Courtyard by Marriott, London City Airport

Flight cancelled. That's what finally showed up at around 20h00 on the departure boards in London City airport. There were only 10 of us, mostly Danish corporate people, and a couple of Britons who made their displeasure clearly known. We were literally taken downstairs and decanted back into arrivals, ostensibly left to our own devices. It may be thanks to these loudly complaining guys, who ultimately offloaded themselves and disappeared, that the mothership BA actually took care of us. It took a bit of time and milling around to get any reaction from the BA staff, but I felt that there was strength in the small number of people in our group. It seems, thanks to somebody's connection to the Danish crew on this flight, that some element of paperwork had been wrongly filed.


The check-in area of London City Airport has not changed over the years


There are no VIP lounges at London City Airport, everyone crowds into the same public area


Our SUN-AIR plane, getting towed by a tug to a remote stand

The BA service desk in the main hall of LCY airport finally booked us into the Courtyard by Marriott, 10 minutes walk away. In fact, this was pretty decent accommodation and a buffet dinner was provided which included decent quality soup and salad, followed by at least 3 mains (mushroom ravioli, chicken tikka masala). The room was decent quality too, although I didn't sleep too well (trying not to think about losing €164 for tonight's hotel booking in Billund). There was certainly everything you needed in the room, including charging ports for plugs and USB connectors, complimentary water bottles, and nice shower and bathroom amenities. It was a big step up from Holiday Inn Express and I appreciated more than anything having more space to move around in. Breakfast was good quality and made me realise how poor the quality of the Holiday Inn Express breakfast is. The hotel was seriously full, including a whole class of children, due to what seemed to be at least 4 cancellations at LCY airport. Only one elevator was operating, which meant longer wait times.


Bedroom in the Courtyard by Marriott at London City Airport


A different angle of the same room


Courtyard by Marriott offers quite a good bathroom experience

Update: in the end I got €500 compensation (EC261) from British Airways plus the cost of the lost hotel room reimbursed to me (€164). The cancelled/delayed flight was on 22 September and the compensation was credited on 15 December.

Rating -
Seat 7D
Aircraft FRJ
Registration OY-NCO