First impressions I asked the taxi driver to drop me at Terminal A of Barcelona's airport for my 1040 flight to Gatwick, but he sailed on past and stopped outside Terminal B. As it was only a short walk I wheeled my suitcase back to Terminal A and arrived at 0855. The Easyjet check-in was the first thing I saw – mainly because in front of the four desks was a mass of queues snaking around each other and colliding, with no one sure where to start queuing. As I had two small bags and a small suitcase, I joined one of the three main lines (the fourth was for hand baggage only).
I was still in exactly the same place over an hour later, at 1010am, with my flight due to leave at 1040. Even though the hand-baggage queue was moving almost as slowly, it was shorter, so I managed to compress my luggage into two bags and moved into that line. As I did, an announcement advised passengers on my flight to move to a new check-in desk that was being opened. Along with everyone else I rushed there to start a fresh queue, and realised I was now behind a lot of people who had been at the back of my first queue. I was finally checked in at 1020. When I asked the reason for the delay, the harassed-looking desk attendant said: "There's no delay, but there are too many flights and not enough [staff]."
On this Friday morning there were four Easyjet flights from Barcelona to Stansted, Luton, Gatwick and Liverpool all leaving within an hour of each other. Clearly this is a stretch for ground-handling staff. I rushed up the escalators and spent 10 minutes waiting to pass through security. Gate 49 was close by and I reached it quickly, where I joined the back of a queue to board the bus to the plane. Easyjet is the leader in flights from London to Barcelona with over 120 flights there and back from Gatwick, Stansted and Luton per week.
Boarding After a five-minute bus journey I reached the plane and found an aisle seat (seats are not assigned) at 1050. The A319 has seats arranged 3-3. There is a modest recline and the seats felt new and surprisingly clean, especially given the turnaround times of low-cost carriers.
The flight Another busload of passengers arrived after mine and we left quickly, being airborne at 1105. I'd had no time to buy anything to eat or read at the airport so I bought a cheese salad baguette (£3). The one-hour 45-minute flight passed without incident and the crew were friendly and helpful. One passenger suffered sinus pain during take-off and landing and the attendant was sympathetic and helpful, checking on her frequently during the landing approach.
Arrival Despite the delay in leaving we landed on time at 1355, and thanks to my manoeuvres with my luggage I went straight through the airport with my hand luggage and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Verdict Onboard service was attentive and we landed on time, but the experience at Barcelona was a stressful one.
Price Easyjet return fares to Barcelona from Gatwick cost from £41.
Sarah Maxwell
