Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Luton Airport

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
Gdansk Trip – Wizz Air (Gdansk to Luton Airport)

Ready to go through the Schengen gates, I was pleased that the random seating Gods had given me an aisle seat. King Sigismund II Augustus, the former Grand Duke of Lithuania, would have no doubt been pleased for me.

Passengers piling up at Gate 31, the wait here often feels like a tragicomedy of sorts, a drama of human existence.

Ready to board and listening to the usual symphony of sighs and slightly impatient shuffles from other passengers. And once again, I gazed slightly bored at the floor and wondered how the tarmac that my friend Liam helped put down at Heathrow twenty years ago is getting on. Indeed, I bet I’ve thought more about this than he has.

Another airline nearby. I had to look up which airline this was, it’s Smartwings who are a Czech airline with 37 aircraft.

And off we go. The aircraft is 9H-WNE, an Airbus A321 which was only delivered to Wizz Air in March 2024 so it’s still nice and shiny. Once again, the flight itself was without any particular note, everything was efficient, I was comfortable in my aisle seat and the cabin crew were polite although seemed a bit stressed on the flight. It was likely their third or fourth flight of the day, so I imagine that I’d be a bit stressed as well if I was doing the same job. The flight was particularly notable for me as I needed to arrive on time, but more on that in the next riveting post.

October 1, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Gdansk)

This was smooth in terms of customer handling, I arrived at the gate and had a wait in the queue of only around five minutes before boarding. I almost felt as if I had purchased priority boarding with this level of efficiency.

Boarding underway.

Aircraft registration SH-WDO, I don’t think that I’ve been on this Airbus A321, but it’s only just over a year old so that’s not entirely surprising. Out of interest (to me anyway) I looked up how many aircraft that Wizz Air have had and they had 55 planes in 2015 and 120 just before Covid struck. It’s now 215 aircraft, so they’re nearly twice the size that they were four years ago. Ryanair have 605 aircraft though, so there’s some way for them to go. British Airways have 244 aircraft in their fleet, so it’s likely Wizz Air will soon catch them up.

The hopeful passenger next to me declared at this point that it looked like a quiet flight. I was privately sceptical, Wizz Air and Ryanair usually have very good occupancy and so it transpired when the second wave of passengers boarded, filling just about every seat. As with most flights, it was uneventful. The random seat Gods had given me an aisle seat and the flight was under two hours and there were no issues that I remember, so that’s just how a flight should be. It’s all very formulaic, they’ve got this really well sorted now in terms of their operation.

Safely in Gdansk. I had hoped for a smooth border control as the hotel that I was going to was so near the airport and it was late that I just wanted to get there. The not being in the EU is slowing things down somewhat, if I had been an EU citizen I would have likely left the airport within ten minutes of the flight landing. It took me 29 minutes, which is hardly a disaster, but it’s a little bit of a faff.

And finally leaving the airport. The flight cost £10, it’s hard to fault the value offered from Wizz Air. And, I have to say, it was great to be back in Poland.

September 24, 2024
Gdansk Trip – My Lounge at Luton Airport

Well, this is sub-optimal, I’ve got behind once again with this blog. I shall have a posting burst today to catch up. Talk about surprising and delighting my two loyal blog readers and the three people who stumble on here every now and then. I once again wasn’t confident that I’d get into My Lounge at Luton Airport, but they said there was no queue and I was welcomed in with my Priority Pass card. I found a seat at the rear of the lounge, next to one of the plentiful power points, and collected my average beer and a heap of nachos. I would personally prefer proper seating at a table than these low chairs, but each to their own and I’m sure others will differ.

Focusing on the food this time. Well, who would have thought? It’s average, I think we should point towards that and I mentioned that last week. At the end are some jacket potatoes which can go with baked beans, coleslaw and butter. It’s not decadent, this is the cheapest hot food I suspect they could think of. It might be transformed by a decent chilli or something to put on the top, but this is a weak offering for a lounge. They kept it topped up, even though I was there until nearly the closing of the lounge at 21:00.

The lounge authorities then seemed to sit and work out what the cheapest cold food option they could have was, going for nachos. I actually like these and have no complaints, but it’s not going to win many prizes on the creativity scale.

As a lounge it’s comfortable, but I wouldn’t pay for it with my own money if it wasn’t on Priority Pass, as the drinks offering is weak, the food offering is weak and it’s not actually that quiet in the lounge. One reviewer noted recently:

“Don’t waste your money unless you’re a party animal who wants a party vibe. If like me you want peace and quiet, ability to work or just relax. This one isn’t for you.”

I have some sympathy to their complaint. However, there are plenty of power points and I like those, with the snacks being entirely edible and the drinks not a disaster, but I wonder whether they could take things upmarket just a little bit here and there. Although I suspect they’re limited by the number of customers who are trying to get their money’s worth by hammering the free alcoholic drinks. It’s usually £34 to pay to go in, that feels like quite a lot of money to me.

The staff here are friendly though and the welcome at least feels authentic. They were pro-active about the closing process, a staff member went around and told everyone at 20:00 that they were closing the bars at 20:30 and then the lounge at 21:00. I like a bit of clarity in my life. There are plenty of staff going around the lounge and clearing tables, with the whole arrangement feeling clean and organised. I did wonder whether it was entirely prudent when two staff members were talking to each other about how they were hammering the lounge company for overtime money at the moment, which might explain the cost cutting that’s going on.

And far be it for me to comment on this, but the lounge promises “enjoy premium beers”. It has one beer, which is Birra Moretti, which isn’t premium. It’s like saying that Aldi own brand Jaffa Cakes are premium. I mean, they’re fine, but they’re not seen as a premium option. What the lounge could do with is a delicious pale ale, preferably a hazy one. I might be too focused on beer though, that has been commented on before by a high percentage of my two loyal blog readers. But, I digress. At this point, it was time to meander over from the lounge to the Wizz Air gate for Gdansk to get this little adventure started.

September 24, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Avalon at Luton Airport

This week’s arrangement at Avalon thanks to Priority Pass. I didn’t try and buy this much, but once again the staff members suggested topping up my purchases to get the maximum benefit. I’m not sure that the scheme is designed for this, but that’s what they offer and so that’s what I had. The mango and granola thing was delicious, although veering on being slightly healthy. The BLT sandwich is quite heavy on the tomatoes and the bread gets quite soggy, it’s an interesting arrangement. There are also smoothies, coffees, cakes and toasties available at the outlet, which only has around eight tables although the turnover is quite fast.

Without going off on a tangent, I find customer behaviour quite intriguing. Avalon is one of the first food outlets that is visible airside and the number of customers I’ve seen here who say something along the lines of ‘here’s a coffee place, let’s sit here’ is much higher than I might have expected (not that I’d given it much thought in advance). My customer behaviour (when not bouncing around lounge options) is to meander around, find the best value and then check Google Reviews about the matter. I don’t think that I could live my life with the amount of jeopardy of “let’s sit here” without weighing up all the alternatives. I accept that some customers are not price conscious, are tired and don’t have time to faff about, but I’ve once again digressed into irrelevance.

September 19, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Big Smoke at Luton Airport

Thanks to my new Priority Pass card, I started my time at Luton Airport with a visit to Big Smoke. After last week’s little debacle, I was seated at a more traditional table and the team member kindly found me one which was near a power point. I felt that the service was always efficient, but I suspected before they ordered food that they were going to have trouble with a customer who was seated nearby.

The chicken tenders, they’re a little expensive at nearly £10, but that keeps me under the £18 Priority Pass budget. Tender with a crispy flavour, they’re perfectly competent efforts, although I accept unlikely to send the venue into the Michelin Guide.

The beer is the Medicine Man from Big Smoke Brew Co, it was hoppy with a tropical edge, but the flavour didn’t much linger.

Anyway, to add to the excitement of my meal, the customer next to me got her meal and she then called a team member over as she wanted vinegar. Then she called them over again as she wanted salt. Then she called them over again as the chips were cold. Replacement chips in a bowl were brought over promptly. Then she called them over for vinegar for the new chips. Then she called them over saying they had left her with the original cold chips, so the team member said he’d bring another bowl. She then asked how she was expected to eat her meal half off a plate and half out of a bowl. The team member said he’d bring a plate. She said she didn’t want two plates. The team member asked what she did want. She wanted the manager. The manager came off and was initially beautifully direct about the situation, but then the customer told her to shove the meal and the manager thought she’d better be polite. The manager said she’d replace the whole meal. The meal came over. The customer called the team member over for vinegar. I left at this point, I had seen enough drama but could I just give a comment of great thanks to everyone working in the hospitality industry.

I like this venue, it’s clean, comfortable and fast. It’s not really the greatest value going, but airports aren’t cheap and it seemed competently delivered. I’m very pleased with my £18 dining credit with Priority Pass every time I visit, I will eventually work through most of the menu I suspect (well, the bits that won’t involve me going over £18).

September 19, 2024
Gdansk Trip – Getting to Luton Airport

I can crunch all this into one post as it’s the same route that I took last week on my little trip to Belgrade. I’ve also had a cold this week, although it’s obviously an aggressive version of it, but I’ve been very brave about it. However, I mention that not as I like telling people I’ve been brave, but just as an excuse as to why yet again I’ve got behind with posting about things.

Slightly blurry, but Liam once again drove me to Hatfield to stay at the Travelodge overnight before my onward journey. It’s always handy to get gossip fitted in on these journeys and it is quite handy getting a chauffeur driven ride straight to the hotel. Nothing much to report here about the Travelodge, the room was clean and there were no noise issues internally or externally. It seems a reliable hotel, I suspect I might be staying here a reasonable amount.

The view of Hatfield. I’m not sure that even my two loyal blog readers need to see a view of Hatfield out of a hotel window, but yet here we are.

As my flight was later on in the day, I popped to Harpsfield Hall to have several hot drinks for £1.56. Things looked problematic at first as the team member thought that the card machines were down but she said I could try, but I’d likely need to go and find cash. I wasn’t going to go and find cash, but I didn’t mention that and I was preparing to just move straight to Luton. However, to her surprise and considerable delight, the card payment went through and I went through a few hot chocolates. It reminded me that I really should restore the emergency £5 note to my wallet that I rarely remember to replace following the very occasional occurrence that I’ve had to use cash. It’s usually to get chips, but there are few places now which don’t take cards.

It’s quite metallic to say the least. I’ve visited here before, but I appear not to have ever written anything about it. I will use the history that Wetherspoons provide:

“The original Harpsfield Hall stood nearby and was approached by a long driveway, across open fields. It seems to have been built in the early 19th century, when it replaced a larger, older house of the same name, described as ‘a commodious residence with pleasure grounds’. The later hall was demolished in the 1930s to make way for the main runway of the new Hatfield Aerodrome. This pub stands at the corner of the old aerodrome site.”

This part of Hatfield is all quite modern, the old village is known as Bishop’s Hatfield, but the bulk is part of the post-war New Town programme.

Clicking on this map will make it larger and shows the difference between the 1860s and today (copyright of image to the right is the Open Streetmap project). The cursor on the left hand map is where the JD Wetherspoon outlet is today.

Given the aerodrome link, there’s an aircraft related theme to the pub and it also has Boeing 747 engine cowlings which have been turned into booths. I’ll find my old photos as I sat in one of those before, all very decadent.

Whilst I was at the pub, a customer demanded that BBC News was turned off and GB News was turned on. I was privately a little unimpressed when the team member agreed. It would never occur to me to be so annoyed at the news channel that I’d go and get it changed to make a political point. Each to their own I suppose.

Off to the 610 bus to Luton, a bargain £2 but it turned up 25 minutes late. I’m not sure that it’s the most reliable of bus services but I’m forgiving when I’m not in a rush and the service is cheap.

And off we go, passing the Galleria in Hatfield. As an aside, this is the exact point where the Hatfield and St Albans Railway used to run.

Safely in Luton, I went to the town centre this time and I’m always interested in these sort of ghost remains of buildings. I’ll have to come back to this one another time though.

Full of originality, I went to JD Wetherspoon for food and drink. This is primarily as I wanted to sit in a quiet venue and get on with typing away on my laptop, with the chain being particularly good at providing an environment where this is achievable. Again, I’ve visited before and I’ll use the chain’s history:

“In the late 19th century, the Crown & Anchor Brewery stood on the site of this Wetherspoon pub, a short walk from the site of Luton’s first brewery. Founded by Thomas Burr, in 1780, it stood next to his family home, known as The White House.”

The meal and drink cost just over £6 thanks to the Luton Wetherspoons being in the lowest price band that the chain has. And I was able to look at some books whilst I was there. Cheap, cheerful and reliable. This is one of the Wetherspoons which seems to have a queueing system, something of a throwback to Covid, which always seems slightly odd. I paid using the app, but I’m yet to get used to queues in pubs, although there is an innate fairness about them that I like.

Walking to the railway station, I passed by a Vauxhall Factory, the home of the Vauxhall Vivaro. There are around 1,500 workers here so it remains an important employer for the area.

And then by the printing works of the Daily Star. There used to be a large sign for the Daily Express and the Sunday Express, but either they’ve fallen off or they’re no longer printed here.

Here we are again, the delights of London Luton Airport. I was just five hours early for my flight, which I thought was reasonable. Excitement was certainly growing, it meant that I was returning to Poland for the first time in over a year.

September 19, 2024