With many passengers “out of position” as the media have portrayed for being dumped in an airport where you did not depart from,due to the weather,Munich is fully functional,in minus 25 degrees,but we have grounded to a halt in the UK,last year they said they will spend millions to not repeat the last bad weather we had.
Odd why the BBC have to film a presenter on a bridge that the road to the airport is,does he have to go there to tell is what we know.
How do you get the car park money back,as you would have to pay more,by the time you got back to your car,you have expired the time you booked for.
Its properly sickening.
Just been watching the news, advising motorists not to travel on the motorway due to tretcherous conditions. Then showing the motorway which is completely clear.
Just read that there have been more flights cancelled at Heathrow last year due to weather than Oslo has in the last 10 years.
Just, just pathetic.
Has this country really turned that gay?
Laughing stock of the world,is due to health and safety.I can not see a Canadian or Russian airline pilot being too happy with being refused landing,when he or she has safely done it thousands of time in conditions much worse,i would be really peed off being dumped in Prestwick when my motor was in Gatwick.
BBC,cry babies,saying drivers stuck all night in their cars,know they know what we do 6 nights week for a living,the car drivers only left with thin coats,no spade,hot drinks,despite the warnings to stay at home.You can get a thermos for fiver.
Maybe it’s just that Heathrow is running at capacity that it can’t handle anything that slows down activity on the ground. A few minutes delay per aircraft soon adds up when you don’t have a margin for it.
Clearing runways, taxiways and service roads, de-icing aircraft etc.
Who pays for the airlines fuel to go off course,the insurance pays them?then the crew will be out of hours and away from their base to relieve the crew waiting to swap over.
Baggage handling may be slow too.
toby1234abc:
Baggage handling may be slow too.
You can’t throw bags into the hold if it’s icy, you need a good bit of grip with the feet to get a really good swing at it.
toby1234abc:
Who pays for the airlines fuel to go off course,the insurance pays them?then the crew will be out of hours and away from their base to relieve the crew waiting to swap over.
Airlines always put a bit extra fuel in just in case of diversions…
muckles:
Maybe it’s just that Heathrow is running at capacity that it can’t handle anything that slows down activity on the ground. A few minutes delay per aircraft soon adds up when you don’t have a margin for it.
Clearing runways, taxiways and service roads, de-icing aircraft etc.
Then divert every 4th slot to Gatwick/Luton if Heathrow goes black, instead of cancelling them all.
Jeez, they shut the runway at Kinloss early hours one morning due to snow, they couldn’t clear it quick enough as they only had 2 ploughs. We opened up VASS at Lossie (10 miles away) and saw 3 Nimrods in. Our ploughs ran down the runway, there was already an inch laid before the ploughs came round the second time. The jockeys still managed to land ok and without a drama.
Pilots that were accustomed to warm weather,put their engines in to reverse thrust to make the plane move from being stuck at Washington airport in severe conditions,debris was sucked inside the engines causing them to disentegtrate moments after take off,plunging the aircaft in to an icy river.
Victims in the river were blinded by the fuel.I guess they did not want to miss their slot,and be delayed and further.
cieranc:
muckles:
Maybe it’s just that Heathrow is running at capacity that it can’t handle anything that slows down activity on the ground. A few minutes delay per aircraft soon adds up when you don’t have a margin for it.
Clearing runways, taxiways and service roads, de-icing aircraft etc.Then divert every 4th slot to Gatwick/Luton if Heathrow goes black, instead of cancelling them all.
Jeez, they shut the runway at Kinloss early hours one morning due to snow, they couldn’t clear it quick enough as they only had 2 ploughs. We opened up VASS at Lossie (10 miles away) and saw 3 Nimrods in. Our ploughs ran down the runway, there was already an inch laid before the ploughs came round the second time. The jockeys still managed to land ok and without a drama.
But although Gatwick is trying to run a full service, it said they still expect delays, could it really handle it’s flights and some from Heathrow, without grinding to a halt? Lutons probably the same.
As they are a military jets, I should think the allowable limits of landing Nimrods are greater than what’s allowed to land a jet full of civilians.
OK, so cancel every third flight then.
Why do they need to cancel them all?
Out of curiosity, how much snow is there down there?
Yesterday they cancelled a load before the snow arrived as the planes couldn’t get out of some of the European airports to be at Heathrow to take off.
I took my in laws to LHR last night for a 2205 to Sydney, they departed about 0200 but at least they got out.
cieranc:
OK, so cancel every third flight then.
Why do they need to cancel them all?Out of curiosity, how much snow is there down there?
Apparently the worst hit areas have had 6" and around 2" max around Heathrow, even if that fell in one hour they should still be able to cope, nice to know the millions they spent so no repeats of last year have been well spent.
It’s always the same whenever white stuff starts falling from the sky in this country, even when it’s not settling the country starts to grind to a halt. In Belgrade they’ve got at least a metre of the stuff, we can’t deal with an inch as well as they can with a metre of the stuff.
cieranc:
OK, so cancel every third flight then.
Why do they need to cancel them all?Out of curiosity, how much snow is there down there?
Heathrow was working, but they cancelled about a 3rd of the flights, they anounced this yesterday due to a forecast of snow followed by freezing fog.
There isn’t really a great deal of snow down in Norfolk, not sure about London, but I doubt it’s much different.
I don’t think the problem was they weren’t ready for it, more that fact the Heathrow runs at so close to it’s maximum capacity when the operations slow down they lose flight slots and there isn’t the capacity to get these back.
Operations slow down due to bad weather in other airports across Europe, I’ve sat in other airports while they di-ice aircraft etc. but although it delayed my flights maybe they had enough spare capacity to cope.
The same goes for the M25, people were complaining about lack of gritters and snow ploughs, but what they can’t work out is that fact that they couldn’t keep the road clear as they were probably stuck in the same traffic jam as those who were complaining. They are the reason the gritters and snow ploughs didn’t make it through, but they’re just to stupid to realise.
From what I understand people in other countries do modify thier lifestyle to cope with the bad weather, but people in this country seem to think they can carry on as normal. they don’t prepare thier vehicle, adjust thier driving or give themselves more time or even adjust thier plans so they weren’t on the roads when the snow fell.