I was actually flying all the way from London to the Orkney Islands - via Inverness - but with two different airlines and two different bookings. And therefore two different reports.
Inverness is the perfect distance from London for UK airlines - the train service which is very competitive to Glasgow and Edinburgh becomes very slow on the route north and adds hours to the journey. So flying to Inverness is a very attractive alternative. And yet...
The history of flights between Inverness and London is quite interesting. Many years ago, Dan Air flew three times daily to Heathrow and this transferred to British Airways when they bought Dan Air for £1.
BA then moved the service to Gatwick to great local annoyance; before transferring it again to smaller aircraft operating BA Connect, which was then purchased by FlyBe.
bmi also started a daily service to Heathrow but this was not to last.
In the meantime, KLMuk tried a daily service from Inverness to Stansted (which was not a success.) easyJet however have had success with a daily (sometimes twice daily) service to Gatwick and a daily service to Luton. They have had more success since March when FlyBe sold their Gatwick slots to easyJet; meaning that the 'upstart' is now the only airline to ply the route. So for now there are three easyJet departures daily - two to Gatwick and one to Luton that are often fully booked. That will change in October when Flybe return to Inverness with a London City service, but for now, it's a very very busy route. That said, I paid about £80 return for my flight - including prebooked luggage and seat selection.
But enough history, here is my journey.
My local station has a twice hourly service to East Croydon, where you can catch a plethera of trains to Gatwick, which call every ten minutes or so. There are two rail companies: Southern and First Capital Connect - with First Capital Connect charging only £4.50 : however they operate some of the oldest trains and can often be dirty.
However, getting to Croydon was a hassle from the start! With this message:
This was not what I wanted to see! I tend to leave ample time to get to the airport - but what if this delay was on the mainline to Gatwick? Stress Level - calm.
My option two was a connecting train just to get to Croydon, and as I changed trains a Gatwick Airport train arrived. However my ticket was "First Capital Connect ONLY" so I couldn't use it beyond East Croydon. Stress level - still calm.
I got to East Croydon where I saw that the next train I could use was seven minutes away, so that gave me time for a relaxing connection.
First Capital Connect Trains are generally dirty, however this one was old, but clean. And empty!
This train is non stop to Gatwick, and arrives at the South Terminal. At the brand new Platform 7! (Exciting, eh?)
I followed the signs to the North Terminal, which is accessible via a travelator and a little train...
The North Terminal certainly feels smart these days.
No danger of ice today...
Bag Drop
I cannot imagine how awful this would be in the peak season!
There was a queue which moved fairly quickly. I noticed that easyJet now have a priority bag drop for speedy boarding passengers.
I didn't have to wait long though. There are rumours that easyJet will take over the entire North Terminal - I can easily see this happening. I didn't feel comfortable taking a pic of the 'live' bag drop area, so this is the opposite side which wasn't in use today - however it does give you a sense of the size of easyJet's Gatwick operations.
Security was incredibly quick, and it was off to discover the No. 1 Traveller Lounge.
I think the 'oversized' signs worked really well.
British Airways, Emirates, No. 1 Traveller and Aspire lounges are in one place, on different floors. Aspire being consigned to the basement - more on that later!
Some wandering around the lounge...
The food offering...
Looks messy, tasted great!
Airport time is of course different from normal time.
The view wasn't great, however the sun was shining so I found a sun trap to relax.
I decided to try and visit the Aspire lounge on the lower floor, as my Priority Pass provides access here too.
Aspire lounges are operated by Servisair whose lounges can be very hit and miss affairs. This one was new.
However I was not to get in... as they were full. "Come back in ten minutes" said the lady, and the A4 sheet on the door. A shame, as I actually could see several empty seats / tables so not sure why they had an A4 sheet saying 'full' on the door. But I will have to wait for another time to sample this lounge!
Now that I was out of the lounges I wanted to go to the gate, however there was a delay.
This was not managed well - a small delay became a major irritation. easyJet warn you that gates close 30 minutes before the flight departs, and the screens simply displayed 'Gate announced at 11:25. 11:25 came and went and at 11:35 was updated to say "Gate announced at 11:45". Quite annoying. The reason (from the easyJet app) was a delay on the aircraft's previous flights but there was now a large number of passengers anxiously waiting. And I had booked a further flight from Inverness to Kirkwall! Stress level: irritated.
The gate was then announced and there were about 120 passengers trying to get to their flight. Remember easyJet have harsh warnings about gates closing.
We then went to a stifingly hot gate, where we waited for a bit longer.
Boarding was announced (easyJet card holders and Speedy Boarders are permitted to board first).
There was scramble for the boarding queue, which, as expected simply ended up in a backlog of passengers on the jetway. Grrrrrr.
And then I boarded! One last look at the bird that would fly me to Inverness.
People get very anxious about boarding, but with easyJet's (in fact most airlines nowadays) pre-allocated seating there is no need to panic, really.
I think reserving your space in the overhead locker could be the next ancilliary service that low cost airlines will charge for!
The flight was nice. I fell asleep almost instantly after struggling to put my seat belt on. I am sure that they have made the straps shorter. ;-)
A gorgeous day as we left Gatwick.
I was planning to have a drink on board, but I was super tired for some reason so decided not to.
I dozed off a few times, and I think I may have snored. Sorry fellow passengers.
Inverness was reached in what felt like no time at all, passing the Norbord woodmill which is constantly pumping out steam.
Another perfect easyJet landing, at a cloudy Inverness.
To something I thought I would never see - a Loganair plane with their logo on the tail. This plane was for their Royal Mail contract - every other plane in passenger service is in FlyBe colours (and before that in British Airways Express colours) - in fact this is the first Loganair branded plane I have seen since about 1993!
I had a few hours to kill at the worlds smallest airport lounge before heading to Kirkwall.
To be continued...
) and look forward to the next thrilling instalment.
