Air Rarotonga

correction:
ZRH, LHR, GVA, CDG, MXP, etc!

Argyris

I was bussed twice, when flying from CDG.

fransknorge

I had a remote stand last week flying from FRA: efficient, with a dedicated bus for C passengers. Honestly may have been quicker to get bussed than a regular gate. I also had a remote stand at FRA: messy, one bus only for an A321, disorganised due to a passport check.

johnirvine

Does anyone know if A3 gets charged different amounts at Athens for using remote stands as opposed to jetways? And do these charges vary during the day and night? I have frequently landed at Athens and been bussed when 75% of the jetways are not being used. Perhaps A3 are deciding to use jetways on an ad hoc basis when, for example, there are many passengers with short connections? Probably cost is also the reason that Ryanair mainly uses remote stands and, if so, A3 will be under pressure to follow suit in order to remain competitive. I have been the victim of bussing on every type of flight and this seems to have little to do with whether I am flying to or from a 'cool/trendy destination'.

KLouis

Which one of the three is it? (quoting from Merriam-Webster)

- one that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agent.
- one that is tricked or duped.
- a living being sacrificed to a deity or in the performance of a religious rite.

johnirvine

The first of these if Aegean is deliberately 'acting' to use remote stands to save a few cents, and in the process 'adversely affecting' passengers. The second is also relevant to infrequent A3 fliers as they will not expect Ryanair-type treatment from a supposedly full-service airline.

johnirvine

Passengers of Aegean were definitely the 'victims' of bussing today at Munich. Both A3 planes there at 10.20 am were on remote stands next to budget Eurowings planes, apparently for financial reasons as many jetways were free. As a result, I nearly missed my onward connection despite the flight arriving on time and having 75 minutes between flights.

KLouis

Did you have to go through passport control? If yes, this would explain it, as the flights would be "Schengen" incoming and "non-Schengen" departing. Bussing pax would make it easier for purposes of logistics.

Incoming passengers from Greece have to undergo non-Schengen checks in German airports since about a month. An exception to the existing rules was granted for six months. The German authorities claim that this is the only way they can get illegal immigrants using fake IDs. At any rate, almost missing a connection is not a problem as the connection was... not missed.

frenchft

When you see the very poor passeport control at ATH when arriving from non-schengen... (they don't even check the passeport with the computer,visual control only) this is understandable.

In CDG for flights from Athens, they do since few months a passeport control at the plane door when exiting.

Regarding bus, i took the end of afternoon flight to CDG tens of time and never had a bus, but when arriving it's very commun to get. PS : at ATH i prefer bus when i have a non schengen transfer.

DELLAS

To be honest this is not new. I have seen these checks on and off for the last 7-8 years. FRA ZRH CDG LHR to name a few airports where authorities have met the flights from ATH/SKG. Eventually we will see full passport controls and scanning of all passports in and out of Greek Airports. Just like we see in Non Schengen EU countries.

Knobbgb

You seem pretty certain that this is purely a money saving strategy. Do you have links to the actual charging schedules of ATH airport, and info on how much A3 pay Swissport for bus use, so we can see the actual price difference between jet bridge and remote stand use? If not, these comments are just unsubstantiated opinions with no credibility imo. Operation reasons - (i.e busing is almost as quick and gives a lot more flexibility) seem much more likely, especially as A3 don't habitually use remote stands ANYWHERE else where jet bridges are available - even in places such as the UK where there is a clear and published pricing strategy at most airports designed to profit from jet bridge use.

With a significant sized fleet of identical aircraft arriving and departing from both intra and extra Schengen destinations, often with fairly short turnarounds, it gives great flexibility in being able to chop-and-change aircraft usage at short notice without having to inconvenience passengers by changing departure gates or having to tow and re-position aircraft.

ATH really doesn't have many jet bridge gates for it's size (7 for Schengen and 7 for extra-Schengen I believe). Do you really think 'randomly' parking aircraft at a jet bridge on a first-come-first-serve basis would be logistically practical? ALL the other euro carriers (except BA) seem to get parked remotely sometimes - LH, AF, SK, LX etc. - and there are sometimes jet bridges available when they arrive too!

A3 are very careful to make sure that connecting pax. are well informed and tracked (pre-arrival on-board announcements and dedicated staff at the foot of the aircraft steps, for example) and if you nearly missed a 75 minute connection, I don't see that it was the bus connection that caused it. I regularly make a 45 minute connection from domestic to domestic (always bus both ways so far) and I usually have time to visit the lounge in between!

I do agree with you that there are "special" cheaper parking spots at ATH. Specifically I arrived a couple of times from SOF on Bulgaria Air and each time they were parked on the furthest remote stand possible - actually BEHIND the cargo ramp (I didn't know it even existed until we arrived there)! This really was a long bus ride and I'd agree - it probably is done for financial reasons - it seems too much of a coincidence.

LTN Phobia

Remote stand? Pah! That's luxury.
The latest fashion is the baggage carousel departure at HER.

Well, not quite right to the aeroplane, sadly (it would be good fun if I could ride the baggage carousel to the aeroplane actually...), but the baggage carousel area lined up with lots of chairs is currently Gate 1 & 2, which seem to handle all Schengen departures including domestic.

If anyone's after a coffee, the kiosk outside by the drop-off area is much cheaper at around €1.60, whereas you pay around €5.00 in the luxury carousel departure hall.

Of course, that is followed by the remote stand departure.

I assume this is a temporary arrangement while construction takes place over the winter? (The gate arrangement not coffee pricing).

P.S. It sounds awful but I was much amused by this funny arrangement.

Knobbgb

Yup - my local airport used to have... a cardboard BOX for a terminal! (Sorry, those who don't get the humour need to look up the old Monty Python sketch)

Seriously, I think we take for granted what an efficient, functional airport we have at ATH - not just compared to some of the infrastructure in the rest of the country, or to the old airport, but even in comparison to many other European hubs. It's not perfect, but I'd take it over, for example, ANY UK airport, any day. Places like HER and CHQ need to improve, but they are doing (hence all the building work that's been mentioned).

Dover2Golf

At MUC every gate has the option of a Schengen or non-Schengen arrival/departure as they all open on to both levels of the terminal and one or the other option will be closed off accordingly. If A3 are not using remote stands it has nothing to do with immigration checks on arriving passengers from Greece.

johnirvine

Your 'scientific' hypothesis does not explain this situation. The A3 flight was arriving from ATH (Schengen) and returning there and I was connecting to TXL (Schengen). However, there was indeed a stiff police check of our passports at MUC. But forcing a 67 year-old passenger (me) to sprint to catch a plane is perhaps a slight problem in my book! A much younger overweight Greek gentleman with me looked like he was about to have a seizure!!