BIRMINGHAM - 5
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Birmingham, UK
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@dionysius: I take more than 100 flights a year. I know how long it takes to efficiently board an aircraft, even after making allowance for passengers blocking the aisle. 30 minutes is far too long for a 735, even by Servisair's standards.
If the pressure is to achieve on time departures, why don't the gate agents actually start boarding earlier? I know that there are times when a late inbound will result in a delay in boarding, but the ground staff at BHX always seem to delay the start of boarding.
@Daza: I am afraid that the wanderers and stragglers are likely to still delay things as they seem incapable of looking at monitors or hearing calls for them over the PA. There is a very good chance they will be in the departure lounge bars. In any event, any missing pax will only be identified once everyone at the gate has boarded. All the more reason for starting boarding early.
If the pressure is to achieve on time departures, why don't the gate agents actually start boarding earlier? I know that there are times when a late inbound will result in a delay in boarding, but the ground staff at BHX always seem to delay the start of boarding.
@Daza: I am afraid that the wanderers and stragglers are likely to still delay things as they seem incapable of looking at monitors or hearing calls for them over the PA. There is a very good chance they will be in the departure lounge bars. In any event, any missing pax will only be identified once everyone at the gate has boarded. All the more reason for starting boarding early.
Join Date: Jul 2009
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A welcome sight
Flew into BHX this morning from Fao with Ryr and was disappointed that it was no more than half full.
However, was mightily pleased to see six ZB arrivals scheduled within a space of 1hr 15 mins. Was even more surprised walking through to departures to see the enlarged Monarch section chock-a-block with queuing passengers backing to the arrivals area....
Lets hope it is working for ZB with their new routes.
However, was mightily pleased to see six ZB arrivals scheduled within a space of 1hr 15 mins. Was even more surprised walking through to departures to see the enlarged Monarch section chock-a-block with queuing passengers backing to the arrivals area....
Lets hope it is working for ZB with their new routes.
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Solihull
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FR
Monty Gordo
Monty it was the first Thursday flight of the season and the first week of it increasing from 2 to 3 weekly so I assume that this was part of the reason.
BMI Baby now have four aircraft based with Barcelona restarted today, Rome and Palma tomorrow as part of 13 flights! Lisbon restarts Saturday
Turkish Airlines not only daily but regular A321's at present.
Lufthansa seem flexible with Frankfurt with the A319 reappearing again today and a tech delay left a 195 on the ground for four days with the afternoon Munich service operating as a CRJ9 since it went tech.
Pete
Monty it was the first Thursday flight of the season and the first week of it increasing from 2 to 3 weekly so I assume that this was part of the reason.
BMI Baby now have four aircraft based with Barcelona restarted today, Rome and Palma tomorrow as part of 13 flights! Lisbon restarts Saturday
Turkish Airlines not only daily but regular A321's at present.
Lufthansa seem flexible with Frankfurt with the A319 reappearing again today and a tech delay left a 195 on the ground for four days with the afternoon Munich service operating as a CRJ9 since it went tech.
Pete
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Olton Pete
Thanks for you comment OP, it did look very busy at the Monarch end today. I know it is early days, but is there any likelihood or indication that some of these services might benefit from a frequency improvement?
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Boarding Times
BobBHX
Passengers are called to the gate to get them ready for the anticipated boarding time. There are times when this can't be met and you have to wait a little longer. Various reasons include cabin crew dragging their feet with their checks, extra cleaning due to the mess left by inbound passengers, airline rules not permitting boarding and fuelling, technical problems occurring at the last minute, the list goes on and on. These can not be factored in so you need to call the flight so that you are ready on time.
In your case I would guess that due to holding the aircraft required either fuelling, or more fuel than anticipated. LH do not permit boarding and fuelling, so until it is finished you have to sit and wait.
As for updating you, what did you want to hear? UA could tell their passengers the a/c was in PIK and would be able to give about an hours notice of it arriving. Your a/c would probably have been over BHX going round in circles with acars keeping LH updated so their system would have rolling updates for your smart phone app. Apart from an airport radar screen and FR24 on the internet the people on the ground wouldn't have a clue what was happening as many crews seem to be allergic to calling up and giving updates, no matter how good or bad the groundstaff are they are not psychic and can't give updates they don't have. Add on non stop phone calls asking for updates from other departments and airlines and you will appreciate the conditions the staff have to work in.
Passengers are called to the gate to get them ready for the anticipated boarding time. There are times when this can't be met and you have to wait a little longer. Various reasons include cabin crew dragging their feet with their checks, extra cleaning due to the mess left by inbound passengers, airline rules not permitting boarding and fuelling, technical problems occurring at the last minute, the list goes on and on. These can not be factored in so you need to call the flight so that you are ready on time.
In your case I would guess that due to holding the aircraft required either fuelling, or more fuel than anticipated. LH do not permit boarding and fuelling, so until it is finished you have to sit and wait.
As for updating you, what did you want to hear? UA could tell their passengers the a/c was in PIK and would be able to give about an hours notice of it arriving. Your a/c would probably have been over BHX going round in circles with acars keeping LH updated so their system would have rolling updates for your smart phone app. Apart from an airport radar screen and FR24 on the internet the people on the ground wouldn't have a clue what was happening as many crews seem to be allergic to calling up and giving updates, no matter how good or bad the groundstaff are they are not psychic and can't give updates they don't have. Add on non stop phone calls asking for updates from other departments and airlines and you will appreciate the conditions the staff have to work in.
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Birmingham, UK
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groundhogbhx
If ground staff representing UA can tell their pax that the plane was at PIK why can't the ground staff representing LH tell their pax that the plane was actually at LGW and would be arriving at BHX within X minutes? I was simply making the point that certain ground staff went out of their way to ensure that pax were kept updated on the delay and others made no effort at all.
I do not have an issue with the delay and, as I have said, I was able to track progress online. However, there were many people on the flight with long-haul connections who would have been anxious as to what was happening (as it turned out, there were at least three connecting flights where the pax had to overnight in FRA). It would have helped if the ground staff had given them some idea of what was happening.
If ground staff representing UA can tell their pax that the plane was at PIK why can't the ground staff representing LH tell their pax that the plane was actually at LGW and would be arriving at BHX within X minutes? I was simply making the point that certain ground staff went out of their way to ensure that pax were kept updated on the delay and others made no effort at all.
I do not have an issue with the delay and, as I have said, I was able to track progress online. However, there were many people on the flight with long-haul connections who would have been anxious as to what was happening (as it turned out, there were at least three connecting flights where the pax had to overnight in FRA). It would have helped if the ground staff had given them some idea of what was happening.
Olympic Holidays has signed a deal with Aegean Airlines to provide flights on key routes this summer.
Among the first routes announced is Birmingham to Cyprus.
The first Aegean Airlines departure for Olympic Holidays is on 4 May.
Among the first routes announced is Birmingham to Cyprus.
The first Aegean Airlines departure for Olympic Holidays is on 4 May.
Join Date: Jun 1999
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Just a little rant
Saw an article in the Solihull News about residents in residential areas close to BHX getting miffed about cars parking " inappropriately" waiting for arriving passengers at the airport. It then went on to quote a Birmingham Airport spokesman claiming that they have ample car parking spaces which are reasonably priced. I fell off my chair laughing. Listen to me Birmingham Airport Spokesman, the reason you have ample parking spaces is because your parking fees are EXTORTIONATE and in a time when we all have to tighten our belts the public are not willing to feed your GREEDY pockets. Furthermore, I don't see any airports here in Europe (including the majors) charging to collect and drop off passengers. Get real Birmingham!
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Parking & Lisbon
BMI Baby restart Lisbon tomorrow after a few years absence adding to Rome today and Barcelona Thursday. Also Murcia, Faro & Palma return as well.
Parking
I have to agree with Hotel Tango re the reason for the plentiful parking, personally though I don't mind paying a quid to pick-up/drop off but what I do find objectionable is the length of time you get in the short-stay.
If parking is plentiful then bring back the £1 in the long-stay rather than preying on the innocence of some hoping that they will exceed the 10 minutes and then use the pathetic excuse that it is to ensure that the short-stay does not become log-jammed, which of course it does because the ******* removed the £1 for an hour in the long-stay. The airport have admitted parking is plentiful so what it is the problem, don't bother I know the answer.
Pete
Parking
I have to agree with Hotel Tango re the reason for the plentiful parking, personally though I don't mind paying a quid to pick-up/drop off but what I do find objectionable is the length of time you get in the short-stay.
If parking is plentiful then bring back the £1 in the long-stay rather than preying on the innocence of some hoping that they will exceed the 10 minutes and then use the pathetic excuse that it is to ensure that the short-stay does not become log-jammed, which of course it does because the ******* removed the £1 for an hour in the long-stay. The airport have admitted parking is plentiful so what it is the problem, don't bother I know the answer.
Pete
Join Date: Jun 2006
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BobBHX
The UA staff were exactly that, employed by UA to look after their 6 flights a week. The LH staff are employed by Servsair and have passengers from many airlines going to many destinations to try to look after. Read what I wrote, they can only put out the information they have, just because LH are able to update the information on your app it doesn't mean that the same information has been fed back to the BHX groundstaff. The phones would be ringing non stop, the telex machine would be churning out all kinds of messages non stop, automated messages update the systems others have to be read a processed. If you want to see how hard it is to keep track and find out information at times like this you should go and see for yourself. These people are put under extreme pressure at times like this and get no praise for giving 110% until things calm down and get paid very poorly for the responsibility they take on every day, thanks to the race to the bottom started by the loco's who want cost not quality.
The UA staff were exactly that, employed by UA to look after their 6 flights a week. The LH staff are employed by Servsair and have passengers from many airlines going to many destinations to try to look after. Read what I wrote, they can only put out the information they have, just because LH are able to update the information on your app it doesn't mean that the same information has been fed back to the BHX groundstaff. The phones would be ringing non stop, the telex machine would be churning out all kinds of messages non stop, automated messages update the systems others have to be read a processed. If you want to see how hard it is to keep track and find out information at times like this you should go and see for yourself. These people are put under extreme pressure at times like this and get no praise for giving 110% until things calm down and get paid very poorly for the responsibility they take on every day, thanks to the race to the bottom started by the loco's who want cost not quality.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Parking
I agree expensive and anxiety inducing - hence people will hang around residential areas.
I'm not sure what pressure the runway extension will place on Long Stay parking as one of the car park makes way for the extended taxi-way, and can understand that the airport will need to ensure sufficient space for travellers.
Perhaps, though, the local authority as a condition of future planning approvals should insist that the airport (as a considerate neighbour) offer a reasonable amount of free parking time for drop-off. 15 /20 mins is typical in other countries (I noticed that Nice offered 30 mins 'Kiss and Fly' parking time - but life is different down there. Clearly passengers need a lingering good-bye before going back to their wives / husbands!!!).
I'm not sure what pressure the runway extension will place on Long Stay parking as one of the car park makes way for the extended taxi-way, and can understand that the airport will need to ensure sufficient space for travellers.
Perhaps, though, the local authority as a condition of future planning approvals should insist that the airport (as a considerate neighbour) offer a reasonable amount of free parking time for drop-off. 15 /20 mins is typical in other countries (I noticed that Nice offered 30 mins 'Kiss and Fly' parking time - but life is different down there. Clearly passengers need a lingering good-bye before going back to their wives / husbands!!!).
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: solihull West Midlands
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Realfish re parking.
All the trees by the new ATC tower were removed, as thats where the new car park is going,extends behind the Tristar Hotel and sadly swallows up the field behind. .
For information although the actual main contractors don't start the road/runway work till July.They have just finished pegging out the line of the road diversion, snakes just behind where the first set of runway lights are in the field opposite the airport, comes out by the Clock Pub.
Nigel
All the trees by the new ATC tower were removed, as thats where the new car park is going,extends behind the Tristar Hotel and sadly swallows up the field behind. .
For information although the actual main contractors don't start the road/runway work till July.They have just finished pegging out the line of the road diversion, snakes just behind where the first set of runway lights are in the field opposite the airport, comes out by the Clock Pub.
Nigel
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@RealFish............I doubt the local authority would do anything about the CP charges. As major shareholders they wouldn't want to give up the income. It's the CP's that give the airport the profits that enable the dividend payouts...
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Parking
My view is that they might actually increase their income if they reduced their charges since this would motivate more people to use the facilities. Having said that, I still don't accept that a charge is made simply for a quick drop-off or pick-up. I certainly cannot recall having seen this anywhere else but the UK. It comes down to pure greed by the airport authorities who set the charges (and their commission) together with NCP.
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Parking drop off
Hotel Tango,
It isn't just BHX that charge rip off drop off fees, I travel in and out of Edinburgh on a regular basis and they charge similar fees to BHX. If my memory serves me correctly East Midlands also have similar drop off charges. I try not to use drop and go and get dropped off at Birmingham International Train Station and use the air rail. If you are picking up you have 20mins free (but i've never seen anyone around so you'd be unlucky to get ticketed).
Essentially it's just a very easy way for the airports to make money, it would be interesting to see how much they do make as at BHX I've seen people charged over £30!!!
As OP pointed out the most frustrating thing is the abolishment of the long stay charge £1 for an hour.
El Bogster
It isn't just BHX that charge rip off drop off fees, I travel in and out of Edinburgh on a regular basis and they charge similar fees to BHX. If my memory serves me correctly East Midlands also have similar drop off charges. I try not to use drop and go and get dropped off at Birmingham International Train Station and use the air rail. If you are picking up you have 20mins free (but i've never seen anyone around so you'd be unlucky to get ticketed).
Essentially it's just a very easy way for the airports to make money, it would be interesting to see how much they do make as at BHX I've seen people charged over £30!!!
As OP pointed out the most frustrating thing is the abolishment of the long stay charge £1 for an hour.
El Bogster
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Re parking
Bogster, yes I know, which is why I said in my post above that I've only seen it in the UK. The Glasgow incident some years back served as yet another great excuse for the greedy airport managers to squeeze yet more out of passengers so that they can earn their performance bonuses at the end of the year!
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Re parking
Maybe it is the advent of the lo-co's but over the past 20 years or so we, the paying public which support the airline industry have ceased to become passengers, but have become customers; and the lo-co's and the airports offer us as little as they can get away with.
The airports' returns for their parking charges, when considered against the cost of implementing them, must be marginal. It would be interesting to see what would happen if one of the airports broke the mould and set out reduced, minimal or free parking for drop offs/pick-ups.
But there again, these thick-skinned animals tend to hunt in packs...
The airports' returns for their parking charges, when considered against the cost of implementing them, must be marginal. It would be interesting to see what would happen if one of the airports broke the mould and set out reduced, minimal or free parking for drop offs/pick-ups.
But there again, these thick-skinned animals tend to hunt in packs...