Aviation Discussion

[gsnedders]

AIUI per the regulations you should be allowed to both go through the normal queue for first time visitors: certainly citizens are allowed there with visitors. What the ushers do is hard to predict, though: they are mostly just airport staff, but at the same time I wouldn't want to be seen to be causing a scene!

 

[me123]

That flight connection is going to be plenty of time assuming flights are on time, or even up to about 40 minutes late.

Agree. I had a 50 minute connection at Heathrow going to the states once, back when Virgin did domestic flights. They operated their own shuttle bus for us Little Red pax between T2 and T3 which made things very easy, but I had plenty of time.

 

[ModernRailways]

That flight connection is going to be plenty of time assuming flights are on time, or even up to about 40 minutes late.

As for US immigration - no one here is an authority on what they are going to allow, but I would imagine they will split you up as before. You may be able to plead special circumstances but I wouldn't take it for granted.

AIUI per the regulations you should be allowed to both go through the normal queue for first time visitors: certainly citizens are allowed there with visitors. What the ushers do is hard to predict, though: they are mostly just airport staff, but at the same time I wouldn't want to be seen to be causing a scene!

Thanks both Good to know Heathrow will be fine, and I'll just keep my mouth shut to the ushers I guess. Might be easiest way since the border agents won't know what they've said.

 

[Kentish Paul]

Auckland to Santiago near crippled me but lashings of ale and the fact it was a leisure trip helped. Took me about a day to recover.

Singapore to Heathrow with Qantas did it for me. December 2004 on a 747.
a very circuitous route and a hold at the London end it took 14hrs 12mins.

 

[atillathehunn]

I find the last hour of a long-haul flight to be the worst. So close, and yet so far.
Especially into an airport which has notorious holding patterns.

 

[AlterEgo]

Just got off the new Air France 787-9. C'est magnifique.

 

[atillathehunn]

Just got off the new Air France 787-9. C'est magnifique.

In La Premiere cabin? I heard it's quite something.

 

[AlterEgo]

In La Premiere cabin? I heard it's quite something.

There's no First Class (La Première) on the 787; Business is the highest cabin.

No way can I afford to get into La Première!

 

[atillathehunn]

There's no First Class (La Première) on the 787; Business is the highest cabin.

No way can I afford to get into La Première!

My mistake. Anything above steerage is too high for me.

 

[miami]

Hilarious. BA cost cutting has now extended to postage

 

[stut]

It's so they can present postage as a new GGL perk

 

[AlterEgo]

It's so they can present postage as a new GGL perk

Perhaps you can now pay for your postage using Avios.

You could even upgrade second class post to First Class using Avios.

 

[ghYHZ]

Canada’s Westjet will be back again this summer with those short hops across the pond from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia on their transatlantic ‘737s. With a strong tailwind....the St. John’s-Dublin flight can do it in just under 4 hrs.

YYT (St. John’s)-LGW
YYT-DUB
YHZ (Halifax)-GLA

Halifax will also Has a flight to Dublin and Paris on an ASL French Airlines ‘737

>>>>>

Air Canada has a year ‘round St. John’s – Heathrow A-319 (under 5 hrs) but their Halifax – Heathrow service is on a more typical B-767.

 

[atillathehunn]

Hilarious. BA cost cutting has now extended to postage

Another one? I had seen on Flyertalk someone else receive theirs without postage. You can have the stamp and you can have the letter, but the glue to connect the two is going to cost you.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Storm Doris having quite an affect. Manchester arrivals going into long holds, some missed approaches and diversions away to Newcastle, Leeds (not known as an easy place to land in windy conditions!), Liverpool (where some missed approaches are also occurring) and the dinnertime Emirates went to Gatwick. Aer Lingus from Dublin has gone back to where it came from, ironic as EI had earlier cancelled most flights to the UK!

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's an interesting watch on FlightRadar24, that's for certain. Looks like a Thomson 787 Dreamliner's just had to TOGA. (ETA: and now it's gone to Gatwick)

https://www.flightradar24.com/TOM55/c8b0be1

 

[berneyarms]

Storm Doris having quite an affect. Manchester arrivals going into long holds, some missed approaches and diversions away to Newcastle, Leeds (not known as an easy place to land in windy conditions!), Liverpool (where some missed approaches are also occurring) and the dinnertime Emirates went to Gatwick. Aer Lingus from Dublin has gone back to where it came from, ironic as EI had earlier cancelled most flights to the UK!

Dublin was very badly affected this morning - plenty of go-arounds, no Aer Lingus short haul departures until EI152 at 7:40 and then nothing else for another hour. Ryanair also took until 07:30 or so to get going. Plenty of cancellations all around.

The Aer Lingus problems meant that some long haul arrivals were sitting remotely on the ground for nearly 2.5 hours waiting for a terminal stand to be vacated.

Not pretty!

 

[ld0595]

Norwegian Air have launched £69 fares to New York

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA on Thursday announced plans to offer transatlantic flights on 10 new routes between the United States and Europe starting at £69, ramping up pressure on U.S. and European rivals. Norwegian's £69 fares will be for one-way tickets from UK and Irish destinations to New York, Providence and Hartford in the United States.

"I pay for what I want, you pay for what you want. We don't pay for what everybody else on the plane wants," Norwegian Air spokesman Anders Lindström said of its fares.

The burgeoning competition on transatlantic routes has also prompted action by more established European airlines.

Norwegian Air's expansion strategy has helped it to more than double revenue since 2012. Last year revenue rose 16 percent to 26 billion Norwegian crowns ($3.12 billion) and the company has placed orders for 260 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, which it will receive over a period of several years.

The company said that thousands of one-way tickets will be offered at £69 (or $65 starting from the US), with fares on the next pricing tier starting at $99.

By comparison, prices for a one-way ticket from New York to Dublin in mid-June with other airlines range from about $655 to $2,755 on the Expedia travel website.

To keep costs low, Norwegian said it will fly from smaller U.S. airports with lower fees, using narrow-body Boeing 737-MAX aircraft, which are due to be delivered later this year.

The planned U.S. destinations are Stewart International Airport in Orange County, New York, T.F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island, and Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Connecticut

Norwegian will continue to fly wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliners to larger U.S. airports, the company said.

It seems like the new routes go from Edinburgh, Cork, Dublin, Shannon and Belfast to secondary airport across the East Coast including Stewart NY, Hartford CT and Providence RI on the new 737-MAX.

I hope Norwegian do well and end up expanding their transatlantic network from smaller airports - I had a little look earlier at the pricing from Edinburgh and it seems pretty attractive - albeit that is before all the cheap fares are snapped up and you add in luggage food etc. I guess the biggest issue is how far away the destinations are from the main cities (New York & Boston). Looking at the times (from Edinburgh at least) show that the flights don't leave until 5pm resulting in a local arrival time of 8pm or 1am UK time! Add in the 1.5/2 hours to get to New York/Boston and it results in a long day... but then again I assume immigration will be much quicker so that could be beneficial.

Still, I'm not too sure about an 8 hour transatlantic journey on a 737! For a tall person like me, I'd would be very cramped... but then again, for £69 one way, you can't complain!

 

[me123]

^ Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. You're going to secondary airports at terrible times. From the UK, you can be in New York for lunch (GMT-5). With those times, you'll collapse in your hotel room. The out of town airports are not always easy to get to - Providence is quite well connected, but Stewart (for New York) is a taxi to a nearby railway station. (There may be a coach apparently, but that's not what I'd want after an eight hour flight on a 737!). As you've said, the on board conditions aren't great, and for a 7-8 hour flight the low cost option isn't attractive. You can be comfortable for a short haul flight, but going across the Atlantic having even the basic creature comforts that economy class offers really does just help you stay sane. The seats are more comfortable than your standard short haul aircraft, there's usually on board entertainment, the food service (albeit usually mediocre at best) breaks up the trip...

Hartford's an interesting one that will probably be a gateway to Europe rather than to America. Nice to see Americans getting low cost flights to Scotland though, and hopefully they'll come and spend their tourist dollars.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

If you are renting a car, like a lot of people do in the US, the smaller airports are probably better - less traffic. I would certainly consider them for that benefit. Not so if you want a city break to NYC etc.

I wonder what the immigration facilities are like at those airports. When we flew into Phoenix with BA, the only European flight to there I believe, there were only two desks open for immigration with ESTAs, so we spent easily an hour in the queue to get through.

I believe Ryanair is also getting the 737 MAX, I wonder if they are planning a similar routing. If so, clever of Norwegian to get the jump on the PR.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Still, I'm not too sure about an 8 hour transatlantic journey on a 737! For a tall person like me, I'd would be very cramped... but then again, for £69 one way, you can't complain!

While 737s are constrained on seat width, being narrower than the A320 series, legroom is just a function of (as I often say with trains) a bloke with a spanner and a few hours - particularly as on most aircraft window alignment (other than the ERJ175/195 with its fewer larger windows that do roughly match a sensible seat spacing - no, Flymaybe, not *your* seat spacing) is basically irrelevant.

I'd rather fly 8 hours on a 737 with 34" pitch than on a 747 with 31" pitch.

And as I prefer a window seat, there are proportionally more of them than a widebody

 

[Tetchytyke]

A FlyBe Dash-8 had an incident yesterday evening at Schiphol, with the landing gear collapsing on landing after a flight from Edinburgh.

http://abcnews.go.com/International...collapsed-touchdown-airport/story?id=45694033

It'll be interesting to see what happens with this one, given that Dash 8s have a bit of history with dodgy landing gear. Though it does look like the wind had a big part to play.

And a video of it: https://www.facebook.com/itvnews/videos/vb.148007467671/10154560300827672/?type=2&theater

 

[Butts]

I don't think this is the same though.

The aircraft diverted en route to Prestwick for whatever reason - it wasn't a case of the flight being cancelled and him being offered an alternative flight.

The airline then bussed the passengers to Glasgow airport from Prestwick which is where their duty of care ceases.

Unfortunately butts' ticket is to Glasgow Airport - not to his home railway station or any other railway station for that matter. The taxi fare I'm afraid is irrelevant.

If butts finally arrived at Glasgow Airport on the bus less than 3 hours late I don't see the airline having any further responsibility unfortunately. If he/she arrived there more than 3 hours late then they will be entitled to compensation under EU rules.

Re Airline staff - most airlines don't have their own staff at airports these days - just their handling agents. You have to go through their customer service departments in the event of delays etc.

Well I am pleased to inform members I have just had an e-mail from Flybe informing me that they are going to cough for the £70 Taxi Fare from Glasgow Airport to Falkirk - suprised me The Air Ticket was less than £40 !!

 

[berneyarms]

Well I am pleased to inform members I have just had an e-mail from Flybe informing me that they are going to cough for the £70 Taxi Fare from Glasgow Airport to Falkirk - suprised me The Air Ticket was less than £40 !!

Good to hear.

Out of curiosity, how late were you arriving at Glasgow Airport (when you finally arrived there)?

 

[thejuggler]

Look up "hair-raising landing and takeoffs at birmingham airport on 23/02/2107" on youtube.

A couple of Dash 8s, but the Emirates 777 at 9:30 is particularly spectacular.

 

[Butts]

Good to hear.

Out of curiosity, how late were you arriving at Glasgow Airport (when you finally arrived there)?

Didn't get there till just about Midnight - hence the problem with missing the last train to Falkirk.

Scheduled arrival time was about 2155 so it was about two hours late in the end. The lateness in itself was not an issue but the time of day severely restricting onward travel options.

 

[berneyarms]

Didn't get there till just about Midnight - hence the problem with missing the last train to Falkirk.

Scheduled arrival time was about 2155 so it was about two hours late in the end. The lateness in itself was not an issue but the time of day severely restricting onward travel options.

I'll be honest - I'm very surprised they paid out - airlines would normally take the attitude that how people travel to/from the airport is their own business.

Flights arrive at airports at that hour of night all the time and they don't pay out for people to get home

They are however obliged to pay compensation for delays where arrival is greater than 3 hours - hence my question.

But good for you!

 

[Butts]

I'll be honest - I'm very surprised they paid out - airlines would normally take the attitude that how people travel to/from the airport is their own business.

Flights arrive at airports at that hour of night all the time and they don't pay out for people to get home

They are however obliged to pay compensation for delays where arrival is greater than 3 hours - hence my question.

But good for you!

"I am sorry to learn that your flight was delayed; I can fully appreciate the inconvenience this must have caused you, especially as you missed your onward train home and incurred further costs as a result. I am pleased to offer you a payment of £70 to cover the cost of your taxi fare"

That's what they said

 

[fowler9]

While 737s are constrained on seat width, being narrower than the A320 series, legroom is just a function of (as I often say with trains) a bloke with a spanner and a few hours - particularly as on most aircraft window alignment (other than the ERJ175/195 with its fewer larger windows that do roughly match a sensible seat spacing - no, Flymaybe, not *your* seat spacing) is basically irrelevant.

I'd rather fly 8 hours on a 737 with 34" pitch than on a 747 with 31" pitch.

And as I prefer a window seat, there are proportionally more of them than a widebody

I reckon I could do long haul on a narrow body with a budget airline if I had a really good book.

 

[Butts]

I reckon I could do long haul on a narrow body with a budget airline if I had a really good book.

You may be better with one that sent you to sleep