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Heathrow Airport 'may not cope during Olympics'

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Heathrow Airport 'may not cope during Olympics'

Old 20th May 2012, 13:52
  #101 (permalink)  
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I arrived at Heathrow at 05:00 yesterday morning and had to transfer from T3 to T5. I was ahead of the pack and as I got to the bus stop, the bus pulled away with 3 pax on board, just as the 50 or 60 people who wanted to transfer were coming down the escalators behind me. We then all stood about for 20 minutes, despite the service supposedly running every seven minutes. It is this kind of incompetence that gives LHR such a bad name and will surely cause it to struggle during the Olympics.
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Old 20th May 2012, 15:00
  #102 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by wub
I arrived at Heathrow at 05:00 yesterday morning and had to transfer from T3 to T5. I was ahead of the pack and as I got to the bus stop, the bus pulled away with 3 pax on board, just as the 50 or 60 people who wanted to transfer were coming down the escalators behind me. We then all stood about for 20 minutes, despite the service supposedly running every seven minutes.
This is typical of outsourced services (such as the Heathrow Transfer bus) nowadays, where the only measure is whether the bus leaves at the appointed moment, say at 05.10. Whether there are a large number of passengers approaching is completely by-the-by to those from Heathrow who gave out the contract. They will of course never be around at that time of morning to see the doors slammed in the face of those approaching, and probably can't even understand why people are dissatisfied with this approach.

The "every 7 minutes" may be a generic statement, but will doubtless only apply to some other times of the day, not at 05.10 on a weekend morning when the desire to avoid night payments will be paramount, so the schedule at that time is doubtless one bus only. The normal excuse why the full agreed service timetable is not shown is "to mke it easy to understand".

Last edited by WHBM; 20th May 2012 at 15:02.
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Old 21st May 2012, 08:42
  #103 (permalink)  
 
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Some years ago I was transferring from t4 to T3 (BA online GVA-LHR-HKG). As we approached the shuttle bus stand I overheard a couple of staff talking about "a fire in the tunnel". So I stopped and asked them if they meant the cargo tunnel used by the shuttle buses. They confirmed that the buses were not running, and they had no idea when they would.

Although I had a legal connection the inbound did arrive late and it was getting tight. I asked them about immigration queues and was informed that going land side was probably "an" option. So my colleague and I did that, and with HEX got to T3 as they were beginning to board.

Got on the plane and then waited over 2 hours for connecting passengers. Guess where they were?. Apparently they waited until the fire was put out, the tunnel was inspected, and evening tea break was taken. According to the man accross the aisle no announcement was made to the 'hundreds' of the connecting passengers at T4 and no suggestion made that many passengers could do the landslide connection that we did. Once the buses starting running there was only one every 20 minutes or so.

Missed my connecting flight in HKG, but CX took care of us…
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Old 21st May 2012, 11:57
  #104 (permalink)  
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In my experience, ExXB, that is exactly what happens when you take a business and chop it up into little pieces. If you separate and outsource and split to save money, there are gaps that occur where there used to be joins.

On legal paper - it all looks fine - and can be proved to be fine. But it isn't because humans are involved.

I won't start my usual rant about this commercial process that I first saw in the USA in 1988 and has spread as a contagion through government as well.
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Old 23rd May 2012, 00:25
  #105 (permalink)  
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Avoid Monday 13th August

BBC News - London 2012: Heathrow Airport in numbers
Interesting reading, some big numbers here.


Heathrow in numbers - how the UK's biggest airport is getting ready for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Some 500,000 people will be flying into London for the Olympics and Paralympics this summer.That includes 100,000 athletes, 20,000 members of the media and 150 heads of state. Most of them will arrive via Heathrow.

It will be the start and finish line for the bulk of visitors, giving the country's biggest airport its busiest day ever.That day will be Monday 13 August, the day after the closing ceremony and the day 65% of visitors are planning to leave.


Some 203,000 bags will be squeezed on to the baggage system - that's 35% more than on a normal day and about 13,000 more than it is designed to handle.


Of those bags, 15,000 will be oversized - full of canoes, javelins, bikes and poles for the pole vault. There will also be more than 980 firearms to check, plus ammunition.
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Old 23rd May 2012, 20:20
  #106 (permalink)  
 
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full of canoes, javelins, bikes and poles for the pole vault
I'm pretty sure you'd get disqualified for using a bike in the pole vault, though I believe canoes and javelins are allowed for their entertainment value.
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Old 27th May 2012, 09:54
  #107 (permalink)  
 
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The cost of confectionery - and quadrennial sporting contests

I used to enjoy being able to afford and to consume walnut whips. When do readers/contributors to this thread think I will be able to buy one again?

Last edited by Chuchinchow; 27th May 2012 at 09:56.
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Old 29th May 2012, 14:34
  #108 (permalink)  

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Sportsfest 2012

Being a hand-wringing liberal, I have at least two opposing opinions about the Olympics. I think the games themselves are a great thing, albeit one that we wouldn't be paying for had the economy entered its current state a few years early. But they *are* happening, and I want to make the most of it. I don't mind the inconvenience, but then I don't know how much I'll get yet.

What I am more than wary of is the "corporate" side of things and the meddling in our affairs that the IOC require. The shop at St Pancras that is "proud to only accept Visa".

I thought TightSlot's post a page or so back was very eloquent. If it is a minority that is against the games, it isn't small. I think that's a bit sad but I hope I have at least tried to understand why.

As to LHR... Here's just one sample in millions: I came back from FRA at about 2100 last night. I would have had a short wait at immigration (5 mins?) but as IRIS was working I was straight through in about a minute. Luggage appeared quickly. The BA flight before it was perfect, and at the start of the journey there were just 30 minutes between putting the last glass down at the Wäldchestag and walking through to air-side. A quiet evening, certainly, but a journey of a kind we all deserve from time to time!
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