The CWL (Cardiff) Master Thread
 

Just wondering. I don't think its been discussed?

Will anybody on here who lives Severnside now fly from cardiff as opposed to Lhr Or bhx?

Yes, from the Thames Valley it's perfectly do-able if the fare and timing is right. I haven't seen confirmation of the dates yet?

Key question - what's the lounge like?!

QR say it starts 1 May 2018.

But yes, absolutely - from S Oxfordshire I usually check price and availability from both LHR and BHX, so I'll be adding Cardiff into the mix as well...

If the premium cabin ends up being priced as dirt cheap as I expect then I would consider travelling out from London

Definitely if the price is right. The current lounge is pretty basic. I spoke with the staff when Qatar announced the flights and they hoped there would be a specific new area for the Qatar flights or lounge improvements.

Food wise the offerings are shoddy. Croissants, cereals and fruits. Some cakes and nuts.

Yes, quite easy from Bristol

I'm based in North-West London; Google says CWL is 2h50m from my front-door.

If I was to do an ex-EU, let's say AMS or BRU, I'd have a flight time of an hour, but need 45mins to reach LHR, and have to be there 70mins before my flight.

To be safe, I would probably allow 2h in between flights, meaning a total of 3h55m.

CWL, would save me around an hour - so, if the fare was cheap enough, I'd definitely consider it.

Do I think the prices will be cheaper than ex-EU? No. Do I think there will be a saving compared to those ex-LHR? Potentially after the first 6 months.

M

Advantages:
Airport size makes for quick terminal entry and exit.
Air traffic delays likely to be low.

Disadvantages:
Local road network is poor so even though it is only a 18 mile drive for me the travel time saving is only about 75 minutes compared to LHR or BHX.
Lounge is poor even compared to BHX. Hopefully a lounge upgrade will have been part of the financial package used to attract Qatar.

Fares currently uploaded are LHR or BHX level.

Despite proximity can't see me using it unless Qatar make it financially advantageous.

Having had a taste of QR's J-class, I would gladly consider an ex-CWL flight if the price is right! I seem to remember that BHX had some great deals when it first launched, so let's hope the same will apply for CWL!

Hopefully!

With my family based in Bristol and my wife's in Swansea this will be a much better option for us. When travelling back together we normally go to Bristol first which isn't too long a drive from LHR but when my wife and kids go back alone, it can be quite a long drive.

The downside is I expect it to be similar price to the BHX flights which are often more than LHR and never less! Also I dislike the economy seats on the 787!

I don't know if they have announced which days of the week will be the night flights and which ones during the day? I hate flying at night so if for example the Friday flight from DOH is during the night, that'll be a big turn off for us.

My obvious departure points in the UK are MAN or BHX. However, I usually choose LHR as I combine flights with a chance to visit London & the QR T4 lounge is my favourite anywhere.

I would consider CWL if the prices were good though I suspect, as the others have already stated, they'll simply match other UK departure airports.

One thing to consider; when accessing Ex-UK awards flights I find MAN & LHR usually showing as x2, whereas I was able to find awards flights Ex-BHX without a problem. It might be the same for CWL which would be very useful indeed.

I also hope to see some decent reward availability from CWL. I am yet to fly QA from BHX because the morning flight is too early for me. LHR gives you much better options plus like you said you get the lounge experience. For this summer there was tons of availability from MAN but none from LHR so I used my AA miles to book from MAN then a few months later availability from LHR showed up so I called and transferred the flight.

Living in Bath CWL would make some sense, although the time saving is not huge over LHR. However, as others have said it would all come down to price. Will probably remain flying J deals ex EU and taking the connecting flight from BRS.

I probably should revise my earlier position. I'd assumed that there was a rail link to CWL, but it seems to be out in the sticks, so on that basis it would have to be a heck of a deal to make it worthwhile.

Recently used CWL for the first time (flew to LCY as cheaper than the train...). Nice little airport!

Does have a rail link though - albeit one like Luton that has an airport bus (that meets it) and takes you the 10 minutes to the terminal. And only 1 train an hour (detour to Barry Island if you've extra time!).

Genuinely amazed this isn't a narrowbody service. Wish QR lots of success...