Yes, If the passengers all picked up a time card when they started to queue the BAA could make payments for everything over 30 mins. It would have to be enough to buy another ticket when you miss your flight (as I almost did).

Well a time card from when they checked in would be better.

You wouldnt believe the amount of passengers that check in then bugger off somewhere then turn up close to departure time too.

But still thats no excuse, I have to say im normal quite lucky by the sounds of it, although last time i went out from LHR it was T1 in January i queued up for 11 minutes and it was 11 minutes as i timed it for the supervisor on duty. however it has got alot worst since then, as ive been hearing from the guards themselves,

None of the other BAA / Non BAA airports seem to have the problem so it must be a Heathrow Managment problem.

I think T4 is crap because they have one archway for 2 xray machines which creates a bottleneck too.

Further to my earlier post about the lack of trained staff and the lack of potential candidates.
I have found this document laying on the briefing desk, and just happened to read it, it's called "erg ercp standards & rebates_annex1_march06" which outlines the performance standards BAA / HAL have to achieve. Also it states in various forms of mathematics the rebate refund etc if standards are not met.
The good news is that the airlines will get some refund if their aircraft are not parked within a certain time limit or if passenger security queues extend beyond 1 hour and up to 2 hours. What it did not mention is the queue limit for staff and crew access times.
Currently aircraft are charged at the on-pier/hard ramp standard rate 15 minutes after landing, irrelevant if your holding for budget cheap airlines to get off your stand, or for other reasons. What it is now stating is that the airline will get a percentage of this parking charge back.
So, after all this, I believe this document does highlight that BAA / HAL do have a serious and long term problem with staffing issues. I firmly believe that with this document, meant as an appeasement to the airlines, the resolution will not be solved until the closure of T2 and the relocation of staff to supplement other terminals. BY then the staffing levels should according sources be at functional levels.

How about an appeasement to the passengers, they are the ones that miss flights!

Quite right! And if going European i.e. short-haul, take the train from Central London (23 minutes ex. St Pancras, 35 minutes ex. Blackfriars) to Luton Airport, and save time, and save money on your air fares...

:ok: ;) :E

LHR - AVOID AT ALL COSTS
 

As a passenger I refuse to fly from LHR unless absolutely necessary !

Is it any wonder that Emirates GLA-DXB service is such a success ? Inside a year they have gone from an A332 to a B773 on the route - why ? Because many of the pax, en-route to Oz - will avoid LHR at all costs !

How do you know you have arrived at a BAA airport - simple - the escalator / moving walkways are 'closed for maintenance'

HEATHROW
 

Couldn't help but notice that JAL are down to once daily from Heathrow to Tokyo? Thought that would be one of their top routes?

Also Virgin's new Cape Town service appears to be winter only. Is this intentional?

I believe that this has long been a seasonal route.

Huge queues again over Easter Bank Holiday. Where were all the security staff? Heard that several pax collapsed due lengthy queues at Central Search at T4. No chairs of couse...too many shops. My pax were late due 'Security delays' and a lengthy delay ensued. Sadly, perhaps the Spanish could do a better job than BAA.:hmm:

Has indeed been that way for years.

Thanks chaps :)

London Heathrow jobs.
 

I think that this maybe on the wrong forum, but I was wondering if those of you in the 'know' are aware of any ground staff jobs at LHR? Check in or dispatch are preferable. Or, if you could tell me of any useful websites to look at?

Thanks in advance for your time.

The primary employer is BAA plc, find their website, then address, then where they advertise.

There are many secondayr employers, the ground handling agents. If you tour the terminals (or wait in this one!) then you will get the list of names. Track down the adverts for each company.

Some carriers do their own ground handling and, once again, you can track down where they advertise. In all, there could easily be ten companies to monitor and apply to. Depending upon what you want to do - there might be more.

Heathrow 'should be phased out'
 

Must be a quiet news day...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5024770.stm

Discuss.

What annoys the tits out of me about the BAA and the congestion around the airport to get through the checkpoints is the lack of foresight.
There are numourous checkpoints all around yet they seem to insist that we use only two or three at a time. For example, on the south side there is the main one near Cargo which causes all the congestion but what about the one opposite the Hilton and the other one down by the Harrods Aviation? Barely used except by crew buses and small vans.
As for the central area, this one is a nightmare yet there is another one under t1 which is rarely used to full effect. Also, I recently was taken through the one at T5 which then brought us under tunnels to get to T3. Why dont they make more use of this one...Nightmare for the crew bus because it took forever but as for delivery trucks to the central area...perfect!!!

Bailiffs are sent...to Heathrow!
 

This sounds a bit barmy...but funny none-the-less.

A direct extract from page 8 of the Daily Express (10/07/06)

____________________________________________________________ ____

"An incensed airline passenger who took Heathrow Airport to court after he missed a flight won an order to send bailiffs into the airport to recover goods to a value of £332 - his fare and other costs.

But security around the airport is so tight that the bailiffs have so far been unable to gain entry to carry out the job.

For six months Paul Raymond, 52, has tried to claim back the cost of a flight from Heathrow to Newcastle after he was delayed by stringent security checks at the airport.

"It's so frustrating, it just makes me sick" said Mr Raymond, of Sunderland, who now fears he may never see the money again.

"The Bailiff said he thought they were trying to pull a fast one, knowing they could hide behind security. What am I supposed to do when even the bailiffs can't get in?"

The British Airports Authority said last night that they were looking into the matter"

____________________________________________________________ __

All I can say about one man's fight to take down the big guys at Heathrow is good luck...he'll bl:mad: dy well need it!

As one who has flown through many airports - LHR, LGW, EDI, as well as airports in the US and the middle-east, LHR takes the biscuit.

I hope he manages to get some (albeit token) satisfaction. LHR security appears to have no consideration for getting passengers from "landside to airside". Despite the obvious reasons for getting pax to spend time airside (all the "shopping opportunities", and the revenue from the airside "so-called-duty-free" outlets that, despite the lack of UK VAT, and, in the case of the booze shops, the lack of excise duty, are hardly cheaper than UK high-street shops. Presumably, the difference goes in "ground rent" for the outlets which is charged by BAA)

It's a disgrace, an insult to the intelligence, just a way of screwing the travelling public.:mad:

And how much of this "bounty" goes to support air traffic control costs, emergency services, police security? Since it was privatised, LHR is just a cash-cow to the shareholders and a total abomination to the travelleing public (including the "departure tax" of around $50 longhaul, which is usually "hidden" in the cost of your ticket - check the "taxes" box on your ticket and ask what each one is!)

[/rant]

If I said that a BAA car park had too few lifts and payment machines, most would say that the old facilities have been overtaken by demand ...

I was delivering a pax to T3 today and had not been through T3 for a while. I was pleased to see a new car park and it was very well laid out with good markings. But ... you then found that there were not enough lifts. There are two lifts each at the North and South ends of the park, essentially North for Arrivals and South for Departures.

In the middle of the afternoon, the park was half full (I looked at all the floors and noted that the roof was not yet open for service) floors 1 + 2 were full, 3 had about 50% and 4 had half a dozen (and me!). Yet, the lifts to Departures were full and people waiting in the floor lobbies to get in. The lift cars state "Maximum 36 persons" OK and how many persons + trolley???? :rolleyes:

After delivering nephew to VS, I walked up the stairs as it was quicker. I then found the second deliberate error in their planning. That the only payment machines are on the 1st floor at the Arrivals end! So I walked down three floors (lifts too busy) and down the length of the building to find that the four payment machines had long queues and one of them was out of order - although it was being worked on. :*

Whilst in the queue, I asked an NCP attendant who was helping people to use the machines, if the machines took the BAA Worldpoints card (in my hand). He replied, "No, they only take Visa, Mastercard, American ..." :hmm: The machine made no reference to Worldpoints cards only 'follow up or discount cards'. I did give the machine the card but will have to check the account in a week, experience says that, although NCP do give Worldpoints, they only do so after a fight. (Yes, I know Worldpoints is pants but it's the onyl thing I get back from BAA) :sad:

So, a spanking new car park that has four lifts instead of six and four payment machines at one end, instead of four at each end. The park might be run by NCP but it is BAA that specify and this is a classic example of saving money on construction cost. A brand new park - and only half full - it was already generating queues for pax arriving, don't worry about the queues for check in and security. The departing pax take longer to get away and so detract further from their experience and encourage them not to use the airport again.

BAA really make it so difficult to say nice things about them. :ugh:

Heathrow 3rd Runway Passes Pollution Test
 

The Times.
...........A NEW runway at Heathrow is a more likely prospect after a government study found the air pollution problem around the airport was less serious than had been feared and could be overcome.....

Lord Soley, chairman of Future Heathrow, which campaigns for the airport’s expansion, said that the main source of nitrogen dioxide around the airport was from cars on the M4 and the airport’s access roads. A previous government study considered building a roof over a four-mile stretch of the M4 and installing vents to filter out nitrogen dioxide. Lord Soley said that emissions could also be reduced near the airport by moving most of its 40,000 parking spaces to derelict land north of the M4 beside the M25. A new monorail line would link the new car park to the terminals.

John Stewart, chairman of ClearSkies, which represents people living under Heathrow’s flight paths, said: “It looks like the third runway will pass the air pollution test but there will still be the problem of a new flight path blighting 150,000 residents.” ...........

So what's this "derelict land" then?

A quick look at Google Earth seems to show its all being used - industry, parkland, agriculture, etc.