Best airport in London (even if you do believe that Luton is in London) (London City Airport (LCY))

Member Name: chrisa

Product:	London City Airport (LCY)
Date:	24/05/01 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to get to , easy to use, comfortable

Disadvantages: short haul, business oriented

City Airport is great. It?s about 6 miles from the centre of London (well, the City anyway) and has a great big dual carriageway going to it, which means that you can potentially get there in under 20 minutes from the City in a cab. I say potentially because if you try it at about 6pm it takes twice as long, but then getting anywhere in London at 6pm is nigh on impossible. The beauty of City Airport is the size. Its tiny. You pitch up by bus or car right at the entrance. So what ? you can do this at Heathrow! Ah yes, but at Heathrow you?re lucky if you?ve gone to the right terminal and as soon as you enter, you and the other several thousand passengers are all walking around lugging big bags staring into the air for monitors to direct you to check-ins and bumping into each other. At City Airport you?ve got a row of about a dozen check-ins on one side, the bare minimum of shops on the other and a nice caff in the middle. The check-ins are always empty ? apart from one which is unfortunately the one you want! There?s no way you can get lost or confused at City Airport its so straightforward. The atmosphere is calm because there?s only a few flights and it probably wont leave without you as long as you?re around somewhere. Once you?ve checked in, there?s little else to do but head up the escalator through the security screening and into the lounge. You don?t need to leave half an hour for this procedure because it isn?t miles away and the queue?s never more than a dozen people. The lounge area is another excellent feature of City Airport. It?s classless. There are mainly business people flying from City (probably about 95%) and there are no business lounges. This is great because the lounge where everybody hangs around is clean, tidy and comfortable. It can get a bit crowded at 8am on a Monday morning, but there?s generally room for everyone. The only thing discerning it from a regular business lounge is the lack of free drinks and the self conscious
preening of young and infrequent business class ticket holders. Despite the lack of free drinks, the bar is pretty nice and the dining area?s OK, but nobody really seems to use it for anything other that coffee. Some of the airlines "apologise" for the lack of a dedicated business class lounge by paying for drinks anyway, so its not all doom and gloom. Getting onto your plane is the only really strenuous thing you have to do here. There?s a very long corridor (long by City Airport standards) which passes all the plane slots. There are about 10 gates, so the maximum you need to walk is about 200 yards (in fact, its always 200 yards), then out to your plane. All done in a stress-free environment since there?s not a lot of people rushing for other flights. You tend to hear a flight announced, then a herd of people will get up and amble down the corridor. If you don?t know what do do ? just follow them.

Coming back into City is again a stress free experience. Get off the plane, amble down the long corridor, there?s only one baggage carousel, so that?s where your bag will appear, clear the empty customs and there you are ? 10 minutes after landing you?re out. If you?ve got a cab booked, this is where it?ll be and you?re on your way in minutes. If your car?s in the car park ? its only a 2 minute walk away.

In conclusion, I think City Airport is great because its easy to get to and from and quite relaxing all round which for the centre of London is fairly unique.

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