BA 747-400 at Luton?
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This flight must hold the record for the longest non stop passenger flight into Luton and the largest passenger plane ever to visit Luton. Talking about large aircraft I also hear that a Varig MD11F is due in on Friday morning
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Have Servisair taken the plane and its passengers hostage in lieu of payment in advance? I have had some training in negotiating, can I be of use?
Is this part of Mr Walsh's £450m cost savings announced today? Use Luton rather than Heathrow for BA long haul operations?
Is this part of Mr Walsh's £450m cost savings announced today? Use Luton rather than Heathrow for BA long haul operations?
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BAW268D was flightplanned Luton to Heathrow at 1910z but appears not to have left yet.
I'm sure next time, they'll (BA) will divert somewhere else (Stansted, Brum or Manchester I s'pose depending on fuel status)
Fried Chicken
I'm sure next time, they'll (BA) will divert somewhere else (Stansted, Brum or Manchester I s'pose depending on fuel status)
Fried Chicken
aceatco, retired
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Originally Posted by OLNEY 1 BRAVO
It's only the second BA 747 to visit. The first one was also on a weather diversion and had an angry Prince Andrew on board.
aceatco, retired
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Originally Posted by LTNman
This flight must hold the record for the longest non stop passenger flight into Luton and the largest passenger plane ever to visit Luton. Talking about large aircraft I also hear that a Varig MD11F is due in on Friday morning
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Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice. 12 years ago BA bring in a diverted 747 onto the newly built south stands and the aircraft was marooned due to a lack of a tow bar. Now in the year 2006 with Luton handling 9.2 million passengers and pretending to be one of the big boys BA bring in a second 747 and guess what, it is marooned due to a lack of a tow bar.
I know it has nothing to do with the airport authority but it doesn’t do the airports credibility any good.
I know it has nothing to do with the airport authority but it doesn’t do the airports credibility any good.
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I would suggest that if Luton is a nominated diversion airport for BA and their -400 fleet, then they, BA really are to blame and not the poor handling agents? For goodness sake, Luton is only 40 miles from Heathrow, could they not have sent someone to help? Yes I realise that the M25 and M1 are awful after 16:00!
If the passengers were disgruntled (and I bet that they were?), it is hardly the fault of the handling agent or the airport. Someone, somewhere within BA made the decision to land at Luton, sadly their decision seems not to have been backed up in assistance for their customers?
Sad to think that Buster knew that a -400 was a first visit to Luton!
If the passengers were disgruntled (and I bet that they were?), it is hardly the fault of the handling agent or the airport. Someone, somewhere within BA made the decision to land at Luton, sadly their decision seems not to have been backed up in assistance for their customers?
Sad to think that Buster knew that a -400 was a first visit to Luton!
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Originally Posted by Buster the Bear
I would suggest that if Luton is a nominated diversion airport for BA and their -400 fleet, then they, BA really are to blame and not the poor handling agents? For goodness sake, Luton is only 40 miles from Heathrow, could they not have sent someone to help?...If the passengers were disgruntled (and I bet that they were?), it is hardly the fault of the handling agent or the airport. Someone, somewhere within BA made the decision to land at Luton, sadly their decision seems not to have been backed up in assistance for their customers?
It's got absolutely nothing to do with Luton or LLAO and whilst Servisair aren't the best of the bunch (well, they're the cheapest and you gets what you paid for...) you can't expect such an unexpected unplanned movement to be catered for at any airport where such aircraft are not regular visitors.
Bet if an Airbus A380 suddenly made an unexpected diversion into LGW or STN, the same 'difficulties' would arise...
Stop this LTN bashing!!!
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Maybe someone should look at why this flight diverted to LTN and not STN. I suspect it wasn't ultimately the Captain's fault here.........dig a bit deeper and maybe we'll see why 
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Having read my posts on here about how restrictive (BA) crew hours can be, can someone explain how the flight and cabin crews operated a service from LAX (overnight) to then divert and to then depart LTN at 23:55??? Or did a "new" crew take over?
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can i just ask, what has not having a tow-bar got to do with off-loading passengers! Surely the tow-bar problem is just for pushing the empty aircraft back later when ready to depart for LHR!
How ridiculous! Or did they not have the correct air-stairs???
How ridiculous! Or did they not have the correct air-stairs???
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Not necessarily ridiculous. All those pax would have to go through customs and immigration, both of which are usually pretty busy, and they may have said "no" to the extra work until they were in a position to cope. There may have been issues with unloading the bags (ie the correct equipment to unload the cargons being available, and staff to drive it). There may have been difficulties getting buses and/or airstairs. It may have been that BA expected to get the flight out of Luton quickly and didn't want to lose their pax in the terminal. Lots and lots of good reasons, when you think about it.
It is a difficult call - once the pax are off, you are committed to the time and expense of bussing them to LHR. That decision shouldn't be made until there is no chance of getting the aircraft to LHR in less time than it would take to deplane the pax, re-unite them with their bags, get them through customs etc, and have a fleet of buses waiting to take them to LHR (and then of course there is the state of the M25 to consider).
In this case, they probably thought that the delay caused by re-fuelling and re-crewing was less than all the above, but events eventually conspired to prove them wrong. It's a bit of a lottery. Either way, your pax are going to be annoyed.
You think this is bad - try diverting into MAN. You can wait for hours before ANYBODY turns up to the aircraft. I once sat there with the APU running for three hours before a GPU turned up.
My only question would be why they didn't lob into STN, the two are about the same distance from LHR. Maybe the approach sequence was too long at STN... and BHX is only 15 mins away...
It is a difficult call - once the pax are off, you are committed to the time and expense of bussing them to LHR. That decision shouldn't be made until there is no chance of getting the aircraft to LHR in less time than it would take to deplane the pax, re-unite them with their bags, get them through customs etc, and have a fleet of buses waiting to take them to LHR (and then of course there is the state of the M25 to consider).
In this case, they probably thought that the delay caused by re-fuelling and re-crewing was less than all the above, but events eventually conspired to prove them wrong. It's a bit of a lottery. Either way, your pax are going to be annoyed.
You think this is bad - try diverting into MAN. You can wait for hours before ANYBODY turns up to the aircraft. I once sat there with the APU running for three hours before a GPU turned up.
My only question would be why they didn't lob into STN, the two are about the same distance from LHR. Maybe the approach sequence was too long at STN... and BHX is only 15 mins away...
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Originally Posted by shamrock7seal
can i just ask, what has not having a tow-bar got to do with off-loading passengers! Surely the tow-bar problem is just for pushing the empty aircraft back later when ready to depart for LHR!
How ridiculous! Or did they not have the correct air-stairs???
How ridiculous! Or did they not have the correct air-stairs???
No doubt if BA intends to routinely divert its 747s into Luton, appropriate ground handling facilities will be positioned there by BA and its ground handling agent will be required - in return for payment - to have the necessary staff always available or on standby.
When BA diverts any of its narrow-body fleet into Luton - which it does not infrequently - there's never any difficulty and generally speaking, the process is completed smoothly and without causing additional problems for the pax.
Ditto when its 777s operate through on pre-planned charter flights.
BTW, Boeing 747s don't have 'air-stairs'.
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I think we sould forget bashing Servisair, Luton Airport or Customs etc etc, the question has to be asked......Why on earth did the worlds favourite airline choose to divert a 747-400 into a regional/low-cost hub/General Aviation airport that has no normal run of the mill handling facilities for a 747 ???
Why was EGBB/EGKK/EGSS/EGCC/EGFF all over-looked and the decision made to divert into EGGW ??.
Worlds favourite airline my hairy
!!!
Why was EGBB/EGKK/EGSS/EGCC/EGFF all over-looked and the decision made to divert into EGGW ??.
Worlds favourite airline my hairy
!!!
FX Guru
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Fascinating thread. While reading it I had the same thoughts as ManofMan.
I also had a thought. Let's say there was a pax on board (with hand baggage only) who lived in St.Albans. Once the passengers got off the plane, would he/she be allowed to leave the airport and jump in a cab home?
I've done this in Asia, getting off a plane stranded in Batam, Indonesia and cabbing/ferrying it to Singapore. This was pre-9/11 though and I have no idea if it would be allowed now.
I also had a thought. Let's say there was a pax on board (with hand baggage only) who lived in St.Albans. Once the passengers got off the plane, would he/she be allowed to leave the airport and jump in a cab home?
I've done this in Asia, getting off a plane stranded in Batam, Indonesia and cabbing/ferrying it to Singapore. This was pre-9/11 though and I have no idea if it would be allowed now.