BIRMINGHAM - 4
Join Date: Aug 2006
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How about this for Spin?
This really made me laugh - in an obviously desperate attempt to hide the fact that the only new scheduled route from BHX this summer is a (surely seasonal?) 4xpw service to Montpellier, the Marketing Team have truly excelled themselves. Forget the press release excuses about falling pax numbers, this beats them all: the (finally) revised BHX online scheduled timetable now lists La Romana, Cancun, Montego Bay and a host of Med hotspots as new scheduled destinations! How so? Well, all TOM operated flights have, according to BHX, suddenly metamorphasised into scheduled services!! What an inspired piece of thinking to beef up your flight offerings! Yes, I know that you can buy seat only tickets on TOM flights but to categorise them as actual scheduled services does push credibility and spin a step too far? What on earth will Marketing do next, actually attract a real new scheduled airline or destination. Perish the thought! 
You gotta however admire their cheek!
PS If TOM flights are in fact treated as scheduled I will stand very corrected, go to the back of the class and eat a big slice of humble pie but checking other major airports online timetables, I haven't seen any include TOM as a scheduled operator and i'm sure they would if these flights were? At least EMA would then have the long haul scheduled flights they are so keen to have!
You gotta however admire their cheek! PS If TOM flights are in fact treated as scheduled I will stand very corrected, go to the back of the class and eat a big slice of humble pie but checking other major airports online timetables, I haven't seen any include TOM as a scheduled operator and i'm sure they would if these flights were? At least EMA would then have the long haul scheduled flights they are so keen to have!
GayFriendly
I agree, but then again within Europe Air Berlin have been selling these sorts of routes as scheduled for years, so TOMs EU services might be scheduled.
However I can't help thinking that bilateral agreements between the EU and places like Jamaica & Mexico might mean some of the scheduled services might be entering the realms of fantasy!
I agree, but then again within Europe Air Berlin have been selling these sorts of routes as scheduled for years, so TOMs EU services might be scheduled.
However I can't help thinking that bilateral agreements between the EU and places like Jamaica & Mexico might mean some of the scheduled services might be entering the realms of fantasy!
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TOM: Scheduled or Charter?
Agreed I guess based on the AB example, then TOM EU flights 'could' be construed as 'scheduled' and I believe that German airports do market them as such (hence why LTN do as I don't think TOM do any long haul from there?). TOM Long Haul flights however clearly cannt be mistaken for scheduled: you can't for example buy a CUN-BHX-CUN ticket, you can only buy ex a UK departure airport. These flights should be removed from the scheduled services timetable and not be used as a vain attempt to cover up the fact that in reality there is only one true new scheduled destination from BHX this summer which is to MPL. Either that or whoever puts the timetable together needs to have a lesson in the difference between scheduled and charter flights!
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TOM flights are listed in the OAG according to anna.aero, and the OAG normally only shows scheduled flights. So I don't think it's just BHX getting confused. TCX are also in the OAG
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Thought I'd check on GF's last message as it didn't ring true......
TOM will sell one way tickets into the UK from outside the EU - I've just took a dummy booking from Cape Verde to Gatwick through to the payment page - didn't finish it though......
TOM will sell one way tickets into the UK from outside the EU - I've just took a dummy booking from Cape Verde to Gatwick through to the payment page - didn't finish it though......
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S78 - To be fair, didn't try all routes, perhaps I should have done before making my comments. Going on what you said I decided to re-check and have found you can book a single from CUN-BHX, I only tried doing a return when I first checked and it definately won't let you do it on that route. So as far as that goes it's still not IMO a scheduled service in the true meaning of it, perhaps other long haul routes will let you though, depending on bilaterals and so on which means they could be classed as 'scheduled'.
As far as i'm concerned it's a grey area. If they are treated as scheduled by OAG then why hasn't BHX put them in before? I am not saying that they aren't, but IMO that BHX are trying, in light of very little other route development, to cover up that fact by now including TOM flights in their timetables as 'new destinations'.
As far as i'm concerned it's a grey area. If they are treated as scheduled by OAG then why hasn't BHX put them in before? I am not saying that they aren't, but IMO that BHX are trying, in light of very little other route development, to cover up that fact by now including TOM flights in their timetables as 'new destinations'.
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Marketing
What have the marketing team been doing for 3 years?? No new routes but an expensive re-brand thats laughable. Been described like Bhx as a load of circles going round in a circle.
I cannot understand what on earth they are doing? The last airline attracted was a one-off Armavia service. (Joke) Why are we not seeing development. We can see that Bhx is wel underserved both on a European level and long-haul. Emirates have a money printing machine in there double daily service and no-one to challenge them.
Airports such as Man and a lesser extent Ema have atrracted both expansion and new carriers and yet Bhx nothing..
Be interesting to here what the airports take on why no-one wants to operate from Bhx is..
Another small point is the lack of advertising of routes and the airport in the local area. Take where I now re-side Tamworth. Ema have numerous advertisemts about and Bhx nothing...
Answers on a post card please...
I cannot understand what on earth they are doing? The last airline attracted was a one-off Armavia service. (Joke) Why are we not seeing development. We can see that Bhx is wel underserved both on a European level and long-haul. Emirates have a money printing machine in there double daily service and no-one to challenge them.
Airports such as Man and a lesser extent Ema have atrracted both expansion and new carriers and yet Bhx nothing..
Be interesting to here what the airports take on why no-one wants to operate from Bhx is..
Another small point is the lack of advertising of routes and the airport in the local area. Take where I now re-side Tamworth. Ema have numerous advertisemts about and Bhx nothing...
Answers on a post card please...
Last edited by bazzab68; 13th May 2011 at 14:12. Reason: Spelling
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Marketing
It doesn't need a postcard just a sentence......anyone with any intelligent knowledge of marketing/route development was chucked out 3 years ago! It's as simple as that! In the meantime, yes, they've opened Solihull's latest theme park/shopping mall - big deal!
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Routes
Well there should be some "new" old routes from Baby next week if you
see what I mean. No doubt will be due to months of painstaking negotiation
by BHX with baby and nothing to do with the Manchester and Cardiff
bases closing and there is only so much you can do at EMA (although
they are getting another unit).
Ryanair have release some more winter flights from BHX with Kaunas
returning after missing last year. Twice weekly same days as now.
Gdansk, Katowice and Rzesnow all retained at twice weekly.
Still looking at three based with GRO, BZG & BTS to come (possibly)
and although not looking great at present, hopefully Malta will be retained
for winter now that Air Malta have departed the scene.
Pete
see what I mean. No doubt will be due to months of painstaking negotiation
by BHX with baby and nothing to do with the Manchester and Cardiff
bases closing and there is only so much you can do at EMA (although
they are getting another unit).
Ryanair have release some more winter flights from BHX with Kaunas
returning after missing last year. Twice weekly same days as now.
Gdansk, Katowice and Rzesnow all retained at twice weekly.
Still looking at three based with GRO, BZG & BTS to come (possibly)
and although not looking great at present, hopefully Malta will be retained
for winter now that Air Malta have departed the scene.
Pete
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and although not looking great at present
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Still looking at three based with GRO, BZG & BTS to come (possibly)
and although not looking great at present, hopefully Malta will be retained
for winter now that Air Malta have departed the scene.
and although not looking great at present, hopefully Malta will be retained
for winter now that Air Malta have departed the scene.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Routes
GF
I have to say, that the whole Ryanair thing has been bizarre and from the BHX
end nothing has leaked out as to what has gone wrong. FR have seemed to have settled on sun routes and a few Eastern European destinations.
I agree with what you say about the rest but at least there is some reasonable news on the way from Baby. My hope was with flybe when the 175 arrives but we will just have to wait and see.
Qatar is not looking good and the decision to increase Manchester to double daily ruled out any short-term hope. However with their CEO the only thing that is predictable is that he is unpredictable.
It will be interesting to see what BMI Baby do in terms of destinations
and frequency but I assume it will be similar to before if the rumours are right.
Jamie2k9
I still say BCN would be a decent replacement for a year round destination
although that gap might be filled by another airline soon.
Pete
I have to say, that the whole Ryanair thing has been bizarre and from the BHX
end nothing has leaked out as to what has gone wrong. FR have seemed to have settled on sun routes and a few Eastern European destinations.
I agree with what you say about the rest but at least there is some reasonable news on the way from Baby. My hope was with flybe when the 175 arrives but we will just have to wait and see.
Qatar is not looking good and the decision to increase Manchester to double daily ruled out any short-term hope. However with their CEO the only thing that is predictable is that he is unpredictable.
It will be interesting to see what BMI Baby do in terms of destinations
and frequency but I assume it will be similar to before if the rumours are right.
Jamie2k9
I still say BCN would be a decent replacement for a year round destination
although that gap might be filled by another airline soon.
Pete
New terminal facilities at BHX
I met a friend off the EK flight last night (fri). The flight arrived at 19.45 and his bags came through at 21.00. He said it was chaos in the 'one terminal' No one seem to know what was happening and why the baggage was late arriving. (The flight wasn't full). I wonder if it had anything to do with this:
Birmingham Airport to open merged terminal : Birmingham Airport News Stories
Imagine if you had to park your car. By the time we set off from the airport it was 21.10 - that would equate to around £12 in parking fees, if you arrived 15 mins after the flight had landed.
A total shambles.
Birmingham Airport to open merged terminal : Birmingham Airport News Stories
Imagine if you had to park your car. By the time we set off from the airport it was 21.10 - that would equate to around £12 in parking fees, if you arrived 15 mins after the flight had landed.
A total shambles.
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One Terminal
I didn't think that the one terminal applied to arriving flights at the moment, only departures. I believe that arriving passengers still have seperate arrival, security and immigration halls.
Stand to be corrected if incorrect.
Centre cities
Stand to be corrected if incorrect.
Centre cities
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One Terminal
Definitely only departures at present.
I was moaning to Mrs OP when coming back from ALC that we will be
going through Duty Free on arrivals but was surprised it was T2 arrivals
as usual still with Ryanair advertising routes that finished 12 months ago.
crewmeal
Same comments on another forum, same flight same delay, different day.
Baggage related delay not immigration.
As for collecting it is a nightmare, I still use the free 20 minutes in the
railway station but that only works if your passenger has a mobile to call
you to say they have the bags. Much better than the 15 minutes free in
Long Stay 1 but still restrictive.
I have to say departures was almost pleasant on Good Friday, security
were really good, yes it was irritating having to go Duty Free but I am
usually the one with the money and I walk quick!!!!!
Pete
I was moaning to Mrs OP when coming back from ALC that we will be
going through Duty Free on arrivals but was surprised it was T2 arrivals
as usual still with Ryanair advertising routes that finished 12 months ago.
crewmeal
Same comments on another forum, same flight same delay, different day.
Baggage related delay not immigration.
As for collecting it is a nightmare, I still use the free 20 minutes in the
railway station but that only works if your passenger has a mobile to call
you to say they have the bags. Much better than the 15 minutes free in
Long Stay 1 but still restrictive.
I have to say departures was almost pleasant on Good Friday, security
were really good, yes it was irritating having to go Duty Free but I am
usually the one with the money and I walk quick!!!!!
Pete
BHX Baggage reclaim
Crewmeal:
If you are in the know you never turn up 15 minutes after a flight has landed to pick up PAX and BHX, unless they are not carrying hold bags! Give them 45 minutes and you might just be in luck - emphasis on might!
A few times in recent months I have seen PAX arriving on long haul (well IST / DXB) coming through more than an hour after the flight has shown as landed. It's a disgrace, it has been for years, but neither the airport nor the handling agents, nor possibly the client airlines, seen willing to spend the money to make the place operate efficiently from an arrivals perspective.
If you are in the know you never turn up 15 minutes after a flight has landed to pick up PAX and BHX, unless they are not carrying hold bags! Give them 45 minutes and you might just be in luck - emphasis on might!
A few times in recent months I have seen PAX arriving on long haul (well IST / DXB) coming through more than an hour after the flight has shown as landed. It's a disgrace, it has been for years, but neither the airport nor the handling agents, nor possibly the client airlines, seen willing to spend the money to make the place operate efficiently from an arrivals perspective.
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Crewmeal:
If you are in the know you never turn up 15 minutes after a flight has landed to pick up PAX and BHX, unless they are not carrying hold bags! Give them 45 minutes and you might just be in luck - emphasis on might!
A few times in recent months I have seen PAX arriving on long haul (well IST / DXB) coming through more than an hour after the flight has shown as landed. It's a disgrace, it has been for years, but neither the airport nor the handling agents, nor possibly the client airlines, seen willing to spend the money to make the place operate efficiently from an arrivals perspective.
If you are in the know you never turn up 15 minutes after a flight has landed to pick up PAX and BHX, unless they are not carrying hold bags! Give them 45 minutes and you might just be in luck - emphasis on might!
A few times in recent months I have seen PAX arriving on long haul (well IST / DXB) coming through more than an hour after the flight has shown as landed. It's a disgrace, it has been for years, but neither the airport nor the handling agents, nor possibly the client airlines, seen willing to spend the money to make the place operate efficiently from an arrivals perspective.
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Skywings
Due to start today but the aircraft is believed to still be in Athens whilst
the pax are in the terminal.
Travel Service to the rescue currently en route from Prague to operate
the first service. Ironic that it was Travel Service down to do a lot of
these flights in the first place.
Hopefully it should get sorted, as the first week of operations is quite
light, daily from next Saturday though.
Baggage
Trouble is the pax on EK, TOM, TCX, MON, WW, LH, LX, PK are not
getting cheap flights but not a problem unique to BHX. Just have to
look at the Manchester and Liverpool threads although they seem to
more security/UKBA problems rather than baggage.
Pete
the pax are in the terminal.
Travel Service to the rescue currently en route from Prague to operate
the first service. Ironic that it was Travel Service down to do a lot of
these flights in the first place.
Hopefully it should get sorted, as the first week of operations is quite
light, daily from next Saturday though.
Baggage
Trouble is the pax on EK, TOM, TCX, MON, WW, LH, LX, PK are not
getting cheap flights but not a problem unique to BHX. Just have to
look at the Manchester and Liverpool threads although they seem to
more security/UKBA problems rather than baggage.
Pete
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EK Baggage times
The EK flights arrive with 500+ bags in 14+ bins. The rules at BHX say that you can only tow 6 at a time. Due to the size of the drop off area you can only unload 2 bins at a time. If the passengers who's bags are early on the belt are still coming through immigration the belt quickly fills up and bags can only go on as bags are taken off the other side. If you were able to see the other side of the wall in the arrivals area you would see the bins queued up waiting for their turn.
Don't blame the handling agents for having to do an impossible job in an area that was designed long before anything bigger than a 757 flew in on anything like a daily basis. Maybe it is about time those in charge of such things spent some money on improving things for the arriving passengers, oh sorry I forgot they can only spend their money in a small duty free shop instead of the whole departure lounge
Don't blame the handling agents for having to do an impossible job in an area that was designed long before anything bigger than a 757 flew in on anything like a daily basis. Maybe it is about time those in charge of such things spent some money on improving things for the arriving passengers, oh sorry I forgot they can only spend their money in a small duty free shop instead of the whole departure lounge