Aviation Discussion

[Aictos]

FWIW I never select a seat and rarely end up in the hold.

The other thing I noticed about them and bearing in mind the last time I flew it was with Norwegian so different polices apply but they say you're only allowed one carry on, so it's a pity that you can't get around that with a small rucksack and a laptop holdall as your carry on luggage.

 

[atillathehunn]

Yup just one normal size bag. I have done many trips with laptop and clothes in an easyJet hand baggage. It's not the tiny Ryanair bag.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just one question about Easyjet, if you don't pay the extra to prebook a seat when you do check in (which is later if you don't choose a seat), do they give you the worse seat they can find or do they just give you whatever seat is free or is it a case of they give you the middle seat as they prefer to reserve the window and aisle seats for these who pay a little extra?

I believe they start from the back and work forward when allocating at check in as people are least likely to want to purchase those seats. If you want to get randomly allocated the exit row best check in late as that will be the last to be allocated, but be warned there is a very good chance it will be a middle squashed between two rugby players.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So it's not worth paying the extra to prebook a seat?

Depends if you want certainty of a given seat.

 

[Techniquest]

First up, regarding seat selection, for me it very much depends on the flight. A short leap around Europe, I'm happy to take a middle seat. If it's long-haul, I prefer either a window seat (day flights) or aisle seat (night flights). Reason for preferring an aisle seat on a night flight comes from my experience on my Toronto to Heathrow flight last year. A window seat with a great view of the wing (32A on a BA 787) was great to have, but with two sleeping passengers next to me I didn't have the spherical objects to wake them up and let me out for a few minutes. My entire flight of nearly 8 hours was sat in my seat the whole way, fair to say I was glad to disembark! So I've adopted a policy of preferring an aisle seat on long-haul night flights so I can get up for a leg stretch without interrupting others.

Great price for that Tech goor job finding that and getting it in the diary. Etihad in the air are ok but on the ground dreadful. Your trip is short enough for hand baggage so that's good, Etihad loves to lose a bag.

Hope you have a great trip out there. Blur Mountains, also the train down to Wollongong for beaches and nature reserves.

I looked up Blue Mountains yesterday, looks really nice and well worth a visit. As for Etihad having a reputation for losing bags, that doesn't sound good at all! Maybe I'll be lucky, who knows? I've just booked a night's stay in a hostel in Sydney for my arrival date, as it has a 24 hour front desk which will be most useful. I've now seen that check-in closes at 23:30 which is just 50 minutes after my flight from Brisbane is due to arrive. Thankfully I have free cancellation, so if they reply to my contact advising of my potentially nearer midnight arrival with a no to checking in, I'll revise my plan. The other 3 nights I'm planning to book in a couple of weeks when money is more on my side!

It might seem crazy to you all, but I'm already pre-planning my 2020 adventures! Amongst other things, I want to try a 747 and visit the Grand Canyon. There is a good chance I'm going to combine those two goals next year...Also in the pipeline is a trip to New Zealand in 2020, and as I'll want plenty of time to see the scenery over there and all that it needs to be its own separate trip. Tokyo is another place I fancy going next year, and Iceland is still on the cards to do eventually. That's another one which is for the scenery and needs a lot of planning, so it's another one that will be its own trip.

I haven't even planned the rest of 2019 yet though! All being well another country will be scored in Europe, but we'll see what happens there

 

[Aictos]

First up, regarding seat selection, for me it very much depends on the flight. A short leap around Europe, I'm happy to take a middle seat. If it's long-haul, I prefer either a window seat (day flights) or aisle seat (night flights). Reason for preferring an aisle seat on a night flight comes from my experience on my Toronto to Heathrow flight last year. A window seat with a great view of the wing (32A on a BA 787) was great to have, but with two sleeping passengers next to me I didn't have the spherical objects to wake them up and let me out for a few minutes. My entire flight of nearly 8 hours was sat in my seat the whole way, fair to say I was glad to disembark! So I've adopted a policy of preferring an aisle seat on long-haul night flights so I can get up for a leg stretch without interrupting others.



I looked up Blue Mountains yesterday, looks really nice and well worth a visit. As for Etihad having a reputation for losing bags, that doesn't sound good at all! Maybe I'll be lucky, who knows? I've just booked a night's stay in a hostel in Sydney for my arrival date, as it has a 24 hour front desk which will be most useful. I've now seen that check-in closes at 23:30 which is just 50 minutes after my flight from Brisbane is due to arrive. Thankfully I have free cancellation, so if they reply to my contact advising of my potentially nearer midnight arrival with a no to checking in, I'll revise my plan. The other 3 nights I'm planning to book in a couple of weeks when money is more on my side!

It might seem crazy to you all, but I'm already pre-planning my 2020 adventures! Amongst other things, I want to try a 747 and visit the Grand Canyon. There is a good chance I'm going to combine those two goals next year...Also in the pipeline is a trip to New Zealand in 2020, and as I'll want plenty of time to see the scenery over there and all that it needs to be its own separate trip. Tokyo is another place I fancy going next year, and Iceland is still on the cards to do eventually. That's another one which is for the scenery and needs a lot of planning, so it's another one that will be its own trip.

I haven't even planned the rest of 2019 yet though! All being well another country will be scored in Europe, but we'll see what happens there

Nothing crazy in planning 2020 trips, I'm one step ahead of you as I'm looking at 2024 trips

As to seats I prefer window seats where possible as I like to see out the window for the scenery but also because I like to see the wing flaps etc move*

*It's the main reason I like to fly and that's the engineering side of it!

 

[Techniquest]

Nothing crazy in planning 2020 trips, I'm one step ahead of you as I'm looking at 2024 trips

As to seats I prefer window seats where possible as I like to see out the window for the scenery but also because I like to see the wing flaps etc move*

*It's the main reason I like to fly and that's the engineering side of it!

2024 planning already? Wow if that's a serious comment then that really is planning ahead!

My favourite part of flying is and always will be take-off. The roar of the engines as they spool up and accelerate the plane down the runway is awesome!

 

[Bletchleyite]

2024 planning already? Wow if that's a serious comment then that really is planning ahead!

My favourite part of flying is and always will be take-off. The roar of the engines as they spool up and accelerate the plane down the runway is awesome!

Once upon a time, before boring people got hold of the acceleration profiles, one could have the same experience in a Voyager!

 

[AJP62]

I've found Easyjet are fine allocating seats on check in - our family of 4 have flown them a few times and have normally had a row of 3 with the other nearby.
As our Ryanair flights have been with my elderly father we haven't risked not pre booking to ensure we are with him.

 

[pitdiver]

This year my wife and I will be flying with Loganair on one of their Saab 340Bs. Has anybody got any opinions on the Aircraft and the Airline

 

[Aictos]

2024 planning already? Wow if that's a serious comment then that really is planning ahead!

My favourite part of flying is and always will be take-off. The roar of the engines as they spool up and accelerate the plane down the runway is awesome!

Yes I was being serious and not being sarcastic as there's a few places I am planning on going as to your favourite part of flying, I'm the same indeed every time I'm taking off I can't help but think of this...

 

[fowler9]

First up, regarding seat selection, for me it very much depends on the flight. A short leap around Europe, I'm happy to take a middle seat. If it's long-haul, I prefer either a window seat (day flights) or aisle seat (night flights). Reason for preferring an aisle seat on a night flight comes from my experience on my Toronto to Heathrow flight last year. A window seat with a great view of the wing (32A on a BA 787) was great to have, but with two sleeping passengers next to me I didn't have the spherical objects to wake them up and let me out for a few minutes. My entire flight of nearly 8 hours was sat in my seat the whole way, fair to say I was glad to disembark! So I've adopted a policy of preferring an aisle seat on long-haul night flights so I can get up for a leg stretch without interrupting others.



I looked up Blue Mountains yesterday, looks really nice and well worth a visit. As for Etihad having a reputation for losing bags, that doesn't sound good at all! Maybe I'll be lucky, who knows? I've just booked a night's stay in a hostel in Sydney for my arrival date, as it has a 24 hour front desk which will be most useful. I've now seen that check-in closes at 23:30 which is just 50 minutes after my flight from Brisbane is due to arrive. Thankfully I have free cancellation, so if they reply to my contact advising of my potentially nearer midnight arrival with a no to checking in, I'll revise my plan. The other 3 nights I'm planning to book in a couple of weeks when money is more on my side!

It might seem crazy to you all, but I'm already pre-planning my 2020 adventures! Amongst other things, I want to try a 747 and visit the Grand Canyon. There is a good chance I'm going to combine those two goals next year...Also in the pipeline is a trip to New Zealand in 2020, and as I'll want plenty of time to see the scenery over there and all that it needs to be its own separate trip. Tokyo is another place I fancy going next year, and Iceland is still on the cards to do eventually. That's another one which is for the scenery and needs a lot of planning, so it's another one that will be its own trip.

I haven't even planned the rest of 2019 yet though! All being well another country will be scored in Europe, but we'll see what happens there

Honestly mate, the Blue Mountains are well worth it. The train journey to get there is worth it alone. Inexpensive, nice scenery, top deck of an inter city emu.

Long haul I go for an aisle seat. I'll probably be awake most of the flight anyway so am happy to let other people reach the toilets and not have to bother people of I want to go. The exception to this was on an LAN A340 from Auckland to Santiago, my favourite flight ever. Me and the ex had the two outer seats near the back so I only had to disturb her and she didn't mind. We took off West then as we turned South East I got a decent view of Auckland from a distance. We continued South East probably a bit North of Hamilton and got an amazing view of the Coromandel and the town of Thames where we had stayed near to for some six weeks before we spent a week in Auckland.

I can't recommend New Zealand highly enough. It really has everything (at least for me). You don't have to spend as much time as we did (although I would have liked more than the 2 1\2 months we had, ha ha). If you can squeeze it in I recommend Mount Cook, Queenstown, Milford Sound, either the Fox or Franz Josef glaciers and the Abel Tasman national park all on the South Island. You can see all that really easily and cheapely using Inter City who are a bit like a less frequent National Express. If you are in a rush fly to Queenstown and use Inter City or one of the many other bus your operators to get to Milford Sound. You can go on a boat trip in the fjords and see penguins, dolphins and seals but the main star is the landscape which is unbelievable. Sailing under cliffs the size of the Empire State building. I could go on but I'll shut up as this is an aviation thread. The landing at Queenstown airport is meant to be amongst the most amazing in the world. I arrived by bus but I could well believe the flight would be amazing. Right hand window seat compulsory.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Retro BA 747 liveries now confirmed https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...airways-to-paint-b747-with-retro-boac-livery/

British Airways to paint B747 with retro BOAC livery
21 Jan 2019 by Mark Caswell

British Airways has announced plans to paint selected aircraft with a series of retro liveries, as the carrier celebrates its centenary year in 2019.

The first aircraft to receive a commemorative paintjob will be a B747 jumbo (registration G-BYGC), which will be painted in the 1964-1974 era British Overseas Airways Corporation livery.

BOAC was a direct predecessor of British Airways, having combined with British European Airways (BEA) to form the British Airways brand in 1974.

The retro-painted aircraft will arrive at Heathrow on February 18, and will retain the livery until its planned retirement in 2023.

The BOAC livery is the first of a number of retro designs set to be unveiled this year, with BA using it as “an opportunity to revisit history of UK commercial aviation in British Airways’ centenary year”.

British Airways said that the B747 jumbo had been chosen for the BOAC livery, “as it is a later variant of the same aircraft type that adorned the design when it was initially in operation”.

The carrier stresses that all new aircraft entering the fleet will sport BA’s established Chatham Dockyard design – including the forthcoming A350s, the first of which is due to be delivered to the carrier this year.

Details of previous commemorative BA liveries, including the golden dove during the London 2012 Olympics, can be seen here.

Commenting on the news Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said:

“So many British Airways customers and colleagues have fond memories of our previous liveries, regularly sharing their photos from across the globe, so it’s incredibly exciting to be re-introducing this classic BOAC design.

“Our history has shaped who we are today, so our centenary is the perfect moment to revisit our heritage and the UK’s aviation landscape through this iconic livery.”

British Airways traces its history back to August 1919, when Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited launched the world’s first daily international scheduled air service, between London and Paris. A potted history of the airline can be seen here.

The carrier is also set to unveil new uniforms this year, designed by British designer Ozwald Boateng OBE.

 

[atillathehunn]

Shamelessly stolen from Flyertalk: to celebrate their centenary, BA are selling 100 tickets at £100 one way to a range of destinations each day at 12 noon. Today was JFK and CPT. Short travel date (basically by March end).

Happy shopping!

 

[Techniquest]

Gutted I don't have the funds available to take advantage of that, especially with a week off in March still to do something with!

 

[atillathehunn]

Today was Boston and Abu Dhabi.

 

[Bald Rick]

Quick update on Luton and easyJet experience:

Been out and back in the past week to Europe. Departing on a busy morning, it was 18 minutes from entering the terminal building to being sat in the departure lounge with a bacon sandwich, and that included bag drop and the longest queue for security I have seen in a while. The queue was being well managed and almost all the screening lanes were open. The departure lounge was much less crowded than I expected, even though it was at peak departure time. Flight was on time departure, esrly arrival at destination, crew excellent.

Returning in the late evening a few days later, we were the fourth aircraft to arrive at Luton in quick succession. A slight faff ensued in getting off the plane from a ‘remote’ stand by the Tui maintenance hangar, and being bussed over to arrivals, which took 10 mins from the cabin door being opened to being in the terminal. Knowing that around 700 passengers were going to be arriving in immigration in the space of around 10-15 minutes, and being towards the back of that, I expected the worst. 15 e-gates were open, plus about 8 desks, and I was through in about 5 minutes. My hold bag appeared on the belt within 2 minutes of me getting to reclaim and it was by no means the first one through. From walking into the terminal building to walking out the front door was 14 minutes, including a lengthy goodbye to my travelling companions.

Flight was 30 late, my worst EZY delay for years. The captain and cabin crew all apologised profusely. They also acknowledged that we chose to fly EZY over their competitors, and thanked us for doing so. Nice touch.

All round an excellent experience.

Edit: an unusual experience - on the return journey I had a window seat, and for about 20 minutes we were in ‘formation’ with another flight on exactly the same heading, altitude and speed, but about 10 miles to starboard. I wonder if ATC were having a little fun!

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Edit: an unusual experience - on the return journey I had a window seat, and for about 20 minutes we were in ‘formation’ with another flight on exactly the same heading, altitude and speed, but about 10 miles to starboard. I wonder if ATC were having a little fun!

Grouping of en-route aircraft is not at all unusual though normally they tend to follow each other, sometimes at the same altitude. In some parts of the airways network the airways are sufficiently wide as to allow exactly what you witnessed. Viewed from the ground my favourite is one above another.

 

[Bald Rick]

Honestly mate, the Blue Mountains are well worth it. The train journey to get there is worth it alone. Inexpensive, nice scenery, top deck of an inter city emu.

Long haul I go for an aisle seat. I'll probably be awake most of the flight anyway so am happy to let other people reach the toilets and not have to bother people of I want to go. The exception to this was on an LAN A340 from Auckland to Santiago, my favourite flight ever. Me and the ex had the two outer seats near the back so I only had to disturb her and she didn't mind. We took off West then as we turned South East I got a decent view of Auckland from a distance. We continued South East probably a bit North of Hamilton and got an amazing view of the Coromandel and the town of Thames where we had stayed near to for some six weeks before we spent a week in Auckland.

I can't recommend New Zealand highly enough. It really has everything (at least for me). You don't have to spend as much time as we did (although I would have liked more than the 2 1\2 months we had, ha ha). If you can squeeze it in I recommend Mount Cook, Queenstown, Milford Sound, either the Fox or Franz Josef glaciers and the Abel Tasman national park all on the South Island. You can see all that really easily and cheapely using Inter City who are a bit like a less frequent National Express. If you are in a rush fly to Queenstown and use Inter City or one of the many other bus your operators to get to Milford Sound. You can go on a boat trip in the fjords and see penguins, dolphins and seals but the main star is the landscape which is unbelievable. Sailing under cliffs the size of the Empire State building. I could go on but I'll shut up as this is an aviation thread. The landing at Queenstown airport is meant to be amongst the most amazing in the world. I arrived by bus but I could well believe the flight would be amazing. Right hand window seat compulsory.

Another +1 for Katoomba and the Blue Mountains.

Also +1 for New Zealand. To really get to see the country, you need to allow at least 2 weeks. The train from Auckland to Wellington is highly recommended, as are the glaciers, Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford Sound (the hike there is 4 days on its own).

 

[Bald Rick]

Grouping of en-route aircraft is not at all unusual though normally they tend to follow each other, sometimes at the same altitude. In some parts of the airways network the airways are sufficiently wide as to allow exactly what you witnessed. Viewed from the ground my favourite is one above another.

Yes I know, and have experienced, planes following each other, or being on same heading but different alts a few miles apart. But never seen two alongside each other on same heading, alt and speed.

 

[fowler9]

Another +1 for Katoomba and the Blue Mountains.

Also +1 for New Zealand. To really get to see the country, you need to allow at least 2 weeks. The train from Auckland to Wellington is highly recommended, as are the glaciers, Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford Sound (the hike there is 4 days on its own).

Apologies as off topic but you can of course get the bus to Milford Sound and back in a day from Queenstown. Many of the coaches had glass roofs for a better view of the mountains some were even of a very obvious sloped design so you could see out of the front more easily over the seat in front.

 

[Techniquest]

Another +1 for Katoomba and the Blue Mountains.

Also +1 for New Zealand. To really get to see the country, you need to allow at least 2 weeks. The train from Auckland to Wellington is highly recommended, as are the glaciers, Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford Sound (the hike there is 4 days on its own).

I will have to look up Katoomba later, once I finish watching some more aviation trip report videos on YouTube. Almost more addictive than Air Crash Investigation! I've also already started pre-planning a 2020 trip to take in the Grand Canyon.

+1 for your positive Luton experience too, a great little airport and definitely one I'll happily use again. To think I actually believed people who told me it was a terrible experience!

I'm also well chuffed some of my friends have become inspired by my own travels to go exploring, one of them has just been to Venice and takes off for Prague on Monday for their first solo holiday. Even friends who've never held a passport have been inspired to get one and go exploring, so I'm curious if any of you guys have had such a positive influence.

As for New Zealand, don't worry when I go I will be allowing a lot of time for exploring. Expert advice will be properly sought when the trip is booked, but that won't be for a long while yet. Not while the credit card is still rather full after booking Sydney! Only 25 shifts in my way and less than 46 days until takeoff, it's fair to say I'm excited and this level of excitement has only been felt previously for New York and Toronto!

 

[atillathehunn]

I'm glad you're getting in the holiday spirit, Tech!

I promise you, Luton used to be an absolutely dreadful experience. I was pleasantly surprised this time, and if I was a regular in London I would definitely use it again.

As for the positive influence on others RE travel? No, I don't think so. Possibly because I don't go to typical destinations (work sends me to some of the more interesting parts of the world), and possibly because they already travel quite a bit.

 

[Techniquest]

I'm glad you're getting in the holiday spirit, Tech!

I promise you, Luton used to be an absolutely dreadful experience. I was pleasantly surprised this time, and if I was a regular in London I would definitely use it again.

As for the positive influence on others RE travel? No, I don't think so. Possibly because I don't go to typical destinations (work sends me to some of the more interesting parts of the world), and possibly because they already travel quite a bit.

Fair enough regarding Luton, I clearly chose well with not using it in years gone by then!

With regards to my friends discovering travelling, they're all norms who don't really tend to go anywhere. The ones who I thought would be more interested in beach holidays are following me in so far as they're going for city breaks which is quite nice. Certainly makes it easier to help them plan their own trips, especially when it's somewhere I've already been. Quite, my friend who will be off to Prague (she's flying Jet2 and I'm incredibly jealous of that) has also come in handy for getting rid of the 21CZK in coins I had lurking around the place. Not worth much but it may well come in handy yet for her at some point. I can see it happening that she'll soon be broadening her horizons and jetting off over the Atlantic for even more awesome experiences!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Fair enough regarding Luton, I clearly chose well with not using it in years gone by then!

It was rubbish before they started using the "new" departure lounge. Once that opened, it has consistently been better in my view than either London City (which was once good but is now horribly overcrowded and inexplicably slow with baggage) and Gatwick, and was certainly better than Heathrow before T5 and the Queen's Terminal were built (which turned it from probably the worst major airport in Europe to probably the best).

 

[Bedpan]

Shamelessly stolen from Flyertalk: to celebrate their centenary, BA are selling 100 tickets at £100 one way to a range of destinations each day at 12 noon. Today was JFK and CPT. Short travel date (basically by March end).

Happy shopping!

Looks good, but how much does it cost to get back? In other words a BA single fare plus £100 could be more than a return fare with a budget airline.

 

[Bald Rick]

Even friends who've never held a passport have been inspired to get one and go exploring, so I'm curious if any of you guys have had such a positive influence.

Well, most of my friends have travelled since their late teens (myself included) and continue to do so. However I know my first trip to Australia / NZ / round the world inspired a good friend to do the same for his honeymoon, and another good friend to do a similar trip (which I then joined him on!)

I do wonder if there is a north / south, or even south east / rest of the country divide on travelling like this. With access to so many destinations from the London airports, it has never been easier to get away on a cheap trip for those of us who live in the London ‘hinterland’. In the regions the flight choice isn’t so good, and of course it’s not so easy to get to many of the airports.

I promise you, Luton used to be an absolutely dreadful experience. I was pleasantly surprised this time, and if I was a regular in London I would definitely use it again.

It was rubbish before they started using the "new" departure lounge. Once that opened, it has consistently been better in my view than either London City (which was once good but is now horribly overcrowded and inexplicably slow with baggage) and Gatwick, and was certainly better than Heathrow before T5 and the Queen's Terminal were built (which turned it from probably the worst major airport in Europe to probably the best).

Luton has been bad in the past*, but it is 7 years since I had a bad experience (huge queues for everything departing and arriving, wedged departure lounge, etc). The last three times (all in the last 2 months) have been approaching perfect.

When the transit from the station opens in a couple of years, which will remove the need to go through the congested part of the station and use a (frankly awful) bus link, Luton will become an extremely attractive option from central London. St Pancras to the departure lounge will be typically 45-50 minutes (less if you use EMT), which compares very well to all other London airport options from their respective London terminii. The downside is that this increased convenience will lead to increased demand, and the ‘Luton discount’ on comparable flights will disappear. Nevertheless, added to the continued rise of easyJet and Wizz, and the stagnation of Ry*n*ir, Stansted will be extremely concerned.

* one of the first times I used Luton was back in 1999 when the new terminal had just opened. It had a revolutionary, but odd, hold baggage system at check in, where your bag went from the check in belt on to an automatic cart that was evidently ‘tagged’ with a destination, and went via some clever but complicated mini cart-railway system off to somewhere near the aircraft. The system was hopeless and forever getting blocked back. It didn’t last long.

 

[fowler9]

Well, most of my friends have travelled since their late teens (myself included) and continue to do so. However I know my first trip to Australia / NZ / round the world inspired a good friend to do the same for his honeymoon, and another good friend to do a similar trip (which I then joined him on!)

I do wonder if there is a north / south, or even south east / rest of the country divide on travelling like this. With access to so many destinations from the London airports, it has never been easier to get away on a cheap trip for those of us who live in the London ‘hinterland’. In the regions the flight choice isn’t so good, and of course it’s not so easy to get to many of the airports.





Luton has been bad in the past*, but it is 7 years since I had a bad experience (huge queues for everything departing and arriving, wedged departure lounge, etc). The last three times (all in the last 2 months) have been approaching perfect.

When the transit from the station opens in a couple of years, which will remove the need to go through the congested part of the station and use a (frankly awful) bus link, Luton will become an extremely attractive option from central London. St Pancras to the departure lounge will be typically 45-50 minutes (less if you use EMT), which compares very well to all other London airport options from their respective London terminii. The downside is that this increased convenience will lead to increased demand, and the ‘Luton discount’ on comparable flights will disappear. Nevertheless, added to the continued rise of easyJet and Wizz, and the stagnation of Ry*n*ir, Stansted will be extremely concerned.

* one of the first times I used Luton was back in 1999 when the new terminal had just opened. It had a revolutionary, but odd, hold baggage system at check in, where your bag went from the check in belt on to an automatic cart that was evidently ‘tagged’ with a destination, and went via some clever but complicated mini cart-railway system off to somewhere near the aircraft. The system was hopeless and forever getting blocked back. It didn’t last long.

I am quite lucky living in Liverpool. The airport here has a very good choice of European destinations (Am flying to Katowice in three hours) and Manchester Airport is easy enough to get to for anywhere else.

 

[atillathehunn]

Looks good, but how much does it cost to get back? In other words a BA single fare plus £100 could be more than a return fare with a budget airline.

No, it's not. I didn't explain it properly. You can view it as a return for £200. As long as you travelled within their sale period, you could buy a single (if you wanted) for £100, or you could buy a return for a flat £100 each way.

 

[atillathehunn]

It was rubbish before they started using the "new" departure lounge. Once that opened, it has consistently been better in my view than either London City (which was once good but is now horribly overcrowded and inexplicably slow with baggage) and Gatwick, and was certainly better than Heathrow before T5 and the Queen's Terminal were built (which turned it from probably the worst major airport in Europe to probably the best).

A T5 to T5 connection at Heathrow is as nice as it gets. However, doing a T3-T5 connection is horrible, and other terminals are dreadful.

Gatwick is a really dreadful experience all round. At least City is convenient.