scoobs214
Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2019
- Posts
- 119
Hi Everyone,
It's been awhile since I posted a trip report and I'm currently sitting doing very little in the Lufthansa Lounge at FRA airport, so thought I would do this one as it was my first time flying out of London City (LCY) airport yesterday.
I'm heading to San Diego on United and was going to leave from my home airport of Heathrow but managed to save a couple of hundred GBP by flying ex FRA.
So I used my BA avios and booked a positioning flight. Usually I fly out of Heathrow, as I live in West London and it's more convenient, however LCY was my only option. I was excited to fly from there as I've always wanted but never had a reason to.
My flight left early at 0810 but I wanted to leave home at 5am to make things stress free. Usually I'd take the tube but its first service was 5:20 so I grabbed an Uber (40gbp!) and had a very easy trek across the city to East London missing ALL early traffic. Went right past Trafalgar square on this lovely sunny british morning (not! hehe)
Anyway, arrived in record breaking time and LCY was very busy. Its a tiny airport but I started to really like it. I had already checked in online using the BA app and only had carry on luggage so went straight upstairs to border and security and was thru in 5mins. They have the new scanners so no need to remove laptops etc.
Then had a wander around the airport which upstairs, is a very tight bottleneck. It does get very crowded with all the biz travellers. The downside tho there are no lounges and with my BA status I couldn't take advantage of that.
So I sat at a gate and watched the planes - mostly Embraer E190's, Dash-8's and ATR's due to the short runway and tight glide scope required to takeoff and land.
I watched as my plane got ready for boarding:
I didn't get any photos of the interior of the terminal (apologies) but there's not a lot to show really.
We boarded on time and I sat in my seat 25A at the very rear of the aircraft. It was a quiet flight so I had no seat neighbour which was nice. These E190s are so roomy, so much better than a 737 and A320 in my opinion. And having only a 2+2 seating config makes it even better. It's worth to note, I could have booked Club Europe (Biz class) but it's not worth it for a 90min flight. Also the seat is exactly the same. The only benefit is a fancier meal and you disemark the plane earlier.
Having said that, on my way back from the states, I am connecting thru FRA again and have booked Club Europe to LHR, so we shall see what it's like. Over here in Europe biz class is basically the same seat as economy with the middle seat blocked out and a proper meal. Not like in OZ where you get a decent seat.
I can highly recommend the last row on the E190, there is normal recline and a wall behind you and a normal window. So perfect really.
On the BA seat map it says it's an exit row, but it is not, so you can keep your bag under the seat in front, which was convenient.
We left the gate on time and taxied to the runway passing a LogainAir plane landing.
Look how green that grass is! That's rare to see in Aussie!
The pilot hit the brakes and spooled up the engines to max thrust before we rolled down the runway, and then off we went like a rocket into the sky!
Passing over some amazing London sights.
I've reached my photo limit so please see part 2!
It's been awhile since I posted a trip report and I'm currently sitting doing very little in the Lufthansa Lounge at FRA airport, so thought I would do this one as it was my first time flying out of London City (LCY) airport yesterday.
I'm heading to San Diego on United and was going to leave from my home airport of Heathrow but managed to save a couple of hundred GBP by flying ex FRA.
So I used my BA avios and booked a positioning flight. Usually I fly out of Heathrow, as I live in West London and it's more convenient, however LCY was my only option. I was excited to fly from there as I've always wanted but never had a reason to.
My flight left early at 0810 but I wanted to leave home at 5am to make things stress free. Usually I'd take the tube but its first service was 5:20 so I grabbed an Uber (40gbp!) and had a very easy trek across the city to East London missing ALL early traffic. Went right past Trafalgar square on this lovely sunny british morning (not! hehe)
Anyway, arrived in record breaking time and LCY was very busy. Its a tiny airport but I started to really like it. I had already checked in online using the BA app and only had carry on luggage so went straight upstairs to border and security and was thru in 5mins. They have the new scanners so no need to remove laptops etc.
Then had a wander around the airport which upstairs, is a very tight bottleneck. It does get very crowded with all the biz travellers. The downside tho there are no lounges and with my BA status I couldn't take advantage of that.
So I sat at a gate and watched the planes - mostly Embraer E190's, Dash-8's and ATR's due to the short runway and tight glide scope required to takeoff and land.
I watched as my plane got ready for boarding:
I didn't get any photos of the interior of the terminal (apologies) but there's not a lot to show really.
We boarded on time and I sat in my seat 25A at the very rear of the aircraft. It was a quiet flight so I had no seat neighbour which was nice. These E190s are so roomy, so much better than a 737 and A320 in my opinion. And having only a 2+2 seating config makes it even better. It's worth to note, I could have booked Club Europe (Biz class) but it's not worth it for a 90min flight. Also the seat is exactly the same. The only benefit is a fancier meal and you disemark the plane earlier.
Having said that, on my way back from the states, I am connecting thru FRA again and have booked Club Europe to LHR, so we shall see what it's like. Over here in Europe biz class is basically the same seat as economy with the middle seat blocked out and a proper meal. Not like in OZ where you get a decent seat.
I can highly recommend the last row on the E190, there is normal recline and a wall behind you and a normal window. So perfect really.
On the BA seat map it says it's an exit row, but it is not, so you can keep your bag under the seat in front, which was convenient.
We left the gate on time and taxied to the runway passing a LogainAir plane landing.
Look how green that grass is! That's rare to see in Aussie!
The pilot hit the brakes and spooled up the engines to max thrust before we rolled down the runway, and then off we went like a rocket into the sky!
Passing over some amazing London sights.
I've reached my photo limit so please see part 2!
She also didn't charge me for early checkin or checkout so I saved some Euros. I did spend those Euros on a rather extortionate room service food bill, but oh well! hehe. You gotta have a G&T (more than one maybe), while watching planes!
