For our voyage to WTM, with a side-trip to Exeter, and following the super early-morning time change of our original Exeter flight, we went with a last-minute BA Cityflyer Club Europe flight from Dublin Airport to London City.

Check-in for British Airways is handled at the former money-changer tucked in awkwardly between the Aer Lingus check-in desks and the toilets, on the ground floor in Dublin Airport Terminal 2.

We were asked if we were aware of the delay (mildly, but not expecting the severity), before being sent quickly on our way through fast track (very much not needed in this case, with several hours ahead of us), and on to the Aer Lingus lounge, which I’ve covered previously, that British Airways uses during non-peak hours in Dublin.

The Aer Lingus lounge continues to struggle with its never-ending ‘catering provider transition’, and food options were at a steep premium throughout the visit, with a selection of sandwiches presenting themselves at 11am, soup, and pretty much nothing else. They really, desperately, need to get their act together – this has been going on for so long.

Unfortunately, things continued to rapidly come apart schedule-wise due to early morning fog in London City; our plane, scheduled to initially leave Dublin around 7am, to fly out, come back, pick us up and head back to London City ultimately left for its first heavily-delayed segment only as we arrived to the airport around 10am.

Eventually, some hours and several glasses of wine later, our plane returned to Dublin to collect us and we hurried along quickly to the 335 gates – housed in a separate building a short bus drive away.

How Aer Lingus and British Airways, arguably two airlines from the same group that are of the more premium end of the airlines with very regular service to Dublin Airport, have wound up between Terminal 2, the temporary 335 gate building, and even Terminal 1 in the morning/evening is beyond me. Surely a more permanent solution is needed with some urgency. It’s reached a point where Ryanair seems to have more consistency in its gate locations.

Boarding took place speedily, especially given the size of our Embraer E190, with 2-2 seating throughout, including both Club Europe (business) and Euro Traveller.

Seating was comfortable, with very respectable legroom in the Club Europe rows – although there didn’t seem to be a particularly uncomfortable seat going, from what I could see.

We were away quickly, taking off to the east and out over the Irish Sea in very short order. With a flight time of just over an hour, in-flight food and beverage service quickly got underway, and I went with the decently presented though freezing cold and slightly flavourless pesto salad.

I also had a glass of wine to go with it, which was followed by a second, very kindly poured into a take-away cup given our imminent approach to London.

There’s little you can pack into under an hour of usable in-flight time, and our lone crewmember hustled considering the size of the cabin, serving all meals, drinks, and clearing everything away in time for our familiar, rather steep approach to London City.

Landing at London City always offers tremendous views, regardless of which side you sit on – though I always get it wrong, and this time was no different, with us sat on the left as the Millennium Dome passed on the right.

Our flight, scheduled for departure at 11.10am ultimately only got going however at 2.40pm, arriving just after 4pm, instead of our originally-scheduled 12.40pm. Wonderful! This left us scrambling while we waited for our luggage to change our onward train tickets to Exeter – the last thing you want given the UK’s scandalously high train ticket prices.

Overall, notwithstanding the pretty horrific delay, this was a pleasant albeit fairly unremarkable flight to London City – the benefits being largely the smaller plane, and ability to get quickly into London from the airport, rather than say a particularly luxurious experience. Certainly, given the good fares BA often has on this route, I’d keep it in mind for future trips to London.