Flight Review: LGW-DUB-LGW (plus photos)

Tues 17-Feb-04
10.00am
FR113
Gatwick to Dublin

We arrived at London Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal at about 7.40am for our 10.00am flight to Dublin. The information screens told us to check in at Zone H, but it seemed to be dominated by easyJet and Maersk flights to the continent. Airport staff then told us that we had to go to zone C. After 10 minutes or so, we found the two desks for the flight. Both opened dead on 8.00am, 2 hours before departure. The check-in process was very swift. We had an Indian family in front of us who clearly had excess baggage, lots and lots of kitchen applicances were amongst their luggage; microwaves, steamers etc! After about 5 minutes queuing, we were checked in and issued boarding numbers 12 and 13. We were surely guaranteed a great seat on board the 737 providing the short service to Ireland.

After passing through security, a member of staff asked if he could perform a random search on me. I agree and he started to check me all over, even though I had passed the metal detector test.

Once into departures, there was about 1 hour 20 minutes to kill before boarding so we took a trip up to the viewing gallery within the terminal. This was a corner of the building which offered acceptable views of the apron. Due to building works, views were slightly restricted. Gatwick seemed quite busy, with many of the long haul charter flights to Montego Bay, Banjul and Cancun (to name a few) departing. In the North terminal were Delta 767s departing and arriving and a Northwest DC-10 and US Airways A330.

As I had predicted, the information screens told us we were boarding at gate number 109, but the aircraft hadn’t even arrived from Dublin, so there was little point in making a move. Within 5 to 10 minutes, we watched as an Islandsflug 737-400 touched down on runway 26L. A slight disappointment, since we were expecting the 737-200 of Ryanair! With Ryanair’s incredibly short turnaround times, we made our way to the gate and waited with many others for the flight to Dublin.

Once disabled passengers and those with children had boarded, they got ready to board everyone else. Since I had never flown using Ryanair’s boarding number method before, I didn’t know how it was going to work. I had expected the first 20 or 30 passengers to board first. I was very surprised when they called everyone up to number 65 to board! There was a sudden rush – we wanted 2 window seats! Eventually, we were probably the 20th or so people to get on board and secure two F-seats about 3 rows from the back of the aircraft (TF-ELV).

All seemed to be going well and our flight looked as if it may depart on time. A head count of those on board proved that something was wrong. The number of passengers on the aircraft did not tally with what they had on paper. We were all asked to get our boarding cards out so they could be checked. Everyone leapt out of their seats and collected their cards from the overhead lockers. A total waste of time as nobody even bothered to check them! The doors were closed and the aircraft pushed back and took a short cut to 26L for departure. Departing after a Virgin Atlantic 747, we left about 10 minutes late.

After taking off, we were practically on course for Dublin, flying west. We cruised at around 30,000ft and spent perhaps 20 minutes at cruising altitude before beginning the descent into Dublin.

Cabin service was as you could expect from a low cost airline. The crew members, dare I say, appeared to have no idea as to what they were doing, also looked very scruffy! One young member of crew seemed to be on leash, much like a dog, never going anywhere by herself! Drinks and snacks were extremely overpriced, perhaps 150% more than what you would pay in the supermarket for a bar of chocolate or a can of pop! I didn’t make any purchases.

The aircraft looked very nice from the outside, but the inside was quite disgusting. The whole aircraft looked very tired and dirty. There was velcro on the top of every seat, but no headrest attached to it, and if you couldn’t find at least one chocolate wrapper or bottle in every seatback pocket, you had struck lucky! As I shoved my bag under neath the seat in front, I could see a lifevest in it’s container, lying on the floor – certainly not where it should have been!

Seat pitch was somewhere in the region of 28-29″ and was a real squeeze. I had to put up with the serious obese passengers whose big belly was forcing we up against the side of the aircraft, making my flight slightly less comfortable than I would have liked!

Anyway, the rest of the flight was straight forward and we slammed down on the runway at Dublin with some force and were almost thrown out of our seats as the Icelandic (?) Captain really over-applied the reverse thrust! After making a right turn off of the runway, we taxiied at incredible speed to the terminal and were quickly dismebarked. I think our late departure may have affected the departure of the next flight to Gatwick, which was not acceptable in the eyes of Ryanair.

A quick and stress-free trip through Dublin Airport within 10 minutes and ready to spend a day in the city.

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Tues 17-Feb-04
7.10am
FR118
Dublin to Gatwick

Since Dublin is a hub for Ryanair, we had assumed that we could check in at pretty much any time for our return flight to London Gatwick Airport at 7.10pm. We arrived at check-in at about 5.00pm and check-in opened 2 hours before departure (again) at 5.10pm. We were almost at the front of the queue and were issued boarding cards 10 and 11, so good seats almost guaranteed.

After stuffing myself at the rather nice McDonald’s in departures, we proceeded through security and went straight to boarding area A, as stated on the boarding card (how they can call it a card I’ll never know. It was a scrap of paper printed on using a dot-matrix printer!). The surrounding flights were all domestic departures to the rest of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Ryanair service to Luton, British Airways to Derry, Aer Arrann to Cork(?) and a couple of others. We took a seat right next to boarding gate A10 ready to hop straight to the front of the queue when the aircraft arrived.

At about 6.40pm, there was an announcement: “Passengers for Ryanair FR118 to London Gatwick, please make your way to gate number A10 for boarding”. As you can probably expect, there was not an aircraft to board. It arrived about 5 minutes later and once those who had flown in from Gatwick on FR117 had disembarked, boarding begain straight away. Following the announcement, everyone had gathered at gate A10 and a queue had been formed. There was no way I was joining queue though. When the boarding call was put out and we allowed to walk across the apron to our aircraft, again TF-ELV, both of us legged it to the front of the queue and raced towards the 737-400. I opted to travel business class this time around (!!) and took up an A-seat next to the first overwing emergency exit. The amount of leg room was enormous and I have never (not even with Thai, United or British Airways) had so much space to stretch my legs. I was given a card to read about the exit row and how I would be relied upon if the worst should happen – but me? reliable? No chance!

The doors were closed and we pushed back for departure. A fast taxi again to the runway for departure, but not quite as fast as the inbound service. Our French Captain, Jean-Phillippe, said a few words about how it was busy and explained that we were number 5 in the queue for the runway, with an Air France BAe-146 and several Aer Lingus 737s up ahead of us.

Whilst waiting, we endured the safety demonstration and being in the exit row, I got a front row seat with a member of crew stood right next to me, using the overhead panel to simulate the breathing apparatus falling, above my head! The two old people sat next to me casually chatted away and were asked to pay attention by Cabin Crew member, Sarah. These two ended up getting drunk on whisky later on!

Since I was so chuffed with my Ryanair Business Class seat, I decided to have a Kit Kat Chunky and a small can of Coke. Expecting it be about £1.50 (very expensive), it turned out to be £2.00 (very very expensive). I think next time I’ll take my own. After drinks and snacks, it was time for onboard shopping and rather than bring the trolley out, the crew simply passed through the cabin asking if anybody wanted to buy anything.

The aircraft descended and landed at London Gatwick on runway 8R at about 8.20pm and we disembarked after just about everyone else and passed through the airport in a few minutes. In the passport control area, some man collected the boarding cards in – I wanted it as souvenir, but had to hand it in.

Overall, my experience with Ryanair was an interesting one. I am really very pleased with the cost of the flight. At £29.07 for a return trip (about 590 miles altogether), it was unbeatable value. But the aircraft was not in good condition and you would find bottles, sweet wrappers etc in the seatback pockets. I would have hoped that the Cabin Crew would have spent at least 5 minutes between flights to have a quick clean-up. I’d only ever use Ryanair again to fly to Dublin. The primary reason for this is that Luton and Stansted are not really accessible via public transport and only Dublin is served from Gatwick.