Frankfurt de-ice 29 Nov

[Uncle Fred]

Interesting afternoon and evening it was...Even though waits for the de-icing truck were, in some cases over 4 hours or more and quite frustrating, I had to pity the poor chap manning the de-ice frequency. I can just imagine what the response was when, walking through the door at home, his wife asked him "well, how was work today?" :ugh:

After over 400 cancelations (and LH with their fair share) I would like to have listened in on the conference call between Fraport and LH this morning... Must have been a pleasant chat.....

[band1tu]

very funny Eurocontrol on twi.tter yesterday:
LATEST: Frankfurt Airport #flightdelay up to 160min due to lack of parking space

[Airbus_a321]

....and all because of only LOW COST, LOW COST, LOW COST :mad:

I cannot remember such a mess at FRA , well FRA INTERNATIONAL, "THE EXPERTS" , for just one single snow flake, happened 20 years ago, or so....:yuk:

[Barnaby the Bear]

We were the lucky ones to get out on Monday to LHR on LH. Lots of flights cancelled around us. Even then due to crew hours and apparently flow restriction to 15 per hour, de icing delays, we were nearly cancelled. In the end we taxied to what I assume was the holding bay, de-iced by a fleet of de-icing rigs and on our way about 3 hrs late.
The crew on board were first class and kept us informed. Lack of info inside the terminal but I have no complaints. Sadly I had friends that were severely mucked about and lied to by a LoCo airline the day before, and others that only arrived back this morning. :D

In a strange way it was refreshing to see an Airport that 'should' be used to these conditions, with far more resources having the same sorts of problems we experience in the UK with far less experience and resources. :}

[Uncle Fred]

From what I have read the total cancellations were in excess of 400 which I would venture to say is considered, in the bland language of spokesmen and women, a major disruptive weather event. Whether (no pun intended) any of that was a self-inflicted wound but not having enough de-icing equipment will probably be revealed in the "discussions" between Fraport and LH.

[Lon More]

De-icing has never been a part of ATC. Even MOL knows this.

[short&shapeless]

Well having been there I have to say it was a complete shambles in the terminal - not a single announcement (that I heard) or on-screen notice (that I saw) during the 14 hours I was in the terminal over 2 days.

Mind you we did think it might be serious when a group of guys laid out what seemed like 500 camping beds in T1.

When we left to go to our hotel (arranged by LH) at 2300 there must have been 2000-3000 people still there at the desks. Looking at the boards from 1600 I don't think I saw more than a handful of short-haul flights leave.

Having lived in Germany for over 4 years I was very surprised at the problems the comparatively light weather caused but even more concerned at the lack of communication. Made the UK look positively professional in dealing with weather :)

[Capetonian]

As always the problem with the Germanic mentality is that things rarely go wrong. When they do it is so unusual that they don't know how to cope. In Greece, for example, one would barely notice the difference.