Holiday/flight cancellations and refunds ( title updated )

[Jambo-Jimbo]

Just back from Madrid last night and didn't have any issues whatsoever, we only had hand luggage though.

 

Edinburgh security was 9 minutes and that was only because they wanted a closer look at something in my bag, otherwise would have been under 5 minutes.

Madrid immigration was 8 minutes from joining the queue to getting my passport stamped.  This was the first time travelling to the EU since Brexit and I was pleasantly surprised that there were no delays, they had 2 booths for EU passports being checked and 4 for non EU and both queues moved along smoothly & quickly.

 

Coming back.

Madrid security was 6 minutes and passort control was 30 seconds if that, no queue when I went through.

Passort control at Edinburgh was 19 minutes, noticed that the self scanners sometimes 8 were working at the same time, sometimes only 2 and people were being directed to the old fashioned manual passport check, which is what we got.

 

All in all no problems, now that may have been different if we'd had had hold luggage, as I did notice a lot of luggage piled up at the side of baggage reclaim, I don't know why it was there, but there was a lot and it looked to be completely unattended.

 

Edit: Covid checks at Madrid were after passport control and basically you waved your NHS Covid status and that was enough, I suppose they would check randomly every now and then, we just got waved onwards.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Jambo-Jimbo

[The Real Maroonblood]

1 hour ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

Just back from Madrid last night and didn't have any issues whatsoever, we only had hand luggage though.

 

Edinburgh security was 9 minutes and that was only because they wanted a closer look at something in my bag, otherwise would have been under 5 minutes.

Madrid immigration was 8 minutes from joining the queue to getting my passport stamped.  This was the first time travelling to the EU since Brexit and I was pleasantly surprised that there were no delays, they had 2 booths for EU passports being checked and 4 for non EU and both queues moved along smoothly & quickly.

 

Coming back.

Madrid security was 6 minutes and passort control was 30 seconds if that, no queue when I went through.

Passort control at Edinburgh was 19 minutes, noticed that the self scanners sometimes 8 were working at the same time, sometimes only 2 and people were being directed to the old fashioned manual passport check, which is what we got.

 

All in all no problems, now that may have been different if we'd had had hold luggage, as I did notice a lot of luggage piled up at the side of baggage reclaim, I don't know why it was there, but there was a lot and it looked to be completely unattended.

 

Edit: Covid checks at Madrid were after passport control and basically you waved your NHS Covid status and that was enough, I suppose they would check randomly every now and then, we just got waved onwards.

 

 

I’m glad it worked out alright for you.

I’m still not keen on going abroad yet.

[graygo]

25 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

I’m glad it worked out alright for you.

I’m still not keen on going abroad yet.

 

The more people think like you the better it is for the rest of us. Thanks. 👍☀️🏖️🌅✈️

[Footballfirst]

My estimated 20 minute delay at Schiphol turned out to be 50 minutes.   However it was mainly related to the manpower issues at the airport.  There was a wheelchair bound passenger that had to wait 25 minutes for an specialist airport vehicle with a lift to get them off. Meanwhile, everyone had to wait in the pen at the gate. Once the disabled passenger was disembarked, we were held at the gate for a further 10 minutes waiting for for the plane to be refuelled. Apparently they are not allowed to refuel while passengers are on the plane. 

 

On arrival at Edinburgh, the plane was held short of the gate for 5 minutes because someone had left a vehicle in the way. Once it was removed, we were held on board for another 15 minutes waiting for a plane at an adjacent gate to board. I assume that the same entry/exit door was being used for both flights.

 

There were around 250 people in front of us at passport control. 8 out of 10 automatic scanners were in use and there were 3 other staff doing manual checks.  It took around 20 minutes to get through, so not desperate.

[The Real Maroonblood]

57 minutes ago, graygo said:

 

The more people think like you the better it is for the rest of us. Thanks. 👍☀️🏖️🌅✈️

Glad to help.

 

[fabienleclerq]

Edinburgh Airport arrivals is a bit embarrassing tbh, up and down stairs ,2 automatic scanners working only 2 carousels. Exiting the Airport if I didn't know where I was going it's not the clearest. Just a bit disjointed for tourists imo. Guy directing people in passport control was pretty rude too but could be a bad day.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

1 hour ago, fabienleclerq said:

Edinburgh Airport arrivals is a bit embarrassing tbh, up and down stairs ,2 automatic scanners working only 2 carousels. Exiting the Airport if I didn't know where I was going it's not the clearest. Just a bit disjointed for tourists imo. Guy directing people in passport control was pretty rude too but could be a bad day.

 

Now that you mention it, yes you are right, I said at the time to Mrs JJ, about folks with mobility problems and folks with heart or lung problems, really shouldn't be having to climb several flights of stairs, especially when there are also so many people behind you, it puts you under pressure to keep on going so as to not slow anybody down.   I was quite out of breath when I reached the level part, before you then come down a flight of stairs for passport control.

 

[stirlo]

Went through the airport the last few days and it all was pretty smooth. Maybe 8-10 minutes to get through security on the way out and 3-4 minutes at passport control on the way back. I must say I was surprised just by how busy the airport was at 4.30am on Thursday. You'd have thought the current inflation situation and fuel crisis would really be taking its toll on air travel, but there still seems to be a big appetite for foreign travel following all the restrictions of the last couple of years.

[Pans Jambo]

15 hours ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Now that you mention it, yes you are right, I said at the time to Mrs JJ, about folks with mobility problems and folks with heart or lung problems, really shouldn't be having to climb several flights of stairs, especially when there are also so many people behind you, it puts you under pressure to keep on going so as to not slow anybody down.   I was quite out of breath when I reached the level part, before you then come down a flight of stairs for passport control.

 

Then there's the walk from the plane stand to get your baggage. About 900 mtrs  or more with the walking conveyors only going in one direction. Utter pish if you are old or have health issues!

[Taffin]

15 minutes ago, Pans Jambo said:

Then there's the walk from the plane stand to get your baggage. About 900 mtrs  or more with the walking conveyors only going in one direction. Utter pish if you are old or have health issues!

 

Pretty sure if people let them know in advance they will provide assistance.

 

 

[Pans Jambo]

24 minutes ago, Taffin said:

 

Pretty sure if people let them know in advance they will provide assistance.

 

 

Perhaps but is there even staff to assist? The airport directors let most people go during Covid and now, nobody want to work shifts for a tenner an hour so they are struggling to get staff. Shitshow.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

15 minutes ago, Taffin said:

 

Pretty sure if people let them know in advance they will provide assistance.

 

 

 

Yes that's true, however that then takes staff away from other duties, which then leaves that area short, it's a vicious circle.

There was a case, just a week or so ago at Gatwick where a severly disabled passenger was stuck on the plane for 3 hours because the special assistance crew were busy with other passengers who needed help as well.  And that 3 hour delay would then have a knock-on effect for other flights, they might even have needed to be cancelled.

 

Miss JJ on one of her last flights from Edinburgh (she's now back at Gatwick) was delayed by almost an hour, because the crane/hoist was being used elsewhere, all the other passengers have to sit and wait until that one passenger has been taken off, just tough if you have a connecting flight somewhere else, you've probably missed it.

 

The whole things a mess right now, with lack of staff.

[Taffin]

7 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Yes that's true, however that then takes staff away from other duties, which then leaves that area short, it's a vicious circle.

There was a case, just a week or so ago at Gatwick where a severly disabled passenger was stuck on the plane for 3 hours because the special assistance crew were busy with other passengers who needed help as well.  And that 3 hour delay would then have a knock-on effect for other flights, they might even have needed to be cancelled.

 

Miss JJ on one of her last flights from Edinburgh (she's now back at Gatwick) was delayed by almost an hour, because the crane/hoist was being used elsewhere, all the other passengers have to sit and wait until that one passenger has been taken off, just tough if you have a connecting flight somewhere else, you've probably missed it.

 

The whole things a mess right now, with lack of staff.

 

Yeh the wages are too low to attract people willing to work those hours and shift patterns.

 

Personally I'd have disembarked the rest of the flight prior to using the ambulift if there was a delay to getting it to the plane, but maybe the rules have changed since my airport days...it's been a while, thankfully.

 

I'm not defending the shambles, I just think a 900mtr walk from plane to baggage isn't bad, or unusual. It's absolutely a fair criticism though if when requested they're unable to provide alternative facilities for those with disabilities.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Taffin

[Jambo-Jimbo]

13 minutes ago, Taffin said:

 

Yeh the wages are too low to attract people willing to work those hours and shift patterns.

 

Personally I'd have disembarked the rest of the flight prior to using the ambulift if there was a delay to getting it to the plane, but maybe the rules have changed since my airport days...it's been a while, thankfully.

 

I'm not defending the shambles, I just think a 900mtr walk from plane to baggage isn't bad, or unusual. It's absolutely a fair criticism though if when requested they're unable to provide alternative facilities for those with disabilities.

 

I don't think it's the 900m that's the issue, it's the up and down stairs, that's the disgrace.

Other airports Madrid, Rome just to name but two, people have a 1.5k maybe even longer walk from the aircraft to passport control/baggage but it's usually all on one level and if not there are usually escalators, but when passengers arrive in Scotland's capital they are met with a trek up several flights of stairs, it all just seems so amateur to me. 

 

Personally I think they have spent so much time and money on refurbishing the departure hall, that they forgot about or ran out of money to improve other parts of the airport.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

Well that's my next trip cancelled, I was supposed to be going to Belgium & France next month on a Beer & Battlefields bus tour, but Leger Holiday's has cancelled the trip due to lack of numbers for the trip.  They have offered an alternative tour, but we done that tour 4 years ago.  So it'll be a full refund and we'll just put the money away and see what staff offers Miss JJ gets, that is how we ended up in Madrid, as it was going to cost well over £300+ for the flights and she got a staff offer on nearly the same dates of £102 total cost, that was with speedy boarding, choice of seats etc etc, £51 return each for me & Mrs JJ, happy days.

 

Thinking about end of August or early September, Lisbon, Seville, Crete or Cyprus somewhere like that would be perfect, so we'll just give her some dates and places and see if she gets any staff offers which will suit us.

[highlandjambo3]

18 hours ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

Thinking about end of August or early September, Lisbon, Seville, Crete or Cyprus somewhere like that would be perfect, so we'll just give her some dates and places and see if she gets any staff offers which will suit us.

Been to Crete a few years back, didn’t like it.  Was all English pubs/breakfast and fish & chips (well the north of the island was) proper little Britton*.  Mrs and I buggered off to the south of the island for a couple of days…..much better.

 

* Cyprus (see Crete above). North Cyprus is worth a visit though, the Turkish part, completely different from the South although we had to fly into the south then drive across the border to the north.  No direct flights into north Cyprus with the exception of flying from turkey……..not sure if that’s still the same these days.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

1 hour ago, highlandjambo3 said:

Been to Crete a few years back, didn’t like it.  Was all English pubs/breakfast and fish & chips (well the north of the island was) proper little Britton*.  Mrs and I buggered off to the south of the island for a couple of days…..much better.

 

* Cyprus (see Crete above). North Cyprus is worth a visit though, the Turkish part, completely different from the South although we had to fly into the south then drive across the border to the north.  No direct flights into north Cyprus with the exception of flying from turkey……..not sure if that’s still the same these days.

 

Been to Crete back in the 90's and yes it was a bit mini Britain.

Cyprus was much the same, been there several times.  Never been to the North though.

[davemclaren]

2 hours ago, highlandjambo3 said:

Been to Crete a few years back, didn’t like it.  Was all English pubs/breakfast and fish & chips (well the north of the island was) proper little Britton*.  Mrs and I buggered off to the south of the island for a couple of days…..much better.

 

* Cyprus (see Crete above). North Cyprus is worth a visit though, the Turkish part, completely different from the South although we had to fly into the south then drive across the border to the north.  No direct flights into north Cyprus with the exception of flying from turkey……..not sure if that’s still the same these days.

It is still the same. We are flying there via Istanbul next month. 
 

the North is a lot less built up, more basic but cheap as chips compared to the south. 

[Ray Gin]

https://uk.style.yahoo.com/airlines-ordered-cancel-summer-flights-191533677.html

 

"Airlines have been ordered by the government to cancel flights for July and August now to “de-risk the summer” for tens of thousands of passengers."

[highlandjambo3]

30 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

It is still the same. We are flying there via Istanbul next month. 
 

the North is a lot less built up, more basic but cheap as chips compared to the south. 

Aye…..north is the dogs 👍

[Doctor FinnBarr]

Help required, flying to Tunisia on Monday with Tui. Managed to print off outbound boarding passes ok but can't for the life of me find where to print off the return boarding passes. Tui "live chat" doesn't appear to be working. Anyone here help?

[theshed]

15 minutes ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

Help required, flying to Tunisia on Monday with Tui. Managed to print off outbound boarding passes ok but can't for the life of me find where to print off the return boarding passes. Tui "live chat" doesn't appear to be working. Anyone here help?

Could be totally wrong and just a guess but some company’s never used to let you check in till 48 hours before departure so you can’t check in for your return flight yet and that’s why you can’t get a boarding pass 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[Doctor FinnBarr]

2 minutes ago, theshed said:

Could be totally wrong and just a guess but some company’s never used to let you check in till 48 hours before departure so you can’t check in for your return flight yet and that’s why you can’t get a boarding pass 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

 

I'm just going to let the Tui rep at the hotel deal with it.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

2 hours ago, theshed said:

Could be totally wrong and just a guess but some company’s never used to let you check in till 48 hours before departure so you can’t check in for your return flight yet and that’s why you can’t get a boarding pass 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

 

I think BA are the same (at least they used to be), you can't check-in until 48 hrs before your flight, meaning you can print off your boarding passes for the outbound journey at home but can't do the same for the return journey.  It's all a bit of a nonsense as easyJet & Jet2 allow you to check-in and print off both boarding passes up to 30 days prior to travel.

[graygo]

3 hours ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

Help required, flying to Tunisia on Monday with Tui. Managed to print off outbound boarding passes ok but can't for the life of me find where to print off the return boarding passes. Tui "live chat" doesn't appear to be working. Anyone here help?

 

We're just back from Turkey and had to check in at the airport for the return journey, might be the same for Tunisia. A few countries are on the list for this and extra security measures.

 

Edit: Tunisia are on the list, total ball ache going through security before returning to the UK as they do thorough searches of hand luggage and body searches of everyone.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by graygo

[WorldChampions1902]

Just landed in Madeira 2 hours late today after one of the most stressful flights ever.  Got to Birmingham airport 3 hours before departure to be met with scenes of utter carnage in the Tui Check-in hall. 80% of the floor space was dominated by a queuing system that snaked from one end of the hall and back (a long distance), multiple times. There were many hundreds of people queued to use the self check-in machines and the queue moved at a snails pace. Having taken over an hour to eventually drop my baggage, moving upstairs to go through Security took a similar amount of time.

 

I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally boarded my TUI plane and with everyone onboard and the doors closed in good time for our 06:15 take-off, it was job done -or so I thought. Our departure time came and went and at around 06:20, all hell let loose due to a passengers medical emergency. After the passenger received medical attention, the captain announced that there would be a significant delay. I had to chuckle when he said that “the chaos” we had all witnessed in the Terminal had impacted our flight as none of the baggage had yet been loaded. One and a half hours later, the Captain announced that all baggage was now secured but that he was now waiting on ground staff to detach the air bridge and was also waiting on ground crew finding a truck to perform the “push-back” from the Terminal. 

 

We eventually took to the air 1 hour 55 minutes late. But that wasn’t the end of it. Not far from Porto, a second passenger collapsed whilst standing in the aisle and after administering oxygen and some meds, the poor lady was helped into a seat. For a while, there was speculation that we might have to to divert but fortunately the lady was deemed stable enough to proceed to Funchal.

 

Aside from the 2 medical emergencies which were just bad luck, Birmingham airport seems to be in a state of disarray. The bottom line is that our TUI flight was ready to take off on time but ground crew issues prevented that from happening. I’m dreading the return journey, but time for another glass of Vinho Verde.

[WorldChampions1902]

4 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Enjoy your holiday!

 

Given the rate of casualties on your flight, I’d be buying myself a wee boat and getting home under my own steam.

Cheers! 🥂

 

Looking at the age profile of the outbound flight, I suspect there will be fewer passengers on the return leg. I’m in my early 60’s and I reckon at least a third of the passengers were in their late 70’s. But Madeira attracts that sort of tourist which is surprising, given how hilly it is.

 

Another Vinho Verde downed. Hic!

[Footballfirst]

12 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Enjoy your holiday!

 

Given the rate of casualties on your flight, I’d be buying myself a wee boat and getting home under my own steam.

Not a good idea at the moment. You might end up in Rwanda.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

13 hours ago, WorldChampions1902 said:

Just landed in Madeira 2 hours late today after one of the most stressful flights ever.  Got to Birmingham airport 3 hours before departure to be met with scenes of utter carnage in the Tui Check-in hall. 80% of the floor space was dominated by a queuing system that snaked from one end of the hall and back (a long distance), multiple times. There were many hundreds of people queued to use the self check-in machines and the queue moved at a snails pace. Having taken over an hour to eventually drop my baggage, moving upstairs to go through Security took a similar amount of time.

 

I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally boarded my TUI plane and with everyone onboard and the doors closed in good time for our 06:15 take-off, it was job done -or so I thought. Our departure time came and went and at around 06:20, all hell let loose due to a passengers medical emergency. After the passenger received medical attention, the captain announced that there would be a significant delay. I had to chuckle when he said that “the chaos” we had all witnessed in the Terminal had impacted our flight as none of the baggage had yet been loaded. One and a half hours later, the Captain announced that all baggage was now secured but that he was now waiting on ground staff to detach the air bridge and was also waiting on ground crew finding a truck to perform the “push-back” from the Terminal. 

 

We eventually took to the air 1 hour 55 minutes late. But that wasn’t the end of it. Not far from Porto, a second passenger collapsed whilst standing in the aisle and after administering oxygen and some meds, the poor lady was helped into a seat. For a while, there was speculation that we might have to to divert but fortunately the lady was deemed stable enough to proceed to Funchal.

 

Aside from the 2 medical emergencies which were just bad luck, Birmingham airport seems to be in a state of disarray. The bottom line is that our TUI flight was ready to take off on time but ground crew issues prevented that from happening. I’m dreading the return journey, but time for another glass of Vinho Verde.

 

A situation being repeated up and down the country, but who gets the flak.....the airlines, when as you witnessed yourself none of the delays were anything to do with TUI, it was all down to lack of airport staff.

 

Heathrow airport yesterday told airlines flying out of terminal 2 & 3 to cancel 10% of their flights, soley because Heathrow airport didn't have enough staff, but of course it'll be the airlines fault, they shouldn't have sold the tickets according to the likes of Shapps et al.

 

 

[milky_26]

Just heard on the radio that easyJet cabin crew in Spain are to strike for 3 weekends in july

[Jambo-Jimbo]

42 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

Just heard on the radio that easyJet cabin crew in Spain are to strike for 3 weekends in july

 

That'll only really effect flights from Spain to where ever, there will be the odd flight to the UK and back to their Spanish base, but won't have a huge impact on British flights.

[il Duce McTarkin]

17 hours ago, WorldChampions1902 said:

Just landed in Madeira 2 hours late today after one of the most stressful flights ever.  Got to Birmingham airport 3 hours before departure to be met with scenes of utter carnage in the Tui Check-in hall. 80% of the floor space was dominated by a queuing system that snaked from one end of the hall and back (a long distance), multiple times. There were many hundreds of people queued to use the self check-in machines and the queue moved at a snails pace. Having taken over an hour to eventually drop my baggage, moving upstairs to go through Security took a similar amount of time.

 

I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally boarded my TUI plane and with everyone onboard and the doors closed in good time for our 06:15 take-off, it was job done -or so I thought. Our departure time came and went and at around 06:20, all hell let loose due to a passengers medical emergency. After the passenger received medical attention, the captain announced that there would be a significant delay. I had to chuckle when he said that “the chaos” we had all witnessed in the Terminal had impacted our flight as none of the baggage had yet been loaded. One and a half hours later, the Captain announced that all baggage was now secured but that he was now waiting on ground staff to detach the air bridge and was also waiting on ground crew finding a truck to perform the “push-back” from the Terminal. 

 

We eventually took to the air 1 hour 55 minutes late. But that wasn’t the end of it. Not far from Porto, a second passenger collapsed whilst standing in the aisle and after administering oxygen and some meds, the poor lady was helped into a seat. For a while, there was speculation that we might have to to divert but fortunately the lady was deemed stable enough to proceed to Funchal.

 

Aside from the 2 medical emergencies which were just bad luck, Birmingham airport seems to be in a state of disarray. The bottom line is that our TUI flight was ready to take off on time but ground crew issues prevented that from happening. I’m dreading the return journey, but time for another glass of Vinho Verde.

 

I flew to Rio from Edinburgh on Sunday. I arrived at the airport at 3:30am for the 6am flight to Amsterdam and only just made it. The queue for security came down the escalators. My colleague flew from Birmingham and she said it was chaos.

The connecting flight at Schiphol was then delayed half an hour. Chatting to the hostess on the flight to Rio and she was saying that KLM are also struggling for staff, and that the ground crew and air crew staffing problems are pretty much universal at the moment. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Dirk McClaymore

[Malinga the Swinga]

12 minutes ago, Dirk McClaymore said:

 

I flew to Rio from Edinburgh on Sunday. I arrived at the airport at 3:30am for the 6am flight to Amsterdam and only just made it. The queue for security came down the escalators. My colleague flew from Birmingham and she said it was chaos.

The connecting flight at Schiphol was then delayed half an hour. Chatting to the hostess on the flight to Rio and she was saying that KLM are also struggling for staff, and that the ground crew and air crew staffing problems are pretty much universal at the moment. 

Must be the bloody Tories fault. 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

51 minutes ago, Dirk McClaymore said:

 

I flew to Rio from Edinburgh on Sunday. I arrived at the airport at 3:30am for the 6am flight to Amsterdam and only just made it. The queue for security came down the escalators. My colleague flew from Birmingham and she said it was chaos.

The connecting flight at Schiphol was then delayed half an hour. Chatting to the hostess on the flight to Rio and she was saying that KLM are also struggling for staff, and that the ground crew and air crew staffing problems are pretty much universal at the moment. 

 

KLM had even stopped selling tickets for some flights a couple of weeks ago, so as to try and ease the congestion at Schiphol airport, and around about 1400 people missed their flights at Dublin airport over one week-end, again a couple of weeks ago.  In the USA, Miami & Boston have had some major issues, so yeh, it isn't just the UK suffering from staff shortages.  

 

It's going to take some time to sort this out.

[WorldChampions1902]

3 hours ago, Dirk McClaymore said:

 

I flew to Rio from Edinburgh on Sunday. I arrived at the airport at 3:30am for the 6am flight to Amsterdam and only just made it. The queue for security came down the escalators. My colleague flew from Birmingham and she said it was chaos.

The connecting flight at Schiphol was then delayed half an hour. Chatting to the hostess on the flight to Rio and she was saying that KLM are also struggling for staff, and that the ground crew and air crew staffing problems are pretty much universal at the moment. 

This is the last thing I wanted to hear. We are off to Rio in January flying KLM from Manchester and go to Amsterdam first. Hopefully KLM and the airports get their act together by then.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

Ryanair staff in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal & Belgium are set to strike this month & in July.

Scandinavian airline pilots could also be going on strike.

Easyjet Spanish staff as we know are going on strike and now BA could be next.

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/06/22/ryanair-ba-and-easyjet-strikes-when-are-airline-walkouts-happening-this-summer

 

 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

British Airways ground & check-in staff at Heathrow have voted in favour of strike action, no dates have been announced thus far.

 

Stems from staff saying that they took a 10% pay cut during the pandemic, a cut which managers have now had re-installed but the workers haven't, instead they have been offered a 10% bonus by BA, but would still mean they have still had a 10% wage cut.

[Ray Gin]

On 20/06/2022 at 20:28, WorldChampions1902 said:

Just landed in Madeira 2 hours late today after one of the most stressful flights ever.  Got to Birmingham airport 3 hours before departure to be met with scenes of utter carnage in the Tui Check-in hall. 80% of the floor space was dominated by a queuing system that snaked from one end of the hall and back (a long distance), multiple times. There were many hundreds of people queued to use the self check-in machines and the queue moved at a snails pace. Having taken over an hour to eventually drop my baggage, moving upstairs to go through Security took a similar amount of time.

 

I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally boarded my TUI plane and with everyone onboard and the doors closed in good time for our 06:15 take-off, it was job done -or so I thought. Our departure time came and went and at around 06:20, all hell let loose due to a passengers medical emergency. After the passenger received medical attention, the captain announced that there would be a significant delay. I had to chuckle when he said that “the chaos” we had all witnessed in the Terminal had impacted our flight as none of the baggage had yet been loaded. One and a half hours later, the Captain announced that all baggage was now secured but that he was now waiting on ground staff to detach the air bridge and was also waiting on ground crew finding a truck to perform the “push-back” from the Terminal. 

 

We eventually took to the air 1 hour 55 minutes late. But that wasn’t the end of it. Not far from Porto, a second passenger collapsed whilst standing in the aisle and after administering oxygen and some meds, the poor lady was helped into a seat. For a while, there was speculation that we might have to to divert but fortunately the lady was deemed stable enough to proceed to Funchal.

 

Aside from the 2 medical emergencies which were just bad luck, Birmingham airport seems to be in a state of disarray. The bottom line is that our TUI flight was ready to take off on time but ground crew issues prevented that from happening. I’m dreading the return journey, but time for another glass of Vinho Verde.

 

'kin'ell. Sounds like a nightmare.

 

Starting to get the fear about what awaits me when I attempt to fly out in August. 6am flight so really don't want to need to be at the airport 3 hours early.

 

[WorldChampions1902]

2 minutes ago, Ray Gin said:

 

'kin'ell. Sounds like a nightmare.

 

Starting to get the fear about what awaits me when I attempt to fly out in August. 6am flight so really don't want to need to be at the airport 3 hours early.

 

I have never, ever been at an airport 3 hours before take-off for a short-haul flight. But because of what we had seen on the news in recent weeks, we decided to give ourselves that extra time. I’m so glad we did and I would encourage you to do the same.
 

Having been in Madeira a few days now, we have heard similar stories from fellow hotel guests who flew from Manchester. The other thing I didn’t say was that when we were parked outside the Birmingham airport terminal for nearly two ours, our Captain told us that a number of other planes we could see around us were also waiting on ground crew services to enable them to depart and they were all late too.

 

Hopefully you will be OK, but you don’t want to miss your flight because you don’t clear Security in time.

[milky_26]

31 minutes ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

British Airways ground & check-in staff at Heathrow have voted in favour of strike action, no dates have been announced thus far.

 

Stems from staff saying that they took a 10% pay cut during the pandemic, a cut which managers have now had re-installed but the workers haven't, instead they have been offered a 10% bonus by BA, but would still mean they have still had a 10% wage cut.

Even if they got the 10% bonus they would still be down as I assume the 10% would be calculated on the reduced wage thus they would be 1% down on the pre wage cut level

[Jambo-Jimbo]

1 hour ago, milky_26 said:

Even if they got the 10% bonus they would still be down as I assume the 10% would be calculated on the reduced wage thus they would be 1% down on the pre wage cut level

 

As far as I understand it the 10% bonus is a one off payment for this year only, so yeh it won't cover what they have already lost.

 

I seem to recall, right at the start of the pandemic, BA threatening to fire and re-hire staff on reduced wages, I don't know if this 10% wage cut was agreed to stave off this threat.

 

 

[Malinga the Swinga]

2 hours ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

British Airways ground & check-in staff at Heathrow have voted in favour of strike action, no dates have been announced thus far.

 

Stems from staff saying that they took a 10% pay cut during the pandemic, a cut which managers have now had re-installed but the workers haven't, instead they have been offered a 10% bonus by BA, but would still mean they have still had a 10% wage cut.

If that is case, and no reason to believe it isn't, then they are quite right.

If all took pain of cut, then all should see pay returned to previous.

You do wonder why management try to pull this trick off. They must know it will only piss staff off.

Just bizarre.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

1 hour ago, Ray Gin said:

 

'kin'ell. Sounds like a nightmare.

 

Starting to get the fear about what awaits me when I attempt to fly out in August. 6am flight so really don't want to need to be at the airport 3 hours early.

 

 

This time we gave ourselves 2¾ hours flying from Edinburgh 06.05 am, just in case.  Sailed through security in the end, but.....

[Jambo-Jimbo]

1 minute ago, Malinga the Swinga said:

If that is case, and no reason to believe it isn't, then they are quite right.

If all took pain of cut, then all should see pay returned to previous.

You do wonder why management try to pull this trick off. They must know it will only piss staff off.

Just bizarre.

 

Mind it's BA we are talking about here.

Certainly sounds like the workers have been shafted.......once again by BA management.

[Ray Gin]

2 hours ago, WorldChampions1902 said:

I have never, ever been at an airport 3 hours before take-off for a short-haul flight. But because of what we had seen on the news in recent weeks, we decided to give ourselves that extra time. I’m so glad we did and I would encourage you to do the same.
 

Having been in Madeira a few days now, we have heard similar stories from fellow hotel guests who flew from Manchester. The other thing I didn’t say was that when we were parked outside the Birmingham airport terminal for nearly two ours, our Captain told us that a number of other planes we could see around us were also waiting on ground crew services to enable them to depart and they were all late too.

 

Hopefully you will be OK, but you don’t want to miss your flight because you don’t clear Security in time.

 

1 hour ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

This time we gave ourselves 2¾ hours flying from Edinburgh 06.05 am, just in case.  Sailed through security in the end, but.....

 

Cheers. Yeah looks like I'll be getting out of bed at 2am to be on the safe side. Shame my brain point-blank refuses to sleep before 11pm. 
 

 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

9 minutes ago, Ray Gin said:

 

 

Cheers. Yeah looks like I'll be getting out of bed at 2am to be on the safe side. Shame my brain point-blank refuses to sleep before 11pm. 
 

 

 Or as we call it...silly o'clock.

 

[hmfc_liam06]

Just back from 2 weeks in America and Mexico. Boarded 6 flights in total and never had one bit of bother. Queues weren’t out of the ordinary.

 

Highlight was some American trying to board the GLA to HRW flight having tested positive the day before though  

[Nucky Thompson]

People arriving at the airport more than 2 hours before their flights are the ones that are causing the problems.

 

If folk stuck to the 2 hours then everyone would sail through

[WorldChampions1902]

14 minutes ago, Nucky Thompson said:

People arriving at the airport more than 2 hours before their flights are the ones that are causing the problems.

 

If folk stuck to the 2 hours then everyone would sail through

[il Duce McTarkin]

1 hour ago, Nucky Thompson said:

People arriving at the airport more than 2 hours before their flights are the ones that are causing the problems.

 

If folk stuck to the 2 hours then everyone would sail through

 

If I'd stuck to the 2 hours last Sunday I wouldn't have made my flight. 🤷