Review of Ryanair flight from Toulouse to London in Economy

Welcome on this Flight Report, today  I am going to bring you with me to London.

I already visited the city of London, that's why the objective is not clearly fixed and I do not plan anything to do. I would like to visit the things I did not visit the last times, shop, and practice my English.

I will stay in London during 48 hours, so it will be a short stay. I chose to fly to London Stansted on a Ryanair flight, the routing is the following:

Flight plan and some information find on flightradar24 after the flight.

Flight video

I prepared a video going with this Flight Report with the main moments of the flight. The video is written in French but you can activate the enclosed captions.

If you do not have the time to watch the video, you can add this video to your playlist watch later.

Booking of flights & transfers

I consult the fares 2 months before departure thanks to an alert from Holiday Pirates for a round-trip in May for 12€ and I found that:

Oh my good! Ryanair offers 2 daily flights and the round-trip costs less than 30€ at the beginning of the summer holidays.

I can not resist to this interesting offer, I choose the following itinerary with the inbound flight in the morning which allows me to go to the airport by public transport and enjoy the afternoon in London. And the outbound flights allows me to leave the city around midday.

Ryanair offers different luggage allowances, I chose the standard one because the size of my hand luggage fits into the allowed size.

After that, Ryanair also offers the Fast Track at Stansted but the last time it was smooth.

Then, I need to book the transfers to the city and to my mind the best solution is the bus. I always book my tickets on easybus.co.uk when I go to Stansted.

I tested some bus companies and I prefer National Express because the seats are comfortable, there is an entertainment system and the fare of £1.99 is cheap.

This is my selection for the round-trip, if I book directly, I will pay £8. And on easybus I only paid £3.98.

Toulouse-Blagnac airport

I arrive at Toulouse-Blagnac by tramway at 8:53 for a departure at 10:40, I am on the time. I shot the usual picture of the pediment of this airport but I note something different.

Zoom in!

Indeed, the signature of Dominique Baudis, who was a mayor of Toulouse, was fixed on the pediment the day before.

Then, I do directly to the D hall from the outside in order to avoid the crowd.

First take-off on this day

Landing at the D hall, it is here where Air France and some other Star Alliance airways (TAP Air Portugal & Iberia) do the check-in for their passengers. There is a lot of people here because it is the begining of the summer holidays.

I do not have any check luggage to drop-off, and I did my check-in online. That's why I go to the boarding zone at end of this hall.

Some instructions are displayed before the security control, I find a plastic bag for carrying the liquids here.

When I arrived in front of the security control, we were dispatched between the different lines by an agent dressed with a neon blue jacket from Gucci which seems be the uniform in this airport.

I discover the Flight Information Display System (FIDS) after passing through the security control which was not too long. My flight going to London depart at 10:40 just after the both flights to Fez operated by Ryanair and Air Arabia Maroc, actually, I tested the both.

My flight will be controled too even if it is not an international flight.

Now, we need to pass through the Duty Free. It might disturb some passengers but it is not a problem for me. The store is well decorated and the aisle is large.

After passing through the Duty Free, I arrive in this new part of the airport. This part was arranged with some seats, a piano and some new stores such as Victoria's Secret, Prêt à manger opened recently.

Spotting

Before going to the boarding gate 57, I stay in the Schengen zone in order to spot some planes here.

Let start with this Airbus A319 operated by Germania before the bankruptcy, and now this aircraft is operated by Hi Fly Malta and operate a direct flight between Toulouse and Hamburg (XFW). However the registration 9H-LOL is not serious!

Lufthansa caming from Francfort or Munich on an Airbus A320.

Air France is landing from Paris, at the background there is an aircraft for Cathay (Dragon or Pacific) at the delivery center.

Profusion of Airbus aircrafts near to the production sites.

It is here where Toulouse-Blagnac airport put his toys.

La Croix du Sud lounge

Will I go to the lounge today? No, it will be for the return, sorry!

Actually not this time

I decide to go to the international zone because the clock is ticking, and I would like to see the Air Transat Airbus A330 caming from Montréal.

During the waiting for the passport control, an agent is looking for delayed passengers, it is not my case. I will pass this control in 5 minutes exactly as expected. After the control, there is a little Duty Free store selling mainly tobacco and alcohol.

The flight going to Fez is boarding at gate 59 like the last time I took this flight.

I arrived at the boarding gate 57, our boarding gate. At this time, nothing is hapening here, it too early.

Oh, there are some works at the airport.

Germania Hi Fly Malta, Lufthansa, Air France

We are in front of Airbus production sites, we can catch sight of the first Airbus A350s for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic and some others aircrafts for the Asian market.

For the curious, there is a frontier door at the end of the international zone.

Airbus A320 registered as CN-NMI of Air Arabia Maroc caming from Fez, Morocco.

This aircraft get a special story because it was severely damaged at Amsterdam after a bird strike in december 2018. The pilots did an emergency landing at Amsterdam.

I need to go to the toilets and it was not possible at this floor, I go downstairs (near to the gates 60 and 61). The toilets were clean.

Then, I discover this oasis of calm. While there is a lot of people upstairs, here there is nobody. That's why I stay here before the boarding starts.

This aera is located at the tarmac level and offers a good view on ground operations. Especially, on this Boeing 737-800 Next Generation which have just ended his fueling.

And on the other side there is the Aviapartner logistics.

Boarding

Our boarding is announced, I am going to the boarding gate 57 which is located on the upper floor.

Priority passengers are invited to board first.

I pre-board with the last passengers, we will arrive at London at the same time.

Meanwhile, the weather changed and our aircraft arrived at the gate. Yes, Ryanair prepare its boardings before the arrival of the aircraft in order to not lost any time.

In a few minutes, all the passengers leave the aircraft and the queue moves forward. Now, I have a better view on our aircraft and an Airbus A321 landing from London Heathrow.

Today, our aircraft is a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation registered as EI-ENW which is 8 and half years old. It means that the cabin is the old one.

On the left, there is our aircraft going to London and on the right there is the one going to Fez.

The queue moves slowly but at this time, the passengers can not go on the tarmac.

Because the last passengers caming from London are still on the tarmac.

The aircraft going to Fez wear a special livery.

"Katowice So many reasons to fly"

An Airbus 321 from British Airways arrives from London Heathrow. It is registered as G-NEOU, and it is a new aircraft because it was delivered in May, 2019 but it was manufactured at Hamburg, not Toulouse.

The first passengers are boarding, and fortunately the rain has stopped.

Air Arabia Maroc is pushing back while I wait my turn.

The enchanted harp

It might be difficult to work in theses conditions. One time there is a heatwave, on the other time it is raining.

Fuselage shot

Back door

The first contact with the cabin crew was not as expected, they do not answer to my greeting. I do to my seat directly.

The legroom is limited and the seat is not comfortable as expected even if it is an old cabin that I usually prefer.

Boarding almost ended

Yeah, look at back!

It is the Airbus A330 of Air Transat I wanted to see today!

Beluga XL

The boarding is now completed, we are going to taxi.

The flight

F-OITN instant confirms that the cabin is old.

We are pushed back at 10:49, a little bit delayed.

The rain falls again during taxiing.

Stop

We rush forward on the runway at 11:02.

Thanks to the flowing air, the water get out.

We take-off in front of the internation boarding gates.

Economical parkings P5 and P6

We are flying over an Airbus parking area where are parked 2 A380, and a lot of A330, A330neo and A350.

The building with the wavy roof is the Final Assembly Line (FAL) of the A380. You should visit it if you are in Toulouse.

Bye bye Toulouse ?

Between 2 cloudy layers

The meal I bring on-board

Angoulême

The flight continues and we are now flying over Angers.

We are not alone in the sky, there are 3 others trails. I ask myself where these planes are going.

We are flying over the French costs, at the back you can see Ouistreham.

The sky become cloudy again, it is a good sign for the destination.

An announce is made in English by the crew for selling scratch cards. And the announce is translated to French (voice record), but it was the wrong record because the announce says that we just take-off and we should read the Buy on Board (Bob) and relax. It was funny  because the crew do not understand the mistake.

We are now approaching London Stansted airport which located between London and Cambridge, in the countryside.

We land at 11:38 at London Stansted airport.

London Stansted airport is a primary operational base of Ryanair and also a maintenance base as you can see the maintenance shed on the picture.

The freight activity at Stansted is intensive due to the simplicity instead of the others airports near to London.

A splendid Boeing 747-8F operated by Atlas Air for Panalpina (livery), registered as N850GT, is waiting.

Dealing with jumbo jets, did you know that London Stansted airport welcomes the Airbus A380 operated by Hi Fly Malta for 2 charters flights to Buka for the Champions League?

Little control tower

Second to last turn

Last turn

Our aircraft is parked at area 61 left (61L).

Fuselage shot

London Stansted airport

I shoot a picture before the entrance inside of the terminal.

At Stansted, ground operations for Ryanair are managed by Ryanair Blue Handling in order to reduce the costs.

The inconvenient at London Stansted airport is that you need to walk a lot because of the rectangular structure.

After few minutes of walking which can summarize by going up and down and up and down… I pass through the UK border.

There is an automatic passport control on the left if you get a European Union (EU) passport.

Then I arrive at the lugage livery area, the only thing I note here is that the belts speak english before they starts in order to warn the passengers.

There also some ATM and others vending machines for the train and the buses.

I need to withdraw some pounds for my stay in London, the rate is so bad. I refuse the rate, and the good news is that there are no fees if you refuse it.

There are also some water fountains here and it works.

I pass through the customs, the only thing you need to be aware with is that the doors can close sudenly and unexpectedely. I do not understand this concept, the last time I went at this airport a door closed in front of me.

I join the main hall of the airport, and now I need to go to the bus station. I leave the terminal by the exit on the left.

I need to go down like if you want to take the train.

Do not forget to turn on the right, the bus station is not well indicated.

Going to the City!

At the bus station I locate the bays were the buses operated by National Express are. The buses going to London Victoria depart at bay number 26 as expected.

I booked a ticket for the bus leaving at 12:45, I ask to take a bus before and it was granted. I leave the airport at 12:15 instead of 12:45, the ride takes 1 hour and 50 minutes (about 1 hour to the city and 1 hour inside of the city).

The bus is comfortable and half full, there is an entertainment system on-board functioning with an application. Last year, I watched a moovie (Deadpool) during the ride but I forgot my cell phone charger at home.

Finaly, I was so tired and I decide to leave the bus at Waterloo instead of Victoria, I will arrive earlier at my acommodation.

I hope you enjoyed this Flight Report, you can put a like if you want. You can also leave a comment in the section below.

Se you soon for the return flight! ?