Paphos Airport

[Paphian]

There has been a lot of concern by passengers in UK and Cyprus about Easyjet removing passengers from the lounge and herding them into pens like bus shelters, near the apron, in all weathers heat, and Rain and wind. people have been there for up to an hour or more, with no seats or toilets. Just to get a faster turn round. This has made the local press. What about Health and safety, perhaps the EU should stop this practice.http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/bah.gif

[rogerg]

Thats why its called "cattle class"

[cjhants]

Ryanair do exactly the same at San Javier.

[ExXB]

There has been a lot of concern by passengers in UK and Cyprus about Easyjet removing passengers from the lounge and herding them into pens like bus shelters, near the apron, in all weathers heat, and Rain and wind. people have been there for up to an hour or more, with no seats or toilets. Just to get a faster turn round. This has made the local press. What about Health and safety, perhaps the EU should stop this practice.http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/bah.gif

The probably wouldn't be allowed to treat their employees like that, but their customers ... no problem.

[Buster the Bear]

I have only ever waited 10 min at Mucia outside the terminal.

[Hotel Tango]

IF it's true, and you don't like it, then the answer is quite simple: don't fly with them! Sorry, but I have no sympathy for people who want to pay peanuts to fly and then complain about being herded like cattle.

[GrahamO]

So a bunch of folks, pay a fair sum of money to lie in the sun, in little rows, packed in like sardines on a BBQ, until they go bright pink, for most of the daylight hours are suddenly apparently unable to stand in the sun for an hour at the end of the holiday ?

Sounds a bit like a small rag trying to make a big story out of nothing. Its probably made the local press because the employees are being made to be out there working rather than goofing off in the terminal.

[Paphian]

It is a matter of convenient airport. not price, Cyprus Air have dropped Paphos to Heathrow. It is also the cost of travelling in Briain once at the airport, and also flight times

[wub]

[quote]IF it's true, and you don't like it, then the answer is quite simple: don't fly with them! Sorry, but I have no sympathy for people who want to pay peanuts to fly and then complain about being herded like cattle./[quote]

I can assure you it IS true. It happened to me in November. We arrived at the airport two hours before the flight and almost as soon as we had checked-in the flight was called. The entire complement of passengers ended up squashed in a pen, in the rain, for over an hour. There was so much shuffling to accommodate the people at the end of the queue, that those who had paid a premium for priority boarding (I wasn't one), lost their places in the scrum and didm't get what they paid for.

Your assertion that those who want to pay peanuts to fly deserve what they get, is ill-conceived and insulting. If I want to fly to Paphos from Edinburgh. I have two choices, direct by Easyjet or via London at huge cost. Low cost should not equate to being treated like a PoW.

[Evanelpus]

Before we all go off at the deep end, do we know if this is an airline or airport authority directive?

[cjhants]

Buster - I only waited out in the pen for a couple of minutes also. Having sat in the departure lounge and watched what happened on the other Ryanair departures, I waited until the last moment before they closed the gate, and joined the rest of the herd. We were the last 2 to board, but still got good seats together. It seems they start the herding process as soon as the 737 is on finals, and most of the herd are in the pen prior to the arrival on stand.

I`m not saying it is a good or fair way to treat your customers, but no matter what Ryanair seem to throw at their paying customers, most seem to accept it for the price of a "cheap" fare.

[500 above]

I was on an easyJet the other day from PFO. I was only in the "pens" for 10 minutes. It would, however, be unacceptable in wet or extremely hot weather. Bench style seating would also be a plus for longer waits.

Fury over airport (http://m.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/fury-over-airport-s-boarding-pens/20130303)

[cjhants]

easyjet at AMS last week. Had to wait for an hour (admittedly inside air conditioned and out of the rain) standing in a pen at the departure gate. Only about 4 seats for 150 or so pax. Not pleasant and no way to treat paying customers. Still it was half the price of BA and KLM!

[Paphian]

Not a lot of choice from Paphos, Cyprus air going down, Easy Jet, Ryanair and charter flights, not much between them all use the pens, or BA come onto the scene rather late for planning bookings. I do not dislike flying Easyjet, but at my age do not like being held in the sun at 30 degrees Plus. they say for quicker turn round, but last year we were pushed back from the ramp and held for about an hour at Gatwick on the tarmac.

[wub]

"Easy Jet, Ryanair and charter flights, not much between them all use the pens"

Not so; I was 'penned' by Easyjet in November 2012 but a few weeks ago flew from Paphos with Thomson and was not penned, in fact I didn't see them being used by any airline.

[Phileas Fogg]

Rearrange these words in to a well known saying:

"What Pay You Get For You"

[763 jock]

Nearly £1400 return for a family of four in August with EZY. That's with nothing in the hold. I think that deserves being treated better than cattle.

Knowing PFO, the place will be run on a shoestring. PFO is an accident waiting to happen. No radar, ILS on one end only and ATC that seems to comprise one individual running approach, tower and ground. At least LCA now has a proper terminal.

[Phileas Fogg]

Nearly £1400 return for a family of four in August

In the midst of the school holidays ... mmm, trying going off-peak!

PFO is an accident waiting to happen. No radar, ILS on one end only and ATC that seems to comprise one individual running approach, tower and ground

PFO is, practically, CAVOK most of the time, I recall one jumpseat ride we descended visually from 30,000 ft or so and plonked it on to the end of the runway from that altitude.

Must remember that airports without radar and only half an ILS, or less, are dangerous. ... What a ridiculous statement, there are quite a number of such airports around the UK alone (coastal, islands etc.) and they operate in far cr@ppier weather conditions than PFO ever does.

[chevvron]

In Corsica there are commercial airports where night use is banned due to obstructions (eg Figari) and lack of lighting; are they accidents waiting to happen?

[GeorgeHutt]

Two Years ago we rented a holiday villa in Pissouri Village overlooking the Coast to Akrotiri. Darkness fell and after a couple of Sundowners I went inside to answer a Call of Nature. I immediately heard the sound of an approaching aircraft in shallow descent approaching said Village and then Max Thrust, which sounded like a Vulcan T/O whilst standing close to the Runway Threshold. I rushed outside and it was gone.
Think we had a close call!!!!!!
GH

[763 jock]

PF. Remind me what the accident statistics are when comparing a non-precision approach to an ILS. PFO is usually a simple day out, but the fact that the VOR approach cannot be monitored by radar and that ATC is frequently over stretched is far from ideal. Late amendments to the GA procedure are common, the runway exits and taxiway layout are crap. CAVOK most of the time, but I've earned my money there more than once.

The fact is that PFO is wanting in several areas. When it is busy, crews need to have their wits about them.

[tubby linton]

I agree wth 763 jock.He forgot to add the detail regarding the mapshift that is experienced on arrival and departure due to the FMS picking up unrleiable VORs in Northern Cyprus and Turkey plus the papis on RW11 being very indistinct.
The airport has been out with its' paint brushes to write some words and wavy lines on the northern taxiway to stop people landing on it.

[kaikohe76]

I'm sorry folks, but I would suggest, that if pax choose to fly with such carriers, that treat their clients like cattle, this is exactly what you can expect.

[Dont Hang Up]

I'm sorry folks, but I would suggest, that if pax choose to fly with such carriers, that treat their clients like cattle, this is exactly what you can expect.

Oft quoted (already on this thread) and, while true, is somewhat simplistic. The level of choice is not there. It may boil down to £400 with BA or £40 with Easyjet.

One is out of the question for a typical holidaying family. The other is unquestionably cattle class. So where's the middle option?

[Phileas Fogg]

Perhaps the middle option is to fly to/from Larnaca with one of a variety of carriers then hire a car for the holiday.

Either that or stay at home and stop bl00dy whinging :)