Wizz Air Gdańsk base: the Baltic base, the Scandinavia and UK routes, the winter, the Tricity life and how it compares to Warsaw and Kraków

Wizz Gdańsk, two years, and the Polish Wizz threads on here are Warsaw and Kraków, which are the big ones. Gdańsk is the third Polish base most people ask about and nobody has written it. Here it is.

The base

Mid sized, a handful of A320s and A321neos, at Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa airport on the Baltic coast. The network: heavy on the UK (London Luton, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, the diaspora routes that fly full year round), Scandinavia (Oslo, Stockholm, Bergen, Stavanger, Gothenburg, the Polish workers' routes), some Germany and the Netherlands, and the summer sun routes. Fewer of the Mediterranean routes than Warsaw, more of the north.

The Scandinavia routes

The Gdańsk specialty. Short sectors (60 to 90 minutes) to the Norwegian and Swedish cities, full of Polish workers and Scandinavian tourists, four sector days, home every night. The Norwegian airports in winter are the de-icing education. The passengers are the calmest on the network: Poles going to work and Scandinavians going to the Baltic coast.

The winter

Better than Kraków's, worse than Bucharest's. The UK and Scandinavia diaspora routes hold through the winter and the base keeps flying. The standby blocks are fewer than at the sun heavy bases. The January payslip dips less. Tomasz's winter budgeting thread applies with a smaller gap.

The Tricity life

Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia: the Tricity on the coast. Cheaper than Warsaw and Kraków, a beach in summer, a real old town, a good tram and train system, and the airport 25 minutes from most of it. The crew live in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz and Oliwa and the Gdynia side. The Baltic in summer is the reason people transfer here; the Baltic in November is the reason they think about transferring away.

How it compares

Warsaw: the biggest Polish base, the widest network, the sun routes, the highest rent. Kraków: the old city, the tourist routes, the Amalia and Natalie threads. Gdańsk: the coast, the north, the diaspora routes that hold in winter, the cheapest rent of the three, and the smallest crew room, where everyone knows everyone. Promotion is comparable; the base is growing.

The crew

Mostly Polish, from the north, with a few foreign crew who came for the coast. The base group is small and generous with swaps. The seniors are in their mid twenties. The crew room has a view of the apron and a good coffee machine, which I mention because the Wizz coffee thread deserves an update.

For Polish applicants

If you are from the north, Gdańsk is home and a good base. If you are choosing between the three, choose on the city and the winter: Gdańsk has the coast and the kinder winter. Warsaw has the network. Kraków has the old town and the hardest January.