I agree
Skipness, no one minds some retail but it is the way that it blocks access to the flights and is clearly a way to hike prices. I know that BAA would say that, the money they make on retail keeps the per-pax cost to the carriers down and so it keeps our ticket prices low. The answer is of course, that that is Bollos.
The overt retail focus diverts mgmt effort to it, rather than getting the pax through. They will deny that also but the last 30 years tell their own story. In January however, the problem bit back. Going through T3, I planned to do some shopping as time was tight. But the shopping time was all used up standing in the security queue. It is only when they lose money that they wake up.
Unfortunately, they have become infected with the same accounting disease as so many aspects of British commerce in the past 15 years. Which is, that
anything that is a cost - or may be construed as a cost - will be removed, irrespective of the effect that has on the delivered service. They get bonus' for removing cost but not for real service that is an intangible and cannot be measured. The frequent customer surveys are no help as they have been formulated in order to produce the correct answer. I could go on ...