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#892783 by VS075
18 Jan 2015, 11:16
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Hello,

I thought I'd write up a little trip report for my first flight on-board Little Red from MAN to LHR. The trip came about looking for an excuse to go to London for the day on the cheap, so a combination of finding a £35 fare on Little Red and cheap train tickets heading back north that evening meant the trip was on.

I checked in online the day before (and got the famed SEQ 1 in the process y) ) and arrived at MAN at around 9am having got a train to Piccadilly and then swapped for a rail replacement bus as the line to Manchester Airport (including Metrolink) is closed for the next few weeks whilst the new fourth platform at the Airport station is physically connected, integrated and commissioned.

It's always struck me as a bizarre choice to have Little Red operating out of T3. At LHR they used T1 like Aer Lingus and moved with them to T2 recently, but at MAN EI use T1 for their flights and VS use T2 for theirs - neither have ever used T3 to the best of my knowledge. Furthermore, since T1 was redeveloped 7 years ago T3 is not the most user-friendly terminal to get to if you're travelling to/from the Airport by public transport. Previously, you walked to T1, through the landside bit up to the food court and through that to get to T3. Nowadays, that's no longer possible, so instead you have to walk to the end of the elevated walkway outside T1, get a lift down to Ground Level, follow the signs and then through an outdoor sheltered walkway.

The above proved farcical yesterday as there's 3 lifts at the end of the walkway, but 1 was closed for refurbishment and the other had a fault, so it just left 1 working lift. When I got to the bottom I saw a big queue of passengers with luggage waiting to get a lift up. When I was walking to T3, I walked past the entrance to T1 Ground Level Check In, as used by Jet2, so a top tip from me for the future is to avoid the lifts and just go through T1 and the Ground Level Check In instead.

Anyway, I got to T3 and went straight through security with no queues and proceeded to go to Costa to catch up on things on the iPad over a coffee. Whilst there, I saw the A320 I would be flying on down to LHR in the form of EI-EZW. After finishing the coffee I ambled down to the gate to await boarding and I sensed that the flight was going to be 50-60% full. Not bad, though if this is the norm then it's little wonder why this is being cut soon.

Boarding commenced at 10.10am and was completed with 10mins to go before departure time. We was off stand on time and taxied to Runway 23R for take-off behind the AAA 757 heading to JFK.

The service commenced shortly after take-off with the drinks trolley coming down. I had a tea and a glass of water with this along with a pack of Little Red crisps. The stewardess first gave me a chocolate cookie which I requested to swap for crisps, which she did but didn't say anything in the process and nor did she do so with a smile. I must have been spoilt in PE last September going to MCO see here and here, unless morale is down with these flights soon to be axed?

Anyway, the flight passed over quote quickly and soon we were being held in one of the many LHR stacks circling above Buckinghamshire about 3 times before being allowed to make our approach. During this time, the seat belt sign came on early for some light turbulence and the crew did a partial rubbish run (they didn't get down to my seat). Before long, we landed and and we were then taxiing to our gate at the new T2. Disembarkation took place quickly and the crew greeted us off with a smile (that's more like it), and after walking for must have been miles, I got to the station to get a Heathrow Connect train to Paddington.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the Little Red experience. For me, it's good to have a choice of carriers besides BA but I probably wouldn't fly regularly to get to London as the train in 2hrs from Wigan still wins hands down. If the staff could probably smile a bit more, I would be even more impressed, though that's a minor point.

I'm booked on another Little Red flight in March, this time from LHR to MAN about a week or so before the final flight. I look forward to trying it again as well as sampling the new T2 at LHR. TR to follow in due course.

Thanks for reading. :)
Last edited by honey lamb on 18 Jan 2015, 18:46, edited 1 time in total. Reason: Edited to fix links

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