TP run to LGW..Honestly..you couldn't make this up!
Feb 14, 2019, 3:55 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Scotland
Programs: Starbucks Gold
Posts: 581
TP run to LGW..Honestly..you couldn't make this up!
Worked out I was going to be short in Retaining Silver this year so decided to do a little TP run (6.10am EDI-LGW Rtn)
Perfectly good BA flight...CE was only half full. Crew were great. We landed slightly late due to fog, and when we pulled onto a remote stand (why no airbridge??) a set of stairs was pushed upto the aircraft. This is were the fun began..lol. The Door opened but we were told we couldn't get off due to the fact that the stairs we covered in ice and the Captain was concerned that someone would slip..so he called ops? and asked if someone could come and de-ice the stairs. I then over heard someone behind me talking to another chap, saying that in the last month this has happened several times...BA have apparently compained to LGW about this, but seems the complaints are falling on deaf ears. Lots of people stressing..missed flights etc. We sat on the plane for nearly 45 mins...waiting...eventually someone came and salted the stairs. You wonder how much money, and time could be saved by putting a couple of 5kg bags of salt by or on the stairs. Just as they had finished..the buses, which had been sitting for probably 50 mins...drove off. So the stairs are now usable..but no means to get to the terminal..lol..really?? The crew then had to contact ops again to ask them to send the buses back. This is nothing to do with BA, but makes the Ground ops folk at LGW look totally unprepared. Its the winter..it gets cold..Duh! Luckily won't be going back to LGW anytme soon. Is this sort of stuff common...never experienced this before. Felt sorry for the Captain..did a great job..but you could hear he was annoyed.
Perfectly good BA flight...CE was only half full. Crew were great. We landed slightly late due to fog, and when we pulled onto a remote stand (why no airbridge??) a set of stairs was pushed upto the aircraft. This is were the fun began..lol. The Door opened but we were told we couldn't get off due to the fact that the stairs we covered in ice and the Captain was concerned that someone would slip..so he called ops? and asked if someone could come and de-ice the stairs. I then over heard someone behind me talking to another chap, saying that in the last month this has happened several times...BA have apparently compained to LGW about this, but seems the complaints are falling on deaf ears. Lots of people stressing..missed flights etc. We sat on the plane for nearly 45 mins...waiting...eventually someone came and salted the stairs. You wonder how much money, and time could be saved by putting a couple of 5kg bags of salt by or on the stairs. Just as they had finished..the buses, which had been sitting for probably 50 mins...drove off. So the stairs are now usable..but no means to get to the terminal..lol..really?? The crew then had to contact ops again to ask them to send the buses back. This is nothing to do with BA, but makes the Ground ops folk at LGW look totally unprepared. Its the winter..it gets cold..Duh! Luckily won't be going back to LGW anytme soon. Is this sort of stuff common...never experienced this before. Felt sorry for the Captain..did a great job..but you could hear he was annoyed.
Feb 14, 2019, 4:25 pm
#3
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Bristol
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 85
Worked out I was going to be short in Retaining Silver this year so decided to do a little TP run (6.10am EDI-LGW Rtn)
Perfectly good BA flight...CE was only half full. Crew were great. We landed slightly late due to fog, and when we pulled onto a remote stand (why no airbridge??) a set of stairs was pushed upto the aircraft. This is were the fun began..lol. The Door opened but we were told we couldn't get off due to the fact that the stairs we covered in ice and the Captain was concerned that someone would slip..so he called ops? and asked if someone could come and de-ice the stairs. I then over heard someone behind me talking to another chap, saying that in the last month this has happened several times...BA have apparently compained to LGW about this, but seems the complaints are falling on deaf ears. Lots of people stressing..missed flights etc. We sat on the plane for nearly 45 mins...waiting...eventually someone came and salted the stairs. You wonder how much money, and time could be saved by putting a couple of 5kg bags of salt by or on the stairs. Just as they had finished..the buses, which had been sitting for probably 50 mins...drove off. So the stairs are now usable..but no means to get to the terminal..lol..really?? The crew then had to contact ops again to ask them to send the buses back. This is nothing to do with BA, but makes the Ground ops folk at LGW look totally unprepared. Its the winter..it gets cold..Duh! Luckily won't be going back to LGW anytme soon. Is this sort of stuff common...never experienced this before. Felt sorry for the Captain..did a great job..but you could hear he was annoyed.
Perfectly good BA flight...CE was only half full. Crew were great. We landed slightly late due to fog, and when we pulled onto a remote stand (why no airbridge??) a set of stairs was pushed upto the aircraft. This is were the fun began..lol. The Door opened but we were told we couldn't get off due to the fact that the stairs we covered in ice and the Captain was concerned that someone would slip..so he called ops? and asked if someone could come and de-ice the stairs. I then over heard someone behind me talking to another chap, saying that in the last month this has happened several times...BA have apparently compained to LGW about this, but seems the complaints are falling on deaf ears. Lots of people stressing..missed flights etc. We sat on the plane for nearly 45 mins...waiting...eventually someone came and salted the stairs. You wonder how much money, and time could be saved by putting a couple of 5kg bags of salt by or on the stairs. Just as they had finished..the buses, which had been sitting for probably 50 mins...drove off. So the stairs are now usable..but no means to get to the terminal..lol..really?? The crew then had to contact ops again to ask them to send the buses back. This is nothing to do with BA, but makes the Ground ops folk at LGW look totally unprepared. Its the winter..it gets cold..Duh! Luckily won't be going back to LGW anytme soon. Is this sort of stuff common...never experienced this before. Felt sorry for the Captain..did a great job..but you could hear he was annoyed.
LGW - Horrendous airport.
At least you got your points though!
Feb 14, 2019, 4:52 pm
#4
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Currently domestic arrivals cannot use airbridges since the corridors are not segregated from international arrivals. That is due to change around July this year when a new corridor system - currently under construction - will be unveiled and most (all?) domestic arrivals can be airbridged.
I'm fairly frequently on EDI-LGW and I've not had an issue with ice on the steps so far, so no, it's not common.
I'm fairly frequently on EDI-LGW and I've not had an issue with ice on the steps so far, so no, it's not common.
Feb 14, 2019, 5:51 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: BA GGL, A3*G, Mucci de l'expertise des Apps
Posts: 3,366
Currently domestic arrivals cannot use airbridges since the corridors are not segregated from international arrivals. That is due to change around July this year when a new corridor system - currently under construction - will be unveiled and most (all?) domestic arrivals can be airbridged.
Feb 14, 2019, 11:01 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland
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Posts: 6,531
You‘d be surprised. Usually first snow causes mayhem (talking about Mittelland here, not the higher areas in the mountains), trains get delayed etc. It is not how it used to be. A joke really.
Feb 15, 2019, 1:20 am
#9
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
Unfortunately this is a British thing - a few days of sub zero temperatures are guaranteed to catch the airports and airlines with their pants down. Last year we had the de-icing fiasco at Heathrow, this year it will be somewhere else.
The difficulty here is once the initial error is made there is no obvious win. If you hold passengers back you risk delay and missed connections. If you let passengers go and someone is injured then they also complain.
There are risks in every scenario.
Fell down plane stairs at Edinburgh
The difficulty here is once the initial error is made there is no obvious win. If you hold passengers back you risk delay and missed connections. If you let passengers go and someone is injured then they also complain.
There are risks in every scenario.
Fell down plane stairs at Edinburgh
Feb 15, 2019, 1:29 am
#10
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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A domestic arrival can use an airbridge when it is on a stand that has stair accces to the apron because passengers can then disembark via the airbridge, walk down the steps to the apron and then be bussed to domestic arrivals. This includes all stands on Pier 1, I think all of them on Pier 2 and I’ve no idea about Pier 3. So a domestic arrival does not mean that you must use external steps.
Feb 15, 2019, 2:22 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,985
This is pretty pathetic and I would be fuming, although in fairness I have to say I have been very impressed with LGW South the last two or three times I have passed through there (probably jinxed it now).
Feb 15, 2019, 3:04 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
And there will always be someone worse off than you; it's a good thing that (poor though the initial situation was) safety was still being taken seriously.
Feb 15, 2019, 3:17 am
#13
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
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Posts: 4,163
This truly sounds like a horrendous experience but I must say that I generally quite like LGW. Arrivals is often less "cluttered" than LHR, depending on arrival time of course. E-Passports has a generous number of E-gates, most of which are usually functional. Baggage seems to arrive quicker than LHR and fast-track security is a breeze. The connections channel has also been completely empty the couple of times I have used it. Having said that, I'll probably regret saying it next time I'm there but LGW for me has usually been a pleasant experience.
Feb 15, 2019, 3:38 am
#14
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Lausanne Switzerland
Programs: BA Gold; Swiss Blue
Posts: 1,244
And if you think the Mittelland is bad try the "Arc Lemanique" (Lake Geneva area) Lausanne with its hills is hell if we get snow in the afternoon.