Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Doctor Gollum]

It always amazes me that Singapore is mega expensive yet the Duty free is the cheapest.

Taxation 101

A decent bottle of Vodka probably only costs $5 a bottle when you buy it buy the pallet. Profit, Import duty and VAT bump it up to around $25... remove the Duty and VAT and sell it for $18...

Shop makes a tidy profit, even allowing for ridiculous ground rents, punter is happy because they have 'saved' $7 and the government don't care because you effectively left the country when you went tnrough security to buy your 'cheap' vodka... guaranteed you've been paying $25+ a bottle for your stay

[Doctor Gollum]

The airlines overbook to maximise revenue and profits on the basis that on average a few people won't turn up

Like the mongrels who genuinely believe a plane wont leave without them, so don't need to get up in time.  Strangely enough, this seems to happen more at Luton, unless its because the customer service desks are so close to the checkin desks you notice it more.

Probably one for Dr G to confirm...

Typically Easyjet Checkin closes an hour before the flight, and the gate at -30. The aircraft may still be over the channel at this point.

Typically there are two details sheeple over look...

1. If you check in online, hand luggage only and don't arrive at the airport until -65 you will miss your flight.
2. Gate Closed time is just that. This doesn't mean that you have 65 minutes to get to the gate, you have 35 minutes. It will take 25 minutes to get through security and a further 15 minutes to walk to the gate. Again you will miss your flight.

Stop for coffee/beer/shopping/toilet and you'll miss your flight. Of course, if you arrive in plenty of time, ie at -150/180 then you have enough time for a bite to eat, buy some snacks for the flight, find and get to the gate etc etc.

Arrive at the gate at -25 flustered, out of breath and carrying only the bags you arrived with, ie no shopping, and you will probably get on, but this depends on how the 165 passengers who arrived on time treated the gate staff and if you have a legitimate reason and had phoned ahead... ie accident/motorway closure train breakdown etc...

I recall picking up a well to do retired couple on behalf of another driver... I was ten minutes ahead of the booking time, we left about ten minutes after the booking time and they insisted on stopping for a paper, it was a Sunday. Eventually got going properly 20 minutes after their booked time. It transpired in the coversation that the time they had booked the cab for was -75. I queried this and was told it was fine as the aiport was only 15 minutes away and they had already checked in... By this point it was -50 and we were still 15 minutes away. I duly left them at the drop off with their luggage fully aware that they had missed their flight. The other driver received a call about an hour later to collect them as they couldn't get another flight for three days, so they decided to head back home instead... rather idiots, the pair of them.

[LC0112G]

1. If you check in online, hand luggage only and don't arrive at the airport until -65 you will miss your flight.
2. Gate Closed time is just that. This doesn't mean that you have 65 minutes to get to the gate, you have 35 minutes. It will take 25 minutes to get through security and a further 15 minutes to walk to the gate. Again you will miss your flight.

All reasons to avoid Gatwick.

At Bristol, you enter the long stay car park at -40, cross the road, up the escalators, through the boarding pass scanners at -30.01, and that's it. No 'gates' where they pre-load you and then lock out late comers, even if your plane is still on the ground in Alicante and 2 hours away from actual arrival never mind departure.

[Doctor Gollum]

1. If you check in online, hand luggage only and don't arrive at the airport until -65 you will miss your flight.
2. Gate Closed time is just that. This doesn't mean that you have 65 minutes to get to the gate, you have 35 minutes. It will take 25 minutes to get through security and a further 15 minutes to walk to the gate. Again you will miss your flight.

All reasons to avoid Gatwick.

At Bristol, you enter the long stay car park at -40, cross the road, up the escalators, through the boarding pass scanners at -30.01, and that's it. No 'gates' where they pre-load you and then lock out late comers, even if your plane is still on the ground in Alicante and 2 hours away from actual arrival never mind departure.

That's a bit like avoiding France because they eat cheese...

Bristol airport has less gates than Pier 6 at Gatwick. Given that it handles a sixth of the passengers of Gatwick it should only take 10 minutes to get through...

Gatwick terminals haven't physically gotten any bigger in the last decade. The issue isn't with the infrastructure, but rather people, especially when it comes to...

Not allowing enough time.
Not understanding, or appreciating, the processes.
Inappropriate luggage, and subsequent delays in security because they don't think that simple instructions apply to them.

I would wager that your issue isn't with the airport itself, but rather the sheer volume of people passing through it

Whilst Gatwick isn't perfect, most of peoples issues are out of the airports control... how you and your bags are screened are set out by DfT and some airlines apparent inability to schedule an operation with more than a fag paper for turnarounds to name but two.

[LC0112G]

But - people don't want to go to the airport. For short haul, they just want to get on/off the plane and out of there as quickly as possible. The airports ARE responsible for engineering the route-march around all the airside shops in the departure hall. LHR terminal 5 is a shocker!

IME the best thing that can be said about Gatwick is that it's not as bad as Stansted. Now there is a case study in what not to do. If you arrive back there at 10pm on a Sunday...

1) You get remote parked so have to get a bus to the terminal.
2) Immigration is rammed - can easily take 45+ minutes to get through
3) Non existant busses to long stay - you can wait 30 minutes for one.
All in can be 1.5 hours from undercarrage smashing into the tarmac to escaping car park. Then 2hrs 40 drive back to civilisation.

FFS - why a monorail between teminal piers and immigration, but busses from the car park to the terminal? Either put the carpark within easy walking distance of the terminal, or put the monorail from the terminal to the car park (like they've done in San Fransisco).

At Bristol we've done the crash landing to walking in the house door in 1h15. Ok many fewer flights, but if there is an option that works it's a much better choice for us.

[Doctor Gollum]

I am off at the weekend and shall time myself through and report back

I will be there in plenty of time though, as it's the only time I can get a discount on a pint

[Viral_Jim]

I find BHX to be a great balance between size and choice of destination. I only really use other airports (LHR usually) for travel to the US on a direct flight rather than a 2 hopper, or for some more unusual destinations.

For BHX:
Carpark barrier to parking the car 4-6min depending on time of day/day of week.
Walk from Carpark 1 to terminal 4min (including waiting for the lift).
Terminal entry to the far side of security - max 12mins with priority ticket.

For the domestic and intra europe stuff they don't even announce the gates until 25mins pre departure, rather they stream you into one of two departure halls.

I can arrive at the airport 60-65mins prior to departure (having checked in online) and still pick up a cup of acceptable coffee and a newspaper before I get on board  . I tend not to do this only because the M6 and M42 make the timing risky. In 5yrs and 150 odd flights I have only missed two, and both were due to me missing a connection due to a late incoming flight (hence my choice to us LHR).

As DG rightly points out, the hardest thing is avoiding people who a) have no idea where they are going and b) believe that the limits on what you can and cannot take on board do not apply to them.

[TheBoy]

It will take 25 minutes to get through security

Clearly talking about Gatwick there. Luton and Birmingham on all my last few flights bar the last from Luton have been 60mins plus.


In fact, my last flight from Birmingham, we arrived 2hr30 before flight, so well ahead of the 2hrs the airline stated, and only got on the flight because they held the gate due to number of passengers stuck in the system.  That one, first flight for that airline of the day, was about 75mins to check in and about 60mins through security.  Even then, plane left quite empty (not sure how booked it was though).

[Doctor Gollum]

It will take 25 minutes to get through security

Clearly talking about Gatwick there. Luton and Birmingham on all my last few flights bar the last from Luton have been 60mins plus.


In fact, my last flight from Birmingham, we arrived 2hr30 before flight, so well ahead of the 2hrs the airline stated, and only got on the flight because they held the gate due to number of passengers stuck in the system.  That one, first flight for that airline of the day, was about 75mins to check in and about 60mins through security.  Even then, plane left quite empty (not sure how booked it was though).

That's the crux of it... the time stated is an absolute minimum, not a target... it is this none too subtle difference that people struggle with... then having to put any device larger than a phone in a separate tray and not realising that yogurt and fruit juice are actually liquids

And that's before they fail to read the signs/screens for the gates

My flight on Saturday is mid afternoon. I will be at the carpark by 11, and have every intention of being through security by noon. This will give me at least two and a half hours for lunch and dutyfree etc. I could park at the office, but space is limited and we get to park for free in the long stay, which is a five minute bus ride rather than outside the door

[Rods2]

With the UK poor overcrowded transport and road systems I've always been very generous on the journey time allowed to the airport, which has mean't after mega problems on more than one occasion, I've still made it to the airport and caught my flight. Getting to the airport very early does allow you then to relax a bit and get through all the boarding obstacles as early as possible.

The only near misses I've had on missing flights have on both occasions been on the return journey and beyond my control.

[LC0112G]

Assuming we're internet checked in and hand baggage only we plan to be at the boarding pass scanning point no later than 45mins before departure. Once the boarding pass is scanned it doesn't really matter how long or fussy the rest of (the farce that is) security takes.

Only ever missed one flight - a 9pm Sunday night Ryanair home from Rome to STN. Was dark and pi55ing down with rain, and my navigatior fell asleep so I missed the turning onto the GRA (the Rome M25) and ended up somewhere near the Vatican. Took ages to get out. Arrived at CIA well after the 1h check-in cutoff and sure enough they wouldn't let us check in (this was pre-internet checkin). We already knew the inbound was 2hrs late (hadn't even left STN yet) so we weren't best pleased but "rulez is rulez". They booked us on the 10pm - which cost a fair bit extra but what can you do if you want to get home that night?

Went through to the Portacabin departure hall and then mingled with all the other people we knew that had made the 9pm (there had been a big airshow at Pratica di Mare so we knew half those on the plane) - and they ripped into us for being raped by FR. Had the last laugh though. Our plane turned up more or less on time (came in from Bergamo IIRC) and as we were queuing to board they announced that the 9am had been cancelled - leaving everyone else stuck in Rome for the night coz there weren't any seats left on the 10pm. 

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

All of the above is why I avoid flying if at all possible. Ive always hated airports, but they have got so much more inhospitable post 9/11 that they are unbearable. The need to spend hours there before flying just to avoid not being able to board the plane is my idea of purgatory.
I had to spend an hour at LHR terminal 5 recently, and couldn't wait to get out. I would rather visit the dentist. 
As airports go, Stansted used to be a nice little airport, less than a  half hours drive from me. Now, I loathe the place with a deep passion.

[Doctor Gollum]

When Spudulike pull out of the UK post Brexit, Stansted may well return to being a nice little airport... unlikely though as the local Councils won't allow the Mancs to expand it, despite what BAA told them when they bought it , as a result they have no interest in the place... And it shows.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Don't want it to expand. Want it to be what it was 20 years ago. 

[Doctor Gollum]

Lol, originally conceived as a two runway, two terminal airport, but both Harlow and Chelmsford said no... Regional airport with significant freight hub is it's lot.