Gatwick & Snow

[AnOther]

Whilst idly cruising around the various airport sites I can across this which, in retrospect, can only be regarded as wishful thinking [blink]

Are you getting ready for more snow?

We have 1.8 million sq ft of runway to clear of snow and anti-ice but we are ready.

http://www.gatwickairport.com/flights/snow-update/

[5-element]

Friend hoping to fly to India was turned away at Heathrow this morning. No doubt there are many, many more stories to come.

[Cendrillon]

Yes, we are badly hit in this neck of the woods (LHR and LGW) I believe Schipol is also having it bad and Lufthansa recommending their passengers take the train where possible.

[Iceni]

Ernie, this reminds me of an IT meeting held at MoD, Farnborough to discuss plans for Disaster Recovery.

"We're halfway there"

"What do you mean?"

"We're ready for a disaster"

John

 

[Pickles]

It's a re-run of last year. This weekend last year our flight out of Gatwick was cancelled half-an-hour before it was due to leave, with no prior announcement being made. It then took over an hour before the ground staff deigned (of whom there were several standing around helping no-one) to escort us from the airside area to groundside - where we had to queue up with incoming passengers to go through passport control. I just hope that they have better procedures in place this year because last year the ground handling company (Menzies) managed to make an unfortunate situation far worse by the inaction and arrogant attitude of their staff. We were extremely lucky to get flights out of Bristol for the first thing next morning, and after a drive through worsening weather to Bristol at silly-o'clock in the morning we were VERY fortunate that our flight left before Bristol, too, closed.

This year we are supposed to be going to Ireland ...

Regards

Pickles

[AnOther]

Maybe not a bad idea for anyone travelling to have a copy of their rights about their person [;-)]

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/125/DBC_Advice.pdf

Note it refers to 'checked in passengers' so always try to check in online if possible but you can further check your eligibility here:

http://www.auc.org.uk/default.aspx?catid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=4405

[Frederick]

In the good old days when I worked at Heathrow ....like 1963 when it snowed a bit .We made the place work..I dont remember it grinding to a halt  . No health and safety to worry about.then .I remember frost forming on my coat while out on the tarmac I dont think they cared if we froze to death as long as the aircrtaft movements took place     As for passemgers sitting 5 hours in a plane stopped a hundred yards or so of the finger by snow ...Whats happened to steps ? Cant they shove steps up to aircraft these days and walk passengers over the tarmac.into the building .. Or is that a health and safety issue now ?  I cant believe what I am seeing on the news ..

[CeeJay]

Didn't seem to be much of a problem at Gatwick this morning as daughter and a crowd of friends flew out to Geneva. She emailed that there were no apparent delays!

[Cendrillon]

She was very lucky, many have been suffering long delays there at LGW ever since the snow fell.

[Clarkkent]

[quote user="Frederick"]

In the good old days when I worked at Heathrow ....like 1963 when it snowed a bit .[/quote]

Well, that's before Heathrow came under Spanish ownership. They only have sunshine in Spain so its owners don't see the need for snow clearance ....

More seriously, Ferrovial seems to be more interested in milking the airside lounges at Heathrow as retail space cash cows than actually running an airport.