SpotTheDog

Happy new year, all.

I have booked a return trip to FAO later this year; I was desperate to go from LHR as I just prefer the airport in general. However unfortunately, due to the dates, I could only use flights from LGW.

I’ve booked a return trip in Club Europe, and was a bit concerned to see the flight is operated by BA Euroflyer.

Despite BA assuring us all on the website that we can expect the same “high standards”, is this a “Club Europe lite” - can I expect the same service I would get if I was flying Club Europe from Heathrow?

I’ve done some reading and can see that most would not agree with that sentiment; so now I feel a bit annoyed that I’ve spent the same amount of money as a Club Europe flight to the same destination from Heathrow.

If it really is as bad as previous travellers have said, I’m only really looking forward to the Lounge at LGW south as I’ve heard it’s pretty good, and I haven’t tried it yet.

As always help is much appreciated

cbyrne92

LGW is a far nicer experience than LHR, I've flown CE on Euroflyer a few times and there's just as much variance in crew as there is on the mainline carrier.

The primary difference you'll notice is a different catering supplier but the food has always been ok and occasionally a nice change from whatever the current LHR menu is.

The first lounge whilst not up to the CCR standards as you'll be used to as GGL is still far, far superior to the F lounge in LHR.

CB

mikeyfly

The fast track and lounge experience at LGW is great (you can still QR order a burger and other bits, if that's your bag) better than LHR in my opinion. Food and drink on board good and similar. Crew can vary somewhat, but have had some excellent ones. Same at both bases I guess. You'll notice barely any difference other than the sticker on the side of the aircraft as you board

VSLover

agree with the above but have found the LGW generally better (desserts notwithstanding) and have been lucky i think to have generally good crews on euroflyer but feel overall it is a more pleasant experience from LGW overall -- and i despise LGW but happily take euroflyer club europe when times suit!

GoNorth

I flew out to VCE from LGW and back to LHR recently and there was no real difference from my experience as others have said. And I'd agree the lounge experience was probably where BA would like LHR to get to in many respects.

The only issue I experienced from LGW was an ATC delay due to the reported staffing issues.

SpotTheDog

Ahh okay, fair enough - thanks; that reminds me of the GB Airways days!

This sounds very hopeful - I don’t feel so downhearted now!

That certainly sounds good to me!


Thanks, yep, I’ll give it a go and see what it’s like!

Swanhunter

Security at LGW is excellent, and the F lounges is good. However the airport itself is pretty grim especially in peak season and far from a relaxing experience, driven largely by the nature of the other passengers around you. LHR or LCY it most certainly isn't...lots of kids, lots of once a year travellers, lots of drinkers and generally a lot of fuss.

SpotTheDog

I made sure to book the trip in a time which doesn’t coincide with the school holidays, so I’m hoping that will play in my favour! I haven’t been to LGW since pre-pandemic, only LHR, so will be interesting to see how it fares.

layz

LGW lounge experience as said better than Flounge at LHR but as you're a GGL you'd likely have a better experience in the CCR. Just remember after security don't go down the escalator but there should be a sign pointing left for the lounges. This avoids the duty free walk. In fact even for people without lounge access I'd advise skipping the duty free shop as there's bars and restaurants on the upper level.

Some things to note about Euroflyer:
The A320s are awful. Same seats as LHR but they have row 1 where the wardrobe should be and they've not installed a bulkhead wall so if you're in 1A/C you have to be careful not to stretch out and trip over passengers during boarding. If your seatmap shows 1A/C but no 1D/F it means you have this dreaded config and I recommend sitting in 2D/F.
The A321s are fine
They usually close the bar 40 minutes before arrival which is ridiculous so make sure if you want a final drink you let them know before the cutofff.

VSLover

two other things that stand out for me:

(1) more generally they seem to call group 1 ONLY and enforce it pretty well at LGW (and rarely do people seem to crowd the gate for some reason) -- now i have not flown from LGW since november, so it would be unfortunate if this has become for LHR like

(2) i cannot select my seats on ba.com desktop but only via mobile app after booking fwiw.

rockflyertalk

Isn’t BA Euroflyer just a business admin structure thing? Costs, operations etc behind the scenes stuff.

The differences to customers is pretty much zilch! It’s not a lite version!

Ok, Ok, FT users will debate Newrest vs Do&Co catering. But again most flyers wouldn’t be aware of this.

But overall great points above re: Gatwick. A great lounge.

tjcxx

It is possible. In the old version MMB you have to use the seating link in the pile of links at the very bottom of the page. The link in the usual place under each flight doesn't exist for Euroflyer bookings (as you've found out !)

Camflyer

The only problem I have with LGW is luggage retrieval which always takes ages so I try to fly hand baggage only. Otherwise, the LGW CE experience is generally better than LHR and the lounge is much, much, better.

A few weeks ago, I arrived by train (station redevelopment is excellent), through fast track security, used the corridor to bypass the duty free area and was in the lounge less than 10 mins after getting off the train.

'andad

I've followed the advice to avoid !A, 1C, and gone for 2A, 2C outbound (hoping an aircraft change doesn't then mean !D, 1D appears and row 2 is not the bulkhead ).
On the return, I've taken 1A, 1C as the whole of row 2 is blocked in an otherwise "empty" cabin. Is row 2 for crew for some reason, they're both A320's ?

Smid

We flew just before Christmas and back before New Year, and the service was actually good both ways, The previous time we'd used them, it was a drink, a meal and gone. This time there was plenty of refills, more so than LHR non EF flights of recent times. They efficiently served a full 32 person CE cabin.

Only caveat was the A320 on the way back,and they shifted us up from 2A/C to 1A/C with no wall in front of you, (if I had known this I would have shifted it back), and being in 1C I spent a lot of the flight with someone's arse bouncing off my ear on their way to the loo, not helped by someone who felt ill blocking the galley. It's really not a nice set of seats in 1A/C with no wall there. So don't pick those seats if you have Gold, and watch out being stuck in them if you're silver.