Coming up today, a flight and an airport that were supposed to be a complete disaster.
The check in queues should have been miles long.
The security check, understaffed.
The flight, hours late.
Wouldn’t you know it- none of that happened.
The full trip report begins in 15 seconds.
Hi there, if you’re new here, welcome- my name is Kevin and today I’m going to take
you along on my flight from London Gatwick to Barcelona.
But first, a 5:00am uber ride which at 105 pounds cost more than the flight itself.
Get there early, they said.
So I did!
If you’d like to see the full fare that I paid as well as the next five videos coming
out- please check out the description below.
I mean, from the moment I stepped out of the Uber, it was pretty clear that mayhem was
not breaking out quite yet.
Taking up a good chunk of the north terminal, Easyjet has a huge operation out of Gatwick
with over 200 departing flights per day this summer.
Everything was meant to be automated and the queues for check in were just about 10 minutes
long when I arrived just before 6:00.
Note, you can’t checkin on our own more than three hours in advance.
I was there three hours and five minutes prior to departure and had to have an agent sort
out my kiosk.
Gatwick being the 2nd largest of London’s five airports- is a major hub for leisure
travel and my trip through security was complete in less than 15 minutes.
I am someone who can unpack and repack their carry ons with their eyes closed, but most
travelers would appreciate just after the x-ray machines there were numerous designated
areas for you to step aside and sort out your bags without feeling pressured to do so instantaneously
like you are at most TSA check points in the US.
After passing through a maze of duty free shops you’ll be deposited here which is
where you’ll likely be forced to wait if you’re early for your flight.
More on that in a minute.
For me, I headed to the No. 1 lounge which I accessed with Priority Pass.
The lounge was fantastic and far above what I was expecting for a contract lounge at a
leisure airport in Europe.
There were plenty of seating areas, a full bar and a decent spread for breakfast.
It was crowded during my visit, but there was still always a seat to be found.
I was lucky enough to park myself at the far corner of the lounge, with floor to ceiling
windows on both sides.
By the way, if you’re enjoying this video so far, please be sure to give it a thumbs
up and hit that subscribe button.
Alright, now back to that forced waiting.
So, Easyjet- perhaps Gatwick in general- doesn’t post gate information until literal minutes
prior to the posted boarding time.
If this was a single concourse, that would be fine- but if you want to leave that central
hall you’re going to need to pick one of three very different directions.
So I did a bit of digging.
Found my aircraft registration and then checked it’s previous flight and just zoomed in
until I could figure out which gate- or at least which area it was parked at.
So, towards gate 112 I went.
It's a pretty cool setup, taking you up and over the taxi way with fantastic views of
the apron literally below you.
A few travelators and escalators later I found my aircraft.
Waited a around 20 minutes at the gate at which point the gate was posted exactly at
the same time as pre-boarding began.
One thing I’m not a fan of is how Easyjet structures their fare bundles.
It’s not totally a la carte so you’ll possibly end up paying for a benefit you don’t
really need.
In this case, early boarding, which was popular.
Once on board we were presented with a bit of a dated interior but a very well kept one.
Todays flight took off just eight minutes late and brought us up to 35000 feet for the
hour and forty four minute flight south to Barcelona, with an early arrival.
Today’s flight was on an Austrian registered A319 which is officially part of the Easyjet
Europe fleet now, a new registration created post Brexit.
And while I’m not one to fall for crappy British weather stereotypes, this certainly
was the greyest of taxis I think I’ve ever seen.
We would be taking off to the east before turning south to cross Metropolitan France.
The spool up is coming up next.
Gotta admit, A319 spool ups are not the most exciting.
But, if you’d like to check out the full length take off video of this flight, please
check out my Roam Above channel.
A link is below.
I genuinely thank Easyjet for making their layouts so straightforward, this was probably
the easiest interior graphic I ever made.
Inside we find 26 rows, three of which are designated as extra legroom seats, with come
with an extra cost.
11 pounds extra in this case for my seat, 11F.
There’s not loads of legroom but it’s better than 28” of pitch.
Shortly after take off the crew organized a payable food and drink service.
The menus were nicely laid out with a decent selection for reasonable prices.
But, the only thing I was really interested in trying were one of the sandwiches on offer-
which were either sold out by the time they got to me or just not loaded on this flight…
and so, for the meal service, I had this.
An empty and dirty tray table.
Thankfully I ate in the lounge anyway.
We began to approach Barcelona from the north before our final which kept that grey theme
going.
Touch down was so smooth it was almost silent and we made our way to our remote parking
stand, passing a pretty sleek private 737 on the way.
Immigration was a matter of seconds and the bags soon followed- then onto the city center
to the Almanac Hotel which will be featured in my next video.
Here, we have today’s Flip Flop Score.
Overall, it was a perfectly fine low cost flight- fairly comfortable and on time- not
much else to ask for.
I do hope you enjoyed this quick trip report today.
If you did, please don’t forget to give the video a thumbs up and subscribe for two
new videos each week.