I had just enough time to pop into My Lounge at Gatwick Airport before the flight. It was busy when I entered but they were happily letting Priority Pass customers in without a queue, although it took me a little time to find a power point to ensure I was fully charged for the journey ahead.
There was some fruit for those who like that sort of thing.
And some reliably dreadful tasting Cruzcampo beer, but that’s fine as it’s meant to taste like that and wasn’t a serving error (although it is self-pour).
Our 13:05 flight was delayed by 80 minutes which was a little sub-optimal, but not critical to our travel arrangements.
I don’t entirely trust My Lounge food, but this looked safe enough as a little snack.
Boarding at the gate was, once again, efficient and well ordered. There were some passengers pushing their baggage limits somewhat, but they came unstuck as they were checking some bags. It’s an expensive extra cost for those who thought that they’d get away with it.
Boarding the aircraft which was registration G-WUKS, an aircraft that I don’t think that I’ve been on before. There was another ten minute delay whilst an engineer came on board to tape up a tray table was broken, but then we were good to go.
Jonathan and I had been randomly allocated middle seats which I had been slightly dreading as it was a four hour flight. Fortunately, when I boarded the row of three a couple of rows in front was evidently empty so I made a run (well, brisk walk) towards it. Another passenger mentioned to me that she was also moving there with her husband, but she suggested that I had the aisle seat, which is the one that I wanted anyway.
Jonathan had equally good news in being able to move to an aisle seat. The flight was actually three and a half hours, not four hours, but it’s a lot more comfortable when not wedged into a middle seat. The aircraft was clean throughout and as usual, the cabin crew were friendly, engaging and efficient.
And safely into Istanbul Airport which had no working wifi (I mentioned this a few times to Jonathan), but it’s a grand looking airport and the largest privately owned one in the world. It opened in 2019, replacing Ataturk Airport, and seems to be rather a long way from Istanbul. Anyway, on the positive side, the border control process only took fifteen minutes and we could then plan on getting to the hotel. Design wise, it looks an impressive airport and I’m sure that I’ll be back here again at some point in the future.
Although by this time we were around an hour behind schedule, the whole arrangement from Wizz Air surprised and delighted me, especially since I wasn’t trapped in the middle seat. Coping without wifi for another two hours wasn’t what I expected after landing though, but that’s not the fault of Wizz Air.