I learned a few things about the Glasgow Airport while passing through on my way to distillery tours. A must read for the first time Scotland traveler.
LoganAir is the local-regional airline. I emphasize the short distance aspect because most of their fleet are propeller planes seating under 20 people. Most destinations have a morning and an afternoon flight from Glasgow which then serves as the return morning and afternoon flight back to Glasgow. Flying is easy and fast.
The morning flight to Islay leaves at 8am. Its only about 15-20 minutes by taxi from downtown Glasgow to the airport but you’ll still need to arrive early to check-in and go through security. The website is strict with luggage weights. If its high season, these weight limits will be followed. They do a decent job of understanding the passengers. If there are a lot of golfers with golf clubs, LoganAir may choose not to sell a few seats to make up for the weight. In the off-season, the weight limits are not enforced as much.
Read about my flight from Glasgow to Campbeltown.
Pro-Tip; arrive at about 7am when the check-in desk is open. Get through security and plan on 30 minutes in the Duty-Free store because they give samples. Lots of samples. Don’t buy until your final flight home. And ask about the Airport Only specials which many distilleries provide. You can ask about them at the distilleries as well.
Pro-Tip; the airport does not post the gates until 30 minutes before the flight – which is also the time of boarding. Once those gates are posted you will not have time to do anything except walk the annoyingly long distance of 10 mins or so to your gate. LoganAir is usually gates 1-15, so begin your walk before the gate is posted. Islay flights are typically gate 1 while Campbeltown is usually gate 14. There is a second duty free shop a few minutes into your walk, if you have time you can always get more samples.
The weather is usually poor and small planes get delayed. So, check the not-as-easy-as-desired LoganAir website for update. But, be sure to arrive at the airport as usual because I get the feeling that they may post a delay and then change their minds if the weather suddenly clears. If you do get delayed, as we were for 2-hours, the food at the sit-down restaurants is pretty good. Make sure to walk past the Starbucks and into the central food area. There are decent bathrooms and water filling stations if you ask. The Scottish breakfast is always a winner.
Unfortunately, I learned much of this while waiting two hours for our delayed flight. The 2-hour delay changed our landing time from 8:30 to 10:30am. Our Bowmore Vault Secrets Tour was at 10:30 and we missed it. Luckily, we headed to Ardnahoe Distillery to check out their new facility before our afternoon at Bunnahabhain Distillery.
Pro Tip; I would not pre-pay for the first tour of the day just in case of delays.
https://www.glasgowairport.com
