Bad UK Airport Experiences

[pencisely]

In my opinion Cardiff takes some beating - never have so many been engaged in processing so few with such incompetence and hostility.

They seem to have about 3 flights a day and complete chaos breaks out if more than 2 of these occur simultaneously.

Recent experiences include -


Arriving back in the rain being marched across the Tarmac and made to wait while someone went to get the key - did they not know we were coming?
A colleague missing a flight because not enough security had reported in to deal with the 2 flights leaving in the same 20 minute window
Being made to walk from 1 end of airport to other due to new layout, including 2 flights up then 2 flights down to get into passport control
Security who cannot describe to each other over the phone what a borderline item might look at
Continually changing car parking and pick up/drop off arrangements, always with a bit more cost and inconvenience. The team at cardiff airport have a special level of skill in this area of making the arrival and parking experience ever more depressing
Being 1 of over 23 to miss the same flight because not enough check in staff to process (yes you guessed it) the 2 flights leaving within 10 minutes of each otherThe list goes on.

[A2QFI]

You've used any British airport? Odds are you've had a bad experience! Cardiff sounds like passenger hell and jobsworth heaven!

[Smoketrails]

Been through BHX recently?

[mathers_wales_uk]

In response to recent bad experiences i would like to personally respond to items raised as an outsider who has knowledge of the airport.

Arriving back in the rain being marched across the Tarmac and made to wait while someone went to get the key - did they not know we were coming?

There is no key operated doors from the apron area into the terminal all doors are security coded.

A colleague missing a flight because not enough security had reported in to deal with the 2 flights leaving in the same 20 minute window

Could this colleague have fallen into the old trap of checking in online and turning up at the security point at last minute. Had your colleague raised this issue with the security staff so they could inform the ground staff of the situation?

Being made to walk from 1 end of airport to other due to new layout, including 2 flights up then 2 flights down to get into passport control

I admit that this set up is not the best however it is far from a huhes distance compared to most airports. Lifts are porvided to take you up/down a floor.

Security who cannot describe to each other over the phone what a borderline item might look at

I am not sure how this would affect your travel through the terminal. However i would prefer security being thorough than to allow a restricted item through the security check point.

Continually changing car parking and pick up/drop off arrangements, always with a bit more cost and inconvenience. The team at cardiff airport have a special level of skill in this area of making the arrival and parking experience ever more depressing

The priority pick up & drop off charges along with the trolley charges do not encourage passengers to select Cardiff over Bristol and it's other rival airports. These charges have come at the wrong time especially as passengers are on such a decline.

Being 1 of over 23 to miss the same flight because not enough check in staff to process (yes you guessed it) the 2 flights leaving within 10 minutes of each other

I find this unbelievable as if you turn up at the check-in within it's stated time as stated in your contract with the airline you will be allowed to check-in. This may result in delay in check-in closure and possibly slight delay to departure of the flight. However if you have arrived late at the check-in then it is a different story.

Final thought

You have listed a number of things on this thread however i suggest maybe a complaint should be sent to the airport. If you contact 01446 711111 or [email protected] i'm sure they can guide you to the right direction.

Also the Wales Air Network are encouraging passengers to write a review of Cardiff Airport each time a passenger travels inbound or outbound. These will be raised with the airport. click here to view (http://walesairnetwork.ning.com/page/cardiff-airport-experience-1?xg_source=activity)

[pencisely]

Arriving back in the rain being marched across the Tarmac and made to wait while someone went to get the key - did they not know we were coming?


Ok kept waiting whilst code holder turned up to open the door - same effect equally bad experience


Security who cannot describe to each other over the phone what a borderline item might look at


I can elaborate - turn up at security with 2 small hollow aluminium pipes in hand baggage. Same items previously shown to check in and declared good to go. Security not happy and consults supervisor. Supervisor rings down to handling agent and describes items. Handling agent says no. Back to check in wait in now long queue to get to desk. Check in agent shows pipes to manager. Manager who is the same one called by security says these look Ok and are not what security described. Manager rings back to security to say they are Ok. Security say "what do they look like" manager describes and security say they sound like tent poles and cannot go. Off to service desk to pay £17 baggage fee on top of £230 fare to Dublin. Confronted by 3 bored, unoccupied, dis-interested people one of whom deals with transaction. After some time declares that will need to set up new "SAR" - seems does not know how and has to consult a 4th person from back office to help. 15 minutes later offered receipt and told to go back to check in. Arrive at check in who look surprised as should have been given boarding card by service desk. Prints out boarding card and back to security with laptop now in hand having removed from now checked in baggage. Security now busy so wait 10 mins to repeat earlier procedure.

effect - 50 Mins wasted time and £17 cost

cause - utter incompetence on many levels by many individuals


Being 1 of over 23 to miss the same flight because not enough check in staff to process (yes you guessed it) the 2 flights leaving within 10 minutes of each other


I agree it is hard to believe that a) such imcompetence could occur b) the captain would leave with so many missing c) that the handling agent would try and tell the passengers some of whom had been waiting in the queue 90 mins they were late.

Result - 3 months later a personal call from BMI baby MD apologising for handling agent incompetence and offering full refund and compensation to all involved.

Just another day at CWIL.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

pencisely;

At least the BMI Baby MD bothered. Try Teeside, as uniformed crew going out to your aircraft as the last flight out on a Saturday night.

SND

[Crepello]

EMA - taxis operated by a local cartel. Car park congestion caused payments to time-out before anyone could reach the exit barriers. (In the absence of staff, a certain motorist went "hands on" with the barriers to get everyone moving again. :E )

[ATNotts]

Crepello:-

EMA - add to your fully justifiable list the exhorbitant credit card fee for the drop off area, if your daft enough to shove it into the machine at the entramce, which you are implored to do.

BHX: Baggage trolleys - £ 1.00 or € 2.00 non refundable - that is one heck of a welcome to rip-off Britain if you're a visitor from the rest of the EU. Add to that abysmal performance in getting bags from a/c. to carousel and passengers through arrivals.

I agree, though that generally service at UK airports simply doesn't measure up against other civilised (northern european) airports.

[Rollingthunder]

Landing at LHR on Christmas Day and having to get to Oxford from there. No buses, no trains. Managed to get taxi, took some convincing and 130GBP plus tip. Sorry, bad England experience. Jeez, the buses work here on Christmas Day! Major English city just shuts down.

[wowzz]

Rollingthunder - with just a little research you would have found out that the whole of the UK, plus most of Europe closes down on Christmas Day. Why were you surprised - you were lucky to get a taxi!

[WHBM]

Landing at LHR on Christmas Day and having to get to Oxford from there. No buses, no trains. Managed to get taxi, took some convincing and 130GBP plus tip. Sorry, bad England experience.
That's actually quite good for the day and the destination. We have had people get a "proper" Heathrow black taxi to our offices in Slough (the Heathrow side, about 5 miles) who are charged £80 on a normal morning. It's about 5 miles. Slough taxi charges £12 for the return trip. The "proper" taxi driver said it was because (1) it was outside the London taxi area, and (2)he'd had to queue 2 hours for a fare, and would now have to queue another 2 hours for another fare ...... :rolleyes:

It's just a shame I wasn't called down to our reception until it was too late and he had been paid !

[JWP2010]

With particular lack of kudos to the security queues. Having stood in line for 35mins recently, I raised the issue with the duty supervisor to be told that "our average queuing time is 10mins." And then he turned away from me as I pointed out that it wasn't that day, nor any other time I've used it.
That and lack of seating just makes it an airport I want to avoid. So I do my best.

[Load Toad]

Heathrow.
I posted this way back before but it is worth repeating as things have gor worse rather than better (this first appeared on the HK Blog 'Hemlock's Diary', this is not my work):

Sun, 19 Aug
Surely – any moderate-minded person with an ounce of common sense and a pinch of healthy skepticism will assure themselves – the stories we read about the abomination that is Heathrow Airport are at least slightly exaggerated. This is my feeling as the British Airways 747 Megatube descends gracefully past the green and pleasant sewage treatment plants of London's western suburbs and approaches runway 27L. Washington DC's Dulles Airport has improved its procedures noticeably since my last visit, with immigration and (virtually non-existent) customs lines and procedures taking barely 10 minutes. The UK capital's main airport, while on an admittedly bigger scale, must have continued adapting more or less as well to the needs of the post-2001, War on Terror, no-shampoo-allowed era of international travel.
My first task on landing is to stand in the aisle and cut off the oaf who has been sitting in front of me, squirming, stretching and testing the load-bearing capacity of his seat in every way imaginable for seven hours. Trapping the hyperactive claustrophobe in his little space for an extra five minutes while we wait for the doors to open will serve as punishment for not calmly submitting to the confines of the cabin and Sitting Still like everyone else. On being released from the airplane, the procession of travellers strides noisily down a ramp and along a narrow, ill-lit corridor. The herd then turns right into another gloomy tunnel, with little portholes on one side revealing rows of docked airliners from around the world. We then trundle to the left, into yet another murky channel, with barely enough room for sensible people who carry bags on their shoulders to kick idiots' space-consuming little cases on wheels out of the way. This 100-yard stretch of prefabricated structure and nylon carpet has framed pictures of cute animals along one wall, which naturally puts everyone into a relaxed mood of sublime well-being. The next leg of the journey is along a passage that is twice as wide as the previous ones, the extra space being occupied by a moving walkway that is out of order.

At this stage, passengers connecting to onward flights are prodded into another area, where they are sorted by size and forced to remove their shoes before passing through a series of security checks just like the ones they went through on the other side of the Atlantic. The rest of us proceed along yet another dimly lit hallway, this time sloping upwards, until we reach a large, temporary looking hall into a crowd of people of every colour and creed on the planet, wearing a wide variety of bright ethnic outfits. They are Government officials, tasked to sift through every batch of arrivals, sending us into different lines according to whether we hold UK, Irish, European Union member state, Norwegian, Swiss or – for the truly unfortunate – 'other' passports.

The latter group get the privilege of joining an extremely long line of humanity, snaking its way into the distance. At the end of it, the victims parade one by one into a bare, concrete chamber where a burly man in a leather apron puts a stun gun to their forehead and hoists them up by their legs onto a suspended hook on a cable that transports them into a rendering facility where they are processed for pet food. The rest of us, after standing in line for ages reading posters saying our patience is appreciated, are eventually allowed to pass the immigration desks. I am asked where I have flown in from and take a full 20 seconds to remember. After picking my way along yet another strip of furry artificial flooring and through a cavern full of conveyor belts where fools who check baggage in lie in starving piles waiting to be bulldozed into mass graves, I get to Her Majesty's Customs. Overweight, uniformed women let black sniffer dogs rub their disgusting wet noses against people's luggage. Interestingly, the canines choose to check only travellers that are their own colour. I stroll through and out into a welcoming area full of loud announcements, even louder signage and grim-looking people waiting to greet their loved ones or pre-booked taxi customers. This is where Heathrow proper starts. It is so vile, I can't bring myself to describe it.

[Skipness One Echo]

Stop using Terminal 3 then, there are other options....