Hand baggage only on escalators at LGW
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Hand baggage only on escalators at LGW
Anybody experienced being told you can only take hand baggage on escalators at LGW. Health and safety jobsworthness gone mad again? Another thing to annoy the passengers at a UK airport.
Last edited by hotmetal; 10th Jan 2009 at 10:54.
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No, I distinctly remember taking checked baggage up an escalator last time I used LGW (early last year), some official (didn't clock what type) offerred to help us up with it.
Maybe things have changed, maybe you just found a jobsworth.
UFO
Maybe things have changed, maybe you just found a jobsworth.
UFO
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I went through Gatwick this week and took a large case up and down escalators without being challenged. There are metal barriers which may be designed to stop very wide luggage or trolleys going onto the escalator, but my large case went through without a problem.
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I suspect you just were lucky not to meet one of Britain's fluorescent army of jobsworths and flipwits stationed at an escalator to annoy the travelling public.
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Is this why they have literally school children in yellow jumpers stationed ON the escalators now? It's quite annoying as it says here to help but they are really in your way if you're a frequent flier. I saw them directing someone to a lift last week and it did catch my eye....
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It's true, it's true - started pre-Xmas in North with no rationale and no response from BA when I eventually got to the bag drop desk. I tried reasoning (stupid I know) with the yellow jumpered one at the bottom of the escalator but all he appeared to have been programmed to say that day was 'Lift'.
I've had enough of the yellow jumpered
's now - considering the sad state of the UK economy it's amazing how many of the little 's manage to stand looking important on a daily basis - there must be a game we can come up with to play with them.
Rant over
I've had enough of the yellow jumpered
's now - considering the sad state of the UK economy it's amazing how many of the little 's manage to stand looking important on a daily basis - there must be a game we can come up with to play with them. Rant over
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Passengers struggling with oversize luggage on escalators is a problem, and not just at airports; I have witnessed several incidents on the London Underground where passengers have lost their grip on large suitcases. Escalators are simply not designed to safely carry large suitcases on wheels, and the consequences of an accident are potentially very serious. Rather than imposing arbitrary limits on the size of luggage that can be safely taken on escalators - and dealing with the ensuing arguments - it seems sensible to limit it to hand luggage only.
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So at the other end of my journey in Switzerland I can take a dirty great trolley loaded with as many bags as I want up and down the escalator as well as being loaded up to the gunnels with ski bags but at Gatwick gravity works differently and my 20" roll on (limited to 10kg as hand baggage) must use a lift of it's own for fear of hurting someone.
p.s. the Blackjack/Reach/G4S wages are in relation to the work they do although I'd love to see some of their objectives i.e.
Increase passenger disatisfaction by 30% between 01/01/09 & 31/01/09
Generate at least 50 complaints to airport management between same time period
Wear an offensive jumper for your entire shift and when travelling to/from work
p.s. the Blackjack/Reach/G4S wages are in relation to the work they do although I'd love to see some of their objectives i.e.
Increase passenger disatisfaction by 30% between 01/01/09 & 31/01/09
Generate at least 50 complaints to airport management between same time period
Wear an offensive jumper for your entire shift and when travelling to/from work
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At the large airport I use from time to time, the luggage trolleys lock automagically on every escalator in the building, all the way from the rail platform to the departure floor. My suitcase also locks onto escalators, via a clever bit of design around the rear wheels. You'd imagine if someone were designing an airport where most people would be moving suitcases between floors most of the time, then that person would specify escalators, baggage trolleys and other amenities that would cope with what people turn up with.
Oooh, I've started so I'll finish. Went through AMS using a bus gate recently. The revolving doors into AMS from a bus gate are powered: touch them, and they stop. The doors out from AMS are unpowered. It's just randomly inconsistent and relies on passengers having previous experience of the location.
Oooh, I've started so I'll finish. Went through AMS using a bus gate recently. The revolving doors into AMS from a bus gate are powered: touch them, and they stop. The doors out from AMS are unpowered. It's just randomly inconsistent and relies on passengers having previous experience of the location.
What do they do when the lifts aren't working? Knowing BAA, it will take a minimum of days before they get fixed if they go wrong!
But at Mulhouse last night, I was some way behind everyone else going down the escalator. Fortunately, it was near the bottom wher it stopped abruptly - power saving, because it hadn't detected me. I nearly went down at high speed. As soon as I got to the bottom, it detected me again and started! Now that is DANGEROUS! But it is France.....
Was supposed to be in Strasbourg. Denied boarding on the 1300 because the earlier flight was cancelled, put on the 1700 which went tech...took 13 hours. Colleagues who were too late for Mulhouse got put on the 2040 which left at 2130. At least, the Air France ground staff were as helpful as they could be, and very polite and pleasant and very apologetic. I was surprised to be given a €350 voucher for the delay, too. The taxi provided by AF cost them €270 to get 8 people from Mulhouse to Strasbourg.
But at Mulhouse last night, I was some way behind everyone else going down the escalator. Fortunately, it was near the bottom wher it stopped abruptly - power saving, because it hadn't detected me. I nearly went down at high speed. As soon as I got to the bottom, it detected me again and started! Now that is DANGEROUS! But it is France.....
Was supposed to be in Strasbourg. Denied boarding on the 1300 because the earlier flight was cancelled, put on the 1700 which went tech...took 13 hours. Colleagues who were too late for Mulhouse got put on the 2040 which left at 2130. At least, the Air France ground staff were as helpful as they could be, and very polite and pleasant and very apologetic. I was surprised to be given a €350 voucher for the delay, too. The taxi provided by AF cost them €270 to get 8 people from Mulhouse to Strasbourg.
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This happened to me and my family in LGW NT last August. We used the lift. I can see the logic in that the terminal was very busy and if most people used the escalators with large cases accidents are bound to happen. Had I been on my own I would have ignored the young man but his request was reasonable and I didn't see the point of making a nuisance of myself with the rest of the family (3).
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Originally Posted by k3lvc
So at the other end of my journey in Switzerland I can take a dirty great trolley loaded with as many bags as I want up and down the escalator as well as being loaded up to the gunnels with ski bags but at Gatwick gravity works differently...
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And I have enough common sense to know that my 10kg roll on does not cause a danger to my fellow users but that doesn't stop BAA Jobsworths telling me they know better
Last edited by k3lvc; 12th Jan 2009 at 21:18.
Escalators are simply not designed to safely carry large suitcases on wheels
Do we also ban children under the age of 10, people with arthritis who have weak grip for the handrail, etc ?
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Originally Posted by WHBM
Strange when bags with wheels weigh typically 10-20 kg, whereas people standing on each step of an escalator weigh typically 50-100 kg.
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It is obvious but it's also obvious that it doesn't happen anywhere else in the world expect good old BAA and we're expected to sit back and accept more from the boys and girls in yellow.
How they must laugh at us when we all troop off like lemmings to find a lift.
No doubt before long I'll be expected to fill out a Risk Assessment by my employer as travelling on airport escalators ranks in the 'Top 10 most dangerous things you could do today' list.
from the boys and girls in yellow.How they must laugh at us when we all troop off like lemmings to find a lift.
No doubt before long I'll be expected to fill out a Risk Assessment by my employer as travelling on airport escalators ranks in the 'Top 10 most dangerous things you could do today' list.
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Originally Posted by k3lvc
It is obvious but it's also obvious that it doesn't happen anywhere else in the world expect good old BAA...