stephenjc

As the OP of the EDI-CPH thread, I feel the OP's pain here, the ground staff in LHR were poor and the communication was shocking.

Regarding booking the Premier Inn, or finding the prices, my wife just did a Google maps search for hotels in and around T5, this shows the PI. Hopefully this will help future travellers stuck in LHR.

Cheers, Stephen.

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

I don’t know the airline business so someone will correct me if I’m wrong. I think the answer is slots. Now they know that the business is picking up they are greedy to hang onto their share whereas before they may have assumed that the whole industry would be trimmed. I understand that there has been some amnesty, particularly when actually told to trim their schedule but it won’t last. It’s use it or lose it.
A company can decide to run a trimmed schedule but those who planned well will take their slots. It’s not BA’s God given right to run most of the flights out of LHR. They worked up to that position over a long time and probably had some favourable decisions made.

Guys who know this industry will hopefully comment.

scottishpoet

if they assumed their would be running a much smaller airline then they would have been assuming they didnot need all their slots

whoever said this "elsewhere" that they assumed they would be running a much smaller airline i suspect was mistaken

fransknorge

How many of their staff are currently on sick leave due to the current COVID wave ? Do we know ?
Austrian has too much crew currently sick and is cancelling flights. Same for Lufthansa. Same with the train driver of one UK company. Several festivals and shows are cut (Metallica in Paris, Rolling Stones).
How do you plan and forecast when X% on yout staff goes on sick leave every 3 months (X probably being as high as 10%).
And let’s not forget there are 2 millions member of the workforce who went on disability leave in the last 2 years in the UK. I would challenge anybody to run a large scale operations in those conditions alone. Add Brexit, economic crisis, other issues for a added layer of difficulties to manage an airline.

cauchy

Google maps often shows phantom availability for Premier Inns - if you click through to their website you'll see its sold out, sometimes.

Been stung before!

Cspnvdl

I remember seeing all sorts of quotes in 2020 and 21 about how the airline industry would either never get back to the levels of 2019 or that it would take until 2025 at bare minimum for that to happen (and I think other numbers even later were quoted).

The thinking obviously was that the pandemic essentially cured people of their desire to travel — and from the business travel point of view who needs to when remote working worked so well. I’m guessing business models were built around that assumption (which the current chaos may actually end up proving right in the long run - there will be plenty of people with awful travel memories from 2022).

OverTheHorizon

I think the more interesting question is: will pax numbers be sustained once we're over this "School's Out" rush to get away ?

My guess (and I am far from being an industry analyst) is that business pax will remain quite scarce, premium leisure pax will grow steadily and value pax will stagnate. My reasoning: businesses will be under intense cost pressure for the next 3-5 years, and making the case to fly out to KUL in CW will be harder and harder...; the premium leisure cohort will continue to have disposable income and will maintain discretionary spend on travel; finally, the "just getting bys" just won't have the spare cash, especially if Ryan's wet dream of permanently higher fares comes to be...

testycal

T4 Premier Inn bar is open all night...nurse drinks on a comfy sofa and walk to T4 following day to take inter terminal train to departure terminal.

Sleep on benches airside any terminal.

BA directed my family to Sofitel conference room floor
during Wimbledon 6 years ago and provided sleeping mats and blankets and buffet style food evening and morning. Far better option than stress of finding and leaving LHR and then returning next day.

cmnmia

I have a horrible feeling he may have been diverted via Rwanda.

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

“Elsewhere” was another of these tale-of-woe threads. Someone was just expressing an opinion which is all any of us can do without inside knowledge. I think their opinion is as valid or invalid as anyone else’s unless we get insight into the board’s thinking.
I think it’s entirely possible that at the height of lockdown some airline executives didn’t think there would be recovery for years.
I think the government did a real number on enterprise in general and that BA have additionally shot themselves in both feet.
But that is just my opinion.

cmnmia

I picked Aldershot as an example because it was the most undesirable place west of London that was within the region. It could easily have been anything else. I was not suggesting it was local and was just trying to suggest something out of the box for people who were looking last night.

Mekko

I can’t help but think that this thread has probably now run its course

zanderblue

Sorry, I’m not sure I agree with this sentiment. There are many business out there whose operational challenges are just as complex and on similar scale (if not larger) who have been able to negotiate their way through this mess. I’m thinking of health service, utilities, oil and gas, etc.
I contend that the position that the airlines and airports are in is down to atrocious planning and decision making at the highest level in the respective companies!

fransknorge

Without making this OT, health services impact are well known and documented. As for others the impact is also present, just less visible.

KARFA

I don't think there is any sense this is due to a sudden surge of covid cases and people being off work. Even BA aren't claiming it is.

I am afraid this is very clearly down to issues that have been ongoing at BA for some time now, and of course some external problems such as the excessively long airside pass timelines which prevent BA from actually getting new people airside.