Heathrow angst
 

Flew into LHR from Sydney yesterday (28th) on QF1. What a total shambles faced us and what a poor impression anyone would get of LHR and the Uk in general.

Congestion at 6.30 am had us parked in some remote location not at a a proper gate.

It took 15 minutes for steps to be made available and another 20 for buses to tun up to take us to arrivals. So 35 minutes after landing before anyone was able to get off.

The BA w***er redcap was like a rabbit in the headlights saying that there were no buses available. The derision poured on his head was superb especially as we were parked adjacent to the BA bus park where there were loads of buses.


What gets me is that its not as though a plane of 300+ people turns up by surprise. we had been on route from Bangkok for nearly 12 hours and landed within one minute of the ETA at take off.

So no steps, no buses what a shambles. The only ones waiting for us were the cleaners. Funny that they knew we were coming and where we were going to be parked.


Thw misery was compounded by the shambles at immigration. Too few immigration officers to deal with alll the passengers.
Why cannot all the immigration desks be in use when it is busy to ensure that there is some service. After all most of the passengers arriving in Term 4 at 6am have been flying for 8+ hours and just want out.

There would be no need for signs saying that the Home Office treats assaults on staff seriously. Better service would all round would keep passengers calm.

LHR is a disgrace, and the airports in the third world counties visited on this trip just add to the shame one faces when arriving at LHR. Everyone, airline staff, public servants behave as if its all too much trouble.

My next big long haul will have me going through a European hub and a UK regional, bye bye LHR.

Have you ever thought that it might have been a last minute stand change and therefor steps and other equiptment may have been waiting on another stand and it took time to move them over?
Just cos you were parked next to the bus park doesnt mean there was any drivers for the busses, they dont drive themselves!!

Life's too short to whinge, so just get over it.

F.T.L.

The cleaning crew made it OK and it is a big deal. Accepting crap too easily means that crap gets offered more and more.

The point is that LHR is getting to be third rate and that in the end is not good for anyone.

They'll be the ones oop north then......;)

Crisbl True. I am not sure if your problems were a BA or a BAA problem.

As far as I can tell about BAA, the only folks with any leverage over them are: 1) Their Shareholders 2) Their customers.

Their shareholders are only interested in profits and their big customers do not want to irriate this monopolist company.

Am I right in thinking that there is no mechanism for BBA to lose LHR, other than by take-over/buy-out??

No, the Competition Commission http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/ a government quango can investigate and ultimately require a business to be broken up into parts. It has the parliamentary powers to do this.

You can depend on it that MPs and similar, who might be minded to go this way, are treated with kid gloves at Heathrow.

It was probably both a BAA and BA problem with BA handling Qantas.
Anyway, they both stink

Oh it's not just Heathrow. Last year I arrived in AMS off an oceanic to find just two immigration desks handling three full widebody arrivals. And, as often quite usual in AMS, my checked bags didn't make the (90 minute) connection. And this airport regularly gets voted Best Airport ? Three major airports I try to avoid in Europe: AMS, LHR and CDG.

I'm lucky enough to live midway between LHR and BHX. LHR is an utter disgrace and wild horses, offers of Cameron Diaz and baby oil (OK, well perhaps that...) wouldn't get me back there again. Whereas in contrast Birrmigoom is hugely better from a SLF's point of view - and my journey to get there isn't on a $odding M-anything - it's a blast through the uncongested heart of England!

And even the security folk are pleasant at BHX!

Chrisbl

Lesson one: a stand is where an aeroplane parks or is moored, a gate is where you enter or leave the terminal, so you were sent to a remote stand and then coached to a gate. So it was a proper stand and you entered LHR by a proper gate - gettit? So if you are going to abuse ground staff, please at least get the terminology right.

Knowing a little about LHR and stand planning, the basic problem is that there are too few stands for the movements at peak times.

Add in some time bound restrictions about certain T4 stands and the early morning arrival times can be awful.

The redcap is left to sort it all out and it is often well beyond their control. They are not w*nkers, they are professional people trying to do a difficult job under difficult circumstances when confronted by disrespectful :mad: like you, whose attitude is reprehensible.

You may have travelled 8+ hours, but your ticket price does not include the right to abuse the redcaps or any staff.

BA are well aware of the problem and do their best - they plan and manage stands/gates in T1 and T4 - but the fact is that LHR is creaking at the seams.

Will it be better with T5? Well 3 years ago the thinking was that there would still be remote stands.

The obvious solution is to close LHR and develop STN properly, sending the locos to Manston or Alconbury, but I doubt that the political will exists to do that, so you better get used to the service - at least the cost per Km that you pay these days is a fraction of the price paid 30 years ago.

By all means try the Euro hub/regional connection routing, but don't whinge when you miss your connection or get bumped because a premium pax took your seat.

I flew BA from LHR/ATH/LHR this week, two more consistent quality professional flights - well done to all.

Sounds like little has changed at LHR since I was based there in the 1970s!!

How an earth are they going to cope when two A380s arrive at the same time!

Don't worry , they'll have a plan..... which will be 10 years away from completion!!!

Have to agree with chrisbl and those supporting his gripes. I avoid LHR if at all possible.

F3G

Getting a little bit pedantic aren't we?

Whilst not condoning abuse of any staff, I can understand that frustration WILL cause passengers to be less than perfectly polite and those employees 'at the sharp end' must expect to face a certain amount of intolerance at avoidable delays.

The possible changes to stands/gates/whatever does not explain the delays in immigration either.

Why should it not be acceptable to complain, provided it is not done in an abusive way? Under the circumstances I would have thought an amount of sarcasm might be expected.

I think the disappointing thing here (I'm speaking as a LHR regular who actually doesn't find the place too bad at all) is that the several posters above who appear to be LHR staff show no interest at all in what is a very serious issue where whole planeloads of their customers get left on board in a disorganised manner. Would you do that if someone came to visit you in your house, tell them to stay sitting in their car outside for more than half an hour as you weren't ready yet ?

And perhaps that's the whole problem. There is no concern from the staff. And that's why nothing gets done. There are plenty of airports with proportionately less facilities and less money available than Heathrow who manage things better.

Possibly an answer is to have multiple handling agents so contracts can be awarded by the airlines. And no automatic transfer of staff between them when contracts change, so you know if you lose your customers' business you are out on your ear. Just like the rest of us in the real world.

F3G:

If we are being pedantic I would have thought a standing-only vehicle with very few seats was definitely a Bus and never a Coach ! Or has BAA Marketing Dept struck again and rebranded them all ?

Chrisbl

I have re-read notice that you say that there was no one to meet you at 06h30, but QF001 is scheduled to arrive at 06h45.

Let's assume that you landed at 06h20 and then taxiing to stand took 10 minutes - your flight arrived 25 minutes early at LHR.

Tt is not surprising that there may have been a stand change as a result, since not all T4 stands can be used first thing in the morning and this is a maxed out time of day for arrivals, with all the US traffic arriving too.

There also may have been a medical emergency on another flight, resulting in a last minute stand change and such an event always gets priority.

In some ways, I am surprised that you were not held on a taxi way, an experience I have had in the past year at AMS, CDG and FRA.

WHBM

"...would have thought a standing-only vehicle with very few seats was definitely a Bus and never a Coach !"

It's known as coaching in BA.

"And perhaps that's the whole problem. There is no concern from the staff. And that's why nothing gets done. "

You are quite wrong in this context, since the problem is insoluble by the staff.

I have studied the whole stand/gate problem at T1/4, in fact I managed a project on it a few years ago and it is basically insoluble until T5 comes on line, which mercifully is getting nearer every week. But even T5 will require remote coaching. Presently, there is simply not enough infrastructure to cope at peak times. If you compare LHR with LAX for example, the latter has a lot more physical space, for less movements at peak hours.

LHR is a throwback to the days of DC7s, Stratocruisers and travel as a privilege for the rich and was scaled as such. Presently, the facilities cannot cope at peak times, despite the addition of various extra infrastructure over the years. The LHR space is pretty compact for a major international airport.

Smeagol

"Why should it not be acceptable to complain, provided it is not done in an abusive way?"

We have a different definition of abuse obviously, since I find "The BA w***er redcap" to be highly abusive.

As Tightslot has pointed out, the redcap is not responsible for allocating stands or coaching, there is little point complaining to them.

By all means write a strong letter of complaint to BA.

PS: For the avoidance of doubt, I do not work in the airline indsutry, nor do I work at LHR.

LHR does have its problems, this is evident by their ever ongoing quest to expand.

I agree that the thread poster's experience was the pits, this wasn't a last minute change due to unforseen circumstances, it happens all the time.

I don't agree with the abuse meeted on the "redcap", this poor sod was fronting an incompetent management, leave him alone...

LHR is unavoidable for many Pax, due to its connections.

You realise all this would end if the curfew ended. Too many flights having to hold/orbit for the airport to open.

It happens in Sydney, Brisbane, you name it.

F3G

"We have a different definition of abuse obviously, since I find "The BA w***er redcap" to be highly abusive. "

I agree that if those words were used directly to the individual concerned they would be most abusive, but I do not think that chrisbl stated that he actually did so at the time, merely on his post here.

"By all means write a strong letter of complaint to BA."

I quite agree, but such letters have a habit of going unanswered or at best are full of excuses and 'weasel words'.

Finally, I repeat what I said earlier, I do not condone verbal abuse. (It can lead to 'a smack in the mouth' in return, which not only offends, it hurts!)

A trend that I see getting worse as the trade off between cost and service favours cost.