Introduction

I’m on my way to London. I have tickets to see a play at the Drury Lane theatre. It’s been quite a while since I last took a flight to London’s City airport, so I’m curious to see how the airport has developed in the meantime.

It’s Friday afternoon at 17h15 when my train pulls into the station at Zürich Airport, exactly two hours before departure.

Check-In

I’ve already checked in online. The BA app works quite well, although I find it remarkable just how many updates they make for it. In any case, at Zürich Airport, British Airways checks in on row 2 at check-in 2 and is handled by DNATA.

Airside

The airport is not at all busy this evening. All three levels of the centralized security screening area are open, even though there are hardly enough passengers to keep one queue busy.

My flight is departing from one of the E gates in the satellite terminal. Boarding starts in just over an hour, so I figure I might as well make my way down to the basement to catch the train over to the E gates.

There’s not that much going on here either. The SWISS flight to Bangkok is in the final stages of boarding and Turkish is here with a B 777-300. Ethiopian’s gorgeous A 350-900 is already parked at the gate, but that won’t be leaving until later in the evening.

The inbound from London City pulls onto its stand at 18h20, and I’m even able to take a few good pictures, despite the awkward angle. I head downstairs, where another former student of mine is the dispatcher in charge of readying our flight for the return to London.

Boarding

Boarding starts on time at 18h45 and the gate agent strictly boards the flight be zones, calling zones 1 and 2 together for boarding. I think I’ll just wait for the initial scrum to pass before I stand up. Eventually, though, the scrum doesn’t really happen and it’s more like a thin trickle. I’m the second last passenger to board, and I count 44 passengers ahead of me.

The Cabin & Seat

The aircraft looks as though it was only recently refurbished. It’s a very nice cabin. The bulkheads are in dark, greyish blue, with the Speedbird swoosh mounted on the right side. The seats are very comfortable and have an adjustable head rest, which I find a bit unusual on an aicraft of this size. More importantly, I’m on row seven and the leg space is simply outstanding. I can easily stretch my legs.

The Service & Crew

There are three cabin crew working this flight. I wouldn’t say they’re gushing exactly, but they’re friendly enough. The cabin service manager, though, is an odd one. I would say she’s probably Spanish. Her face is set in what looks like a permanent couldn’t-give -a-shit look, as though smiling might hurt, which is somewhat incongruent with her chosen profession. What is even more noticeable, though, is that her announcements are completely incomprehensible. She could be saying anything. The old guy on the other side of the aisle looks at what must be his son, and asks him “what she saying?”, and they both start tittering. The only thing I manage to catch is “wangwhurl”, by which I’m guessing she meant OneWorld.

The Snack

On the Cityflyer services complimentary drinks and snacks are served. There’s a full bar service, including beer and wine, and a choice of either a granola bar or a packet of thick cut potato crisps. I go with the crisps, which are nice.

Arrival

The flight time to London is eighty minutes and passes quickly. Not being a very full flight is rather pleasant as it means the cabin is fairly calm with only few passengers moving around. Rather than entering into France and making our way to the coast, after take-off we turn east and then north into German airspace, and then from there into Belgium to cross the Channel from there.

We land and it’s a short taxi to our stand. Everythig happens so quickly. Seven minutes – I timed it – after landing I’m just exiting the terminal building.

Getting into Town

I exit the terminal and make a right turn, which brings me to the DLR station that connects the airport to the city. I tap on with my credit card and then catch a train for Bank, close to where I’ll be staying at the CitizenM at the Tower of London.

Conclusion

I must say, this flight with BA Cityflyer was very pleasant and quite a blast from the past. There aren’t that many airlines left that still serve complimentary snacks. I think what impressed me most, though, was the surprising and very generous seat pitch on the Embraer E 190.