Review of easyJet flight Edinburgh → London in Economy

Prelude to Flight!

So bit of a backstory on this flight…

13 Hours of Coach travel for £25 or 1 hour of easyJet travel for £33? You're choice!

This sole easyJet flight stood alone as far as flights go, my journey up was on the coach with National Express as I was trying something new out, I did a 13 hour treck from Southampton to London (Victoria Coach Station) to Edinburgh Coach station, I left Southampton at 6:50pm and arrived into Edinburgh just shy of 8am the following morning. To call it an interesting experience is an understatement!

Doing this allowed me to travel from one side of the UK to the other, and it made having to pay for a hotel redundant, I was able to sleep on and off on the coach. But the funny bit is that the flight to London Gatwick from Edinburgh cost me £33 base fare alone, but this coach journey only set me back £25!

Really amazing view of Edinburgh from the park on Calton Hill.

But enough of me nattering about a bus journey! You came here for an easyJet report!!!

easyJet EZ806 (EDI-LGW)

I arrived at Edinburgh Airport using my preferred method- the Airlink 100 bus, about 3 hours ahead of my flight. Most UK Airport's have had issues with check in and security due to on going staffing issues related to the Pandemic and the effect it had on air travel. Luckily for me I was only travelling with hand luggage, which is the best way of travelling, as well as having checked in online- I was well prepared for the coming few hours!

The wait at Security wasn't that bad on this particular day and timing. The tracked the time from entering Edinburgh Airport and passing through security and it came to roughly 20 minutes!!!

Now that in my opinion was quite good, not too far off some of the average waits I've had in Airports. I had left plenty of time regardless. I found a seating area in Edinburgh Airport and mainly sat down to charge up my phone and GoPro for the flight back in case of any major delays getting into London Gatwick.

When the Gate was announced I waltzed over to the area, which was a new area of Edinburgh Airport for me as I hadn't flown from this area and I believe this Gate area was closed off to domestic travellers in 2020/21 when I visited, possibly to allow for separation.

Getting to my Gate I saw my Airbus A320-neo parked on stand in between a KLM Boeing 737-800 and Ryanair Boeing 737-8200. I looked up the aircraft to find my allocated A32N would be G-UZHI named "Winston Chau" after a late Luton based easyJet employee who tragically passed away in an accident in 2018.

When boarding did commence, I opted to sit back and wait for the mass of people to file onto the plane. I could eventually tell at one point they were trying a "Boarding, but not Boarding" process when half the people stood in a que and they stopped scanning people in. I was possibly one of the last dozen passengers to go through boarding during the "Final Call".

I got some good views of the plane on the open board we had this particular afternoon!

It was quite a full flight on this midday service which surprised me, I thought it would be a quiet run to London Gatwick and be busier taking the return journey, however I realised as it was early August, it was likely busy due to the Summer holiday season in the UK. So probably lots of families going South to see relatives in the London area or parts of the South.

We had an on time departure. The crew on this flight were based in Edinburgh and the plane also appeared based there as it flew in from Greece before doing this short hop to London Gatwick, albeit with a change of crew. I was seated in 21A, so I had both a good view of the wing and the scenery around us.

We had the longer taxi over to the Runway 24 and departed inland, away from Edinburgh, the rural countryside below offered some nice views before we began skirting into the clouds as we climbed to our cruising height.

We made our way South for the British capital city, I opted to enjoy a £7.50 (€10) meal deal including a sandwich, snack and drink which I opted on the combination of a Hot Tea, Kit-Kat and NYC-style Pastrami Sandwich. It tasted nice and was ideal for this hour long flight, easyJet on the same price offers hot sandwiches- but I opted for a cold option for this short domestic UK Flight.

I even made a quick visit to the lavatory, just in case there was a delay at London Gatwick (or even arrival) given the recent state of things, I had learned to make this a plan of action after my Finnair A350 being delayed at LHR for 25 minutes! Luckily the toilet was a good enough size to be used and the purple mood lighting is a bonus!

The rest of the flight ran uneventful, we had a nice couple of circuits as we joined the arrival line into London Gatwick, which offered some amazing views of the English countryside and small towns under our flight path. A lovely summer's day for flying through and through!

We landed at London Gatwick and began to taxi over to the North Terminal facility where easyJet has consolidated their operations since 2018, prior to this they used both North & South facilities, but a few movements sorted things out. Since the pandemic arrived, a lot of change has hit Gatwick. British Airways and Norwegian both reduced their operations here quite drastically (though BA is making a comeback), Wizzair has grown their operations to fill the gaps and provide easyJet a second headache (as if their LTN presence wasn't enough). Virgin Atlantic pulled out fully in 2020 (least for now) and their main maintenance hanger has had all VIRGIN branding removed. TUI Airways still provide a solid charter/holiday operation having out lasted their main rivals Thomas Cook & Monarch Airlines.

We had a good taxi around the maintenance areas as we headed to our allocated Gate in the North Terminal, we came to our stand, but had to wait about 10-15 minutes due to Gatwick having staffing problems and not having anyone to meet us to allow for the plane to disembark. I wasn't too worried- but I think a few people might have been annoyed by it. I noticed a line of easyJet Airbus A320's with a sole Boeing 737-8MAX of TUI Airways making a break out for the skies!

When the Ground Team arrived and set up the aircraft, we were allowed to leave. However only out the front of the aircraft and those at the back couldn't use the rear exit for some reason? As I left (having waited for most people to leave first) I dived in to get a photo of the wing view provided by a Row up front looking at the massive orange engine on the A320-neo!

We exited the aircraft into a lovely summer's day at London Gatwick, and proceeded into the building to walk over to the domestic arrivals section of the North Terminal. Parts of LGW's North Terminal are starting to show their age a bit, but its nice to walk around the Terminal where I started my Frequent Flyer life off back in August 2014- I did this flight 2 days off the 8 year anniversary of that first trip (also a day trip to Edinburgh).

Blimey, just check out that old PC system and fax machine, I think the year 2000 will be calling LGW for its tech back!

And thus concludes this latest and greatest of easyJet flight's I've done- I can't wait to add another flight in 2023!

Bonus : Click here display hide

BReakfast in Edinburgh!

Thought I'd share a few photos from my morning in Edinburgh during this brief August trip!

First off here is a look at the Edinburgh Coach Station where I left my coach after a 13 hour journey, most of these people I think are just going to stick to hour long transits around Scotland and the North-East!

A few more images taken around Calton Hill.

Strolling around the city, in early August Edinburgh hosts the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which can bring in some interesting acts from theatre, comedy, music and many more!

Oh and my favourite place to eat in Edinburgh is this historic Deacon's House Cafe located in the old town part of the city, I even washed down my breakfast with a serving of Scotland's own Famous Grouse whiskey!