My day out at London Southend Airport

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• JoshBosh says:

  28 Apr28 April 05:49

  No views of the Vulcan from the terminal or station? I know if you ride it one more stop you get some of the best views of her.

  • Stuart says:

    28 Apr28 April 06:27

    You can’t see the Vulcan from the Terminal but you can whilst on the train before arriving at the airport. It’s on the right just before pulling in if you are travelling from London.

    You can also see it to the right when you cross the Tarmac to board once they release you from the stupid outside holding pen!

  • flyforfun says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:25

    I used the car park when I went and you could see it from there.

• Stuart says:

  28 Apr28 April 06:29

  Only word of warning, which is true for most of these small airports with only budget airlines, they are VERY strict when it comes luggage and meeting size and weight limits

  • flyforfun says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:28

    The gate staff on my easyjet flight seemed pretty good at knowing who would and wouldn’t fit in the size gauge. I was about to put mine in like everyone before me and she said not to bother as she could tell it was ok.

• ee says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:01

  Slight correction raffles! Outside of peak hours there are 3 trains an hour each way, less on Sunday’s. Peak time in the week has more trains but they get very crowded.

  If you’re planning on taking the train at the weekend check ahead for engineering works as part of the route (shenfield to Liverpool st) is being upgraded for Crossrail and so far this year that part of the route has been closed at weekends quite frequently. The diversion typically involves a tedious bus ride Billericay-Newbury Park then a trundle to Liverpool Street on the central line. The works may be getting more infrequent as we hit summer but do plan ahead!

  • Nick says:

    28 Apr28 April 07:28

    I think he means that there is one flight departure an hour, not one train departure from Liverpool street

    • ee says:

      28 Apr28 April 07:42

      My comment is about the 4+ trains an hour from London at the start of the article which is not correct for most of the day. More important is my other comment on engineering works though – that can easily more than double the journey time at weekends!

  • Kathy says:

    28 Apr28 April 10:53

    You can get the C2C line from Fenchurch Street into Southend Central when there’s engineering work on, walk 10 minutes up the road to Southend Vic and then do the 5 minute hop to Southend Airport. Or you could grab a taxi from the station – it’s only a ten minute drive, if that.

• Alastair says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:23

  I think actually Southend airport had its own railway station well before Stansted did although it may well have been recently upgraded. Not so many flights though. I have flown in and out of Southend on GA a few times some years ago (before the Single European Market it was the best place to clear customs before trundling over to Le Touquet) but never flown commercially from there. Any info on what car parking is like? From further North in East Anglia there isn’t a particularly sensible public transport option but a car park with an electric charge point (hang your head in shame Stansted) would make it a sensible option. I’ll get my green wellies…

  I do like the horse!

  • dps says:

    28 Apr28 April 10:16

    Thanks for the detailed and evocative report; which reminded me that my most comfortable short-haul flight ever was SEN-OST on a Viscount leased to Virgin in the early1980’s. Admittedly, the trip from London to Rochford (as it was known) took twice as long as the flight – but it was worth it!
    .

  • flyforfun says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:30

    There is short and long term car parking that you can prepay from online. It supposed to read your number plate but it had issues with ours and we had to call. Not fun late at night.

• IslandDweller says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:29

  @Alistair. Your memory is playing tricks on you. It’s a brand new railway station, funded by Stobart.
  Another detail. Beware very early / late flights, as the rail timetable doesn’t cater for these. The timetable is wholly focused on commuters into London, not traffic going the other way.

  • JK says:

    28 Apr28 April 07:38

    You’re thinking of Prittlewell. It used to be the station for the airport before the new one was built.

  • Sam G says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:02

    There is a national express coach link now that connects from London with the very early / very late flights but very painful timings!

• GK says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:31

  We flew from there back home to BCN one summer. It was the predictable drunk TOWIE-wannabe mess. Hardly recognise your experience.

• James says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:54

  A fair review of a plan C airport. Have used it last minute before when it’s been way cheaper than Heathrow, Gatwick or City.

  Couldn’t disagree more about BA charging for food and drink in short haul – it’s one of the few things that sets them apart and should be lost at their peril. That said, they could be clearer about what you will get on their app for instance, as it can really vary by route and time of day.

  • Genghis says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:03

    I think BA should continue serving ‘complimentary’ food on SH but be much clearer about what you’ll get. A sandwich back from Moscow IMO is not on.

    • Worzel says:

      28 Apr28 April 08:37

      I’m with raffles on this one. On our most recent BA short haul(AGA-LHR) we were given a felafel wrap(no choice) and had to prise a drink from the crew to wash the thing down!

      • Rich. says:

        28 Apr28 April 09:49

        At nearly £6 for a G+T on easy jet Bob is not attractive to me. But otherwise agree that
        Easyjet do what they do well.

        • Richard says:

          28 Apr28 April 12:30

          I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but on EDI-LGW, I’ve started to favour EasyJet specifically because of the food. I normally fly late morning, and the £6.50 offer with their “deli box” gets you a proper lunchtime spread – in fact I usually end up taking something away with me for later, and I am not known for my restrained appetite. On BA I’d get a little packet of pretzels or whatever, so I’d end up buying food at the airport which would actually cost me more.

  • Alan says:

    28 Apr28 April 11:11

    Wouldn’t be a fan of that either unless they gave Silver/Gold a free meal deal – would make status more valuable! On SH though if I’ve had time to pop into the lounge I often just decline the offered food/drink anyway!

    • Bariummeal says:

      28 Apr28 April 13:53

      I remember when BMI did this – reducing free food to Gold and Silver members. It was very embarrassing to receive free food when a fully flex Y ticket holder had to pay who was sitting beside me had to pay – several occasions it caused vocal complaints. So, I would not like to see free food only for us silver/gold card holders.

      • Richard says:

        28 Apr28 April 15:40

        You actually only needed “blue plus” to get the free food – one of the very few low-tier benefits that was worth something! As long as you hadn’t foolishly booked their cheapest fares, which were branded “bmibaby” even though that was the name of a notionally separate airline, and meant you didn’t get lounge access no matter what the colour of your card.

        On balance, I don’t miss BMI.

  • Carlbob says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:19

    Agreed – my experiences of the EasyKiosk are very poor. On a 2-hour flight to VLC we didn’t get served until about 20 mins before landing (admittedly in the middle of the plane, but I have never seen a process take as long per customer as this one did).

    I value highly the speed and efficiency of a BA short-haul trolley run – glass of wine, cup of tea, small snack, done.

    • Lady London says:

      29 Apr29 April 04:16

      Taking the money slows it down hugely.

      Some improvement if they will only take credit cards, but still much slower. And still the same old problems that the most popular snacks disappear first.

  • Peter K says:

    28 Apr28 April 22:20

    My wife and I are gluten intolerant and found that the lack of choice on board or ability to ask before hand for a gluten free option on short haul to be a terrible oversight. An extra 25g pack of crisps is NOT a good alterantive, thought the staff did try their best.
    I’d rather pay less for the ticket on a budget airline and use the extra to buy something I can actually eat without being ill!

    • harry says:

      28 Apr28 April 22:34

      You can’t expect SH planes to stock stuff for gluten-intolerant people. (Suspending disbelief, here, lol)

      Bring your own snacks if you have specialised needs.

      If you’re flying LH, tell them in advance.

      Stop blaming other people?

      • Richard says:

        29 Apr29 April 09:08

        He’s not blaming other people, he’s pointing out that the “incentive” of free food on BA et al doesn’t work for him – because he can’t eat it, and they don’t make any effort to accommodate that fact. So he’d rather not get the “free” (or rather inclusive) food, and have the money instead.

        A perfectly valid point I think. I was on medication and couldn’t drink alcohol a couple of years ago, and I remember having the same feeling when they came down the aisle with the G&Ts.

• Matthew says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:06

  I flew a few months ago from South End to Berlin during a weekday. It is a nice little airport with all the advantages of speed etc. We drove and found it very easy to park a short walk from the terminal (though there is poor signage).

  Worryingly I saw a lot of helicopter training going on from the minute we go there. Helicopters were lifting off, wobbling a lot and going down again before repeating. It looked rather like a drunk was in charge, but assume it was due to the learner driver. Both my companion and I were a little worried by this, and indeed there was a helicopter bouncing up and down near the runway as we taxied to take off. We both remarked that we wouldn’t be surprised if we heard about a helicopter & plane accident in the near future. I really hope not.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.