Whenever I fly to/from Gatwick late in the evening or early in the morning I stay at Premier Inn Gatwick North. It's a huge hotel with hundreds of rooms but it's affordable and comfortable - and only a two minute walk from Terminal North. Note that there are several other Premier Inn hotels at Gatwick that are not within walking distance.
Terminal North has two floors for check-in. Easyjet is on the lower floor.
Some other airlines have their check-in on the upper floor.
I pre-booked premium security for 5 pounds only. Getting through security took me about 4 minutes.
I was airside less than 20 minutes after leaving my hotel. There is a huge duty free area after security.
There is a large central area in the terminal.
Easyjet is obviously the largest airline at Gatwick North.
I had to go through a boarding pass control with "look at the camera please" for gate 55 where newspapers and magazines were available for free.
My plane. Boarding was through bridge.
Boarding started at 7.35. Friendly welcome as I boarded and I was happy to see that there was no divider in front of seats 1ABC. There was another passenger who originally booked seat 1B but he moved to 1A, so we were seated a bit like on a domestic or intra-European business class. My seat was 1C with huge legroom - that would be good for a long-haul flight too, let alone for a short one hour hop.
Load was light so almost all passengers boarded in a few minutes. Push-back was on time at 8.05 but we took off at 8.30 only. Service started as soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off. Interestingly enough the otherwise efficient crew preferred not to to go through the cabin with the trolley but just walked to each passengers to check if they wanted something and brought them their food or drink if they did. I didn't buy anything on-board. Here are some photos of the menu (photos taken on the flight back but the menu was the same)
The rest of the flight was comfortable and uneventful. Landing was at 9.20, so flight time was only 50 minutes. Deplaning was quick with a short walk to the terminal. Our aircraft after landing.
The departure area of the Isle of Man airport.
A West Atlantic cargo plane.
The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency. I spent the day sightseeing. There is an aviation (and military) museum right next to the airport with extremely nice staff and this old Manx aircraft on display.
An old newspaper at the museum.
The nearest town to the airport is Castletown.
Douglas, the capital.
Peel is another nice town.
Thank you for reading my flight report.
Thanks for this FR.
The BoB prices are decent, especially compared to IB.
The Isle of Man looks like an interesting place to spend the week-end.
Hi, thank you for your comment. Yes, I agree that Easyjet's BoB prices are correct, I believe however that you can buy better quality food at the airport. And yes, the Isle of Man is an interesting place to visit.
Hi!
Huge legroom and a sensible seatmate. How lucky you are!
I think that is a very sensible thing to do, too. Pushing the trolley just in case? Nah.
I love these less frequently reported routes to such picturesque places. Thank you very much for the report and especially for the photos of Isle of Man! :)
Hi Nechus, thank you for your comment. Lucky, yes, and I think that it always makes a difference to buy extra legroom for a small fee, and you less often have somebody sitting next to you than on the regular seats.