Chambery Airport – Why do they use it!

A snowHead

RichardB, I was pleased that I wasn't flying into Chambery this year (had to go to Geneva instead of Chambery a few years ago when easyJet cancelled the Chambery flight) but then you mention Verona...am off there a week on Saturday Very Happy

A snowHead

In fairness to the TOs Geneva is over capacity already so they couldn't handle the traffic Chambery sees on a regular basis. You already get them refusing rerouted Chambery flights. There also isn't the coach capacity to transfer everyone through the much longer Geneva route.

I don't know if Lyon could handle more capacity but again coach availability would be an issue.

Chambery suffers from fog and windshear which make it difficult but often problems happen before in places like foggy Brissol.

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Gerrrt tarrrts

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Chambery. poo-poo hole.

Been delayed on return flights twice, always rammed on saturdays, not decent departure lounge, about 10% of seats that are required, crap catering.

its ok if you are in and out on time. Otherwise its gonna hurt.

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If you enjoy a sport which depends on bad weather then you have to expect such problems as Chambery Sad

Some years ago was on one of the last coaches to leave Alpe D'Huez before they shut the roads due to avalanche risk. Getting to Chambery was a pain and we got there to find that they weren't bussing people out until the roads were open, and there were still coaches arriving from other resorts - bedlam didn't describe it.

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I had the choice between Geneva and Chambery and chose the latter for the shorter transfer time plus paying about £30 more per person for the priveledge. I'm flying on an Esprit charter from Edinburgh that is operated by BA. I believe they use the Embraer aircraft that normally plies the EDI-LCY route so all the crews and aircraft will be suitable for Chambery.

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Gaza, well, as people above have said, when Chambery works it's fine!

After all it is free

Not had any problems with Chambery, so far - and there's a convenient BA Saturday morning flight (Argentine or Brazillian built Embraer 190 aircraft) via London City Airport... leave home at 04.50 and be enjoying a quiet coffee in resort by 1pm. No doubt it can be as bad as any other airport when things go awry. Granted facilities are limited... on my last trip there were a total of four toilet cubicles serving the departures hall ("lounge" would suggest some measure of comfort, something far more grand!) - it's about on par with the Gare du Route, Moutiers, without all the facilities! When everything is going to plan (assuming of course there is a plan), it's fine.

A lot of fun to be had observing the various boarding calls for the Russian charter flights... it's like herding cats, trying to get the last few passengers out of the tax-free shop rolling eyes

But, for the world's most boring airport, Zurich has to be in the top 10

" Curiously, we were told that we couldn’t land at Chambery as we were not permitted to land there in the dark and with our arrival time it would be dark. Now that just had to be bollox; the hours of darkness are entirely predictable and the flight time was published in the holiday literature. "

Depends on which runway is in use, one is Day VFR only, the northernly one wink

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Looking forward to seeing photos of 93 + tonne jets landing on the grass wink

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Flown to/from Chambery for 3 holidays, had a total nightmare twice on the way home - first time due to fog delays there were probably 3 times as many folk waiting for flights as there should have been that morning (which is probably about ten times what the airport is designed for on any given day). Second time round same script, after 4 hours of sitting around waiting, got rerouted to Lyon - had to collect our own luggage and get back on the transfer bus, where the driver decided as the autoroute was too busy, to save time he'd take the "back roads" - definitely not designed for coaches. 6 hours later we arrived at Lyon, eventually got home about 12 hours later than initially planned.

James the Last, Looks like its not cost. I can fly to Geneva for less than I can Chambery. As suggested by another member it is more likely Geneva is near capacity. Looking at next years holiday already I think I will choose Geneva, save about £50 and suffer an hour more on a coach. Kids settled with electronic gizmos, a good book and a bag of crisps. Sounds quite relaxing to me. Smile

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

NickyJ, I would not recommend La Ros for you then. The return journey down the windy mountain road makes many feel sick. I felt a bit queasy, but my 5 yr old was sick. Luckily I had read about this and took a few sick bags from the plane on the way out.

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NickyJ, something i had too when I was a kid. I still don't drink fizzy drinks before a long car journey either as a passenger or driver! Sad

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RichardB, yep I don't think it ever truly goes away, you just learn what works to stop yourself actually being sick.

Mike-H, Hmm thanks for the warning. It was on the list of possibles.

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NickyJ, these days I'm fine, normally, on trains, cars, and buses. But never been ill on a plane strangely enough!

However, I'm hopeless on small boats as I found out on a excursion in Tenerife! Sad

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NickyJ, I am looking at La Ros again for next NY. My daughter was sick for about 2 mins and then perfectly normal within another 5 mins. We will probably use Esprit as the chalet choice is good. Most are right on the nursery slope so I can ski with the kids in the afternoon without walking anywhere.

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[quote="Mick_Br"]

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I actually quite like Chambery and would be tempted to punt on it for an early flight. If it works you get an extra half day skiing (particularly if you have you're own gear and dont need to mess about with hire shops). If it doesn't well just make sure you have a good book and some sarnies!

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I've flow to Chambery on one ski trip - and was delayed coming home by several hours.

Flown to Geneva many many times and have only had a couple of very slight delays, and one time many years ago when the airport was basically shut due to snow! Luckily we were with a TO who had re-routed to Lyon and we were bussed there, but all the easyjetters and BAers who had DIYed were a but stuck when all the flights got cancelled.

Had a fun trip a few years ago where we were v late taking off form Manchester (including several hours on the plane) waiting for a de-icer, then by the time we got to Grenoble the wind was too bad to land in the direction they wanted to or something, so we started to head to Lyon, then it calmed down a bit and the they decided to let the pilot have a go at landing so we went back to Grenoble. Very happy we managed to land at Grenoble as it was by now very late!

After all it is free

We've been there a couple of times, and had to pick up our return flight from Lyon on one occasion. At peak times its just too small for the number of flights they push through it and some quite big planes as well - Grenoble can be just as bad. Plus, most of the airlines that go to these local airports year round seem encourage carry-on rather than hold baggage, so the airports run their baggage handling at a minimum. I've been on Ryanair flights from Vasteras in Sweden back to Stansted with half a dozen bags going into the hold more than once - and also been delayed there cos they've had bags to load !!

If given an option I would always fly into Geneva rather than Chambery. This is nothing to do with it being small and liable to delays but as a nervous flyer, the whole landing experience. In particular on my first flight into Chambery, we circled for what seemed like an eternity waiting for a landing slot then I was fine expecting a smooth landing only to see the runway and terminal below as we flew over it at what felt like about 200m. A few seconds later we did a sharp u turn in the valley where I swear the wing of the plane nearly touched the ground before approaching and landing from the opposite direction!

I later found out that this was a normal landing and a regular occurrence - and not something I want to experience again!

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We paid a supplement for Chambery rather than go to Geneva, we are going to La Rosiere, if we chose the Geneva flight it's a longer transfer and a very long winding road into resort, last time our son was really sick partly as it was early morning, Geneva would mean another early morning whereas Chambery is late afternoon, so hoping he won't be as queasy as last time, also my only experience of Geneva was awful, we had almost landed then suddenly took off again as there was a plane on the runway Shocked

and on the way home a 4 hour delay, so Chambery here we come Toofy Grin

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Andyrew - thanks for that, hopefully they'll be fine with us too! Have you had any experience of getting snow chains out of CITER at Chambery? Had a bit of an issue last year at Geneva with Europcar but kicked up such a fuss they just gave me a 4x4 to get rid of me!

had no problem getting chains, but the one time I did have to use them they didnt seem to fit properly. It was a citroen c3 and they just didnt seem big enough to do the tensioning properly. they got us down ok, but had slipped round the wheel and were a swine to get off. they had shaved one bit razor sharp and I (nearly) sliced off the end of my thumb on them! Also the rubber bit snapped getting them off. I "commented" on this on return (with thumb all wrapped in tissues) after a 6 hour journey from les menuires and they said they'd check them. I found next day they'd refunded the cost for them. I got the thumb stitched up at casualty on way back from the uk airport!

I'd still use them for car rental, but I'd check out the chains before I might need them......

You know it makes sense.

" I was fine expecting a smooth landing only to see the runway and terminal below as we flew over it at what felt like about 200m. A few seconds later we did a sharp u turn in the valley where I swear the wing of the plane nearly touched the ground before approaching and landing from the opposite direction! "

This is the reason they do not land on that runway at night Very Happy

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Chambery is at the end of a lake in a long U shaped valley. The first flights in of the day can sometimes be affected by fog hanging low in the valley if the weather is still and settled. But once the sun gets up fog will clear pretty quickly in those conditions. I've used it a few times some years back with no problems. We once actually departed some 15 minutes early !! All on board, incl baggage, and no ATC issues. Offskie..... Laughing

You hear some horror stories but I reckon most of the time it works fine. It is tiny and there are few facilities in the Airport while you wait for departures after check-in. But Arrivals can be the fastest ever from plane to front door. Once your aircraft actually lands, it's great.

Big airports get weather related disruptions too.

A snowHead

And I thought Geneva was the worst airport ever. Seriously is a dump after coming through Singapore and Heathrow

A snowHead

used Chambery in jan 2011 to go to L2A and we did circle a couple of times at what looked like ten feet above the houses. Baggage reclaim was a nightmare with so many flights landing within minutes of each other. the return flight was delayed by four to five hours and we were stuck in the departure room with no refreshments available and three hundred russians who were about to start world war three as they had been delayed by ten hours and then told it was likely they would be going nowhere. The captain of the plane actually came into the departure lounge and spoke using a microphone. Somehow they got to leave but it was a massive rush and most of them were totally wrecked on their duty free which they decided to drink. they also openly smoked until a team of police officers arrived to restore order.

when our jet 2 flight arrived on the tarmac at edinburgh the captain informed us that he had just been made aware that some of the luggage had not got on the plane. (like he never knew on take off) I think there was only about twenty people who got there luggage and our cases and skis eventually arrived a week later via Geneva and Luton. i think this was due to the hurry we were put on the plane either to get out of chambery or to get into edinburgh before midnight which we did by five minutes. The lighter the plane the faster they can go and the less fuel they use.

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davidof, Nice photograph of that airbus. Were charter flight from Tolouset? Anyway my question is: why with a digital photograph do the propellers look like scimitar blades?

Chamberey is my favorite airport in Microsoft flight simulator. I know where it is but it is very difficult to approach from the Courchevel altiport

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Those blades are the new generation Jet Props.

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Juddernaut, not sure which bit of Heathrow you were in, but you should try Terminal 1.
Don't think you would be so keen on the place after that.

After all it is free

johnE,

Thats the shape they are, swept back for aero reasons like swept wings. Tips are near supersonic.

But

A camera phone doesnt have a shutter, in stead it electronic ally scans the sensor, reading it like a book, so if something is moving faster than the scan it will appear in several pixels at once, giving the distorted view. If you see props with this effect the blades usually sweep in different directions, ie so two try to meet

It's to give you all something different to moan about. If we fly you to GVA you moan about transfer times, and if you land at GNB you moan about crappy little airports. Chambery gives everyone a chance to moan about crappy airports as well, so diverted flights are a bonus. Laughing

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Lizzard, We do love a good moan sometimes. I'm choosing GVA. Slightly shorter flight than Chambery, but longer transfer. Accounting for reduced delays and diverted flight risk I would prefer a tad longer transfer. Booking this week for next NY.

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Chambery Airport – Why do they use it!

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