Departure Gate Information For Next Flight Whilst In The Air. New Part Of Service?
Jul 21, 2019, 1:34 pm
#1
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Departure Gate Information For Next Flight Whilst In The Air. New Part Of Service?
Evening all.
Just flown to LHR from GLA. During the flight, the Purser was doing a walk along, speaking to quite a few people. I thought it was maybe him speaking to the Goldies on board as there seemed to be an awful lot of people in the group 1 boarding lane. I was waiting to go to the toilet when I saw him start and he hadn’t made it halfway along when I came out to return to my seat at row 5.
The purser stopped me mid-stride and asked if I was the gentleman from 5D to which I replied in the affirmative. He then told me that he had some gate information for my onward flight (DME). He asked where I was going, I told him and he informed me that my next flight was due to board at A13 but to confirm when in the terminal.
I did think to myself that this was a welcome piece of information as it’s usually the high C gates I have to run over to but what was surprising about this little nugget of information is that my next flight was three hours later than when we were due to land. Have never had that before. Is this new?
S
Just flown to LHR from GLA. During the flight, the Purser was doing a walk along, speaking to quite a few people. I thought it was maybe him speaking to the Goldies on board as there seemed to be an awful lot of people in the group 1 boarding lane. I was waiting to go to the toilet when I saw him start and he hadn’t made it halfway along when I came out to return to my seat at row 5.
The purser stopped me mid-stride and asked if I was the gentleman from 5D to which I replied in the affirmative. He then told me that he had some gate information for my onward flight (DME). He asked where I was going, I told him and he informed me that my next flight was due to board at A13 but to confirm when in the terminal.
I did think to myself that this was a welcome piece of information as it’s usually the high C gates I have to run over to but what was surprising about this little nugget of information is that my next flight was three hours later than when we were due to land. Have never had that before. Is this new?
S
Last edited by Saltire74; Jul 22, 2019 at 11:01 am Reason: Spelling corrections.
Jul 21, 2019, 1:44 pm
#2
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Not exactly new, but it's not always the case the SCCM can get a signal on their iPad or indeed the time to do it. Generally it gets done for the anxious who ask about it mid trajectory, or for those on tight connections when the flight is a but late. Now that most A320s have wifi I guess it's a bit easier. A few weeks ago I had an AA style announcement on either an EDI or NCL to LHR, listing the relevant gate numbers. It's a service that AA have largely stopped doing and I kind of missed it, so it was nice when the SCCM did a PA on it as we trundled up to the gate.
Jul 21, 2019, 8:02 pm
#5
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Jul 22, 2019, 1:31 am
#6
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LX puts connecting flight depature gate information along the the arival gate info and an airport map on the screens on finals, if they get the info.
Sometimes you also get an annoucement too.
Can be very useful on a 50 min connect at ZRH.
Sometimes you also get an annoucement too.
Can be very useful on a 50 min connect at ZRH.
Jul 22, 2019, 1:57 am
#9
Join Date: Dec 2007
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BA are in the process of ripping out their drop down screens on short haul aircraft. Go figure....
Jul 22, 2019, 1:58 am
#10
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Jul 22, 2019, 2:14 am
#11
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Where are if they re-thought it all out and made it easier to get to and from the different gates (A, B & C), they could have a more diverse shopping experience, let passengers roam more, and make more profit.
Jul 22, 2019, 3:32 am
#12
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I do always like how EK flights list the gates for flights on final. Especially as I can plan which lounge in DXB I'm going to.
I've heard it over the PA I think once on BA but was so confused and the speakers were so quiet that by the time I worked out what they were listing I think I had missed my mention.
I've heard it over the PA I think once on BA but was so confused and the speakers were so quiet that by the time I worked out what they were listing I think I had missed my mention.
Jul 22, 2019, 3:39 am
#13
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I am sure everyone is aware of this, but with Wifi pretty much to norm on shorthaul, 777s and 747s, that BA.com is free to access under this wifi and it will show your gate number on it at the same time as Heathrow's IDAHO system.
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Just to scotch this canard one more time. Apart from the fact that the main retail outlet (WDF) is in all three terminals, people who buy things don't do it at the last minute, and so the usual 75 minute notification for B and C isn't going to change shopping expenditure one way or the other - and HAL is fully aware of that. The problem is that until the aircraft is definitely at the departure gate, BA and HAL are loathed to tell people to go to the wrong gate. And that's one thing you rarely hear in T5 compared to many other airports: "Attention please for a gate change..." Though there are passageways to get people between terminals, experience has shown that the public tend to get horribly lost if you have to change terminals. The one time that I have had a terminal change, in a large number of flights, I think we lost about 20 passengers from the 777 in the process.
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Just to scotch this canard one more time. Apart from the fact that the main retail outlet (WDF) is in all three terminals, people who buy things don't do it at the last minute, and so the usual 75 minute notification for B and C isn't going to change shopping expenditure one way or the other - and HAL is fully aware of that. The problem is that until the aircraft is definitely at the departure gate, BA and HAL are loathed to tell people to go to the wrong gate. And that's one thing you rarely hear in T5 compared to many other airports: "Attention please for a gate change..." Though there are passageways to get people between terminals, experience has shown that the public tend to get horribly lost if you have to change terminals. The one time that I have had a terminal change, in a large number of flights, I think we lost about 20 passengers from the 777 in the process.
Jul 22, 2019, 3:43 am
#14
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Cathay also do an excellent job of sharing this, albeit not always consistently, where my connecting flight wasn't shown but many others were. I guess they only have a limited number of slots.
Jul 22, 2019, 6:43 am
#15
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The problem is that until the aircraft is definitely at the departure gate, BA and HAL are loathed to tell people to go to the wrong gate. And that's one thing you rarely hear in T5 compared to many other airports: "Attention please for a gate change..." Though there are passageways to get people between terminals, experience has shown that the public tend to get horribly lost if you have to change terminals. The one time that I have had a terminal change, in a large number of flights, I think we lost about 20 passengers from the 777 in the process.