I BELIEVE I CAN FLY .........TO LONDON !!! (London City Airport (LCY))

Member Name: supercityfan

Product:	London City Airport (LCY)
Date:	22/04/08 (467 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Convenient, Relatively Cheap, European Flights

Disadvantages: Limited Flights, Herded through departure gates quickly, lack of seating

Before I get too carried away with this review let me warn you that this does go on for quite a while. However, I feel it only fair that you are all made fully aware of the facilities on offer at London City Airport.

I had cause to travel to London last year with business from Manchester to attend a seminar within the financial district. Upon being told this by my manager with about 2 weeks notice, I was faced with the dilemma of arranging my travel itinery. Effectively, I was faced with 3 options:

1. Drive, which didn't exactly fill me with excitement at the thought of a 600 mile round trip to attend a 4 hour seminar.

2. Get the train, which once again was a two and a half hour journey in both directions, plus associated tube journeys. Another downside to this alternative was the astronomical fares which were charged for travelling back on a Friday during rush hour. Bearing in mind my seminar was not due to finish until 2:00pm it would have been impossible for me to catch a return train before 3.30 pm from London. Unless I could catch a return train either before 3.00pm or after 6.30 pm this arrangement would have cost me an unbelievable £170. Otherwise I could have travelled for the bargain price of £60. If I had to pay for it myself I may have thought about the cheaper option and getting the later train, but as this wouldn't have got me home till approximately 10pm it wasn't really a feasible option.

3. Fly, but surely there isn't an airport close enough to the City to make this worthwhile. WRONG. London City Airport is conveniently located just 6 miles from the centre of London and is easily served by a reliable public transport link. After undertaking a bit more research, which I will provide later in this review, I identified that I could get flights to London City Airport from Manchester departing on the Thursday evening at 5.20pm returning on the Friday at 3.50 pm for the price of £123.60 including taxes fees and charges.

So having presented the various facts and figures to my bosses it was decided that I could fly to London. OK so having flown into London City Airport what were my first impressions. Well clearly it is only a small airport which deals predominantly with internal flights and certain European destinations, which I will list in further detail later in this review. However, on departing the plane we were quickly within the arrivals hall, which essentially consisted of two baggage carousels, and the usual toilets. There appeared to be plenty of trolleys, although I didn't require this specific service as I was only travelling overnight. The beauty of it being such a small airport was that as soon as you got to the baggage claim area, the carousel was already moving round ready to have your bags made available. After a wait of no more than 5 minutes we proceeded through the customs control area which is virtually non-existant given the nature of the flight arrivals and quickly made our way towards the exit.

Sign-posting was excellent and a large number of taxi's were waiting directly outside the main entrance to take you to your destination. However, if you leave via the main exit and proceed to your right, within 2 minutes you are stood on the platform of London City Airport station which is served by the Docklands Light Railway. Regular services are available to Bank station if heading towards the city where you can change to connect with most Underground lines. A single fare on the railway costs £4 for a single ticket which will get you into the centre of London.
In fairness you probably notice more about an airport at the departure stage rather than the arrivals part so I made a conscious decision to have a good look at the various facilities on offer when we made our return flight.

In total there are approximately 15 check-in desks which are located in one bank of desks on the ground floor of the terminal concourse on the right hand side as you enter the terminal which are all clearly labelled and as you would expect are designated to deal with specific airlines. Accompanying monitors clearly display all the information you require regarding which desk to check in at together with up to date flight information. The check in process was extremely efficient as you would expect. So having checked in I decided to have a detailed look at the various facilities available prior to going through passport control to the departure lounge.

***** Bureau de Change / Banking facilities *****

Travelex operates the Bureaux de Change at London City Airport which is located in the terminal concourse on the ground floor, to the left of the entry / exit doors. Further bureau de change are also located in the departure lounge, next to Hughes and Hughes and also in the international arrivals hall on the right hand side as you enter. At the time I was departing queues at this facility were non-existant.

***** Car Hire *****

Although I didn't hire a car, I noted that there was a facility to Hire cars through either Avis, Europcar or Hertz whose desks were located on the ground floor of the concourse. In fairness you probably don't need a car given the layout of the tube network but if you decide to take out this option it is available to you.

***** Cashpoints *****

There are four cashpoints available within the Airport, two of which are located within the main concourse. These two machines are operated by Barclays and are situated on the ground floor in the concourse adjacent to the Bureau de change. A further Cashpoint can also be found in the Departure Lounge and also one in the International Arrivals Hall, both operated by Alliance and Leicester.

***** Chauffeur Hire Car *****

I don't really see the need for this facility but it is possible to travel in style by using the services of Quay Cars who are the resident chauffeur company at London city Airport. This is situated in the Terminal concourse opposite International Arrivals. You can either book in advance for this facility or you can be spontaneous and book the facility on arrival at the airport.

***** Information Desk *****

The Airport Information desk is situated on your left when entering the Terminal building.

***** Internet Connections *****

Internet access can be found in front of Bewleys coffee shop in the main Terminal Concourse which offers free access to www.londoncityairport.com. However, payment for access to the world wide web is made through Bewleys, at a rate of £1 per minute. Not surprisingly given this extortionate rate, there weren't a great deal of people taking up this facility.

*****Lost Property / Left Luggage *****

The lost property and left luggage room is situated in security zone A, which is to the right of the main concourse beyond the check-in area. If you would like to make use of the left luggage facilities these are available at a charge of £5 per item per 24-hour period which all in all is pretty reasonable if you only have one item. Any more than the one item I would suggest is a little on the pricy side..

***** Restaurant's, Café's and Bars *****

Essentially there are three different establishments which all offer something that little bit different for the customer.

1. Bewleys

Located on the ground floor in the main part of the Terminal, Bewleys coffee shop serves light snacks, hot & cold drinks and also has a fully licensed bar. However, beware the prices are reasonably expensive but ultimately it comes down to supply and demand. In fairness coffee's and pastry's probably aren't that expensive but the shock at being charged £4 for a pint of lager and £4.20 for a pint of Guinness alarmed me to say the least. I know we were in London but come on. Bewleys also provides internet access from terminals located in front of the café area, which can be operated with a credit card but as mentioned previously this is somewhat expensive so beware.

2. Coffee Corner, Wine & Tapas Bar

Operated by RestAir this is situated on the first floor of the Terminal. Coffee Corner serves hot and cold Tapas, Paninis, light meals and refreshments. Typical prices are between £3.75 and £5.25 for a panini or focaccia which are reasonable. In fairness as well this area was quite heavily populated so is probably the most cost effective place to eat.

3. Meridian Line Restaurant

The Meridian Line restaurant, on the first floor of the Terminal, is open to both passengers and non-passengers alike and provides an area which can seat 110 people and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I didn't get chance to have a proper look at this facility but if you don't mind paying a little bit more then this might tempt you. Personally I begrudge paying £10+ for a burger, £3.50 for a bowl of chips and £9.50 for a breakfast but if that takes your fancy by all means go ahead.

***** Shoe Shine Service *****

The shoeshine service is situated on the ground floor of the main concourse at the foot of the escalator. The facility offers shoe shining and repairs.

***** Shopping *****

World News

We've all been in one of these at some time or another at an airport so I'm sure you're pretty familiar with the types of products which they sell However, if not you can purchase magazines, newspapers, books, greetings cards, pharmaceutical items, camera film, tourist gifts and confectionery which is situated on the ground floor in the Terminal building.

Oh yes, that is it for shops before you go through to the departure lounge.

***** Stamps and Postbox *****

A post box is located at the Terminal entrance. Stamps are available if you need them from World News.

***** Telephone *****

Coin-operated, credit card and phone card telephones are located throughout the Terminal.

So having spent an hour looking round the various facilities and treasuring my extremely expensive pint of Guinness we then proceeded through passport control to the Departure Lounge.
Although the departure lounge isn't particularly big we found no problem in finding somewhere to sit, which unfortunately was a luxury which was not afforded to us once we were shepherded through to our departure gate but more of that later. First impressions of the departure lounge was that it was a little bit cramped with a sprinkling of shops and restaurants. So here goes, I'll give you a brief rundown of the facilities within the departure lounge. As mentioned earlier in this review there are cash points and internet access within the departure lounge if required.

Trattoria

Operated by RestAir, The Trattoria, in the Departure Lounge, seats 32 people and offers a morning breakfast menu as well as a selection of fresh pasta and seafood, such as Tortellini di Spinacci con Panna and Cannelloni con Pomodoro. Starters are typically priced from £5 and main courses from £10. To be honest the menu is fairly typical fayre from your average Italian high street restaurant.

Bar Area

You can if your budget allows enjoy an espresso, a pint, a glass of champagne or a shot, in the fully licensed bar next to the Trattoria. Having been stung once in the concourse we steered well clear of the bar area.

Marché Frais Carte

If you are in a hurry or like to eat on the move, a wide selection of hot and cold drinks and snacks is available from the Marché Frais Carte, which is positioned in the Departure Lounge. The Carte serves a selection of baguettes all available for either immediate consumption or to take away. Typical prices range from £5 which isn't overly expensive for airport food.

Bewleys

This speciality retail shop, similar in concept to the famous
Grafton Street outlet in Dublin, features many of Bewley's famous branded products such as coffees, teas, chocolates, confectionery, baked goods, preserves, offering gift ideas although in common with Bewleys remains expensive.
The shop also provides take away speciality coffees & other hot beverages and snacks.

Bally

WARNING WARNING WARNING. Men, if you have your good ladies in tow, try and go through to the departure lounge at the latest possible opportunity to minimise the opportunity to let your women loose here. This shop is known to do terminal damage to both your pockets and your credit cards. Bally is situated in the Departure Lounge and offers an expensive selection of Ladies' and Men's shoes and accessories at tax free prices to all departing passengers, including those to domestic destinations. Don't let the tax free status fool you. These are in anybody's language expensive. Venture in here at your peril.

Hughes & Hughes Bookshop

Hughes and Hughes, situated in the Departure Lounge, offers an extensive range of books, varying from the best in fiction to a large business and finance section. 'Airport exclusives' are a range of best selling titles available in paperback months in advance of High Street stores.

Liquor and Tobacco

There is, of course, a wide range of duty-free liquor and tobacco products together with perfumes and cosmetics offering huge savings on average High Street prices - all clearly marked on price tickets. These duty-free goods are available to anyone flying to Switzerland or Jersey, or connecting to flights to countries outside the European Union.
There is also a wide range of duty-paid wine, champagne, spirits and liqueurs that can be purchased by all passengers, as can confectionery, toys, perfume and cosmetics.
So that in a nut shell is a description of the various facilities available at the airport.

The only real gripe I had with the airport is that they try and get you out of the departure lounge at the earliest possible opportunity by declaring last calls 40 minutes before planes are due to depart. One advantage of this is that you don't get chance to be exploited in Bally, but the downside is there are very few seats to be had by the departure gate.
So what are the facilities like if you are disabled I hear you screaming. Pretty good really. There are allocated disabled car parking spaces within the car park close to the Terminal. All public areas of the terminal are easily accessible. In extreme cases assistance is provided for boarding the aircraft. However, if you require this facility the airport advises that you with the airline in advance of travelling what their facilities are, as they can differ.

As I said earlier this is only a reasonably small airport which only services certain destinations, as follows:
· Amsterdam
· Antwerp
· Basle
· Berne
· Brussels
· Copenha gen
· Dublin
· Dundee
· Dusseldorf
· Edinburgh
· Frankfurt
· Geneva
· Glasgow
· Groningen
· Hamburg
· Isle of Man
· Jersey
· Liverpool
· Lugano
· Luxembourg
· Madrid
· Manchester
· Milan
· Munich
· Newcastle
· Nuremberg
· Paris
· Rome
· Rotterdam
· Stockholm
· Stuttgart
· Zurich

That said this is still a fairly extensive list of major European destinations.
So now you know what facilities are at the airport, how do you travel to and from the airport. As I said at the start of this review we chose the option of using the Docklands Light Railway but ultimately it comes down to your personal choice as this isn't the only option available to you. In reality much depends on where you are travelling to or from.

***** Travelling from the centre of London to London City Airport *****
Option 1 - via Canning Town

The recommended route is to take the Jubilee Line to Canning Town and connect with the Docklands Light Railway direct to London City Airport. Journey time is just 10 minutes from Canning Town to the Airport and the train runs at 7 minute intervals.

Option 2 - via Canary Wharf

Take the Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf and take the Docklands Light Railway via Poplar to the Airport. The journey time is 10 minutes and the train runs at 10 minutes intervals.

Option 3 - via Liverpool Street

Take the Central Line to Bank and take the Docklands Light Railway direct to London City Airport.

***** London City Airport to Central London *****

Option 1 - via Bank

The recommended route is to take the Docklands Light Railway via Canning Town into Bank, which is on the Central Line. Journey time is 22 minutes.

Option 2 - via Canning Town

Take the Docklands Light Railway directly to Canning Town, where you can pick up the Jubilee Line into Central London. Journey time is just 5 minutes into Canning Town and approximately 15 mintues into Westminster.

Option 3 - via Canary Wharf

Take the Docklands Light Railway to Canary Wharf, via Poplar, with a journey time of 14 minutes.

Alternatively, pick up the Airport's blue shuttlebus from outside the Terminal to the bus stop outside Canary Wharf DLR station. The journey time is around 10 minutes at 10 minute intervals. The shuttlebus costs £3.50 for adults and £1 for children

***** London City Airport to Heathrow/Gatwick/Stansted *****

*** London City Airport to London Heathrow ***

From London City Airport, take the Docklands Light Railway directly into Bank and connect with the Central Line straight into Liverpool Street station. From there, join either the Circle or Hammersmith and City Underground Line (ticket required) to Paddington. Follow the signs for the mainline station and join the Heathrow Express Rail Service which links Paddington with London Heathrow every 15 minutes (£12 single). Typical total journey time varies between 90 and 120 minutes.

*** London Heathrow to London City Airport ***

At London Heathrow, take the Heathrow Express Rail Service to London Paddington - trains run every 15 minutes (£12 single). From there, take the Circle or Hammersmith and City Underground Line to Liverpool Street Station (ticket required), where you can pick up the Central Line to Bank. Here you can take the Docklands Light Railway directly to London City Airport. Typical total journey time varies between 90 and 120 minutes.

*** London City Airport to London Gatwick ***

At London City Airport take the Docklands Light Railway directly to Canning Town where you can pick up the Jubilee Line (London Underground) to London Bridge (ticket required). Follow the signs for the mainline station and take the Thameslink service direct to Gatwick Airport (£10.50 standard single). Trains run about every 15 minutes during normal operating hours. The typical total journey time varies between 90 and 120 minutes.

*** London Gatwick to London City Airport ***

At Gatwick Airport Station, board a Thameslink service to London Bridge (£10.50 standard single). Trains run about every 15 minutes during normal operating hours. At London Bridge, take a Jubilee Line train (London Underground) to Canning Town station (ticket required) and pick up the Docklands Light Railway directly to London City Airport. The typical journey times vary between 90 and 120 minutes

*** London City Airport to Stansted ***

Take the Docklands Light Railway from London City Airport to Bank, where you can pick up the Central Line (London Underground) to Liverpool Street. Take the Stansted Express train to Stansted airport. The total journey times vary between 90 and 120 minutes.

*** Stansted to London City Airport ***

Take the Stansted Express train to Liverpool Street Station and then the Central Line to Bank, where you can pick up the Docklands Light Railway directly to London City Airport. The total journey times vary between 90 and 120 minutes.

***** Outside of London to London City Airport *****

If you are travelling to London City Airport by train from outside London please note that both Waterloo and London Bridge stations (when travelling from the south) and Stratford station (when travelling from the east), all connect to the Jubilee Line.
Simply take the Jubilee Line from one of these stations to Canning Town, where you can connect with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to the airport. Journey time is just 6 minutes from Canning Town to the Airport and the train runs every 7-10 minutes. The shuttlebus costs £3.00 for adults and £1 for children.

*** Silverlink Metro ***

Silverlink Metro provides easy connections from destinations such as Richmond, Highbury & Islington, Camden Road or West Hamstead to Canning Town. Here you can connect with the Docklands Light Railway to London City Airport.

*** Airport Shuttle Bus Services ***

Since the opening of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) there has been a switch in demand from the airport shuttle bus services to the new rail service. As a consequence the shuttle bus service stopped running on the 3rd March 2007.

*** Docklands Light Railway ***

The Docklands Light Railway extension to London City Airport is open and the station is situated 50 yards from the Airport Terminal and journey times are as follows:

Bank - 22 minutes
Canning Town - 8 minutes
Canary Wharf - 14 mintues (change at Poplar - change time 3 minutes)

Ticket prices
Ticket prices from London City Airport

Adult, single fares:
Any combination Zone 1 with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 - £4.00
Any combination of Zone 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 - £3.00
Zones 2 & 3 on DLR only (not valid on Tube) - £1.50

Local Buses

There are two London Transport bus services you can use for local journeys to and from the airport.
The 473 bus serves Stratford, Silvertown, North Woolwich, and Prince Regent Station. It departs every 10 minutes from outside the terminal building. Buses operate from Stratford 05:18 (06:15 Sunday) with the last bus at 00:35. First bus from North Woolwich 05:05 (05:46 Sunday) with the last bus at 00:06

The 474 bus serves Canning Town, North Woolwich and East Beckton via Silvertown. The bus stop is at the entrance to the airport. First bus from East Beckton 05:08, last bus 12:17. The first bus from Canning Town 04:55 and the last bus at 01:02

Taxi Services

There is a licensed taxi rank (black cabs) directly outside the terminal building. Typical fares are £12 to Canary Wharf, £20 to the City of London, £30 to the West End and £28 to Buck House.

Tube/ Underground

The nearest Underground station is Canning Town, on the Jubilee line, where you can connect directly to London City Airport by Docklands Light Railway. Journey time is 10 minutes.

So that has just about covered the public transport options. If you do decide to drive to the airport however, there are a choice of both short term and long term car parks, which are located adjacent to the Terminal. Both car parks operate a credit card payment system for your speed and convenience. Alternatively, if you prefer not to use your credit card, you can obtain an entrance ticket from the barrier and pay after completing your stay.

Short Stay Parking

The car park is adjacent to the Terminal Building. No pre-booking is required. Payment for parking charges can be made in the Terminal Building at payment machines or the Travelex Desk.

Charges

0 - 1hr £7.00
1 - 2hr £12.00
2 - 5hr £18.00
5-24hrs £40.00
24-25hrs £47.50
25-27hrs £52.00
27-29hrs £58.00
29-48hrs £80.00

Additional 24 hrs or part thereof £35.00

Main Car Park

The Car Park is a short walk from the Terminal Building and once again no pre-booking is required. Payment for parking charges can be made in the Terminal Building at the payment machines or the Travelex Desk.

Charges
0 - 1hr £5.00
1 - 2hrs £8.00
2- 5hrs 12.00
5 - 24hrs £32.00
24-25hrs £37.00
25-27hrs £40.00
27-29hrs £44.00
29-48hrs £64.00

Additional 24 hrs or part thereof £32.00


Long Term Parking

Discounted long term parking is available.

Motorcycle Parking at London City Airport

Motorcycles are able to park for free underneath the DLR Viaduct.


And that my friends is the end of my review of London City Airport and its facilities. I hope that you found it useful.

Summary: Highly recommended if you can get flights at times that suit.