For reasons relating to London Luton being my ‘home’ airport with regards to Wizz Air flights, and my Multipass letting me travel for £8.99 to their destinations, I pay close attention to any new routes that they’re offering.
And Wizz Air have just announced that they’re increasing their flight options from Luton and from March 2026 they’re flying to:
Chania (Crete)
Mykonos (Greece)
Rhodes (Greece)
Zakynthos (Greece)
Bordeaux (France)
Dortmund (Germany)
Tirgu Mures (Romania)
Rhodes is the one there that I’ve really been wanting to visit, because of the Knights Hospitaller who had it as their main base from 1310 until 1552, before they were forcibly moved to Malta which they held until 1798.
Dortmund I went to earlier this year with Wizz Air, but I had to get there via Warsaw, so that’s a handy new option opened up. I’ve been to Bordeaux a long time ago, but all of the other locations would be new to me.
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.
Having safely arrived in Athens from Tirana, I had a wait of just over three hours for my next flight. As Albania isn’t in Schengen, that meant I’d have to reclear security in Athens ready for my flight at 14:10 to Bucharest.
Wizz Air flights depart from the Satellite Terminal, which feels around eight miles away and it’s a compact area which really struggles with the number of passengers using it. Fortunately, the lounge in this terminal is much quieter and was a peaceful place to wait for my next flight.
Their hot food selection might have gone entirely untouched as I didn’t see anyone have anything from there and it was swept away at lunchtime.
My more basic breakfast snack.I realised that I had gone for a beer at around 11:00 in the morning, but I think the rules of alcohol don’t apply at airports. Also, as I’d been up since around 03:00, it felt like lunchtime.
The lunchtime cold food came out and this was what I was hoping for, Greek salad, chicken wraps and dolmadakia.
Lovely.
There are some decent views of the runways and also the actual airport for those passengers flying with airlines who didn’t have to use the Satellite Terminal.
I had a very peaceful couple of hours here, before going back out into the rather more bustling gate area.
There was some strict enforcement of bag size at the gate which led to the normal complaints of “it’s ridiculous, it’s only just too big” from some passengers after they’d be charged £80 or something. Far be it for me to judge, but if the bag is too big, then it’s too big, but most people caught out tend to have bags which hardly fit through the aircraft door, let alone the bag sizer.
My aircraft awaits.
Unusually for Wizz Air, we boarded via an air bridge, which meant I had to make efforts to work out the aircraft’s registration which was HA-LXH, yet another aircraft that I haven’t been on. I should probably find a new hobby to be fair than working out which aircraft I’ve sat in.
The seating Gods had given me a window seat near to the rear, so I waited for about a month for passengers to work out where they were sitting and then faff about for three hours putting their bag in the overhead lockers. I very much like the Wizz Air crew, as they get passive aggressive annoyed at passengers faffing about, which reassures me as flights need a small amount of panic about an on-time departure.
And we’re off.
It was a peaceful flight, no-one annoyed me and the announcements were clear and appropriate from the pilots. The cabin crew were friendly and efficient, so this is yet another post of delight about Wizz Air. For £8.99, I was very pleased with this flight, but I’m conscious that I’m noting that quite a lot.
Safely in Bucharest Băneasa airport, which I’ll post about separately as I really enjoyed flying into this location for the first time, being more used to the larger Bucharest airport which is nearby.
Tirana Airport at some early hour of the day, this was the first of my two flights of the day, this one to Athens and then one from there to Bucharest.
The airport wasn’t very busy yet, I had arrived at something like 04:30 for my flight 06:50 flight.
Very pretty, the view after I got through security, which was prompt and efficient. The queueing arrangement was a little erratic, but I’m too broad-shouldered for the woman trying to push past me in the queue to have any chance of success. This enabled the queueing system to work in the way that I expected it to.
Which meant that I had clear access to the food and drink…
Ajvar, tomatoes, olives, gherkins, this is what I call a breakfast…
And that’s burek on the left, this surprised and delighted me. They did have some other hot food elements for breakfast, but I didn’t engage with those.
After a few coffees, orange juices, breads, muffins and a heap of ajvar, it was time to leave the lounge, slightly unwillingly to be honest.
Ready to board, the aircraft is HA-LVP which isn’t an aircraft I’ve been on even though it’s usually used on Warsaw routes.
The big hills in the background…..
Wizz Air crew are routinely brilliant, but they couldn’t do anything about the passengers on board if I’m being honest. Some passengers decided that they didn’t like Wizz Air’s seating system, so they decided that they’d sit where they liked. The passengers were rearranged back to how Wizz Air liked it, so we were ready to take off.
At the end of the flight, the crew tried initially to stop several passengers standing up as the aircraft was landing, but after temporary success, several passengers ignored them and meandered around the aircraft whilst it was still taxiing. The aircraft then stopped quite abruptly and an elderly passenger promptly fell over and another passenger opened the overhead locker and a bag fell on his head.
Oh good, a bus to the terminal.
Nice views. Well, relatively, I’m standing on the tarmac of an airport.
I’ve only just got a new passport and all the other countries have carefully stamped it in order near the front. But, not Athens, they shoved their stamp on page 28 and it was so heavy in ink it promptly covered the opposite page. Sub-optimal.
Some of the new machines that will be brought into action soon. The queueing system at Athens Airport was chaotic and the staff weren’t really sure what to do, it felt a disorganised mess. Being British, I like a system where people queue in order, this system was widely rejected by other passengers on the flight. Fortunately, I didn’t care, I was in no rush as I was staying at the airport for another flight around three and a half hours later.
But, back to Wizz Air, this was a £9 flight and I was once again delighted at their operational efficiencies. Organised, efficient and their systems only became derailed because passengers did whatever they wanted and that included far too much applause on landing which I felt was far too raucous.
After leaving the airport lounge in Trieste, it was time to go through to passport control. This was very much a positioning journey to get me back to the UK, I spent some time in Tirana earlier in the year and I would only be there overnight.
After getting through into the gate area, it was apparent that the airport authorities had forgotten to put many seats in there. As this was a non-Schengen flight, it meant we had to be segregated, so annoyingly there were lots of seats the other side of that glass wall.
Walking outside to the aircraft, the whole process was ordered as usual.
The aircraft was HA-LTB, seemingly another aircraft that I haven’t been on before. I think I might need to get on more Wizz Air flights…. It’s quite rare for this to happen, but the seating Gods gave me a middle seat, but the flight didn’t take much longer than an hour, so this was all very tolerable.
This seems much more common on flights to and from Albania, but there was far too much excitement on landing with some passengers applauding and screeching with delight. I can’t be doing with this level of raucous and the crew members struggled to get control of the passengers who were bored of waiting and started standing up whilst the flight was still taxiing around.
I was walking to the hotel, which was just a ten minute walk, after I established how to get out of the aircraft as they’ve got fences everywhere. I did plan to pop into KFC, but the prices were completely out of any sensible level which did explain why it was nearly empty. The prices were around five times higher than their central Tirana location and I’m not going to engage with that nonsense.
Excuse the wire fence that I couldn’t poke my phone through, but here’s the exterior of the rather attractive looking airport. Although I think they’ve added this cladding type arrangement as the airport actually isn’t very attractive.
This flight cost me just under £9 and once again, the crew were friendly, personable and the aircraft was clean. There was a quick trolley run, but there weren’t many takers, but apart from the unnecessary applause it was another of those flights that nothing exciting took place and that’s just how I like it.
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.
Another day, another flight with my Multipass from Wizz Air. This was my 55th flight with it, although it comes to an end next week. I plan to renew it as my two loyal blog readers will note from my frequent Wizz Air postings on this blog that I’m quite an advocate of them now.
Anyway, I started at Big Smoke with some chicken tenders.
Then Nolito for some olives and beer.
Then boarding from Gate 22 which was as usual for Wizz Air ordered and well managed. It was immediately apparent though that there was something special going on.
That special event was that it was the inaugural flight from London Luton to Venice Marco Polo airport, so they were making something of a thing of it.
The boarding then began.
The aircraft was 9H-WDH, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before and it feels as though it’s becoming quite unusual for me to note that.
The flight was at near capacity and the seating Gods had unusually given me a middle seat. I boarded and the passenger in the aisle seat asked if I minded sitting there as he wanted to sit in the middle seat next to his partner. This, at the time, pleased me.
However, on board, there was an announcement that they had hidden goodie bags around the aircraft. To cut a long story short, it transpired that they’d hidden it on my original seat, so I didn’t get the goodie bag that the seating Gods had tried to give me….
One amusing side to this is that the passenger on the other side of the aisle had heard the announcement that it was a white envelope. He excitedly pulled out from the seat pocket what he thought was the white envelope and looked inside enthusiastically. He read the outside and then kept it. It was actually the sick bag that is in every seat….
Anyway, the crew were impeccable as usual, the aircraft was spotless and the journey was uneventful (other than for my missing goodie bag). It’s a wonderful route and I’m glad Wizz Air have started it, although it’s ironic after travelling around Europe for 15 years and finally getting to Venice last week that I’ve ended up here again….
And safely into Venice airport where the security process took just minutes as they’ve installed the new entry system and it’s working well. Straight to the bus and into the city. And in the future I’m not changing seats, well, not on inaugural flights anyway.
I did get one free memento though, a Venetian mask which will be going to Liam’s little girl, unless it scares her and then it can just go to Liam in that case.
After a long-distance rail journey from Warsaw to Budapest the day before, I had a few hours of sleep before getting up at 02:30 to get to the airport for a 06:00 flight. Here’s the Ibis Budapest City, a rather lovely hotel from what I saw of it.
There’s an airport bus every ten minutes so I wasn’t entirely broken hearted when I just missed this one by just seconds.
The 100E airport bus is a well managed operation with staff always available by the bus stop, even throughout the night. I got a seat on the bus, which filled up at the next stop, and within thirty minutes I was at the airport. In terms of efficiency, it’s one of the best airport buses and there are numerous ways to pay, including just using a contactless card on the bus.
Mine was the 06:00 flight to London Luton, visible about halfway down the left-hand column.
It all felt busy in the airport, but the signage was clear and the security process took under ten minutes. A lot of bags were caught for manual check and there were some annoyed people that their liquids and pastes were removed. My bag, unusually, was included for manual check but the security officer by the second machine looked at the x-ray and just handed me my bag back without checking anything inside.
There were lots of sleeping people in the airport and also lots of quiet places to sit.
To kill some time I popped to the external observation deck, which was of limited excitement in the dark. It also doubles up as the smoking deck, not something that I have much use for, although I liked the temperature out here.
My flight was at 06:00, the gate closed at 05:30 and so I pondered whether I should go into the lounge at 05:00 when it opened.
I did and I was the only person in there (other than the staff obviously).
Breakfast for champions…. Chips with a spicy sauce, jalapenos, tomatoes, chicken wraps, a dessert and an espresso.
It was a lot busier last time I was in this lounge. I charged my already nearly full devices a little, had a final coffee and then left for the gate.
I got to the gate just after 05:20, which is cutting it fine for me. I was pleased with my breakfast, it was quick, but helpful for giving me energy. It will surprise no-one when I say that the boarding process was efficient and well managed.
After a wait of five minutes standing on the airport bus waiting to be let out, we were allowed to board. The aircraft is HA-LZM, one that I haven’t been on before.
The seating Gods had allocated me an aisle seat, but a crew member came over during boarding and asked if I spoke English. This is something that is within my skill-set and I was ushered to guard the emergency exit door. The helpful crew member told me that I could have all three seats if I wanted to lie down to sleep after take-off.
The extra space was very useful in terms of having a nap and I spent most of the flight asleep. The flight was yet another well managed arrangement from Wiz Air, the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly, the operations were smooth and nothing annoying happened.
Here we are in sunny Luton, the beating heart of Bedfordshire.
Just under thirty minutes waiting for border control, but the queue moved constantly which helps in feeling that progress was being made. It had been quite an expedition to go from Genoa to Warsaw to Budapest to Luton, but I was pleased to be safely back in the UK. And so was Madeleine, the very talented national chair of the LDWA, as I had to get to Leamington Spa for the Local Groups’ Weekend…..
After two interesting days in Genoa and environs, it was time for the next £8.99 adventure and it was back to Warsaw. I had taken the train to the nearest station and enjoyed a pleasant ten minute walk to get here.
They’re reconstructing the lounge here and that reopens next year, but the airside space was sizeable and had power points. I think that there are plans to increase the size of the airport and make it a more important one, so there are a series of renovations taking place.
This is not a major international airport and Wizz Air have quite a limited presence here. There’s certainly potential for more passengers to use this airport, there is a decent public transport link, the terminal is large and Genoa would likely benefit substantially from more tourists and commercial connections.
I’m conscious that I’m very much repeating myself here, but, yet again, the boarding process was well managed with friendly gate agents. Everything was clearly signed, it was efficient and it felt organised.
Boarding the aircraft, which was registration HA-LXS which I last went on in February 2022. Boarding was smooth and efficient, with the aircraft being clean.
The seating Gods had given me a window seat and my bag is visible there having a little rest. But, since the entire row was clear, I moved to an aisle seat. The aircraft was about 60% full which makes matters more comfortable.
I nearly never get anything from the trolley on flights as it’s far too decadent, but I was hungry and so felt the need for some noodles. These are around £4, which doesn’t feel unreasonable for an aircraft.
Delicious, although I won’t get used to this level of decadence.
And safely onto the bus to take us to the terminal and as this was a Schengen flight with no border controls it meant I went from here to the train in just five minutes.
The flight cost me £9 and once again I was surprised and delighted by Wizz Air. Everything was smooth, well managed, comfortable and organised, with plenty of space on board. I accept that my splashing out on fine dining took the price of this to £13, but that still feels decent value to me.
After a few hours in Warsaw, it was time to get the train back to the airport for my onward flight. The S2 railway line takes around thirty minutes to get from the city centre to the airport, with a 24 hour ticket to use all public transport in Warsaw costing around £3.
The Preludium Executive Lounge was at near capacity, but I found a quiet spot which was helpfully next to a power point. Here’s the chicken kebabs with green beans, alongside an espresso, beer and Fanta.
And salad is my middle name is healthy.
Mine was the 17:30 flight to sunny Genoa.
I allowed thirty minutes to walk to the gate, although it took me around fifteen seconds such is the delight of Schengen. I like being early…
Just for reference, the price of things at the vending machine (divide by 5 to get the approximate GBP cost). I had some time to kill at the gate as I had arrived early.
Over half of passengers, including me, were sent to another queue for additional document checks. It transpired that the Italian Government had decided to reintroduce border control checks because of the football game between Napoli and Eintracht Frankfurt. The staff dealt with all this admirably, it was quite a lot of extra work performing extra checks on tens of documents.
The document process meant that we departed around thirty minutes late. The aircraft is 9H-WNN, another new one for me.
The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat, but I noticed that the row of three seats in front of me was clear when boarding was completed. Some other passengers started to eye them up, but I planned to move forward so that the two passengers on my row had more space. And also because I would have more space if I’m being entirely honest….
Most lovely.
The pilot made an announcement that passengers on the left hand side of the aircraft could look out the window at something. He said it in Polish so I didn’t know what exactly I was looking at, but I think this is Venice. ChatGPT thinks it’s New York, but I’m relatively confident from my knowledge if geography that it isn’t.
The flight, yet again, was comfortable and well managed. The crew were friendly, organised and the service was quiet which worked well for my little nap.
And safely into Genoa Christopher Columbus Airport…..
The flight cost me £9 as usual as part of Wizz Air’s Multipass arrangement, which I considered to be decent value for money.
