Thumbs down Menzies
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Thumbs down Menzies
A massive thumbs down to Menzies at MAN For the complete cockup this morning on the BA flight to LGW. One hour delay due to a bag discrepancy. That must be a record! And to top it off it took 10 mins to work out how to operate the air start cart!!!!! One failed start as a result!
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The delay in question was caused by a computer error within BRITISH AIRWAY's own system. Essentially, the bags in question that were causing a discrepency were transfer bags that the computer did not account for on the flight in question but counted them on the connecting flight thus indicating 'bags-up' to the Dispatcher. This is the second time in a week it has happened at MAN and is being investigated by the computer experts. However, as with most bags up situations, it takes some amount of investigation work before the root cause of the discrepency is found and as 750XL states, can happen to any handling agent. So I'd be careful before making derogetory towards the handling agent before finding out the full facts.
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Thumbs up to Menzies
I'd rather it take 10hrs to sort a bag discrepancy than have a bag go BOOM mid flight. I doubt they held you up for more than they needed to to be absolutely sure that flight was safe... Maybe it's lack of training on your part?.. Pilots love to sound off to ground crew when they themselves have absolutely no knowledge of ground ops and the problems that can arise. Have some patience, I'm sure they've had to stick around after their shifts have finished for late inbounds..... When they do, do you post here praising them?
Last edited by CDP8; 24th Aug 2012 at 14:36.
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Apology for what?
Seems like Menzies followed procedure to establish why they didn't have the correct number of bags due to a Computer Error! It is a government requirement for the appointed person to make sure every bag on the flight is accounted for; no matter how long it takes!
Even, if it takes a full baggage ID by the passengers themselves.
Seems like Menzies followed procedure to establish why they didn't have the correct number of bags due to a Computer Error! It is a government requirement for the appointed person to make sure every bag on the flight is accounted for; no matter how long it takes!
Even, if it takes a full baggage ID by the passengers themselves.
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Wow, nothing like bringing up a 2 year old story. If they went a bag up and your flight went down because of a wrong bag, do you think your family would be happy? Some passengers just do not have a clue as to what goes on, I don't know if your in the job or not, but I assume people do not tell you how to do your job, so I'm guessing the TRM at MAN would like a clueless passenger not to stick their nose in giving them a bad reputation when these things happen!
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Sadly judging by past experience the original posters attitude towards a 'bag up' situation is one I often see from Captains.
Allowing a flight to depart with a 'bag up' can actually lead to prison time for the appointed person.
Allowing a flight to depart with a 'bag up' can actually lead to prison time for the appointed person.
Do I smell a rather large rodent here? Swissport is about to lose the Monarch contract, Menzies is one of those in the frame to get it and a two-year-old totally unrelated thread unfairly critical of Menzies is suddenly resurrected for no discernible reason. 
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All handling agents have their ups and downs. Give swissport 2 years ago and they were probably thee place to be. They are now loosing contracts, the person who started this thread, try travel with an airline currently handles by swissport and see if you can relate to the current arrivals on a night where they are waiting for a couple of hours waiting just for an airbridge. Menzies MAN seem to be on the up at the moment with a few contracts possibly coming their way. Try travel jet2 with tenor handling agent who are currently struggling too. Like I said, they all have ups and downs, the last thing the staff need is people
Like you posting rubbish like that when all they are doing is their job and trying to get you on your holiday!
Like you posting rubbish like that when all they are doing is their job and trying to get you on your holiday!
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I've had some bad experiences in the past months with Menzies, arriving at or departing from LHR's terminal 1. On several occasions, we had to wait for 10-15 minutes inside the aircraft because there was no-one at the gate, either to operate the jet bridge or to marshall the plane to its parking position (automatic parking system being inop). I mean, it's always such a surprise when an airplane they need to service turns up out of nowhere...
And then on one occasion, it took one and a half hours for them to deliver the bags. The reason being given was "staff shortage". That is a massive thumbs down from me for Menzie's services.
Also it is no good service to display the aircraft as "on time" on the departures screen, and then to only display the gate 3 minutes before the scheduled departure time of the aircraft (happened to my flight LX319 on Jul 14). This makes you effectively stand and wait in front of the screens for 45 minutes so you don't miss your plane, when you could also be sitting in a café.
All in all I give them a 1/5.
And then on one occasion, it took one and a half hours for them to deliver the bags. The reason being given was "staff shortage". That is a massive thumbs down from me for Menzie's services.
Also it is no good service to display the aircraft as "on time" on the departures screen, and then to only display the gate 3 minutes before the scheduled departure time of the aircraft (happened to my flight LX319 on Jul 14). This makes you effectively stand and wait in front of the screens for 45 minutes so you don't miss your plane, when you could also be sitting in a café.
All in all I give them a 1/5.
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The issue with "no one at the gate" is false. There is, bar some freak accident, always someone at the gate to meet the flights. LX depart almost always from T2B gates now and have done since June. These gates are brand new, however, the guidance system does, on occasion fail at the last minute. There simply aren't enough marshallers at Menzies to have standing waiting at every gate for one of their aircraft to come in just in case the system fails, that's not realistic. It is unfortunate that you experienced this, but it was simply down to LHR having a broken stand and not strictly MZ. On occasion the person who marhsalls in the plane then has to run up and put the jetty on, so don't automatically assume no one is there to meet the plane, they are just prioritising what needs done. Marhsall, Chocks, Jetty, Doors.
Waiting an hour plus for bags...yup..that's Menzies fault, no argument there, that's just poor planning or lack of staff...only they can fix that and they probably won't any time soon, especially if Swissport is getting all the bad press right now they have no reason to unless it becomes spread over the news like LGW had. Airlines go to handling agents to keep costs down, and handling agents keep staff numbers as low as possible so the airlines get as cheap a price as possible.
Also, Menzies do not control the screens at LHR. At LHR stands are not allocated until the aircraft is "zoning". That is neither LX nor Menzies decision to make where the plane goes, but no doubt you would have blamed the gate staff for "opening the gate too late". It is a silly system which operates at LHR (and other UK Airports) where they say the gate will open at a certain time. If the plane is late then it will open later than that and you get people crowding round and then panicking when it goes 2 minutes beyond the "gate will open at" time. It also causes people to not pay attention and if the plane comes in 10 or 15 minutes early then that person then misses the initial gate announcement because the screen told them to come back later.
I'm not saying Menzies are perfect, they are far from it, but not everything directed at them is their fault.
Waiting an hour plus for bags...yup..that's Menzies fault, no argument there, that's just poor planning or lack of staff...only they can fix that and they probably won't any time soon, especially if Swissport is getting all the bad press right now they have no reason to unless it becomes spread over the news like LGW had. Airlines go to handling agents to keep costs down, and handling agents keep staff numbers as low as possible so the airlines get as cheap a price as possible.
Also, Menzies do not control the screens at LHR. At LHR stands are not allocated until the aircraft is "zoning". That is neither LX nor Menzies decision to make where the plane goes, but no doubt you would have blamed the gate staff for "opening the gate too late". It is a silly system which operates at LHR (and other UK Airports) where they say the gate will open at a certain time. If the plane is late then it will open later than that and you get people crowding round and then panicking when it goes 2 minutes beyond the "gate will open at" time. It also causes people to not pay attention and if the plane comes in 10 or 15 minutes early then that person then misses the initial gate announcement because the screen told them to come back later.
I'm not saying Menzies are perfect, they are far from it, but not everything directed at them is their fault.
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Apparently a "big announcement" is immenent at Menzies BHX 
.
Could they be losing either Flybe (contract up for renewal) or Monarch ? both airlines have received very poor levels of support from Menzies during the summer, possibly due to major expansion too quickly and a severe lack of trained and experienced staff.
it is a regular occurence seeing a BE/ZB aircraft sitting off stand awaiting ramp staff, and BHX 's coffers are filling up nicely from the amount of fines handed out by its airfield ops staff to Menzies for badly parked or abandoned gse.
. Could they be losing either Flybe (contract up for renewal) or Monarch ? both airlines have received very poor levels of support from Menzies during the summer, possibly due to major expansion too quickly and a severe lack of trained and experienced staff.
it is a regular occurence seeing a BE/ZB aircraft sitting off stand awaiting ramp staff, and BHX 's coffers are filling up nicely from the amount of fines handed out by its airfield ops staff to Menzies for badly parked or abandoned gse.
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I believe most stations would like to loose the flybe contract as I hear it is one of thee worst contracts to handle. Aircraft swaps at the last minute, ringing half way through boarding an aircraft to stop boarding as they want the aircraft to go elsewhere. The constant aircraft changes as there Is such a issue with the amount of constant tech aircraft in the fleet. They always want want want and never give the agent anything on return.
Handling agents also struggle as they work to a set arrival and departure time, and when the aircraft comes in half an hour early, they expect you to be there waiting for them which doesn't work, meaning they hold off stand etc... When they run late, they expect you to drop every thing for them but it's a different story when they are waiting for the agents staff for the turn around. The last part is about most airlines not just one.
Don't get me wrong, I hear most handling agents are just as bad as each other as the airlines drive down the prices meaning they can't pay for staff. It's a downward spiral but what doesn't help is the amount off staff who work for them who constantly complain how rubbish it is to work for them and that. All I can say is that if you don't like it, it's a a simple solution, hand your pass in and disappear. If a company pays your wages, you should try your best for them.
Handling agents also struggle as they work to a set arrival and departure time, and when the aircraft comes in half an hour early, they expect you to be there waiting for them which doesn't work, meaning they hold off stand etc... When they run late, they expect you to drop every thing for them but it's a different story when they are waiting for the agents staff for the turn around. The last part is about most airlines not just one.
Don't get me wrong, I hear most handling agents are just as bad as each other as the airlines drive down the prices meaning they can't pay for staff. It's a downward spiral but what doesn't help is the amount off staff who work for them who constantly complain how rubbish it is to work for them and that. All I can say is that if you don't like it, it's a a simple solution, hand your pass in and disappear. If a company pays your wages, you should try your best for them.
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Thumbs down Menzies
We've got Mon for 5 years at BHX and at LTN as well.
The Flybe contract is up for renewal, but I'm not aware that either Servisair/Swissport or Aviator have gone for it...
As has been said above, in peak times we do sometimes get a/c hanging off stand, but that is usually due to flights arriving massively early and so there is no staff available to meet them.
We recruited quite heavily at the beginning of the summer and currently have 3 external trainers at BHX to assist the current trainers with getting all the ramp staff as fully trained as possible and as quickly as they can.
As for fines for leaving GSE parked inappropriately, I am only aware of a couple of instances and it's happened at T1. I do see Servisair staff get spoken to quite often by Ops at T2, as they regularly leave steps in the clearway all day for the RYR a/c - Flybe also use those stands so they get in the way for us.
I agree that Menzies isn't perfect and there is still a way to go to get in top of things, but with the training that's currently going on, hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can get back up to speed.
The Flybe contract is up for renewal, but I'm not aware that either Servisair/Swissport or Aviator have gone for it...
As has been said above, in peak times we do sometimes get a/c hanging off stand, but that is usually due to flights arriving massively early and so there is no staff available to meet them.
We recruited quite heavily at the beginning of the summer and currently have 3 external trainers at BHX to assist the current trainers with getting all the ramp staff as fully trained as possible and as quickly as they can.
As for fines for leaving GSE parked inappropriately, I am only aware of a couple of instances and it's happened at T1. I do see Servisair staff get spoken to quite often by Ops at T2, as they regularly leave steps in the clearway all day for the RYR a/c - Flybe also use those stands so they get in the way for us.
I agree that Menzies isn't perfect and there is still a way to go to get in top of things, but with the training that's currently going on, hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can get back up to speed.
Last edited by Scott C; 13th Aug 2014 at 10:20.
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The reason why Menzies don't have enough staff to Marshall aircraft onto stand is because no GHA do this. That's for Airfield Ops.
Could be last minute gate allocation and the staff are at the opposite end of the terminal.
Could be last minute gate allocation and the staff are at the opposite end of the terminal.
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In BHX it is the responsibility of the GHA to set the guidance system, or marshall a/c if it is unserviceable or not installed. If airfield ops get involved it is a £70 charge to the GHA for doing their job, part of Menzies cashflow problem!!