Cheers logohu

But following on from the M E N good news story......

Passengers landing at Manchester Airport facing long queues at border control - Manchester Evening News

A comment by the airport placing this very FIRMLY at the door of The Home Office would have been welcomed although I guess by keeping stum maybe they are hoping to stay out of the flak.

I suspect phone calls would have been made if this was Heathrow !

Jet2.com
 

New route to Tunisia (Enfidha) from 24 May 2015, 2x weekly.

350 people I have been greeted by queues of far more than that around the world. However agree that someone needs to have a word with the Border agency.

Bagso Quote: I suspect phone calls would have been made if this was Heathrow !

Yawn:zzz:

It's like that at Heathrow (and other big airports in other countries) plenty of times

Have people really written to the MEN about 'horrendous queues of 350 people'?!?

While this was T3, they do realise that the A380 alone holds 517 people in one go?

Christ, 350 people isnt even 2xRyanair worth of passengers? Were they expecting to be the only aircraft to touch down in rush hour???

Can someone please confirm how many desks at immigration there are in T3 when fully staffed? And how many of those would typically be allocated to EU pax? I agree, 350 doesn't sound all that many and they reckoned EU pax were being cleared in 35 minutes. Not great but by today's standards, not disastrous.

It's a few years since I arrived there but I gather the current building structure prohibits any easy expansion even if UKBA could provide staff. Is that right?

350 people is immaterial and actually neither here nor there.....

read the headline

Passengers landing at Manchester Airport facing long queues at border control

It does not actually state it here which is sloppy journalism but the original twitter feed/headline it was attached to suggested delays of over 2 hours !

"Passengers wait over 2 hours at Manchester Airport"

THAT is the key story ......

And there are probably similar stories in local papers around the country, I have waited more than 2 hours at Heathrow and Liverpool for example as well as airports overseas.

A headline of ' I was through immigration at Manchester in 5 - 10 minutes' isn't of interest to the newspapers, and on both recent occasions I have used Manchester the above is true.

Like the recent stories of queues through security the reality is the majority of people will either take no notice or forget it very quickly.

The MEN seems to have a vendetta against transport in general, it's ability to pounce on Metrolink at the least problem is amazing, although being fair they have also done the occasional positive on that such as the first test tram at the airport.

My most recent experiences of arriving at T1 and T2 have been pretty reasonable considering the amount of traffic going through the place at the moment.

The story is more of a T3 issue by the sound of it - the problems there are well known by frequent travelers - I, for example avoid using it for all but domestic flights for the very reason that it can be hopeless even when 2 planes arrive at the same time. The queues come from both sides of the pier and no-one knows where the end of the queue is. I have heard some pretty choice language from people who think others are pushing in. I wouldn't be surprised if one day, it gets ugly - I've seen it get close.

T3 is physically inadequate for what it now handles.

Lets be honest the airport is aware of T3's inadequacies and are planning it's destruction.

We are inbound tomorrow, to a different terminal and we are schuled to land at off peak. I'll let you know if we experience delays on our arrival or more correct how much time spent at each step until we are in the car.

Yet more idiots having a moan
 

Speaking of people moaning...


Couple say honeymoon was ruined by 'scary' landing - Manchester Evening News

Yet more idiots having a moan
 

MEN... "a loud shudder"

What is that ??

Pathetic people and pathetic reporting !

Must be a slow news day and by taking it to the media, this couple were obviously on the hunt for an easy payout.

Ah yes, compensation culture is alive and well. They can't be regular flyers if they never experienced a go around before.
Come to think of it, if they don't like going up or down with a loud shudder it couldn't have been much of a honeymoon anyway ;)

Hopefully they'll keep their promise of never flying again and give the airlines and the airport a break....

A380
 

I don't know why the airport were saying the A380 wasn't on the runway. I was on the A380 when it aborted it's approach and we definitely WERE crossing the runway when the Jet2 aborted it's approach, we were about half way across the runway when it aborted it

I would pay to have a go round :ok:

Meanwhile its almost August bank holiday and so of course ......

Airport set for ....blah blah blah

Manchester airport set for 340k passengers in great Bank Holiday getaway - Manchester Evening News

HOT OFF THE PRESS ...
 

MANCHESTER MORNING HOOT **EXCLUSIVE**

Couple from Royston Veasy say dream trip to the Trafford Centre ruined by 'scary' halt at traffic lights set to red!


Special Correspondent CLOEY CLUELESS reports


Two grasping chavs say their dream shopping-trip was ruined by a 'scary' halt at red traffic lights yesterday.

Bessie Barmpot and her partner Ivan Eddake were returning from their dream trip to the Trafford Centre when they say their Cab2 taxi slowed to a halt at red traffic lights just before a busy junction.

Barmpot and Eddake waited for an explanation over the manoeuvre - called 'stopping at traffic lights' - which the driver blamed on a truck crossing the junction.

The City Council has told the 'Morning Hoot' that the truck was crossing the junction and that this is a 'common procedure' when traffic lights are set to green for crossing vehicles.

But the couple, who are regular taxi customers, say it left them terrified and mystified.

Barmpot, a freelance tatooist from Royston Veasy, said: "We were about 200ft from the red traffic lights when the engine idled and the taxi drew to a halt."

There were loud gasps from the rear seat as no information was given until the traffic lights turned green. "We didn't know what was going on - it felt urgent and terrifying!", wailed Barmpot.

Cabbie Henry Muggleton-Spoffin of Cab2 explained: "The taxi had stopped at red traffic lights whilst a truck crossed our path. It would have been unwise to speed through ahead of it on amber." Muggleton-Spoffin confirmed that his smart red-and-silver liveried 'Cab2Salford' taxi was undamaged following the "routine" traffic light stop.

Barmpot added: "I'm not a nervous passenger but this was frightening. I was in floods and floods of tears! I'm so angry and frustrated that we haven't had a proper explanation. When we rang Cab2 they said that stopping at red traffic lights is commonplace. If this is commonplace I'll never take a taxi again! BOOHOO!"

Eddake, 90, a beer taster, added: "All we wanted … HIC! … was a proper explanation like. An apology and acknowlegement of how terrified everyone in the back seat was. I had started to make my peace with God and there was a pair of ashen faces in that rear seat, I can tell you! It has blighted our perception of shopping trips - we came back and went straight to bed and just [content censored - EDITOR]."

The 'Manchester Morning Hoot' understands that the aggrieved couple have now consulted acclaimed personal injury lawyers 'Vultures'R'Us'. "We won't stop till we've made Cab2 pay for this horror," said lawyer Shaun Shameless. "We expect millions in compo for a traumatic incident like this."

Cab2 spokeswoman Philippa Meedaughter commented: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this regrettable incident. We will consider driving straight through red traffic lights in future to avoid distressing nervous passengers."


LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The above article is fictitious and any resemblance to real-life characters is purely coincidental. No animals were injured in the writing of this article. Except for the pig which ended up in that rather tasty bacon sandwich. Oh, and that bl**dy cat ...

Excellent - made my day! :ok::D

Even all the comments on the MEN website are basically saying why is the MEN publishing this load of rubbish and they're just after some cash for their scary experience etc.

Mind you they do say that this month in particular is the silly season for the meedjah as people are away and our local journo Mr Phil Space (credit Private Eye) or in this case Ms Phil(omena) Space - has to live up to her name.

And hence the need for the pre-bank holiday press release, no doubt cut and pasted verbatim, that Bagso was referring to. If anyone can be a*sed to look back you'll probably find it's the same template over the last few years with only the names changed...And every other airport will be doing the same in the next couple of days.

10 points to Shed for a very amusing spoof. Why not send it to the MEN and see if they will publish it - it deserves a wider audience. :eek: Or failing that the Daily Mash!

Having had many go-arounds I have never experienced sheer panic from passengers. Maybe a momentary look of concern but no screaming or other amateur dramatics, including when we once did a TOGA. Even the once a year crowd soon realise what is happening. I'm sure Jet2 have a procedure where the cabin crew will make a PA once it becomes apparent that a go-around has taken place and the pilots will make a PA late.....but only if time/workload permits. Would they rather them fly the plane or make a PA?

That M.E.N article about this busy weekend takes the biscuit as it goes on to include wording from the article a month ago, which makes the time frame ludicrous. Very shoddy reporting and editing!

"But the busiest predicted day is still a month away.

Bosses expect an estimated 87,000 to make their great escapes on August 29 on the busiest day of the year.

Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer for MAG, which owns the hub, said: “We expect that numbers will increase even further as the summer progresses, with increased numbers of business travellers and a busy summer holiday season ahead as schools finish"

Shed - you have made my day! I might have to take legal action against you for the pain that you cause as I spent so much time in hysterics. Keep up the good journalism.

Yes, hats off to logohu for his honeymoon joke and Shed for his spoof. It's great that humour is alive and well on the Manchester thread.

I wonder if anyone from the M.E.N bothers to read the comments in response to the article. They were, quite rightly, very scathing.

Loguhu and Shed: brilliant humour, made my day too!

Hey Shed, what happened to the chubby lad, Roy Broun? He's usually seen hanging around Royston Veasy .........

Appears "Satire" is alive and well....brilliant more please :ok:

As promissed in #3862, her are the times of today's SK4609 from OSL:
- Landed 09:44
- At gate 09:50 (15 minutters early)
- Through UK Border control 09:56 (only one woman left in the EEA line as I had walked through the maze)
- First bag on belt 10:22
- My bag arrived on belt 10:25
- Last bag on belt 10:40

The time to get the rental car isn't of interest since for us it was more important to get a good cup of coffee before taking the bus to the rental car village.

From Chester
Kurt

How common are go-arounds due to crossing traffic at MAN? Quite rare events I should imagine.

Not common but if someone is a bit slow off the mark it can cause a problem, this is usually caused by an aircraft being stationary at holding point which has an incline and causes a problem breaking away from
a stop at hold D3.
A few years ago a light aircraft was flipped over passing behind
a widebody just moving from there because of the large ammount of power required.

Ian

Not common, but not unheard off.

It isn't helped by the fact that almost all heavies use D (since most are from T2), and D has quite a steep incline. It also sits the furthest down the runway which means it gives the least time to cross.

The fact there are only CAT3 holds also increases the distance the aircraft have to travel when crossing and therefore the runway occupancy time.

Overshoot couple
 

First, I would say that the MEN should fire the Editor for allowing such an idiotic story to get through.
Second, the people of Glossop must be saying, why didn't they say they were from Wigan. Sadly, both the couple and the MEN look like idiots.

Why pick on Wigan ??

I noticed the car park under the approach appears to be operational, quite a few cars in the there this week.

Didn't see much progress re Airport City, much happening there?

I think the offices off Aviator Way are incorporated in Airport City so
will be filled first which is happening

Ian

Any further news or rumours about the second EK A380? It seems to have gone very quiet.

FCO has just got a second A380, along with a new 777 service.

American appear to be still tinkering with their Winter schedule - at least according to our booking system :-

The Wednesday JFK service (AA211) is removed from 07Jan for the rest of the winter.

Also the daily PHL service reverts to an A332 (instead of A333) for the month of November. More curious is an apparent reduction to 4 services only for the last week of November (24th-30th). Then it's back to a daily A333 from 01Dec for the rest of the winter.

Perhaps LAXLHR or someone else might be able to verify the above ?

There appears to be changes afoot for Saudia in the Winter schedule.

A new flight number SV199/198 has now appeared in our system operating 4 weekly on Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat. However the existing SV123/124 is still showing on Tue/Thu/Sun as well. I can't imagine they are going to 7 services (including two on Tuesdays/Thursdays !!!), so I expect the system is still being updated.

Meanwhile poor old Egyptair still showing their usual 5 weekly services for the Winter from 26 October, but with all flights closed for sale. Getting a bit late now.

logohu, Re US to PHL, I wonder if that reduction the last week in November relates to the Thanksgiving holiday, which I think is late this year with the 4th Thursday falling on the 27th. The A333 from Dec., if it still happens, surprises me as it's showing a A332 again for next summer. And still no sign of CLT returning last time I checked. With the short season of CLT flights ending shortly, it is not surprising that outbound loads from MAN seem to be falling away quite sharply based on the available seats for various dates on their booking page. For several weeks, loads both ways looked very good, but I suspect it was partly at the expense of PHL, which doesn't appear to have been anything like as buoyant as previous years.

I agree that the AA flight to JFK has disappeared for the Wed. departure ex MAN over the winter, so there will be no AA flights on a Wed. at all while the ORD is suspended.

Tough times on the TATL for MAN, not helped by continuing leakage to LHR and DUB I suspect.

Must confess I "thought"we were powering ahead at the beginning of the year, SAUDIA / FlyNAS were announced as was Cathay. THY 10 a week, Emirates 20% up.....

As we approach Autumn the general upsurge in pax "much trumpeted by the Daily Bugle" appears to this reader at least to be masking some major fault lines which are appearing.

I'm sure I saw a suggestion by a MAG spokesperson that the airport was "well on target" to hit over 25m pax a year by 2015 ....is that still reasonable ?

Likewise did EZY not promise significant expansion by same time with many more based aircraft again we were supposed to have been thee airport showing the largest growth. ...as at June13

If your cup is half empty (like mine) it means you go the extra mile to at least try and put matters right.....There does appear to be some inertia creep!

Some good news away from "sun traps" would be welcome !

Ps the Egyptair debacle is shambolic. ....Once they are gone they won't be back !

I'm sure there was a suggestion/rumour a couple of years ago, or maybe slightly less, that Easyjet could have 20 based a/c at MAN by 2020. Something like that anyway, (and not from the airline I might add) with an additional 1 or 2 based a/c each year. In 2013, it went from 6 based to 8 based, but remained at that this summer. Because there was no increase this year, I think some assumed that growth would resume next year. It may well still happen, but nevertheless a dangerous assumption to make.

Another factor is that EZY are I think expanding at LTN but not at STN, the MAG airport where Ryanair are reinstating frequencies and routes previously withdrawn. It may or may not be coincidence that it is RYR who are expanding at MAN this winter by continuing services started in the summer. Whether this reflects deals in place with the respective airlines, I've no idea, but to my mind it would be preferable to see steady growth by both carriers.

Perhaps another factor is that Ryanair seem more inclined to serve MAN with non-based a/c than are Easyjet. There is a significant proportion of RYR flights that don't originate here. Given the congestion early morning in the summer it would surely be beneficial if Easyjet could do likewise.