Time to enjoy CCR?
#17
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Plus if you are using the transits, and/or you are a slow walker and/or you aren't too familiar with T5 - these are things that slow you down. So I guess 45 minutes is a safe compromise, maybe 50 minutes if C. The passageways work well for fixing the time to get to the gates, but most people prefer to take the transits.
Perhaps if I'd asked for assistance I could have got driven through the tunnels I decided though that assistance was better for those who really needed it. After all I managed to get myself to the airport, some would have said I should have cancelled the trip (travel insurance would cover the losses).
If there's a delay posted I often ask at the desk by the champagne bar in the F lounge when they think I should go to the gate. I've never had a delay when travelling F so I've not done the same in the CCR.
#18
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Gate 10 and gate 4, being bus gates, are very, very tightly scripted. I guess you got to the gate with a bus load of people who were keen to get a move on, and so the gate agents would indeed be drumming their fingers at 22 minutes. As soon as the last passenger is through then the bus can go and they can leave, but that bus should still accept passengers at 21 minutes, so that the gate can close at 20 minutes to departure. If they tried to offload someone at 22 minutes that would be time-stamped and could come back to haunt them if there was a challenge on that point.
#19
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: London
Posts: 3,500
Very common. I would hope you would give as good as you get, as it's pretty shocking behaviour by customer-facing staff. I tend to suggest that they get their watch checked as there's still time before the gate close (which is 20 minutes, not 21 if you're wanting to cut it as close as me - highly unadvisable!)