aircraft I went from Gdansk to London Luton on a few months ago. It’s hard not to make that sound quite geekish, but as a reminder, for my two loyal blog readers who can’t remember, it’s an Airbus A321 which was delivered to Wizz Air in March 2024. Feel free to use that aviation nugget of information at your next dinner party, instant social success guaranteed…..

I’ve had a long series of good fortune from the seating Gods where I’ve been aisle or window seats, but that luck had run out for this flight when I was randomly given a middle seat. I always vaguely hope that one of the passengers doesn’t turn up, but they both did. Both were Polish, the one by the aisle fell asleep for most of the flight and the other managed to consume several Polish beers and then needed me to wake up the aisle guy from his hibernation for obvious reasons. I’m not sure that they entirely managed to follow my rule of letting the middle seat passenger have the arm rests, but since that’s a rule I’ve created it’s one that’s hard to enforce. Fortunately, this isn’t a long flight and two hours later we were landing into Warsaw.

The crew on the flight were well presented, engaging and efficient, although that’s the normality for Wizz Air flights I’ve found. Announcements from the pilots were in Polish with a shorter English version following soon after and the safety briefing was completely in a way that the CAA would be pleased by.

The delights of Warsaw always excite me, so I didn’t even mind that it was a bus that took us to border control. Most passengers on the flight were Polish or had EU passports, so the queue for my passport to be stamped was relatively short. The border agent was friendly and for this visit didn’t require a detailed explanation of my life before letting me into Poland. The flight is with my Multi Pass, which I’m still moderately obsessed with, so it cost just £8.99. Armrest battles aside, Wizz Air delivered the goods once again as far as I was concerned.

April 19, 2025
Wizz Air (From Luton Airport to Tallinn and Back Again)

I don’t have a great deal to say about these two flights, taken five days apart, but I have sufficient things to note to want to make a post about them. That’s just how this exciting blog works. Anyway, I enjoyed my visit to Big Smoke, Avalon and My Lounge at Luton Airport, then it was time to set off for the departure gate. There’s the 16:00 flight to Tallinn, a rather agreeable departure time if I may say so. There’s a two hour time difference which does mean that the aircraft arrives at what feels like quite a late time, but at least the airport in Tallinn is near to the city.

I cannot fault the efficiency of Wizz Air and the boarding was ready to start by the time I got to the gate. I wondered about whether the guy in front of me with two bags was going to get away with that and it transpired that he didn’t. The gate agent was friendly, but she wasn’t having such an obvious breach of the rules and so she charged him some exorbitant amount.

Here we are boarding and I was pleased to be randomly allocated an aisle seat. I was flying on the All You Can Fly scheme that Wizz Air operates, which I’m entirely pleased with so this made the return flight a total of just over £17. There is some debate today about how Wizz Air have been contacting those who have cancelled flights telling them that their pass might in turn be cancelled without recompense (there’s a limit of two no shows a year). That is in the rules and it’s why I’m reluctant to put two flights too close together. I’ve never had any problem with Wizz Air but their customer service is I think a little difficult to get through to, so I wouldn’t really want a debate about it.

Once again, the flight didn’t really have anything noteworthy to comment on. It was a smooth flight, the crew were friendly, the aircraft was clean, nothing fell off the aircraft and no-one annoyed me. That’s something of a result as far as I’m concerned. They operate this flight to Tallinn four times a week, which explains why I didn’t notice the return flight come up on All You Can Fly, I had thought that it was a daily service. Wizz Air pad their schedules and so early arrivals aren’t unusual, with this flight arriving 34 minutes early. It’s an Airbus A321, aircraft G-WUND which I don’t think I’ve been on before.

Safely in Tallinn and then I realised there was a little problem. I have an inability to walk on ice, rivalled only by three legged cows and really elderly people. And the walk to the hotel was icy. I debated getting a bus, but I couldn’t be faffing about with that and decided to walk. My bravery and slightly sluggish walking paid dividends and there were no falls and indeed no near incidents. I did walk past someone who had fallen over, but the ambulance was looking after him so I decided not to intervene. Fortunately, the ice and snow had mostly gone on the walk back and it had all entirely gone by the time I flew back.

And here we are (well, here I am) earlier tonight, ready to depart from Tallinn Airport and I made an effort to get the London post in the photo.

I learn something new every day, or at least, most days. RRR is apparently the ICAO reference for the RAF and they had a flight to Brize Norton. I know that the RAF operate commercial flights to the Falkland Islands, but I don’t normally see RAF flights on departure boards.

I popped to the airport lounge (which is functional, clean, large although a little limited in food options), but this is the main departures area which is clean, tidy and well managed. It reminds me of Helsinki Airport, which just feels calm.

The Wizz Air gate after border control and it did get busier, but there’s plenty of seating. There are no Berlin Brandenburg incidents here with seating running out.

The aircraft, once again an Airbus A321, is G-WUKR (which to my knowledge I also haven’t flown on although I don’t keep very assiduous records) and I was stuck in a middle seat this time. Nonetheless, it was a smooth flight and it arrived 51 minutes early which surprised and delighted me. What didn’t surprise and delight me is that my phone crashed when I turned flight mode off and took way too long to get going again. That’s another project for this week, fixing that. I felt sorry for those passengers who were pleased to arrive early as it made their travel plans easier as Luton Airport seemed surprised that a load of planes turned up and that put pressure on the border meaning it took the best part of an hour from deplaning (yes, I know it’s an American word, but I like it) to getting through the border. Fortunately, I am in absolutely no rush, I have an overnight train which will hopefully be sweeping me back to Norwich.

So that’s another very lovely adventure sorted. Next stop, after Norwich, will be Rotherham and does travel get more decadent than that?

February 10, 2025
Wizz Air (Poznan to Luton Airport)

Back to Poznan Airport and this is a sculpture by Henryk Gida Bakalarczyk, it makes quite an impact in the departures area just before security.

There’s my flight to Luton Airport, using the Wizz Air all you can fly pass that I decided to get to try it out, so that means it’s £8.99 for the flight.

After visiting the lounge and going through border control, the non-Schengen area of the airport is quite sizeable with plenty of seating.

They were boarding the aircraft early and, as ever, it was all efficient and organised.

And boarding.

I take these photos in the hope of capturing the registration of the aircraft, otherwise I have to look it up. And it isn’t visible, so I did have to go and look it up, it’s G-WUNA, I don’t think it’s an aircraft I’ve been on before. By chance, it was the first anniversary of Wizz Air bringing this aircraft into service, but they didn’t provide us with cake or anything to mark that milestone.

And safely back into Luton Airport. It wasn’t the most comfortable journeys as I was in the middle seat and felt a little cramped on this journey, but it’s a relatively short flight and I amused myself watching stuff on my phone. There were some winds from Storm Darragh which added some extra excitement in terms of the landing, although it was otherwise uneventful. There was absolutely no delay at all with getting through border control as there was no queue, so plenty of staffing once again at Luton Airport.

It was very lovely, thank you Wizz Air. I still like this all you can fly pass, it wasn’t the longest stay in Poznan, but there seemed to be a suitable choice of destinations that I could go to. I’m already occupied with other things this week, but hopefully I’ll get to use the pass again in December and perhaps quite a lot in the new year.

December 8, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Luton Airport Back to Newmarket

I had initially planned to repeat my travel plans of the previous week, which was to stay at the Pret Landside at Luton Airport, then get the 04:30 National Express service to Cambridge and then get the first train to Newmarket. It was in many ways a sub-optimal journey. However, thanks to a particularly impressive early arrival from Wizz Air, a border with no delays and my ability to walk quickly, I was able to make the last National Express service of the day that would get me back to Newmarket.

And here she comes. Are coaches female? I don’t know, let’s say it is, I suppose there’s a comparison about a mother hen gathering up her chicks, just as National Express pick up passengers. I think that might be stretching the logic though and I’m digressing once again. I had paid £5 to transfer my coach ticket to this earlier service and that didn’t feel unreasonable for the convenience.

It wasn’t the busiest service I’ve been on.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen a request from a coach company about tipping drivers, even in the United States. Although I don’t envy drivers, dealing with this massive vehicle and edging it through traffic, battling roadworks and dodging kamikaze pigeons, all the time listening to the cacophony of coughs, sneezes and rustling crisp packets from passengers. They probably deserve a little extra every now and then.

The bus arrived at Parker’s Piece, perhaps most notable for being where the football games governed by the Cambridge Rules were played, the forerunner of how football is played today. It was pragmatic, there were plenty of students coming to Cambridge from various decadent private schools and it was only sensible that there were agreed rules on how to play the game.

I had to wait for my second coach, so it was time for a Titanic Cherry Porter in the JD Wetherspoon pub, the Regal. The beer is always a delight.

The gleaming beacon of cleanliness, it positively blinded me with its radiance, it must have been bathed in the tears of a thousand angels.

Changing to the next coach which turned up early, the driver seemed to take a dislike to another passenger and a shine to me, something to do with how I didn’t hassle him with my bag. I like being the favourite customer on board. It meant that I arrived safely into Newmarket at around midnight which was all rather lovely given that I had expected to arrive nearly nine hours later.

October 2, 2024