Luton Airport & MY Lounge
Completing another "Lap Around the Sun"- I opted to finally visit Gdansk in Poland which had been on my list for several years. There are two options for getting between London and Gdansk with direct flights, flying with Ryanair to/from London Stansted or flying with Wizzair to/from London Luton… I opted to fly each way on each option, which brings us to a dawn arrival at Luton Airport as I prepare to head airside!
Before I arrived at Luton Airport, I had a notification that my flight was going to be delayed by a good 45 minutes… Not too bad an issue as it allowed me an opportunity to enjoy an Airport Lounge for my birthday, okay the lounges at London Luton aren't anywhere near as good as the ones at London Heathrow, but I had a Priority Pass on me- and it seemed a good spend of £24!
I cleared security in about 20 minutes, which isn't too bad given its the middle of the Half Term School Holidays here in the UK… I made my way through the corridor surrounded on all fronts by various shops and bars which absolutely did not peek my interest!
Two lounges were available to choose from… The MY LOUNGE and the NO.1 Lounge… I had never experience the first one, so I asked if I could gain entry to the MY LOUNGE which for £24 was duly granted!
There was complimentary food available for hot breakfast and cold breakfast options as well as a coffee and hot drink station, with some juices available as well… there was a manned bar as well which was trading at 06:30am!!! It was quite busy at the food station, but I managed the two photos you see bellow to show some of it off.
Plenty of nice comfortable seating was available, though I took these shots when it eased off a little as the main morning rush was dying off. Unlike the other London Airports it competes with, Luton is basically only sees low-cost airlines and there is only one "legacy airline" flying to it so the lounges are basically paid entry in advance or on the day- you aren't competing with many status holders or business class flyers.
I made up a DIY breakfast sandwich from the hot food buffet alongside a porridge and some coffee. It was a tasty and hearty start to the morning as I overlooked hundreds of people preparing for their holidays across Europe! Jet2 had set up a base some 10 months before and were making their arrival into Luton Airport… very well known!
I was in the lounge for about 2 hours, so in order to make the most of my entry fee, I went back for an orange juice and as it was a "Hatrick" of being my birthday, the Chinese New Year and Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) all on the same date- I opted to make use of the lounges Pancake machine- delicious!!!
By 08:30am, I had about 20 minutes before our flight was due to start boarding… I opted as it was my birthday to go an enjoy a beer as it was complimentary in the lounge. Playing it safe, I went with a half-pint of one of my personal favourites- Heineken!
Eventually I had to head down to the Gate to catch my flight over to Gdansk. The aircraft I was on turned out to be coming in from Bucharest, Romania. Which made me think this flight was due to be operated as the first flight of the day for a crew and plane, but the recent cutbacks at Wizz resulted in them making it the second flight for this Bucharest based crew and plane…
We boarded at Gate 24, the forecast for Gdansk was showing up as -9 degrees Celsius… at least the weather on our departure from Luton would be nice!
Wizzair W6-1602 (LTN-GDN)
Our flight today would be operated by a Hungarian Wizzair Airbus A321ceo, HA-LXD. One of the first A321's delivered to the airline. The 230-seat capacity A321 was delivered brand new to Wizzair on March 21st 2016, making it just shy of 10 years old at the time of flying, it has flown for Wizzair's Hungarian arm its entire life to date.
My return flights cost me £58 across both airlines via a travel website, I think the Wizzair flight I took was about £35 of the fare breakdown- which is still phenomenal value for a 2hr flight in Europe!
My seat for this 2hr flight across to Northern Poland was Seat 13F, one of the first "Standard Seats" offered on the Airbus A321ceo after the premium seats towards the front of the aircraft… though to be honest every Wizzair seat is basically the same except the ones at the emergency exits and front bulk head. A great view of the left engine was to be had on this flight.
Despite the almost busy flight, we boarded the aircraft quite promptly and the crew began to get us pushed back and underway! Despite the late departure, the crew were confident they could make up some of the lost time in flight. Once we pushed off stand the crew did the safety demonstration and we taxied along towards Runway 25 for our departure!
As we headed to our Runway, I noticed as we passed the fire dump the rotting fuselage of a Bristol Britannia used by Luton Airport fire services for many years now… I can't see this ever being rescued by an aviation museum for restoration- I dare to think of the state of it inside!
The aircraft lined up on Runway 25 and before we knew it the Airbus A321 was thundering down the Runway and we lifted off into the clear sunny skies over Luton, Bedfordshire! As we climbed out we passed over the M1 Motorway which was right next to the Airport before the pilots began to set us on course for Poland.
As we cruised along the East of England towards the North Sea, I started diving into the Wizzair inflight magazine/menu as well as a quick look at the Safety Card. Wizzair has an extensive network in 2026 as well as a fleet page dedicated to the various Airbus A320-family aircraft they operate- with the Airbus A321neo becoming the backbone and focus point of their future!
If you wanted to be really weird, you could fly Wizzair from Reykjavik in Iceland all the way to Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates across two or three flights- I priced it up and "you could" do KEF-DXB/AUH via LTN & BUD for about £275 one-way!
Crossing the North Sea towards the Netherlands, Germany and Poland- the clear skies of the UK gave way to more cloud cover as we headed East forever East.
I was quite full from the lounge, but for the sake of covering some of the Wizzair inflight menu, I opted to enjoy a refreshing beverage of Pink Lemonade with a Nesquik chocolate wafer. A wise decision in hindsight given there would be a long wait on arrival.
I visited the toilet during the flight, before leaving I grabbed a "Loo Review" photo for this flight report, pretty much a "bog-standard" airplane lavatory for an Airbus A321 built in the mid-2010s for a low cost airline!
The two hour flight passed without much else to take note of, I did doze off for a bit- but was woken as the crew were about to start our decent into Gdansk Airport.
We had to descend through some thick winter clouds, but once we broke the cloud cover on final approach, it was very clear to see what we were in for on arrival into Gdansk- the place was completely blanketed by snow! I have to admit, I was quite excited by this!
Once we landed, we taxied off the Runway heading for the one Terminal building at Gdansk Airport. As we headed to the main ramp, I spotted various Ryanair, Wizzair and Enter Air planes taxiing or parked on stand, Gdansk Airport- like Luton, is mainly served by low-cost airlines with a few legacy airlines operating their Regional subsidiaries for feeder services via their hubs.
We parked up and started disembarking the aircraft, I noticed whilst waiting on the other passengers to leave that we were going to be using a bus over to the Non-Schengen arrivals area to clear passport control, so I wasn't too sure if this plane was flying onward to another EU Destination or whether it was off back to the UK?
I was one of the last off, getting out into a bitterly freezing Gdansk! There wasn't much snow around the Airport ramp luckily but a Wizzair aircraft next to us looked like it would be a certain de-icing job when it next flew!
The EES system wasn't fully operational during my visit in February 2026, but the passport control team were only dealing with the Gdansk flight as we arrived, there was a bit of a wait- but some officers did start the EES set up remotely from tablets- so my passport and photo was done before I got to the kiosk as I waited. Despite the teething issues, we were done in 30 minutes and it was easy enough to find the Bus Stops and Train Station, but before I was to do any of that- I went for a take away coffee so I didn't freeze outside!
As you can see, Gdansk was a "Winter Wonderland" to put it politely! But I was off to enjoy my birthday in a new city for me to tick off!
I'll cover the Gdansk Airport experience in the return flight report, which will be coming out- soon!
