London City to Billund day trip on Dornier 328Jet
Sep 12, 2023, 6:30 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Southampton
Posts: 221
London City to Billund day trip on Dornier 328Jet
As Sun-Air (BA franchisee) have restarted operations after the summer break from London City to Billund and now onward Billund to Gothenburg, last week was an opportunity for an Avios day out. Unfortunately Avios seats weren't available outbound to Gothenburg on the day we were travelling so we were looking at a 5hr+ stay in Billund. But I notice that day return Avios seats are available on many days, which gives 4 sectors rather than 2 and less time mooching around at destination, which may or may not appeal.
The 328Jet is a new type for me, having previously flown on the 328 (Suckling Airways) and the 228/228NG (Aurigny). My trainspotter friend calls this 'new haulage' although I was brought up to believe that it was 'gricing'.
We decided to stay over the night before at the Courtyard by the easterly threshold of LCY's runway. On the website they don't sell any twin bed rooms with a runway view, only doubles. On the day prior to arrival I emailed to ask about twin bedded runway view rooms and told 'no such rooms'. Then at check in made the same request, to be told 'sorry, no can do'. So we went off to twin bed room 405 to find it had a pretty good view over the runway.
The next morning we pottered down to the airport terminal (6 min walk) and through security with the new-ish 'put everything in your hand luggage' scanners. All good. Before long all 8 of us were boarding OY-NCO for the 90min trip to Billund.
Soon airborne, the single cabin crew member produced a rather nice breakfast tray and plenty of drinks. Although we were on economy Avios tickets the service was better than Club Europe; there's no 'business class' seating on board, all 32 seats are economy, but I see that the cash pricing is more business class than economy.
Before long we were arriving at Billund. Post-Brexit, immigration involves a 'purpose of your stay'? question and while my travelling companion treated the immigration like one is used to in the US - only answer precisely what you're asked as briefly as possible - I ended up in more of a dialogue. They weren't expecting scruffy looking elderly day trippers as Legoland was closed and didn't seem to be too used to 328Jet enthusiasts either. In answer to the 'have you visited Billund before'? I had verbal diarrhoea and ended up relating my last visit 20 years ago on a Maersk Air 737 where the Capt had me and the kids in the cockpit and produced lots of Lego freebies from her flight bag which they loved.
We hadn't planned to explore Billund town, so in the absence of any signage to German/Asian-style observation areas, I asked in the airport office if they had any suggestions for entertainment at the airport. We were directed towards the airport hotel which has cold beer and a shaded patio with partial airport views and were told that we'd see a brown hut which is the designated plane spotting facility.
Spotters' Hut and Hotel
As it was 30C+ and toasty we enjoyed a couple of pints and retreated to the terminal and the lounge which was excellent, consistent with the Priority Pass awards displayed. Lots of zones, nice food and drink, excellent views.
After a nap, we made our way towards the gate for the flight back to London City. It took even longer to exit the country as the border folks wanted a detailed explanation of what we'd been doing for 5 hours. I'd have thought that plenty of people would have come to Billund just to ride the 328Jet, have a couple of beers and go home, but it seems not. They're far more accustomed to Legoland visitors and Astra-Zeneca employees.
There were 5 of us for the return trip and we were advised by Laura that we could sit anywhere, so tried the rear of the aircraft this time.
It's a Pratt & Whitney 306B apparently. Variants of this engine used on many bizjet types
The meal service on the return was even nicer and more plentiful than the outbound.
The raspberry ice cream was delicious!
Plenty of drinks offered and as Laura wasn't too busy we asked about the peculiarities of OY-NCO and what mods were required to the airframe to make it LCY capable. After a couple of calls to the flight deck we were told that there was an additional spoiler on the wing and we may like to chat with the crew on arrival and have photos etc. Very kind.
the wing spoiler that deploys in flight making OY-NCO unique
Landing easterly at LCY always affords good views
As we were pushed to a remote stand, we had a chat with the flight deck crew after landing but didn't hang around too long as the other three pax were waiting on the bus, presumably not too chuffed at us delaying their arrival.
The crew were expecting 21 pax for the return leg to Billund. All in all, a very pleasant day out and excellent value for the Avios.
The 328Jet is a new type for me, having previously flown on the 328 (Suckling Airways) and the 228/228NG (Aurigny). My trainspotter friend calls this 'new haulage' although I was brought up to believe that it was 'gricing'.
We decided to stay over the night before at the Courtyard by the easterly threshold of LCY's runway. On the website they don't sell any twin bed rooms with a runway view, only doubles. On the day prior to arrival I emailed to ask about twin bedded runway view rooms and told 'no such rooms'. Then at check in made the same request, to be told 'sorry, no can do'. So we went off to twin bed room 405 to find it had a pretty good view over the runway.
The next morning we pottered down to the airport terminal (6 min walk) and through security with the new-ish 'put everything in your hand luggage' scanners. All good. Before long all 8 of us were boarding OY-NCO for the 90min trip to Billund.
Soon airborne, the single cabin crew member produced a rather nice breakfast tray and plenty of drinks. Although we were on economy Avios tickets the service was better than Club Europe; there's no 'business class' seating on board, all 32 seats are economy, but I see that the cash pricing is more business class than economy.
Before long we were arriving at Billund. Post-Brexit, immigration involves a 'purpose of your stay'? question and while my travelling companion treated the immigration like one is used to in the US - only answer precisely what you're asked as briefly as possible - I ended up in more of a dialogue. They weren't expecting scruffy looking elderly day trippers as Legoland was closed and didn't seem to be too used to 328Jet enthusiasts either. In answer to the 'have you visited Billund before'? I had verbal diarrhoea and ended up relating my last visit 20 years ago on a Maersk Air 737 where the Capt had me and the kids in the cockpit and produced lots of Lego freebies from her flight bag which they loved.
We hadn't planned to explore Billund town, so in the absence of any signage to German/Asian-style observation areas, I asked in the airport office if they had any suggestions for entertainment at the airport. We were directed towards the airport hotel which has cold beer and a shaded patio with partial airport views and were told that we'd see a brown hut which is the designated plane spotting facility.
Spotters' Hut and Hotel
As it was 30C+ and toasty we enjoyed a couple of pints and retreated to the terminal and the lounge which was excellent, consistent with the Priority Pass awards displayed. Lots of zones, nice food and drink, excellent views.
After a nap, we made our way towards the gate for the flight back to London City. It took even longer to exit the country as the border folks wanted a detailed explanation of what we'd been doing for 5 hours. I'd have thought that plenty of people would have come to Billund just to ride the 328Jet, have a couple of beers and go home, but it seems not. They're far more accustomed to Legoland visitors and Astra-Zeneca employees.
There were 5 of us for the return trip and we were advised by Laura that we could sit anywhere, so tried the rear of the aircraft this time.
It's a Pratt & Whitney 306B apparently. Variants of this engine used on many bizjet types
The meal service on the return was even nicer and more plentiful than the outbound.
The raspberry ice cream was delicious!
Plenty of drinks offered and as Laura wasn't too busy we asked about the peculiarities of OY-NCO and what mods were required to the airframe to make it LCY capable. After a couple of calls to the flight deck we were told that there was an additional spoiler on the wing and we may like to chat with the crew on arrival and have photos etc. Very kind.
the wing spoiler that deploys in flight making OY-NCO unique
Landing easterly at LCY always affords good views
As we were pushed to a remote stand, we had a chat with the flight deck crew after landing but didn't hang around too long as the other three pax were waiting on the bus, presumably not too chuffed at us delaying their arrival.
The crew were expecting 21 pax for the return leg to Billund. All in all, a very pleasant day out and excellent value for the Avios.
Sep 13, 2023, 12:44 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: St. Paul, MN
Programs: Delta Platinum Medallion, IHG Gold, HH Silver
Posts: 448
Very cool trip. Everything looks great, and I'm impressed by the food and service you had on your flight to and from Billund. I visited Billund for a few days with my parents back 23 years ago - and on the way home to the US we flew on a SAS Q400 to CPH to connect to a 767-300 to Newark (EWR).
Nov 7, 2023, 4:37 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: ARN,Potomac TRACON
Programs: Cheapest lie-flat available and credit card bestowed hotel elites now, long-time AA EXtraPotato then
Posts: 132
Great report full of the classic enthusiasm for weird planes. Super happy to see that Sun Air and their probably unique Dornier fleet are alive again. Planning to fly to BLL from GOT soon, or better yet hope they resume operations in BMA.