BIRMINGHAM - 5
Join Date: Jul 2012
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According to this article: BBC News - Birmingham-to-Chicago flight 'should be re-introduced' (quite old), they may be re-introducing BHX - ORD.
According to another forum, BHX-DOH was also supposed to be announced as a new route for this year. Then again, this was most likely a rumour.
However, any news that could be more-or-less true?
According to another forum, BHX-DOH was also supposed to be announced as a new route for this year. Then again, this was most likely a rumour.
However, any news that could be more-or-less true?
Join Date: Jan 2006
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EK 37 Tonight
"Interesting" approach by EK37 tonight, turned base over Smethwick with wheels down (normally A/C fly well over downwind) and according to flightracker, turned final at 800' at about 4 miles.
Join Date: Sep 2004
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I think the point was to demonstrate what a rip off car parking at airports is, especially BHX. I've been on the receiving end of short stay fees and it would be cheaper to park a 747 than stay over in the drop off area.
Apart from that, airport parking is like any other service in the travel trade - book early and pay a reasonable rate, or book late and pay a fortune.
Join Date: Jul 2012
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"Interesting" approach by EK37 tonight, turned base over Smethwick with wheels down (normally A/C fly well over downwind) and according to flightracker, turned final at 800' at about 4 miles.
Join Date: Jun 1999
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No drop-off or pick-up costs at any of the major airports I use here on the continent - and this right in front of the terminal. Only GREEDY airport managements in the UK can think of abusing their customers in such a scandalous way. Can you imagine bus companies charging customers for using their bus stops, or railway companies charging for using their stations? That little incident in Glasgow some years ago, and the typical and useless knee jerk reaction that followed, quickly had airports seing $$$ signs. And has preventing vehicles crashing into terminal buildings made our terminals any safer? The answer is a convincing NO since there are no controls on what individuals bring into terminals in their suitcases.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Hotel Tango Try and see the big picture. So you pay a £1 for a car full of passengers, big deal. If the airport made the drop off free and increased the charges to the airlines by a £1 a passenger, which would be passed on in ticket charges, you would say nothing even though it would cost you more.
If you want investment the money comes from loans. Those loans are paid back by customers who use the airport.
If you want investment the money comes from loans. Those loans are paid back by customers who use the airport.
Last edited by LTNman; 1st Jul 2012 at 22:33.
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Can you imagine bus companies charging customers for using their bus stops, or railway companies charging for using their stations?
My contacts in the rail industry tell me that the average station user charge is around 50p-£1 for a large London terminus. As with airports, stations can make good money on retail and catering, so the user fee is kept below a level where it would be noticed, or where people would alight at London Hahn (Watford Junction) and continue by tube.
Outside the main city centres, you will also see - guess what - lots of car parks these days, from which the train companies are making good money from long stay (or short stay by airport standards) parking.
No need to top it up with a drop off charge, people would just nip around the corner, which they can't do at airports.
As for bus stations, these tend to be provided by local authorities, but there is stilll a usage fee, such that some local bus companies (eg Stagecoach here) won't use them, Likewise, "Megabus" use the Canon Park Shopping Ctr near Warwick Uni, not the city centre for a stop - although that no doubt is better for scheduling too.
In Leeds, there is even a big billboard by the Megabus stop, advertising that National Express use the "proper" bus station.
In our post-privatisation transport world, there is rarely seamless linkage between transport and station (including airport) operator, so some sort of charging method is always going to exist, whether public or not.
Last edited by jabird; 1st Jul 2012 at 23:56.
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The big picture LTNman is that you are already paying for airport services as part of the airport charges which are added to your ticket costs. Therefore they are in effect charging twice. Airports only started charging after the Glasgow incident and the subsequent idiocy that followed in the UK. As I said, airports over this side of the channel don't feel the need to charge for simply dropping off or picking up pax - and you can do so right in front of the terminal. I reckon they see the big picture better than greedy UK airport managers do.
Join Date: Jan 2010
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What annoys me about Birmingham, is that you have to get out of your car and go to a machine to put your pound in.
At EMA you can put your pound in from the car seat.
When dropping off at EMA I stop at the roundabout, so I don't have to pay.
I am not short of the odd quid, it is the principal that annoys me. Greedy so and so's.
At EMA you can put your pound in from the car seat.
When dropping off at EMA I stop at the roundabout, so I don't have to pay.
I am not short of the odd quid, it is the principal that annoys me. Greedy so and so's.
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Airports only started charging after the Glasgow incident
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I agree, they are all rip offs and that airports authorities in the UK have dined out on charging for the repercussions of security incidents for years but you just need to think creatively to avoid paying them - at BHX get yourself on the monorail and then dropped off or picked up at the International station, that's free (more tricky for arrivals granted as you never know quite how long someone will take from plane to station). You can always find abandoned trolleys in the long stay multi storey to get your luggage to check in for free (arrivals again tricky as there are never abandoned trolleys in the bag hall). And save and re-use your 100ml toiletry bags (I have had the same one for a year or so) to save on that buy bags for a pound con just before security. And if you are desperate to eat on board and are flying an airline that charges for food just buy a Boots meal deal, or eat in Wetherspoons, both are always far cheaper.
Don't get me started on trains, however I have become very expert at fare splitting which has saved me countless pounds in recent months. That is something that is not so easy with plane tickets unfortunately.
I know these ideas won't suit every traveller out there and require a bit of 'effort' but there are always ways to beat the system if you try hard enough
It's not the money but the fact that I like to avoid paying out un-necessarily.
Don't get me started on trains, however I have become very expert at fare splitting which has saved me countless pounds in recent months. That is something that is not so easy with plane tickets unfortunately.
I know these ideas won't suit every traveller out there and require a bit of 'effort' but there are always ways to beat the system if you try hard enough
It's not the money but the fact that I like to avoid paying out un-necessarily.
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GayFriendly, I do indeed do what you suggest regarding the monorail. Now that we've advertised it they'll probably slap on a €1.00 charge on that too!!You can also be dropped off at the long stay (15mins free) and use the free shuttle bus. However, that is no excuse for not berrating the greed of the airport management. If they had any real sense they could allow 30 mins free in the short stay. Incidentally, for those needing to use black cabs, they are roughly €2.50 cheaper using them from the International station than at the airport. That's because they have to pay the airport a rank fee which is of course passed on to the passenger.
Ferrari usually come in later in the week.
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Don't get me started on trains, however I have become very expert at fare splitting which has saved me countless pounds in recent months. That is something that is not so easy with plane tickets unfortunately.
I stopped doing it as more advance tickets became available, now I have a national Railcard, so it is rarely worth the bother.
As for flights, it is more a case of splitting fare and carrier, there are various combinations which work, not always with locos, but often taking advantage of cheaper APD by not flying a lh sector from the UK.
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Oh <pedant alert> -
Can we please stop calling the people mover a monorail? When it was a maglev, it was genuinely unique in the world. Now the Chinese have got that tech sorted, with a bit of help from the Germans.
All we have left is a people mover, clearly needing two rails for support and guidance, and a cable in the middle for propulsion.
</end pedant alert>
Can we please stop calling the people mover a monorail? When it was a maglev, it was genuinely unique in the world. Now the Chinese have got that tech sorted, with a bit of help from the Germans.
All we have left is a people mover, clearly needing two rails for support and guidance, and a cable in the middle for propulsion.
</end pedant alert>