I recently had the opportunity to fly from London City Airport to Luxembourg on a short business trip. This is both my first time flying from London City and my first time on Luxair. My flight from London was an early 07:35 departure with the return the afternoon of the day after. Overall I was quite impressed with Luxair but there were certainly areas for improvement. So to find out more please read my Luxair Flight Review, London City to Luxembourg in a Bombardier Q400 (Dash-8).
My Youtube review is below:
Luxair
Luxair is the flag carrier of Luxembourg. It is a pretty small airline with just 20 aircraft operating services to 85 destinations.
Luckily for all the Lufthansa fans out there, Luxair is a partner of the Miles and More program. This means you’ll earn miles flying on Luxair, redeemable on Lufthansa and codeshare flights. For the return flight here I earned 1,125 miles. Not bad considering I didn’t pay anything!
London City Airport
This is my first time flying out of London City Airport (LCY) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Serving almost 5 million passengers a year it is surprisingly busy considering it’s tiny runway and footprint. In fact, due to the short runway and tall surrounding buildings LCY has some unique features. Only aircraft the size of an Airbus A318 or smaller are allowed to fly here. Also pilots need special certification to allow them to fly in, this is because they need to fly in at a very steep 5.5 degree descent rate. That’s about double the descent rate of typical airports such as Heathrow.
I arrived at 06:00am and it was already busy full of people wearing suits. Despite the crowd, security was very efficient. The departures area is very small with just a duty free shop, WHS Smith and a few cafes. It also feels like the whole airport is just one long corridor (see video to know what I mean).
There are no jet bridges here either. You just walk from your gate, down some stairs and straight onto the tarmac to your plane.
The Aircraft – Bombardier Q400 (Dash-8)
Our flight today was on a DeHavilland Canada Dash 8 (Bombardier Q400). It is the workforce of the Luxair fleet and they currently operate 11 of them. Luxair also operate a few Boeing 737s for longer range and higher demand routes.
The Dash 8 has just 76 seats in a 2-2 seating configuration. I was in seat 9A for this flight, which was a bit of a mistake as I couldn’t see much from the window due to the engine being in the way.
And speaking of the engines, they are loud, especially on takeoff. Throughout the flight I also noticed a lot of vibration, so it’s not the comfiest of flying experiences.
The small size of the aircraft also has a few downsides. Lack of room in the cabin being one. But also compared to a typical jet like the Airbus A320, the Dash 8 flies low and slow. With a cruising altitude of around 25,000ft and cruise speed of 300 kn+ it takes longer to travel. That’s why it’s only popular on short regional routes like the one I’m flying today.
Finally, the aircraft’s small size means you really feel every bump and turbulence is more noticeable. I don’t really mind and in fact find it quite enjoyable. However, coworkers I was flying with did not like it at all. So if you’re a nervous flyer, maybe choose a bigger aircraft.
The Flight and Experience
There were two cabin crew aboard our flight. The purser in charge and an assitant. Their service was good and friendly, if a bit curt.
For a one hour flight it was nice to be offered a drink and snack. I opted for a coffee, which was pretty standard instant stuff. The croissant was also just fine. Perfectly tasty but a shame they didn’t heat them up. Still, it’s nice to be offered some form of food service, unlike Ryanair or Easyjet. Even British Airways only give you a bottle of water and some crisps so this is definitely a step up.
The seats themselves were comfy, with plush leather cushions. Seat pitch was ok too with plenty of length for my (not very long) legs. However, due to the small airframe of the Dash 8 the seats were rather narrow. What’s more the window seats specifically had terrible leg room as the curvature of the fuselage means it cuts off some space.
There were also two inflight magazines which I haven’t seen on a short-haul airline in years. It gave me something interesting to read for a few minutes at least.
Finally, the toilets were fine. Clean enough but very small and hard to move around in. Luckily on a one hour flight this isn’t such of an issue.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed my short flight with Luxair today. Service was up there with the best European airlines and there were no issues with the flight. The flight was on time and airport experience was good too. I also enjoyed flying on the DeHavilland Dash 8, but with this your mileage may vary. My only gripe is that the seats were too narrow and lacking in leg room, but this is more a sympton of the aircraft used than the airline. It’s also nice being offered a drink and snack, especially on such a short flight.
If I find myself flying to Luxembourg in the future I will definitely choose Luxair over British Airways. Hopefully I’ll even be able to try out their business class offering!
More from me…
If you want to visit Luxembourg (or anywhere else for that matter) and want somewhere to stay, please consider using my Booking.com Affiliate link.
- Click here for my review of the London Heathrow Terminal 5 Club Galleries Lounge
- British Airways Club Europe London Heathrow to Geneva Flight Review
- And here is my ultimate guide to the British Airways Executive Club rewards program if you want a guide on how to book a flight like this
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- The Platinum Card – You Receive 35,000 Membership Reward points after spending £4,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGgRA5?CPID=100493012
- British Airways Card: You Receive 12,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months, I receive 8,000 Avios: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGuUeO?CPID=100493012