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Tag: Wizzair

  • Wizz Air (Gdansk to Luton Airport)

    Wizz Air (Gdansk to Luton Airport)

    And it was time to come back to the UK, departing from Lech Wałęsa airport in Gdansk. As an aside, it must feel odd for Lech Wałęsa when he uses this airport to know that the entire place is named after him. I’m always slightly saddened to leave Poland, but I’ll be back in a few weeks and so can look forwards to that.

    Usually I’d just download my boarding pass on my phone and go straight through security, but Wizz Air don’t have any on-line processes in place to check the documents of travellers, so everyone is directed to the check-in desks first. It’s positive that they’re checking the UK’s Locator Form, although to be fair they’re legally obliged to, but a shame they don’t have a set-up similar to that BA have with VeriFLY.

    I tried to get through a little earlier, but the friendly member of staff at check-in said they would only open the boarding desk for my flight two hours before the flight departed. She also helpfully mentioned that my mask wouldn’t be accepted by Wizz Air on any of their flights, although I did silently think it had been accepted on the Wizz Air flight out to Gdansk. But, I wasn’t sure on their policy and had a spare mask, so that was all fine. I was told to check the boarding screens around 150 minutes before the flight, which transpired to be useful advice, as that’s when the check-in desk for my flight opened. I was fortunate to be nearly at the front of the queue, as it snaked back to the entrance to the terminal within a few minutes. The member of check-in staff quickly checked that I had a passenger locator form confirmation and then my boarding pass was printed, which is a free service when customers can’t check-in on-line.

    Safely through security (where I was praised by the security staff for my efficiency, which I lapped up willingly) and into the lounge (more on which in another post) it was time to trek to the corner of the airport and Gate 1, located in the non-Schengen zone. There was a queue, but there’s always a queue with Wizz Air…..

    This process is the same with Wizz Air and Ryanair, they call passengers forwards to wait before the aircraft is ready for boarding. Which means a wait on the steps down to the tarmac, which is fine for me leaning against a wall reading a book on my phone, but less so for those who don’t feel quite as comfortable standing on steps for twenty minutes.

    And it started to rain quite heavily, but it was only a short walk to the aircraft. Wizz Air rarely use airbridges, which has the advantage of meaning that I can take photos of the aircraft.

    The aircraft was registration HA-LXS, an Airbus A321, which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since June 2017.

    I boarded via the back of the aircraft and the flight was clearly busy, and I think just about full.

    I had the middle seat, which is the first time I’ve had this in years, although the other passengers on each side were ideally behave which makes things easier. The leg room on Wizz Air really isn’t ideal, but the flight was only for two hours and so is bearable. The crew were friendly and helpful, although I couldn’t work out where they were from as their ability so speak so many different languages is really quite impressive. The pilot announcements were hard to hear, but we landed on time although the wind made the landing quite bumpy. Well, very bumpy actually, but it added to the excitement, although the babies on board decided at this moment that they really didn’t like what was happening.

    It’s also fair to add here that this flight cost me £7.50, so it’s hard to fault Wizz Air for anything given that. The service ran as expected, the aircraft was clean, the flight was on time and everything was as comfortable as could be expected. The arriving into Luton Airport on time was fortunate as my friend Liam was there to pick me up, so he didn’t have to wait for endless amounts of time in an industrial park in Luton. Anyway, based on this flight I’d happily fly with Wizz Air again, they fly to a wide number of destinations that I want to visit and although I can’t claim the flight was luxurious, it’d be ridiculous to complain at the price that they charged.

  • Flights – Athens to Katowice (Wizz Air)

    A morning flight from Athens in Greece to Katowice in Poland, costing slightly more than my usual Wizzair flights and coming in at around £13. I was marginally disappointed that the flights were going from the airport’s satellite terminal, rather than the main terminal, as it precludes any access to the lounges.

    The seating area at the gate, which actually had enough seats for every customer. And the satellite terminal was clean, well maintained and very comfortable, some considerable money must have been spent here. There were also plenty of power points available, which saved me having to rely on my power bank.

    I had been automatically allocated an aisle seat, which is my preferred choice anyway, so that was a bonus. Although the flight was nearly full, the two seats next to me weren’t filled, so I had a row to myself.

    Flying over the Tatras mountains.

    And arriving into Katowice airport. Without making any political comment on the whole Schengen Project, it is an amazing benefit for passengers. My passport was only checked by Wizzair staff at the gate and not by border agents at either country, saving the tedious process of queueing for ages for a passport check.

    I still prefer Wizzair to Ryanair, although they’re similar operations, but the Wizzair service feels just a little more relaxed. The cabin crew, who were all Polish, were helpful and efficient, although I  noticed they were sitting in the galley reading books for a portion of the flight. This is perhaps better than the Ryanair solution of having the cabin crew walking up and down to perform almost endless sweeps of the cabin selling food, drink, duty free, lottery tickets and so on.

    Overall, given the relatively cheap cost of the flight, this was another comfortable flight with Wizzair. Katowice is a little bit of a hub airport for Wizzair, as they serve over forty different locations from here, with a fair number of Italian and Spanish airports.

  • Flights – London Luton to Athens (Wizzair)

    My early morning flight to Athens from London Luton Airport which cost me the grand sum of around £8, which is less than the air passenger duty that Wizzair paid. It’s the first time that I’ve visited Greece and it’s hard to imagine getting a flight that would have been cheaper.

    The staff at the Wizzair desk were friendly and helpful, as long that is that you had a bag which was compliant with the airline’s rules. My bag is entirely compliant, but the airline staff were stopping customer after customer and charging them to place their bags into the hold. There were some rather displeased customers, but if airlines are going to have rules it seems sensible that they’re properly enforced, something that British Airlines doesn’t do very well.

    I didn’t pay for a seat reservation, so I was automatically allocated a seat and I was fortunate enough to get an aisle seat. It was the aisle seat at the very rear of the aircraft, an ideal location as far as I was concerned. The flight was nearly full, but there was no-one else on my row, so I had plenty of space.

    All was well with the flight and the pilot came across as warm and helpful, giving some updates during the course of the journey. He warned about heavy winds on the approach to Athens and it did get a little bumpy just before landing. Some customers applauded when we landed, something which I think should be made a criminal offence, but that’s just my view….

    The aircraft in Athens, attached to the jet bridge. I was pleased that I had a seat on the rear row as it meant that I would have been able to disembark first. However, for the first time in ages on my budget airline travels, there was a  jet bridge so customers could only depart from the front. Which meant that I was the last to disembark…. Fortunately, I wasn’t in any rush.

    The queue of passengers at the airport in Athens, although the immigration staff were efficient and I only had a fifteen minute wait. All in all, another comfortable flight from Wizzair with an exceptionally cheap fare. Wizzair have certainly become my favourite budget airline.