Stand Allocation at LHR T3?

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hello,

Does anyone konw who is reaponsible for the Stand/Gate allocation at LHR T3?.

I arrived ( on board the new Upper Class Suites) on VS 20 on 12th April ( landed around 10 mins ahead of schedule at 1020)
but then we waited until around 1110 before we got on to our stand as the Captain said we were awaiting an AA airliner to clear our stand.
I saw several other a/c inc a VS 340-600 and ANZ 747-400 move towards the stands while we were still waiting?

Whilst slightly annoying to wait on the ground and extra 40mins after a 10hour flight, I was not inconvenienced too much ( apart from spending less time than I would have liked at the excellent Revivals lounge in a shower) before my bmi flight to EDI

The crew on that flight were excellent ( I'm flying to MCO in 2 weeks) with great entertainment on vport.(AVOD)

Thanks for any responses

Regards

TBS

[Gonzo]

At T3 it's BAA. They take into account many factors when they allocate a gate. In your case, there are only a few gates on the airfield that can take a 340-600, so perhaps that's why it got a gate before you (could have been an hour'swait for another 346 gate), also in my experience it's often the airlines themselves that want you to wait for an occupied gate. For many reasons. Perhaps for them a ten mintue wait for an airbridge stand is better than you parking immediately on a gate with no airbridge, and then you'd have to wait for half an hour while somone rustled up enough coaches to take you to the terminal. Maybe they just don't want all the dispatchers and ground staff, who are poised at the original gate, to have to walk all the way to the other side of the terminal which might take 20 minutes, and then find that there's equipment blocking the stand etc.

[HZ123]

Stands that require coaching are I am told also cheaper to use. Sometimes you will see other a/c moving onto stand ahead of you because they have estimated an on the ground time before you. These delays are a continual problem and can be standard at t/4 when a/c are landing on the T/1 side and taking off from the t/4 runway 23L & 23R respectively.

[ATCO Two]

Ah 23L and 23R, those were the days!!

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi ,

Thanks very much for your responses.

I did not make it clear that I was on a 747-400 and saw a VS A340-600 pass by us.

Regards

TBS

[silly walks]

Also B744 gates are limited, especially if there is a lot of 340's around, and also with all the construction that is going on. Another reason why you possibly waited so long, is that aircraft that are being towed onto a gate for departure also take priority over other traffic.Virgin might also have requested the crew to hold for that stand as the aircraft could have been departing within a couple of hours and wanted to avoid all the problems that an off stand departure can cause.

HZ123 you are correct as the BAA gives a 10-15% discount on charges for flights that go off stand.

All the best

SW

[Leezyjet]

The stand planning unit also has to work to the airlines schedules as they have to have some sort of gameplan to work from.

If a flight is scheduled to land at 1100, but arrives at 1010 then they are off schedule so might have to wait. The time of day that the VS10/20/08 arrives is also one of the busiest times of day in T3. If it's outside the busy periods then obviously they will get a stand straight away.

At that time all stands will be occupied and you basically have to wait for another airline (or another company a/c) to depart or tow their a/c off before a stand will become clear.

Also as Silly Walks said, even if a stand is vacant - departing a/c that are towing back from a remote stand take priority.

We will also hold an a/c if it is on an immediate departure, i.e departing within 3-4 hours of arrival, otherwise we would coach the inbound if it was going to be a significant wait.

Things are going to get alot worse over the Summer in T3 as more of the stands get closed for building work, so there will be more holding and more coaching - GR8 !!! :sad:

:)