LH_Fan

I think, by having mentioned them twice on this post, you are giving these people much more credit than they deserve. I'm still not sure to what extent the UK authorities were overreacting (or if they were, for that matter) - but I don't have any time for German politicians who don't have a clue what they are talking about (and, at the same time, I am convinced that what these guys say will not make the slightest difference).

flysurfer

Well those politicians are the minister of the interior and the like. The ones who are in power. They can and will make it happen, if not stopped. And not having to time to think about them will certainly not stop them.

FLYGVA

I hope this discussion will stop in a few weeks.

There will be a remaining risk by traveling in the air. You could never avoid, that somebody will try to get some possible explosive material in a plane. But you could also not avoid to bring this material in a train.
On the station in Dortmund and Koblenz were last week two trolleys discovered with a bomb in it. At this incident, no politican had made a statement like no luggage in trains. So why now this stupid comments about no hand luggage in planes?

I imagine a explosion in an fully High Speed train like the ICE, Thalys or Eurostar driving with more than 160 mph during peak travel time will kill more people than in an airplane.

So baning hand luggage in plane but in no other means of transportation is in my eyes an disproportional reaction and I hope LH will not follow the so called advise of a politican.

weero

The TGV had explosions afflicted to it and coped very well with it.
The aerodynamic structure of the train is required to maintain the speed but has
little impact on its stability. Planes on the other hand are ridiculously vulnerable
by damage of their surface.
Great - if that expedites security and allows me to keep my computer and my
drugs, I am all for it.
But this is exactly the point where the whole system folds: they told us all those
'latest news' lies what high tec equipment the airports have been armed with.
Billions of dollars in scanners stumped up by enormous security taxes for our
flights. All rubbish - they bought medieval X-ray toys, so they can violoate your
privacy but have absolutely nada equipment to do spectroscopy. They can't tell
flesh from plastic from Semtex.
If they could, none of these measures in place now would have the slightest
point.
And as they can't tell if you have explosives in your hand luggage, they certainly
cannot tell if you have it in your clothers, let alone in your body cavities.

There is no -workable - alternative to getting scanners that actually do work.
But stripping pax and letting the army stand around at airports seems to be
the way chosen by our wise politicians. Voodoo dolls would be ways more
effective ...

BoneMarrowCourier

I'm quite excited what my next bone-marrow transport will be like.

I'm carrying the stuff in a fairly large insulated bag. The bone-marrow bag itself is packed into specially designed cooler packs to keep the temp between 2�-8�C. Of course, these packs contain large amounts of fluids -liquid at room temperature and gelatinous when cooled-.
If that wasn't enough, the transport temperatur is monitored by a thermologger which is placed under the bm bag. It looks like a button cell battery

But actually, I expect the Bundespolizei (federal police) to be relaxed with it. All transports are previously announced via fax and I get certifications from my company, DMKS, the collection hospital etc. etc. It's always hand checked (no metal detector and for obvious reasons no x-ray), a swipe for explosives is being done.

What really bothers me that we were previously not allowed to check any baggage in order to avoid delays. I already see myself heading to CVS and alikes after each delivery to stock up on contact lens care, toothpaste and shower gel.

So happy I bought some Bombay Sapphire in Philly on July, 31 (2 Liters / 35 $), seems that was the last df booze ex US for a long time. A lot of freaky US df shops don't hand out merchandise before entering the plane anyway, so what about some last minute delivery of df booze to the baggage compartment?

dukeman

I flew today DUS-EWR on LH/PrivatAir. Yesterday I was told by LH personnel in ATH and MUC that we would not be allowed carry-on baggage with the exception of Passport, wallet, etc. So anticipating the worst we packed everything into our suitcases including laptop, camera, etc. Upon check-in this morning in DUS we were told we were in fact allowed carry-on baggage including electronics and books, etc. Just no liquids or gels. Quickly repacked at the check-in desk and went through security. After a bit of time in the SEN lounge headed down through Passport Control and to the gate. At the gate there was another security line set up with x-ray. Again our bags were x-rayed and each one was opened and inspected by security personnel. Also, all pax were wanded despite a satisfactory pass through the metal detector. The line moved pretty quickly and the flight departed on-time. LH and their security personnel seemed to handle things well; however, this was for a plane with only 48 seats. I can only imagine how long it will take for a 744 or 340....

Rambuster

As posted by Markonen in the BA forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=589931

All airlines running services in/from LHR have to reduce capacity by 20% to comply with current LHR conditions. LH flights are obviously also affected.

Looks like Ryanair at STN also has to reduce their schedule.

LH_Fan

Thanks for posting this ^ ! I wonder what are good strategies to get to London (and back!) this coming week (I might have to fly there on Friday)? An obvious one is to take earliy/ier flights ... what about flying to airports other than LHR? Is LCY safe? BHX? Any thoughts, anyone?

Gnopps

If memory serves me right, I don't think BHX had any LH cancellations thursday or friday.

weero

Thanks for that detailed report dukeman.
That's an appaling behavious of LH ATH - I mean being able to bring my laptop
is essential to decide if I am going to take the flight or have to cancel it. It's not
a piece of information one can fiddle with at will .
What devil rides those agents who spread such utterly wrong and noxious information
for LH.
Looks like the AUA webpage bacillus spread to the LH staff abroad .

gnaget

I flew FRA-IAD (UA 933) today in the C pier and security was business as usual. I did not notice any special effort to hand search for liquids/creams at the secondary screening. It was the usual harsh FRA treatment with the full wanding, but that's the way it is there. There was one guy asking if you had liquids at the start of the queue.

SAS (and I think one LH crew member) were misinforming passengers connecting via FRA about the procedure so the "sheep" boarded ARN-FRA dutifully carrying their select belongings in plastic bags! (Unless they were all denied boardings from the earlier direct SAS flights.) As mentioned, SAS appears to have imposed a light version of the UK mandate for US flights, so SAS should be avoided transatlantic.

htb

Just a short report on Sunday evening's situation in Heathrow.

I arrived at the airport early as was recommended on the media only to find out that everyone had to wait in front of the building until their flight was ready to board (I arrived three hours early, and they expected that the flights will be called about two hours before departure). But instead of calling my flight almost all flights from London by Lufthansa were canceled: "due to increased time requirements on check-in and in order to normalize the schedule, the following flights (6 or 7)... All passengers on those flights are requested to leave the building and contact their travel operator from tomorrow onward"

I tried to make my way to the ticket desk anyway but never got to speak to an agent. Most agents seemed to be hiding and the First Class / *Gold line was hardly served at all. An exchange between someone in front of me and an agent went like "I'm not working for Lufthansa and will not deal with Lufthansa customers today." Mind you, this was the Lufthansa ticket counter! No help to rearrange flights or find a hotel.

I gave up and tried to find Lufthansa personel at the check-in counter. They were working for the same handling company but they took pity on me and checked me onto the flight they were just processing. So at least I made it to Frankfurt and out of the UK.

Once in Frankfurt (at 10:30 pm) everything went more than smoothly: the lady in the lounge arranged an onward flight for the next morning and put me into a hotel for the night. I'll be boarding soon.

I'm still undecided on how I should bring this to the attention of Lufthansa. Are they allowed to simply put people on the street without any assistance whatsoever?

HTB.

flysurfer

Certainly not. But why didn't you call the SEN line and made them confirm you on ANY flight leaving LHR to Germany?

Dealing with LH's contract agents (GlobeGround?) is futile. All they did for me in the past years was interfering with my carry-on, forgetting me and others in the lounge, messing up tickets, etc. They are good at THAT, not service.

LH_Fan

And this is particularly true for LHR. There really is a big-time attitude problem with the people LH has working for them there, the lounge ladies and, at times, gate personnel excluded.

flysurfer

I was of course referring to LH's contract agents at LHR.