Expect Delays ex LHR/LGW )and possibly most of UK) thoughout 19/12
Dec 19, 2006, 3:01 pm
#61
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And I'd bet that if the airlines did choose the half as many flights option so as to assure schedules even in bad weather, one could be pretty confident that FT would be full of complaints about the stupidity of this conservative view of the airlines that accorded too much to safety and schedule assurance, and not enough to the posters' needs to go somewhere now.
Dec 19, 2006, 3:01 pm
#62
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To answer my own question, the departures board looked awful at LHR at around 4.30 when I arrived. The flights that weren't cancelled were marked for around 2 hours late.
Incidentally when I arrived in the departures area, there was a huge queue (back past Austin reed to the Luggage store) which I joined. After about 20 minutes we could see where the queue was heading... for the BA fast bag drop! There was effectively no wait for security. Three of use were caught out by this and we did feel rather silly.
bmi were not posting estimated times and when I got into the lounge they said BD10 would board 15 minutes late. Yeah right I think.
Amazingly we did board 20 minutes late and after a long wait to take off ended up in GLA no more than 20 minutes behind schedule. A veritable miracle!
Incidentally when I arrived in the departures area, there was a huge queue (back past Austin reed to the Luggage store) which I joined. After about 20 minutes we could see where the queue was heading... for the BA fast bag drop! There was effectively no wait for security. Three of use were caught out by this and we did feel rather silly.
bmi were not posting estimated times and when I got into the lounge they said BD10 would board 15 minutes late. Yeah right I think.
Amazingly we did board 20 minutes late and after a long wait to take off ended up in GLA no more than 20 minutes behind schedule. A veritable miracle!
Dec 19, 2006, 4:04 pm
#63
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I've had a few family members travelling ex-LHR today on various carriers.. one was turned away at check-in pending an annoucement about the flight, she joined the queue, only for the flight to close when she reached the desk. It was the last flight to make her connection, she was booked on a different routing for tomorrow.
As far as I can see from EU Regulation 261/2004 - she should be entitled to a refund of her ticket, re-arrangement of her itinerary, €400 compensation for delay of over 3 hours and mileage over 1500km.
Is this correct? Good job we're near the airport otherwise she'd have been stuck, the carrier didn't even offer calls, food, drink or a hotel overnight.
As far as I can see from EU Regulation 261/2004 - she should be entitled to a refund of her ticket, re-arrangement of her itinerary, €400 compensation for delay of over 3 hours and mileage over 1500km.
Is this correct? Good job we're near the airport otherwise she'd have been stuck, the carrier didn't even offer calls, food, drink or a hotel overnight.
Dec 19, 2006, 4:42 pm
#64
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We had our sales conference this last few days and there were about 25 of us on the 17.15 to EDI that was cancelled.
Utter chaos at LHR. Queues for rebooking were miles long. I hot footed it to Zone R and got rebooked but many of my non-silver/gold colleagues ended up going into London to get a train. What a fiasco.
Still I'm home and that's my travel over for 2006!!! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Utter chaos at LHR. Queues for rebooking were miles long. I hot footed it to Zone R and got rebooked but many of my non-silver/gold colleagues ended up going into London to get a train. What a fiasco.
Still I'm home and that's my travel over for 2006!!! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Dec 19, 2006, 11:22 pm
#66
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Having expected the worst i got to T1 really early and am just enjoying breakfast in T1 pavilion lounge with the boards showing a 2 cancelled but no delays listed (yet?).
journey here ok with a bit of fog... so i will wait and see - and hope the sun is shining in cyprus
journey here ok with a bit of fog... so i will wait and see - and hope the sun is shining in cyprus
Dec 19, 2006, 11:26 pm
#67
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Dec 19, 2006, 11:27 pm
#68
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Looking at this, i'd say give it time...
EGLL 200550Z 27003KT 0150 R27L/0500 FZFG OVC001 M00/// Q1039 NOSIG=
EGLL: Issued on the 20th at 05:50 UTC
wind 270 degrees, 03 knots
visibility 0150 metres
runway 27-left, visibility 0500 metres
freezing, fog
sky overcast at 100 feet
temperature 0 (degrees C)
QNH = 1039 mb
no significant change
EGLL 200550Z 27003KT 0150 R27L/0500 FZFG OVC001 M00/// Q1039 NOSIG=
EGLL: Issued on the 20th at 05:50 UTC
wind 270 degrees, 03 knots
visibility 0150 metres
runway 27-left, visibility 0500 metres
freezing, fog
sky overcast at 100 feet
temperature 0 (degrees C)
QNH = 1039 mb
no significant change
Dec 20, 2006, 12:09 am
#69
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If you look at yesterday, flights got away ok early morning but then the delays kicked in. Things improved again late afternoon.
With the fog expected to continue for much of the week and the big xmas getaway starting, it's going to be an interesting few days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my LAS flight tomorrow from LGW.
With the fog expected to continue for much of the week and the big xmas getaway starting, it's going to be an interesting few days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my LAS flight tomorrow from LGW.
Dec 20, 2006, 12:12 am
#70
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Fair point but yesterday I think the visability was better (around 300m) and it looks like the SQ flight from SIN had to divert to FRA - didn't see any of that yesterday.
Dec 20, 2006, 12:28 am
#71
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All the early morning BA flights ex-SIN, HKG etc landed without any problems and no other flights have been diverted, so I would think the SQ 'stop' in FRA (it is due in at LHR around now) may have been for other reasons.
Dec 20, 2006, 12:29 am
#72
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Everything burning and turning here. the flights are all getting called and away, except for madrid and barcelona which were shown cancelled earlier.^
i hope to be away in the hour for my day trip (work!)
OT: sitting in 1D out and back, and as the a/c does a stopover with the same crew returning it is always funny when the crew spot you and wonder if you got off!! Bit like a mileage run i suppose
i hope to be away in the hour for my day trip (work!)
OT: sitting in 1D out and back, and as the a/c does a stopover with the same crew returning it is always funny when the crew spot you and wonder if you got off!! Bit like a mileage run i suppose
Dec 20, 2006, 12:34 am
#73
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Best strategy (OLCI or not) for CDG-LHR-YYZ tomorrow?
Mr Canuck are supposed to fly back to Canada tomorrow (21 Dec). Stupidly, I booked us on the mid-day flight out of CDG (to give us more time to pack late tonight and get a decent night's sleep) and thought that a nearly 3 hour connection at LHR would be enough. Now I'm worried that BA will take the same approach tomorrow as it did yesterday (2 hour+ delays for the first two flights out of CDG and then cancelling our mid-day flight). The LHR-YYZ flight yesterday left late (but only about 50 minutes late).
Assuming that the weather is similar tomorrow, do you think we're better off doing OLCI for both segments (or just the LHR-YYZ segment) or none? At a minimum, I thought I'd wait to OLCI until tomorrow morning (we've got decent seat assignments for both segments). Ideally, I'd like to get to CDG early and try to take the earlier flight (scheduled departure around 10:30ish). I'm not sure how flexible staff will be about putting pax with LHR connections (on the last flight of the day to their ultimate destination) on an earlier flight if the mid-day flight out of CDG looks like it might be significantly delayed or cancelled. And I'm not sure whether OLCI'ing for the mid-day flight would help us or hurt us. Of course we're flying on relatively cheap Y tickets (albeit not super-cheap - we still get TPs) and then WT+ out of LHR. Will having Gold status improve our chances?
Of course, at the end of the journey, we're just going to end up at my mother-in-law's house 4 hours north of Toronto in the snow belt - so perhaps a delay isn't the worst thing in the world ...
Assuming that the weather is similar tomorrow, do you think we're better off doing OLCI for both segments (or just the LHR-YYZ segment) or none? At a minimum, I thought I'd wait to OLCI until tomorrow morning (we've got decent seat assignments for both segments). Ideally, I'd like to get to CDG early and try to take the earlier flight (scheduled departure around 10:30ish). I'm not sure how flexible staff will be about putting pax with LHR connections (on the last flight of the day to their ultimate destination) on an earlier flight if the mid-day flight out of CDG looks like it might be significantly delayed or cancelled. And I'm not sure whether OLCI'ing for the mid-day flight would help us or hurt us. Of course we're flying on relatively cheap Y tickets (albeit not super-cheap - we still get TPs) and then WT+ out of LHR. Will having Gold status improve our chances?
Of course, at the end of the journey, we're just going to end up at my mother-in-law's house 4 hours north of Toronto in the snow belt - so perhaps a delay isn't the worst thing in the world ...
Dec 20, 2006, 12:47 am
#74
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didnt make to London (from IOM) yesterday as was day trip and no point once the 3W flight showed as over 2 hours delayed.
slightly nervous today though as off on x-mas break for a surprise party for mother tonight. unlike a work trip which can easily be re-arranged, would really like to make it to FRA this afternoon (and so far things not looking too good on IOM departure board).
good luck to everyone who's travelling today.....
slightly nervous today though as off on x-mas break for a surprise party for mother tonight. unlike a work trip which can easily be re-arranged, would really like to make it to FRA this afternoon (and so far things not looking too good on IOM departure board).
good luck to everyone who's travelling today.....
Dec 20, 2006, 1:10 am
#75
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Mr Canuck are supposed to fly back to Canada tomorrow (21 Dec). Stupidly, I booked us on the mid-day flight out of CDG (to give us more time to pack late tonight and get a decent night's sleep) and thought that a nearly 3 hour connection at LHR would be enough. Now I'm worried that BA will take the same approach tomorrow as it did yesterday (2 hour+ delays for the first two flights out of CDG and then cancelling our mid-day flight). The LHR-YYZ flight yesterday left late (but only about 50 minutes late).
Assuming that the weather is similar tomorrow, do you think we're better off doing OLCI for both segments (or just the LHR-YYZ segment) or none? At a minimum, I thought I'd wait to OLCI until tomorrow morning (we've got decent seat assignments for both segments). Ideally, I'd like to get to CDG early and try to take the earlier flight (scheduled departure around 10:30ish). I'm not sure how flexible staff will be about putting pax with LHR connections (on the last flight of the day to their ultimate destination) on an earlier flight if the mid-day flight out of CDG looks like it might be significantly delayed or cancelled. And I'm not sure whether OLCI'ing for the mid-day flight would help us or hurt us. Of course we're flying on relatively cheap Y tickets (albeit not super-cheap - we still get TPs) and then WT+ out of LHR. Will having Gold status improve our chances?
Of course, at the end of the journey, we're just going to end up at my mother-in-law's house 4 hours north of Toronto in the snow belt - so perhaps a delay isn't the worst thing in the world ...
Assuming that the weather is similar tomorrow, do you think we're better off doing OLCI for both segments (or just the LHR-YYZ segment) or none? At a minimum, I thought I'd wait to OLCI until tomorrow morning (we've got decent seat assignments for both segments). Ideally, I'd like to get to CDG early and try to take the earlier flight (scheduled departure around 10:30ish). I'm not sure how flexible staff will be about putting pax with LHR connections (on the last flight of the day to their ultimate destination) on an earlier flight if the mid-day flight out of CDG looks like it might be significantly delayed or cancelled. And I'm not sure whether OLCI'ing for the mid-day flight would help us or hurt us. Of course we're flying on relatively cheap Y tickets (albeit not super-cheap - we still get TPs) and then WT+ out of LHR. Will having Gold status improve our chances?
Of course, at the end of the journey, we're just going to end up at my mother-in-law's house 4 hours north of Toronto in the snow belt - so perhaps a delay isn't the worst thing in the world ...
Good luck!