V-Flyer

Thought I’d add on a couple of old trip reports that I’d done but forgot to submit.

Off to the south coast of England for a couple of days on business, just me travelling then meeting a colleague down there.

Managed to have a longer lie for once as I didn't have to be at the airport until 8am and it's only 5 mins away from my house! Got to the British Airways self-service kiosks, printed off the vouchers but it hadn't allocated a seat number and gave me a voucher to speak to the sales desk, who said I didn't have a confirmed seat but I was to go through security and report to the BA desk in the departure lounge and they’d sort me out with something. Pretty annoyed about this, the flight had been booked 3 days in advance and they had charged my company a small fortune for it.

Got through security, reported to the BA desk at the end of the domestic pier and was told they didn’t have any news for me to wait in the BA Galleries lounge. With three BA flights due to leave to London (LHR/LGW/LCY) within 15 minutes of each other, the lounge was absolutely packed. It’s due to be expanded sometime in 2013. Managed to stand and eat a bowl of cereal before the Heathrow flight was called and I got a seat and a glass of OJ.

The Gatwick flight was called and, thinking they’d forgotten about me, I went back out to the BA desk only for them to tell me to go back to the lounge. Eventually after the final boarding call did they work out they had a seat for me after all and they put out a call to find me.

Last on the plane, aisle seat 6D but unfortunately all the overhead bins were absolutely stuffed so a cabin crew disappeared with my bag back to row 18 or somewhere. They are discouraging hold baggage on the Gatwick flights expect them to start charging soon. It was a 23 year old 737-400 , amazed BA still flew them but then again their Gatwick operation (ex Dan Air / BCal) have always been a bit different. Plane pushed back 10 minutes late (I guess that’s classified as on time?) and took off on runway 23. I didn't have any work to do, was fully prepped so read a newspaper. Was sitting across the aisle from a couple with a young child sitting on their lap. To most people this would be a disaster but the kid was great, I played peek-a-boo with her, chatted to the parents about flying with her (picking up tips for my forthcoming flight with my toddler).

Flight passed very quickly, we seemed to come straight into Gatwick without any detours, landed slightly early given that the allocated 1.5 hour flight time is generous. Despite being row 6 I had to let everybody get off the plane before me before I could move back down the a/c to find my bag.

I normally use LHR, this is the first time I’d been to Gatwick since I was a child, seemed a lot nicer than I remembered! I waited for my colleague who was on the EasyJet from Aberdeen, then got the monorail to the south terminal. One of the things that always strikes me about London is the amount of commercialism and advertising, and to stand out from the crowd they frequently cover an entire area with the same garish branding, and the Gatwick Express ticket area is a good example of how awful this can be. I was told to report to the ticket machines, type in my reservation number, put in my own credit card as identification but it didn't work. Went up to the ticket office where I spoke to a grumpy and suspicious gent, straight out of British Rail 1980s stereotypes, he asked me for the credit card in which it had been booked under, I told him it was booked by my corporation’s travel agent so I didn't have it. Much huffing and puffing later he finally throws a couple of tickets under the window and tells me not to do it again.

Got the Southern Rail service south, quite a pleasant way to travel to/from the airport. Overall disappointed with the BA product.