Here are the flights I took in 2012, with a few short words beneath each one of abiding memories related to them. Most of the videos I took in 2012 on my YouTube site
www.mosstravel.tv are as a result of these trips.
January
Leeds Bradford Airport – Krakow
Krakow – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Ryanair
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
A short 2 night break in Krakow, good flight there, but delayed flight back, Krakow Airport pretty grotty and uncomfortable. Great city though, just wish the return flight was a bit later in the day.
February
Manchester – Berlin Schönefeld
Berlin Schönefeld – Manchester
Airline: EasyJet
Purpose of Trip: Business
5 days of work in Dresden along with a couple of days working in Berlin, flight there was fine, flight back was delayed by snow. I hate Schönefeld Airport with a passion, gortty, too busy, and too much up and down stairs to get from departure lounge to gates. The melee from the gate to the plane was a disgrace, no control at all and a lot of pushing and shoving. This put me right off EasyJet.
March
Leeds Bradford Airport – Dusseldorf
Dusseldorf – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Jet2.com
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
Boys weekend and football in Cologne – enough said! No gripes or problems with the flights or airports, but the S-Bahn from Cologne to the airport took 2 hours! Yes I got the wrong one that stopped everywhere – never again. I made my flight with 10 minutes to spare!
April
Leeds Bradford Airport – Dalaman
Dalaman – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Thomson (I think!)
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
A week’s bucket and spade holiday at Marmaris with the wife and kids. I have no grumbles about the flight there, but the flight back was at some ungodly hour, and we all said ‘never again’. Not keen on Dalaman Airport either, very expensive – apart from the Cigars! I bought enough to last all year.
May
Leeds Bradford Airport – Gdansk
Airline: Ryanair
Train to Warsaw
Warsaw – Doncaster
Airline: Wizz Air
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
Another boys long weekend to celebrate one of them turning 40. Great fun, good flight there, fastracked the queue at LBA as it was miles long.
Lots of queuing at Warsaw Airport, but it all went smoothly enough. Upon arrival at Doncaster we were subjected to a 40 minute wait to leave the immigration area, as everyone was questioned by immigration officers and many people had their bags searched. Doncaster Airport bus connection to station was slow, and took ages to arrive – DSA looks good, but I wont use it again unless I have to.
July
Leeds Bradford Airport – Berlin Schönefeld
Berlin Schönefeld – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Jet2
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
A severely delayed flight there saw the wife and I take advantage of the newly refurbed Premier Lounge, where many drinks were consumed and nibbles nibbled. Unfortunately the TVs in the Premier Lounge did not have the correct info on, and it was only by the chance of a toilet visit that I heard Jet2 staff shouting down the corridor that the flight was boarding. The PA system wasn’t fully working as it turned out. A close call, but we made it.
I still hate Schönefeld, and the walk from the terminal to the train station is too far, coupled with poor signage at the station and a lack of lifts resulting in long walk arounds with wheeled cases. Rant Over. We had a lovely 5 day break, three in Berlin and 2 in Dresden.
August
Manchester – Venice
Venice – Manchester
Airline: Monarch
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
Large queues at Manchester that went down very quickly, and a good efficient service from Monarch. This flight was for a 2 week Med Cruise. Getting from the Airport to the cruise terminal and back was painless with a pre-booked taxi, and we were very glad we did pre-book as the queues at both ends were ENORMOUS.
Venice Airport on the way back was dangerously overcrowded, and to compound problems we had a 2 hour flight delay, so we went out and sunbathed in front of the airport. The next time I fly to or from Venice, I will make sure that it’s not a Saturday in August!
Leeds Bradford Airport – Dusseldorf
Dusseldorf – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Jet2.com
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
A long weekend break to Cologne over the August bank holiday weekend for the Mrs and me – lovely. No problems or issues with flights or airports.
October
Leeds Bradford Airport – Dublin
Airline: Ryanair
Train to Belfast
Belfast City - Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: FlyBe
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
Me and my mate went on a plane and train bash for the day, the whole journey done in around 13 hours for less than £70!
Leeds Bradford Airport – Ibiza
Airline:Jet2
Ibiza – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Ryanair
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
The combo of Jet2 and Ryanair worked well here, to get us to the white isle early on Saturday, with a late return flight on Tuesday, maximising our time on the island. This was a family long weekend for the Wife’s birthday. No issue with flight there, or the airports, but the return flight was delayed an hour, and we had to put up with an extremely drunk swearing passenger for the whole flight back. The male cabin stewards did nothing to stop him other than flirt with him. Not the best experience.
November
Manchester – Berlin Tegel
Airline: Lufthansa
Train to Erfurt and then Dusseldorf
Dusseldorf – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: Jet2
Purpose of Trip: Business
Working for a few days in the foggy Thuringian countryside. Lovely place, for a few isolated days. No issues with flights or airports, got a bargain £20 flight from Lufty! I do like how Lufthansa text the gate number before it shows on the screen. First on the plane again : )
December
Manchester – Cologne Bonn
Cologne Bonn – Dresden
Airline: GermanWings
Train to Prague
Prague – Leeds
Airline: Jet2
Purpose of Trip: Business
Dresden is my favourite city in Germany, so working there really shouldn’t be considered business as it is a pleasure! The route via Cologne is the most direct there and usually the cheapest / fastest option. The only issue with this is a 4 hour wait at Cologne. It’s not as bad as it sounds as it is an interesting airport with a good mix of aircraft to watch, and it has free Wi-Fi and reasonably priced beer at the bar.
Dresden Airport is a fantastic airport with good rail connections to the centre, I only wish there were more direct flights from the UK.
Train to Prague is a delight along the snow covered Elbe Valley, and Prague airport always easy to negotiate and efficient. Queues beaten by keeping an eye on the staff rather than the check-in boards! The flight was on time and I had a full row to myself.
A bit of footage from Prague Vaclav Havel airport, including a Polish Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner
[youtube]dqXz_3Zkxa8[/youtube]
Leeds Bradford Airport – Amsterdam Schipol
Amsterdam Schipol – Leeds Bradford Airport
Airline: KLM
Purpose of Trip: Leisure
KLM undercut Jet2 pricewise on this route, and coupled with free luggage with a beer and a sarnie thrown in for good measure it would have been rude not to. This made a nice break between Christmas and New Year for the Mrs and me. We had good short flights, efficient and polite service, both airports good, no gripes either way. Great rail connections from Schipol to our hotel at Sloterdijk (11 mins). Great automation at Schipol, but unfortunately bashed luggage which we are now claiming for, not sure which end it was done at, but KLM are paying.
So in summary, during 2012 I took 27 flights for 13 return journeys or round trips.
77% of my flights were for Leisure and 23% for Business.
69% of my UK outbound flights originated from Leeds Bradford Airport and 31% of my UK outbound flights were from Manchester.
77% of my UK inbound flights were to Leeds Bradford Airport.
My most visited non-UK airport was Dusseldorf International (2 flights to DUS and 3 flights from DUS) on my most flown route which was the Jet2 service between LBA and DUS (or vice versa).
33% of my flights were with Jet2, 19% of my flights were with Ryanair and 48% of my flights were with other airlines.
All of my flights were short haul.
We must be out of recession as my flights in 2012 are up in total by 15% on 2011!
So over to you lot – what was 2012 like in flights for you?