The Great Escape

Looks like I got out of blighty before the great fog brought everything
to a halt. Still took 6 hours to get to Folkestone instead of under 4.
Just got the shuttle crossing last night I was actually booked on.

450 miles of traffic free autoroute today and brilliant sunshine once
south of Rouen.

 

Congarats. You've missed the rush tomorrow.

 

And I am nervously waiting to see whether the weather improves at all by
Saturday when I fly out. Tonight's flight under the same number looks
like being 105 minutes late departing. I really do not wish to be stuck
out on the bloody pavement in the freezing cold at Heathrow.

While I appreciate there's not much they can do the images of Heathrow
resembling a traveller's disaster zone must be doing real harm to the
reputation of the place. This is now the 3rd or 4th such event and no
lessons seem to be learnt as the public's complaints are the same each
time.

 

It's funny that this should happen now. Last week I was delayed by
three hours, flying back from Bulgaria. I was home by 8pm-ish.

Of my other colleagues [1]:

1. The guy from the UK ended up going from Sofia Airport to Plovdiv (a
three hour drive) then catching his flight back (as his BA flight was
diverted there). He'd left the same time as me and got back around
9:15pm (UK time).

2. The Dutch guy was meant to fly back through Munich then catch a
flight from there to Amsterdam. He checked in (about 30 minutes before
I was _due_ to check in) and after he went through his flight to Munich
was cancelled. The next flight to Munich which had space was on the
Monday. So he rebooked his flights through Prague, then to Amsterdam.
However, he ended up going through Plovdiv (as his Czech Airlines
flight was diverted there too) and caught the flight to Prague. But he
ended up staying overnight (after missing his connection, of course)
and catching the first flight back to Amsterdam getting back sometime
around 11am.

3. The German guy was supposed to catch a late flight back to Germany
somewhere, but his flight got cancelled and he ended up on a 12 hour
journey to ISTANBUL to catch a flight back to Germany. He got back home
on Sunday evening at 17h15.

4. His Turkish colleague accompanied him on the bus home to Istanbul.
Ironically, I'd been joking with her, that she should have driven from
Turkey to Bulgaria as it was only (around) 10 hours driving.

5. When I arrived in Paris, I was overtaken by my Polish colleague as
he shouted out "Where's terminal 2D". He missed his flight back to
Warsaw and ended up catching a flight to Vienna, stayed overnight and
then back to Warsaw the following day.

6. My Romanian colleague was delayed, but I can't remember how long for
or how he got back, but I don't think it was too bad.

I swear the above is true and I didn't make this up [2]. It was a
complete farce and a complete nightmare. All the French in Sofia we're
whinging like buggery about the lack of information. Indeed, AF lined
us up at the check-in desks for well over an hour, before the 'plane
(which apparently was circling over Sofia for a good while) could land.

Have a good flight, Mr C.

Oh, and this was due to fog too...

[1] Yes I do work with an international team and we were in Bulgaria on
a product roadshow.
[2] One of the cloggie contingent who works for a stripey company can
easily verify this by checking with his German colleague (Ralf D).

 

I don't see how you can blame Heathrow, really.

Fog happens. Not that often, but it happens. And thousands of lemmings
will *still* traipse out to the airport, despite being told their
flights have been cancelled, in the fond hope that magically it'll right
itself.

Airport terminals are built to shift people in, through and out as
quickly as possible. They aren't hotels. Stop the flights, and it's like
putting a barricade up at the end of an escalator - people start piling
up very quickly.

These problems hit just about every airport from time to time - think of
all the newsreels of French airports when the Frog air traffic
controllers go on strike.

 

[snip tales of woe]

What I find moderately amazing in all the above stories is that none of
you seem to realise there are long distance overnight trains that run
all over Europe! I'd get Air France to stick me on a couchette or
sleeper train rather than fly / drive / coach half way round Europe.

Well I won't be hanging around for hours on end. If it's a disaster
then I'm coming home from the airport after having cancelled the trip.

Here's hoping.

You aren't helping ;-)

 

Mm. Whilst the whole weather thing is beyond control, and can't be helped,
there are ways and ways of calming and soothing situations. Not sure these
were done this time.

Ali

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Alison Hopkins belched forth and ejected the
following:

They should set up essential oils tents with female masseuses.

 

You know, this is a good time to raise a point.

After Gordon Brown's reverse engineered airport tax, I looked, the other
day, for ways and means of travelling by rail London --> Lourdes (or
Ashford --> Lourdes), having vaguely considered it for next year's
skiing.

First off: if there's a website that gives you a clear, easy idea of
price and times, let me have it, because the Eurostar one was so bloody
complex I gave up in the end. Whereas most online airline booking sites
are models of simplicity.

Secondly, **** me, the price. I was being quoted something like 600
euros, per person, each way, as opposed to a total of £501 for all four
of us, return, scheduled BA to Toulouse, return leg business class.

It occurred to me that this outrageous rail pricing might have something
to do with the fact that there are lots of airlines competing for your
business, but only one choo-choo company.

I also know that the French TGV is way cheaper if you live or at least
pay in Froggie.

So, if you'd be kind enough to point me at a website where I can
investigate times and prices easily, and which would allow me an easy
online booking, and which would charge me... let's see, I'd be happy
with £150 return per person, plus sleeper overnight options, I'd be
happy to have your babies.

Before you go on your hols, please.

 

On Dec 21, 11:01 pm, "Cab" <>
wrote:

omg. I didn't realise you were Sales/Marketing/Liars.

 

Heh, I'm not a true blooded salesman and still retain my techy side. I
was the only non-marketing-style person presenting.

 

Quite. Matey from BAA was on R5 this morning. It's the ATC people who
dictate the safety margins and as Heathrow operates at 98.5% capacity,
using only its two runways, on a normal day there's little room for
manouver when it all goes foggy.

Another runway would help enormously (as will T5) but as he pointed
out, it's the getting the planning permission that takes forever.

 

And it's the ground movements that are the main problem. I did want to smack
one BBC weasel: he asked the NATS fellow why "they had cancelled flights".
Said NATS man stayed very polite. Sonmehow.

I'm looking forward to T5. Since they shoved most long haul back in to T1
it's been horrid.

Ali

 

Genuine LOL. If that's the last ukrm pun of the year, it's a good one
to end 2006 on.

 

That's part of it, but my understanding was that they need a six mile
gap between planes in these conditions, rather than the normal three.
I guess it's related to ground movements too, as fewer planes are
landing in a given timeframe.

Most of the BAA & NATS people I've heard interviewd have been
remarkably calm and collected in the face of some particularly twatty
questions.

[paraphrased, obviously]
Q: "This doesn't happen at JFK or Frankfurt does it?"
A: "No, they have more runways and as they operate at a lesser %age of
capacity than Heathrow, they can easily use that spare capacity to take
up the backlogs. Fog is not a UK-only phenomenon and safety is the
main factor".

 

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 22:18:08 +0000,

"Flight delays due to Froggy conditions"

 

Indeed. I was once stuck in Warsaw on a business trip with a sales
manager when fog descended and our flight to Prague, where I was due
to give a lecture in Prague next morning, was cancelled. I suggested
an overnight express. Sales manager was amazed I would stoop so low,
but readily acquiesced. I had visions of a stately old Eastern
European train with Bohemian crystal in the dining car, however, it
turned out to be a nasty modern thing with no dining car, a
non-working vending machine and a vodka party in the next compartment.
Oh, and passport checks three times during the night. Still, it got us
there and I later got an 'over and above' award for 'sleeping with a
salesman'. So, yes, the trains do run, but expect no luxury - and take
food.

--
Marina Mayes - Reading, UK. To email me remove XX from my address
SR250 - gone. BOTAFOT12, BOD#2, BOTAFOS#2
KotLBOD#s, KotLBOTAFOS#s,IMC#2, Tart#10-19, SR#3
I never give in to fear or blackmail; I always give in to temptation.
"You're a national treasure" - porl, 18.1.03

 

<puts more coal on pun generator, ignoring pleas from Cratchit[1]>

[1] And most of ukrm, no doubt

 

Considering that Heathrow is (one of ?) the busiest airports in the
world, I'm not surprised that they're being cautious. I'm surprised
that there has never been a major incident in the airport.

 

Yup, it's to ensure clearance. If the ground were free, as it were, you'd
not need to maintain the double gap in the air timings. Go-rounds are not to
be encouraged and waiting in the stacks is really not a good thing.

<rolls eyes> They also interviewed a very sensible Canadian passenger who
observed that their airports frequently get shut due to snow. If we had more
runways, the problem might be diminished; Amsterdam has five for far fewer
movements.

I do think that BAA and BA's communication with *passengers* has been a bit
pants, though. Get the managers on the floor, as they say.

Ali