When we made it to the hallway that led to gates 1-20, our plane was just pulling in.


Having not had breakfast, we stopped by the Aspire Lounge near Gate 1A as boarding was scheduled to commence. The Advantage ticket provided access. We spent five minutes in there. Twenty would have been enough.





I will amend my assessment of BHX because the gate area was actually okay--getting there was the problem.

When we scanned our boarding passes at 11:27, we were among the last to join the queue on the jetbridge. Given that we boarded the ATR-72 (operated by Emerald Airlines) from the back and were seated in the front, this worked out perfectly.

Seat 1C provided a comfortable amount of legroom, we departed and arrived on time, the crew were friendly, and the buy-on-board muffin wasn't stale. A great flight.