Review: Flying A Loganair Turboprop Out Of Heathrow Airport (LHR-DND)

Last year, I flew Loganair’s ATR 42 from Heathrow to Dundee. We’re well-placed to review some flight experiences for the British business traveler, so I specifically sought out Loganair, Scotland’s airline. I’m hoping to fly their ERJ 145 between Southampton and Edinburgh one day, though this time round found it most useful to review their flight between Heathrow and Dundee.

Loganair was founded in 1962, with headquarters in Glasgow – though unlike British Airways, their operations have remained mostly regional. Apart from the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man, they only serve Denmark and Norway. They do fly to more UK destinations than any other airline, serving 34 airports including many in the Scottish Highlands (they operate the world’s shortest flight between Westray and Papa Westray).

Here’s what it’s like to fly a Loganair flight, specifically on the uncanny route served by a turboprop out of Heathrow.

Booking My Loganair Flight

Loganair doesn’t brand itself as a low-cost airline, and the prices reflect this. My one-way flight from London Heathrow to Dundee cost £88.60, and this is on the low end of prices that I see at the airline.

Loganair doesn’t partner with any major points currencies. Doing my research after the flight, I’ve now learned that you can earn Avios and Tier Points if you book your Loganair flight through ba.com, as the airline codeshares with British Airways. There’s a marginal surcharge if booking through ba.com – a dummy booking I put in cost £108 on Loganair (for this route), whereas booking on British Airways for the same flight cost £121.

I booked through Loganair directly, and instead I earned 400 Clan Points, which is Loganair’s own points currency. Clan Points are virtually useless unless you fly Loganair a lot – this route would’ve cost 4,000 Clan Points one-way.

Loganair’s Ground Experience at Heathrow

One of the very passenger friendly traits about Loganair is that they offer 15 kg of free check-in baggage for all guests. Obviously this is reflected in their more premium flight prices, though I appreciate that they don’t nickel-and-dime their passengers, who are mostly people looking to holiday in the Shetland Islands or the Scottish Highlands, or business travellers commuting between England/Europe and Scotland.

I was able to check in online for my Loganair flight to Dundee, so made it to Heathrow’s Terminal 2. After catching up at the airport pub with a friend, I then headed over to gate A5, the bus gate where my flight was boarding.

Part of the surrealness of flying this flight was the fact that I was flying a turboprop out of Heathrow Airport, so I wasn’t really surprised that we were boarding from a bus gate. While the aisle seat next to the window seat I originally booked was occupied, the gate agent was very happy to swap me over to a different seat where I’d have a pair to myself, and also printed out a boarding pass for me.

Even at this bus gate there was a holding pen of sorts, so we were invited to take a seat inside the A5 gate area.

Heathrow Airport Gate A5

It became quite apparent that we weren’t going to board anytime soon, which was slightly concerning for me, as the flight the day before had been cancelled (I was only heading up to Scotland for the weekend, so a cancellation wouldn’t have been fun to handle). The gate agents kept us as updated as they could, though they weren’t getting a ton of information from the airline either. We were able to use the bathroom (outside the cordoned off gate area) as we pleased, and just had to make our way back once we were done.

Eventually at 6:25 PM (5 minutes after our scheduled departure time) all passengers onboard our ATR 42 were ushered onto a single bus, which then took us to the remote stand where the plane was parked.

Remote Stand Bus and Loganair ATR 42 at Heathrow Airport

It certainly did feel a bit odd to be boarding a tiny ATR 42 at Europe’s busiest airport, the same airport that I’d flown A380s out of! Also, how cool is Loganair’s livery, with their registered corporate tartan on the tail?

Loganair Flight LM626
Friday, March 8, 2024
Origin: London Heathrow (LHR) T: 2 Gate: A5 Dep: 18:20 (19:05)
Destination: Dundee (DND) Gate: 1 Arr: 20:10 (20:55)
Duration: 1 h 50 min (1 h 50 min)
Aircraft: ATR 42-500 Reg: G-LMRA
Seat: 6A (Standard Class)

Loganair ATR 42 Cabin and Seat

Loganair’s ATR 42 features 48 seats in a 2-2 configuration. The ATR 42 also featured adequately sized overhead bins, though many larger overhead bins would have to be gate-checked (including mine on this flight).

Loganair ATR 42 Interior

The aircraft itself was 28 years old – one of the oldest aircraft I’ve ever flown. You couldn’t tell from its fresh interior, though. The seats had Harris Tweed headrests, which were an awesome nod to the airline’s distinctly Scottish identity. Seat pitch is 30″ and it wasn’t particularly comfortable or well padded, though – these are certainly slimline seats.

Loganair ATR 42 Seats

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the cabin was the fact that row 1 faces backwards (only the C and D seats exist), so row 1 actually ends up facing row 2, with no partition whatsoever in between. In this case nobody was seated in row 1, though I can imagine it could be quite off-putting to face a stranger during the whole flight. (I can’t seem to find a case where these seats are selectable online, so does anyone know whether they are only reserved for crew, or only opened up if the flight is very full?)

Loganair ATR 42 Backward Seats 1C and 1D

All other seats were forward facing, including my own. I’d picked seat 6A, which was just under halfway through the cabin.

Loganair ATR 42 Seats 6A and 6B

The seat did feature a recline function, though it was quite dismal unfortunately…

Loganair ATR 42 Recline (or lack thereof)

Legroom was not bad, and the tray table also felt sturdy.

Loganair ATR 42 Legroom and Tray Table

I also had a view of the aircraft’s (comparably) massive turboprop engine right outside my window.

Loganair ATR 42 Engine

As with most narrowbody aircraft, this ATR 42 also featured air nozzles.

Loganair ATR 42 Air Nozzles

This was a good-enough cabin for my one-hour flight (and marginally better than you’d get on a low-cost airline), though I do think that their ERJ-145s looks significantly better padded. These aircraft don’t typically fly more than an hour at a time, though you might be stuck on a multi-stop journey on these jets if you’re flying up to the Scottish Highlands or the Shetland Islands.

Ready to take off to Dundee

Loganair ATR 42 Lavatory

I had the chance to quickly use the lavatory before our takeoff, which was quite standard for a turboprop.

Loganair ATR 42 Lavatory

Takeoff from Heathrow Airport

Boarding was a quick process on this half-full turboprop flight, and was more or less complete by 6:40 PM. I’d say that the demographic on this flight was quite business-traveller heavy – most people on this Friday night flight were heading back up to Scotland after their business endeavours in London. Loganair caters to two main markets: leisure travellers looking to holiday in the Scottish Highlands and/or the Shetland Islands, and business travellers looking to travel up and down the country. I’d say that this flight was a great mix of both categories (which was why I selected this flight out of all flights to try out on Loganair).

The captain came onto the PA to welcome us onboard, explaining that there were traffic issues at Heathrow preventing an on-time departure. This would also mean that we’d have a lengthy hold on the taxiway, before taking off, making a left turn to Lambourne, then crawling up the west coast to Dundee with a total flight time of 1h 40m. He also mentioned that there would be bumps on the way down to Dundee.

The captain also explained the staffing situation on the flight – there would be 2 captains but 1 flight attendant, which was a ratio I certainly wasn’t used to!

As for other noteworthy things, we were explicitly told that alcohol wasn’t allowed onboard this flight.

View of Heathrow from my ATR 42

We did indeed have a further hold on the taxiway after pushing back at roughly 7:05 PM. By 7:25 PM we had lined up to take off from runway 09R, but were seventh in line for takeoff, quite comically being surrounded by quite a few large jets.

It was finally our turn to take off at around 7:35 PM, and it was time to say goodbye to London for now!

Taking off from Europe’s largest airport on a turboprop!

Loganair’s Snacks Service

Loganair doesn’t offer a full meal service, though they do offer free coffee and tea onboard their flights, as well as Tunnock’s wafer biscuits.

I like the commitment to Scottish flair onboard (and the Tunnock’s was delicious), though must say that the tea was extremely weak, and it was the first time I had seen one of those packaged airplane waters in a very long time. However, it was very nice to be getting a free snack on an intra-European flight.

Loganair ATR 42 Meal Service

Loganair Amenities and Service

Loganair planes don’t feature any amenities, and also don’t feature any IFE or WiFi. Of course I knew this coming in, so I spent most of the time on my laptop finishing off some offline work, or simply looking outside the window.

The one flight attendant serving us was friendly as well, and I have no complaints.

Landing into Dundee Airport

After a quick flight up north, the cabin was prepared for landing at around 8:45 PM, and we began our approach towards Dundee Airport.

Landing into Dundee Airport

We were wheels-down into Dundee Airport’s runway 09 at 8:55 PM, and it was a quick taxi to our remote stand, where we parked at around 9 PM. A couple of minutes later, we were invited to disembark the aircraft, and grabbed our valet bags before heading to the terminal. This sure was a stark contrast to the heavy-traffic Heathrow Airport we were just under two hours earlier…

Disembarking our ATR 42 at Dundee Airport

And obviously, unlike Heathrow Airport, Dundee Airport’s entire landside departures hall consisted of this tiny room, with a small check-in desk that also acted as the airport’s concierge.

Dundee Airport landside terminal

The check-in agents were happy to help me call a taxi to Dundee city center, where I’d then grab a bite to eat before heading down to Edinburgh, where I’d be spending some time with a friend.

Dundee Airport at night

Conclusion: My Flight on Loganair

Loganair was an incredibly interesting airline to fly, and they’re a niche premium airline that manages to survive in a market full of low-cost alternatives. Between the free snack and drink and 15 kg check-in baggage, flying Loganair felt quite relaxing, and quite like flying a full-service airline in “the good old days”. I do want to preface that the price point of flying Loganair largely reflects its more premium stance in the market, and can be quite expensive, especially in markets where they run a monopoly.

However, as an aviation geek, I can’t stress how fun it was to fly a turboprop out of one of the world’s biggest airports, and land in a tiny airport with a single room as a departures hall. It’s so cool to see that flights manage to connect communities of all sizes, and I can’t wait to do similar flights in the future. It’s on my radar to fly Loganair between Southampton and Edinburgh on their ERJ-145 someday.

Have you flown Loganair before? How was your experience?