I agree it
is probably the nature of the current pickle at Heathrow, and because I am not on an open-ended expense account, I have never been stuck in the middle of it. All my (few) LHR flights have been 'cheap' slots. I suppose there is some kind of informal 'market' between airlines with differential pricing for the 0900ish and 1700ish slots versus the rest? Does NATS get the lion's share of the premium paid? Because perhaps NATS should, and perhaps NATS should have set that premium. Or maybe they do already and the demand is still overwhelming? You'll perhaps forgive me if I have a feeling the simple matter is that NATS do not have a say because BA call most of the shots at Heathrow on a legacy basis?
And seriously, I can't remember the last time I managed anything better than a "grabbit and run" yesterday's Radisson croissant before a Ryanair flight or anything much beyond an 0100 Horlicks before falling into bed afterwards
Actually, I am sure there must be graphs of passenger runway throughput numbers versus airborne time somewhere, perhaps overlaid with the Oceanic Departures, and Arrivals 'spread', and any other 'immovables'. That might be interesting.
Can we see it, anyone?