Review of Flybe flight Amsterdam → London in Economy

Short but sweet

Hello guys and welcome to another flight report!

This is an older report that was taken in November, I (rather embarrassingly) forgot about during the hectic run-up to Christmas.  But anyway, this flight report covers the return leg of a short trip across the channel to Amsterdam. There are a wealth of transportation options available from London to the Dutch capital, According to FlightRadar24, AMS→LHR is the busiest route from the airport with over 120 flights a week and LCY and LGW is the 6th and 9th busiest route respectively. This, combined with the 3 daily Eurostar service to Amsterdam Centraal mean that you really are spoilt for choice. However, I, being the crazy person that I am, decided not to take any of those options on my outbound trip and instead opted for a 12 hour coach trip instead. With this being a flight report and not a coach report, I'm not going to go into too much details about the journey but I've shared a few photos of the trip below.

At €33, this ride pretty much costs as much as an easyJet flight so it's hard to justify wasting an entire day on a coach. However, it does stop at Bruges, Antwerp and Rotterdam, so it's more useful if you're going to any of those destinations. As for me? I really enjoyed the trip and it's a nice change from flying for once, plus it was my first time riding the channel ferry, which was awesome.

Anyway, back to the main topic. I opted for Flybe on my return trip as I really wanted to see what the revived airline was like. Sadly, Flybe 2.0 ceased operations on 28 January 2023, just 9 months after their launch.

As the airline is now defunct, this report is more of a documentation of the airline's product rather than a review. 

This will be my first time flying on a Dash 8 and as for price, I paid €44 for this trip. This is more than LCCs like easyJet but less than full-service airlines like British Airways. 

Going to Schiphol airport by train.

Views across the water from the station. This city is gorgeous at night, even with the clouds and rain.

Amsterdam schiphol airport

It takes around 15 minutes to go from Amsterdam Centraal to Schiphol.

This station is huge, especially with the lack of people in the early morning.

If you've read any of my other reviews you'll know that I like to arrive way too early, so I had plenty of time to explore every part of the airport.

Departures 1, the earliest flights are Transavia flights which departs from here so this area is the busiest in the morning.

Departures 2 further down the building. This is the check-in area for KLM. Also I absolutely love all the Christmas fairy lights they've put up and it's clear a lot of effort has been put into it - it's gonna be a common theme throughout the review.

Downstairs from the check-in areas, you have all of the arrivals along with a lot of shops. The entire place is filled with fairy lights and Christmas trees like this one.

Departures 3, this is the check-in area for most of the foreign carriers, including ours.

This is the largest of the 3 check-in areas in Schiphol and, like the rest of the airport, is very clean and modern.

Last photo of the airport building from the outside before we check in. It looks like a fog has set in.

The morning's departures spread across many screens.

The Flybe check in counter. It took under 10 minutes with very few people in the queue.

Security was very quick and efficient. This is aided by the use of modern CT scans for bags, which means that you don't have to take out any electonics or liquids (although the 100ml rule still apply).

Immediately after security comes passport control (Schengen and non-Schengen passengers are segregated at the electonic ticket barriers). This was also cleared relatively quickly with the help of many e-gates, although there was some confusion as to whether UK passport holders can use the gates as there was no signs indicating so. I presume the signs was installed pre-Brexit. Overall whole the process took under 15 minutes.

Immedately after passport control is the main departures area - the non-Schengen area is absolutely huge and passengers are expected to stay here until their gate is announced.

The Christmas decorations here is stunning! Honestly the photos doesn't do it justice - I must've stood here for a few minutes just taking it all in. I just love how much effort the airport has put into them and contributes massively to the ultra-modern feel of the entire place.

With 2 hours before my flight, I decided to walk to every part of the airport, which gave me amazing opportunities for planespotting. I tried my hardest not to get too carried away photographing every plane (which is quite hard considering all the wide-bodies here). Here's a few highlights, which includes:

- Emirates Boeing 777-300ER (A6-ENM) heading to Dubai (DXB)
- Singapore Airlines A350-900 (9V-SMB) heading to Singapore (SIN)
- 3x Delta A330-300 (N827NW, N817NW and N828NW) heading to Detroit (DTW) , Salt Lake City (SLC) and Atlanta (ATL) respectively.
- KLM Asia Boeing 777-200ER (PH-BQH) heading to Rio de Janeiro (GIG)
- China Airlines A350-900 (B-18912) heading to Taipei (TPE)
- A view of the airport Apron
- KLM Orange Pride Boeing 777-300ER (PH-BVA) heading to Paramaribo (PBM)

The non-Schengen area comprises of the D, E, F, G and H gates. I didn't photograph all of them since they're very similar but here's a few to get an idea of what they're like.

The G gates.

The F gates.

And the D gates, where our flight will depart from.

Our flight will be departing from D6, this gate actually has around 6 sub-gates and is the place for aircraft departing from remote stands.

The flight

Flight time today will be around 50 minutes and here's the route for today.

Boarding our Dash 8-Q400.

A little more info about our Bombardier DHC-8-Q400
Registration: G-FLBA
Age: ~13.5 years

First flew in May 2009, she was delivered to the original Flybe later the same year. Following the airline's demise the aircraft was returned to her lessor Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) and was stored in Maastricht for 2 years before being delivered to the new Flybe in July 2022. 

Flybe's purple seats.

The seatback pocket and tray table.

Amazing legroom considering the small aircraft.

The load factor on this flight is around 35-40%. This is surprisingly low considering the popularity of the route and is likely to be one of the factors contributing to the airline's demise.

First views out of the window. This is honestly one of the best views you can get on any plane.

Interestingly, this plane doesn't have any window blinds. The grooves for them are clearly there but they've been removed for some reason? This is my first time on a Dash 8 so I'm not sure if this is a common thing for all planes of this type or if it's just this specific aircraft. 

Anyway, time to look at the contents of the seat back pocket. Which includes a safety card…

And an air sickness bag. (Note: Flybe doesn't offer any BoB servies.)

Before taxi the crew switched on the mood lightning, which is a wonderful addition.

Taxiing out to runway 24 - we departed on time.

Takeoff! With the very low clouds we climbed through them in under 10 seconds.

Immediately after takeoff, we're already over the English Channel.

Cruising over the channel while the crew started serving the drinks.

There was a variety of drinks available including tea, coffee, hot chocolate and orange squash, which is what I went for. There is also an option for a sweet or savoury snack, I went for the savoury option which is cheese bakes. Everything is included in the ticket price, which is a super nice addition for a short flight like this one. 

With this being my first flight on the Dash 8, I was really surprised at how loud and shaky the plane is. Sadly, the passenger experience isn't great because of that as you'd have to shout to talk to your neighbour and the vibration was so bad that nothing wanted to stay on the table. Having also flown on the ATR 72, there's a huge difference between the two aircraft types (considering they're both turboprops), with the ATR being much more comfortable (comparable to flying on a jet). That's probably my only complaint about this flight. 

Shortly after the drinks service, we started our descent through the clouds.

The UK is looking miserable today, which is basically normal weather for winter. ;)

It was a very rough approach into London Heathrow due to the thick clouds and high winds.

On final approach for runway 09L.

First views of London Heathrow Airport.

Welcome to London! We landed on time.

lONODN HEATHROW AIRPORT

A short bus ride later, we arrived into Terminal 2. Passport control was incredibly efficient and under 10 minutes later we are into baggage reclaim.

The entrance/exit of the arrivals area. It is incredibly modern and efficient after its renovation in 2014. Aided by my lack of checked luggage, I went from the plane to the arrivals hall in under 15 minutes.

The sculpture right outside the terminal. It is called 'Slipstream' and is designed by Richard Wilson.

Taking the bus home. It takes just as long as the train for me, except this only costs £1.65 (compared to ~£7 on train). The only reason it's not my default option is because the bus can get pretty crowded at times so not the most pleasant experience when I've got heavy luggage. The upside is that you get an amazing view of the airport on your way out. 

The BA aircraft maintence area.

That concludes my first (and only) flight with Flybe 2.0. See you in another FR soon!