Snapshot review: British Airways Cityflyer, Embraer E190 Economy, Dublin to London City

This was a flight I wasn’t looking forward to - and not because it was a bad experience. My journey home was a long one, consisting of four legs which is probably three more than most people would consider. While it’s great to be able to get cheap Business flights from somewhere like Dublin, it does mean going round the houses to get that price - and a slight frustration of backtracking in the process.

Fortunately though, this was a half decent flight - and one of the best British Airways’ experiences I’ve had.

What is Cityflyer?

BA Cityflyer is a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Airways, which in turn is owned by IAG, and is based at London City Airport in the Docklands area. The airline operates a single aircraft type, the Embraer E190, because of the short runway and steep ascent/descent required to land there. Simply put, regular British Airways aircraft such as the Airbus A320 wouldn’t be able to safely land at the airport.

The airline operates a separate entity and has dedicated crew based out of London City along with slightly different policies such as a more substantial snack and beverage service for Economy passengers. BA Cityflyer operate flights to many European destinations, with a weekday focus on business routes such as Frankfurt and more leisure focus at the weekend to places as far as Greece. Cityflyer also operate flights seasonally from Southampton and other smaller UK airports.

The only major downside of flying BA Cityflyer from London City is the lack of airport lounge available at the airport, although if you have status you can access it on the return leg to London.

Boarding took place promptly from stairs at Dublin Airport with a great view of the aircraft.

Stair boarding isn’t great in all weathers but it’s nice to see the aircraft up close!

Throughout the whole aircraft interior the seating is in a 2-2 layout meaning nobody gets a middle seat.

And while they may not look as suave as the BA A320 aircraft seats they sure are better in every other way. From the extra padding and excellent legroom, these are some of the most comfortable short haul aircraft in European skies right now.

While it may not look like much, the legroom on these seats are excellent.

Each seat has a large tray table that can easily accommodate a laptop to work from.

With that, we had a timely departure from Dublin Airport to City Airport.

Featuring yours truly - a very tired looking travel writer.

We were in for a beautiful sunset over to London on the way - a great way to escape the cloudy skies on the ground in Dublin.

This flight, which took place on a UK bank holiday, was quite lightly loaded and there was a dearth of empty seats towards the rear of the aircraft where I sat.

BA Cityflyer offer an extensive range of snacks and drinks, including alcoholic beverages, for passengers. This differs from regular British Airways where you will only get bottled water and a packet of crisps in Economy included. The provided brownie was delicious.

Concluding thoughts

A short hop from Dublin to London but a surprisingly good one. I was impressed by the service offered by BA Cityflyer which easily beats its parent company in terms of the seats and F&B. Even though there is no lounge access when departing City Airport, I would probably always choose BA Cityflyer over their parent because of the overall smoother experience. I highly recommend opting for this as an option when available.