Seriously, this is one of the best deals I have found. Not only that, there is nothing like walking out your front door, and walking to the airport in 15 minutes. Plane ticket cost: £41, €46, or $49, roundtrip. (These are my go to items for traveling)
Passport, carry-on, back pack, check. Rolling out the front door of my house and arriving at the airport terminal 15 minutes later even better. Thats the beauty of Gibraltar International Airport, especially if you live in La Linea or Gibraltar and can walk to the airport.
I love Gibraltar International Airport because of its location, the views of the runway, and the ease of hopping on a plane to The United Kingdom. Notwithstanding, we sometimes run into troubles at this airport be it weather conditions or most recently issues with ATC. Regardless, getting to roll out of bed 2 hours before an international flight and heading to the airport is AMAZING!
Last year I purchased the easyJet Membership Plus program which allows me to choose my seat and bring a large carry-on in addition to my back pack. Without paying for that program my cheap ticket would not include seat selection or my carry-on suitcase. I did the math, and the Membership plus program paid for itself if I took just 4 one way flights. In June I will have a total of 6 flights, with a €39 roundtrip flight from Malaga to Milan.
If you plan on taking several trips on easyJet in a calendar year, it might be worth the membership program knowing you can select your seat and bring an extra carry-on. easyJet is a budget carrier, meaning cheap tickets, but charges for everything. Don't try to sneak by with a large bag or try to switch seats, they are pretty strict on that. Know what you are getting before you fly. You're just getting a flight and a small back pack, so don't be mad at the airline staff if you try to sneak on a large carry-on and they don't let you.
So for £41 or €46 or $49 I was able to snag a roundtrip weekend flight from Gibraltar to London Gatwick Airport. My flight departed on a Friday morning around 11am, arriving in London at roughly 1:30 pm. The return flight was Sunday morning leaving London at 7 am and getting back home at about 11:00 am.
It was a quick weekend trip just to see some major sites in London, walk around, peek at Buckingham Palace, and walk around Westminster. I didn't have an agenda since my time there was so short.
Here's how I did it:
I constantly check google flights to see if there are any cheap tickets out of Gibraltar to the UK, the only place Gibraltar currently offers flights. When I see a good flight out of Gib, I check the easyJet website and compare ticket prices. I then play around with dates and times, and figure out the best time for the best price.
Check in with easyJet is online or on your phone so that makes getting through the airport easy, especially if you don't have to check luggage. The airport security screening at Gibraltar is also very fast. And finally, walking to your gate is just down the hall from security so you are at the gate in no time. Check back as I will write an article on how I choose my seats on flights and try to get an entire row or at least empty seat next to me, I will have an article about that soon.
I left my house and took a leisurely and beautiful walk along the marina to the Spain/Gibraltar border. After passing border control I made a quick walk over to Gibraltar International Airport. The whole process was less than 30 minutes. However, if you are not familiar with the area or the airport, you should allow for extra time. But La Linea is small and flat, so walking to the border and the airport is usually relatively quick.
Gibraltar is a simple airport to fly to and fly out of. Security is usually pretty fast, and before you know it, you will spot your plane in the distance flying in for landing.
After passing through security screening I walked out to the balcony overlooking The Rock of Gibraltar and the runway. Within minutes I could see easyJet's flight 8901 passing behind The Rock. A couple minutes later and it was visible over the bay coming in for landing on runway 09. A quick, easy, and simple touch down and the aircraft rolled up to the terminal.
Next was the sound of the bells of the airport for all of us to line up for boarding. I like having the priority pass. I know some people don't think its worth it, but its included with the membership plus, and I'll take what I can get and what I paid for.
Boarding at Gibraltar is really easy, and I always feel bad for the people that stand in line only to be told they are still only boarding priority passes. In my opinion, there needs to be better speakers, and even screens that just blare the queue that is boarding. At every airport, every boarding is always so disorganized because every passenger wants to huddle around the gate creating a block for the others who have a priority pass. And like I said before, not everyone sees the value in the priority or the membership, which is fine, but then be polite and sit back and wait.
After a quick scan of my pass by a lady I've seen at the Gibraltar Airport a few times, sometimes at the gate and sometimes down by the plane, I was headed down the escalator out toward the tarmac to walk to the aircraft. We waited a few minutes and were scurried over toward the plane shortly. I went to the back door as my seat was the second to the last row on the plane. That didn't work so well for fast boarding.
The stairway wasn't raised up all the way, so the flight attendant made us wait. After watching in "MISERY" as everyone at the front door was loading first (just kidding, but I had to say it since my previous paragraphs were about waiting your turn for priority to board first 😂), we finally got off the stairs and they were lifted so we could get back on.
The flight attendants were nice and apologized for the wait. I always appreciate a friendly greeting from the FA's. I can't tell you how many American flights I've been on domestic, and international that sport cranky flight attendants that are mad they have to be at work. So usually when I get to fly European Airlines, I find them to be more friendly than US carriers.
After just a few minutes we were pushing back and I had great views of The Rock of Gibraltar. We scurried down the runway, across the road where I spotted traffic of cars, trucks, busses, people and bikes waiting to cross, just feet away from the runway.
A quick turn around and we were off in the air. Flying over the south coast of Spain, then north toward England. The flight was really decent, smooth, and short. I packed my own sandwich, chips, apple and had a little picnic while watching "The White Queen" I had previously downloaded to one of my phones. When the FA came round, I ordered some white wine, and had a fine relaxing flight.
Arriving and deplaning at LGW was easy. I waited till everyone was off before I made my way to the front of the cabin to thank the pilots. I always love getting to say hi to them and thank them for the flight. Overall, the flight from Gibraltar to LGW was quite enjoyable and I'm glad I was able to do so at such a great price!
If you are thinking of taking a trip out of Gibraltar Airport to the United Kingdom, I highly recommend it, as its a lot of fun flying out of this little airport. But its even better if you are flying in and have great views of The Rock of Gibraltar.
I highly recommend coming to visit Gibraltar as there is so much to do. Not only that, you can be in Spain in 2 minutes, and the culture is so completely different. It is night and day crossing the border. I don't mean that in a bad way either, its just completely different. A lot of border towns may tend to be blended, here it's not blended at all. You are either in Spain or you are in Gibraltar.
If you are coming from the UK for a trip to Gibraltar and you are on a budget, you may want to stay on the Spain side as hotels and food tends to be cheaper on this side. Regardless, going to Gibraltar affords you the opportunity to see so much history in one place, and you can't beat the fact its the only place in Europe to see wild monkeys!
Overall, I have had good experiences with easyJet. I go into the flight knowing its a budget carrier. I bring my own snacks and sandwiches. I bring a hot tea bag or an instant coffee packet and ask for a cup of hot water when they do beverage service. If I know I will have a beer, I prepay for a couple vouchers saving 20% on my inflight purchase. If you go prepared for your easyJet flight, you can have a really lovely experience.
Honestly, easyJet has provided way better service than flagship carriers in the US like American and Delta, which have slipped substantially in their customer service the past few years. Out of the flights I've taken in the past few years between these carriers, easyJet outscores both those US flagship carriers.
I hope easyJet continues to bring their A-game to their flights and service at Gibraltar and Europe, because they have been providing great service thus far. Thanks so much for taking a read over my article, and if you happen to click on one of the amazon links, know that it helps me out a lot and I appreciate it so much!
Be sure to check out THE SPAIN GIBRALTAR CHANNEL and Ministry of Flight on YouTube.
Both are my personal channels and are not affiliated with any government entity. And of course if you have any questions about travel to Gibraltar or to Spain please leave a comment below or on my YouTube channels. I check YouTube channel comments daily!
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