Flybe. Guernsey-Gatwick-Guernsey

Hey guys,
Just come back from London this evening after a fabulous weekend of Christmas shopping in London. Thought you might be interested to read my report.

Basically the flight left Guernsey at 07:15 in the morning, it meant being up the airport at least 45 minutes early and so it was up at the unsociable hour of 05:00 for us. Check in was really quite long, the flight was full plus you had the Flybe. Southampton flight out. Our flight was called while we were not even checked in yet and so we were ushered to the front of the cue, seemed to be a slow check in process, seems one of the faults of the e-ticket. Onboard the BAe 146 we left at the scheduled time and headed west out of the island towards Alderney and the Isle of Wight while then descending on to Gatwick runway 08R. Flight was uneventful, a few lumps and bumps but nothing major. I bought an orange juice, 60p, which is average. Landing was a huge disappointment, clouds all the way and then very low-lying clouds meant we only saw land a few seconds before touchdown. At Gatwick we waited 40 minutes for our bags, disgraceful. Lucky enough the Gatwick Express runs every 30 minutes and so we were not delayed. The Gatwick Express is very convenient and takes you to central London, which is a bonus.

London itself is just amazing at Christmas time, the shops are full of excellent presents and the ambience is just great. Went to see a show, Harrods, walk around Hyde Park etc. Absolutely freezing though!

Today we left London at 14:00 in the afternoon. Checked in an hour later and then headed through security where they were very forough, all hand luggage checked, body checks, the whole shabang. Gatwick South seemed to have been done up a bit, there were some good quality shops. A winter afternoon is an excellent time to travel through the airport because there are hardly any people. With an hour to kill we went to the Metro Bar, which gave me the oppurtunity to do a bit of spotting. Saw the Aurigny ATR 72 (going to have to try them to Gatwick soon), one of the new Easyjet A319s, TAP A320, Air Southwest Dash 8. The flight was called at 15:40 though I just hate waiting down at those grotty domestic gates and so didn’t go down to gate 105 until they were actually boarding. Our seats were 15B,C and 16D. We booked on early yet they split us up? It was annoying though after some confusion we managed to sit together. The flight took off on time. Climbed to 18,000ft and heaed left out of Gatwick and turned towards Southampton and headed down to Guernsey. The journey was again average, I bought an orange juice and some nuts. Landing was bumpy, London was so still yet here in the Channel the weather was really quite blustery. We landed about on time and soon after we arrived home.

All in all an average flight, you get what you pay for with an LCC carrier.