Do you ever get a reply by AFPEx? And what do you say in your message? How can you find their address, is it always <ICAOID>ZTZX ?
Yes, xxxxZTZX and xxxxZPZX (always sent to both even though often it's the same terminal).
I get a reply about 30% of the time. About the same or slightly worse than faxing, but the two methods are complementary to some degree (i.e. if the ignorant t*****r doesn't reply to faxes, some less ignorant t******r might reply to the AFTN message). However, I get the feeling that most recipients simply cannot believe they can reply to the AFTN address, and one can see why: AFPEx is way too innovative for the mostly sub-optimally managed world of airports
The replies I do get are mostly sent to the fax # I provide in the message.
I also get the feeling, from following some stuff up, that at many airports the union / job demarcation is tight and the person getting the AFTN message will deliberately not pass it to the person dealing with PPR. Many airports are run as per British Leyland...
As to content, it is something like:
PPR REQUEST
AIRCRAFT: NXXXXX
DATE: XXXXX
DEPARTING FROM: EGXX
FLYING TO: XXXX
1 PILOT 1 PASSENGER (BOTH EU CITIZENS)
WILL REQUIRE: AVGAS 100LL AND PARKING FOR 3 NIGHTS
PLEASE CONFIRM ABOVE IS OK.
PLEASE REPLY BY AFTN OR FAX XXXXXXX OR EMAIL XXXX (AT) YYYYYY
etc etc.
We'll probably disagree over that until we both have lost our medicals
Indeed
However, you speak fluent Spanish. Spain, along with most 3rd world countries, runs on lack of transparency and the "personal touch" is very important. Also your plane was ES- whereas mine is N- and all I need is some d*ck who doesn't approve of American foreign policy...
Especially with big customs airports.
That should be the best safeguard from PPR. And I would agree for the really big ones. One can turn up in say Prague anytime, H24.
What IS the case (occasionally) is that there is some NOTAM'd 'slot requirement'. Have to admit, that has caught me out once in Valencia some years ago.
I have never seen a slot requirement (except at Friefrichshafen this weekend but that is understandable; one has to book the slots on their website) but have seen plenty of PPR stuff in notams, which is not too bad.