Flybe - 7
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,971
Likes: 0
From: Middlesex (under the flightpath)
But you do have to check in so early, so that you can be enticed to spend your hard earned cash on stuff you don't want / need in the shopping malls that are an integral part of all major airports today. Not only that but as you've had to get to the airport so early you'll need refreshment - and low and behold, the airport has got that one covered too - generally at exorbitant cost to the punter!
A good tip is to check-in online. Another is to travel with hand baggage only if possible, that saves a lot of time.
Also, pre-flight time on the kind of smaller airports that BE mostly operates out of doesn't have to be that long. In fact this is a good selling point for small airports, they should make more of it.
In fact for those of us whose local airport is Heathrow, passing through a small airport is a novelty, and makes a very pleasant change.
Oh for the "good old days" of flying in the 60s and 70s - things were so much simpler in those days! (I appreciate that some won't remember them, that's the benefit of being a "grumpy old man").
This cosy arrangement ended when non-IATA carriers started charter flights and the legacies introduced ABC ("Advance Booking Charter") and APEX ("Advance Purchass Excursion") fares to compete.
Also, most longhaul flights were multi-stop, and frequencies were shockingly low.
Am also an old(ish) git, but not a grumpy one.
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 6th January 2015 at 22:03.
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 703
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
Ah yes, the good old days when we paid £400 for day returns to London, £600 for Paris and Amsterdam and when we had next to no choice on departure days if you wanted to go somewhere for a holiday. You went away for a week on one allotted day per week. Yeah, them were the day. Must have been nice if you could have afforded that but today's system provide safe travel for all and relatively stable companies to be employed by but also to do business with.
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Somewhere
Flying Officer Kite, the leg you flew on is the 3rd SOU departure of the day from LBA, at only 1030am, it's madness, I think it was always going to struggle. I've seen as little as 6 on a Dash from LBA to ABZ. I'd hazard a guess not much money is being earned by either operator.
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,971
Likes: 0
From: Middlesex (under the flightpath)
ref. the Flybe shuttle, i just flew the competition on LBA-SOU, and was the only passenger on the flight..they didn't even operate the preceeding ABZ-LBA leg..not good for Eastern
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 1,834
Likes: 314
From: UK
So alongside screwing up the MAN-IOM schedule (see IOM thread) to miss the hub banks at MAN and move to less attractive times, the NCL-SOU schedule is being changed from Summer 2015 to accommodate the awfully-timed NCL-STN service.
First departure ex NCL to SOU will now be 1225 on weekdays as the aircraft which does the northbound SOU-NCL does NCL-STN-NCL before flying the first southbound. The afternoon NCL-STN is being flown by a BHD-based aircraft.
Why, oh why, would you make a total mess of schedules on two long-established routes to launch new routes (IOM-STN and NCL-STN) at poor timings themselves? This is an airline losing the plot in a big way.
First departure ex NCL to SOU will now be 1225 on weekdays as the aircraft which does the northbound SOU-NCL does NCL-STN-NCL before flying the first southbound. The afternoon NCL-STN is being flown by a BHD-based aircraft.
Why, oh why, would you make a total mess of schedules on two long-established routes to launch new routes (IOM-STN and NCL-STN) at poor timings themselves? This is an airline losing the plot in a big way.
Joined: Apr 2010
Aviation Qualifications: Spotter
Posts: 843
Likes: 16
From: London
Just got a London City Inverness flight for £70. For tomorrow.
Given the ho-ha from the Highlands when Inverness loses a service I'm surprised how poorly this route performed.
Given the ho-ha from the Highlands when Inverness loses a service I'm surprised how poorly this route performed.