 Poster: A snowHead
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On arrival we were delayed leaving the airport to resort as some flights could not land. One week later we are delayed flying home by four hours as flights are diverted to Lyon. Many travellers had to get a bus to Lyon. Luckily our flight re-fuelled and returned when the conditions improved.
I would happily use Geneva and spend an hour extra on the transfer than risk using Chambery. Yet tour operators continue to use it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'd be interested to see the stats. We've used it twice in recent years:
- Fine on both outbound flights.
- Both inbound flights delayed:
1. Wind - Tour operator flew us home from Lyon instead.
2. Technical problem then bomb scare (nine hour-plus delay  ).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I daresay it's cheaper to use than Geneva. Shorter transfers will be cheaper to operate too.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I just tell TOs that if they are booking us through Chambery, I will book with someone else. They soon come up with Geneva flights. Almost everyone I know seems to have spent the night in Chambery airport.
Great when it works, but unfortunately it is too close to all the weather that makes the skiing so good.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Gulp! I'm using Chambery for the first time this year. Going to Courchevel with Ski Esprit. Wish me luck!!!
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We have used it twice now (with Esprit) and had no problems.
Personally I prefer it as it normally means shorter transfer times (by that I am referring to time spent on the bus).
In fact we did have a bit of a delay one time for the coach because of a flight, but they rearranged things / dropoffs etc so that the coach left without that flight and we dropped some people somewhere to meet a minibus, to not delay us too much.
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FastCarver74, as long as you get there, you've got no problem - after all the TO has to get you home, and Esprit are big enough to reroute through another airport if required. The major difficulty has been friends who have used it for DIY trips and arrived at a closed airport trying to get home.
Of course, if it is closed on the way out, you might find yourself sitting in UK airport waiting to be routed to different airport or delayed a bit, but ultimately the TO needs to get you to resort otherwise you'll be getting a refund (which they won't be keen to do) but it isn't quite as bad as perhaps its reputation suggests.
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| Quote: |
| Chambery Airport – Why do they use it! |
'cos it's fun to put 10,000 people into a building the size of Victoria Coach Station  I think it has better value landing fees and a shorter transfer . . . it's all money saved that makes a profit. It's quite a nice little friendly airport if it weren't for all the TAs. I've flown into it in the Spring.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
Great when it works
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This. I once flew into Chambery from Southampton on a Thursday evening, having left my car at Chambery some days earlier. The car parking was free, I only had carry-on baggage and I was switching the engine on within about 5 minutes of touch down. I'd avoid it on a Saturday, though.
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Surely the constant re-routing etc costs more than the landing slots at Geneva. I guess they win some - lose some.
FastCarver74, I was with Esprit this year. Airport is not the best, but at least you can take the kids to the Esprit rooms when the rest of the airport is rammed. Next year I will ask for a Geneva flight if possible though to remove the risk. Don't rush through passport control as its just a cattle queue on the other side.
I hope your flight lands OK and I am sure you will have a great holiday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Mike-H wrote: |
| Surely the constant re-routing etc costs more than the landing slots at Geneva. |
I think we can safely say "no it doesn't" otherwise they wouldn't do it...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We used it three times in a row but that was 10 years ago now. One diversion to Geneva where we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours before returning to Chambery, and one 6 hour return delay which was an absolute nightmare, with no food left for our hungry kids, nowhere to sit and no information.
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We're flying into Chamberry in 12 days - doing a DIY job and picking up a hire car - is baggage reclaim a bit of a nightmare in poeple's experience? And yes, we land at about 10am on a Saturday morning!
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You know it makes sense.
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Baggage reclaim is fast. Just 2 belts that are operating within minutes of landing. You walk past customs and you are at the baggage belts. The airport is very small.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Never had a problem myself, but have at Geneva, its luck of the draw.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Because it has cheap landing/ berthing fees, that's it! Who cares about customer inconvenience? Try Lufthansa/ Swiss/ EJ - they fly to main hub airports not like Monarch/ Jet2/ First Choice etc that operate a cattle-market business model! Won't even comment on Leeryair, no desire to go near them.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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FastCarver74, Few problems with Chamb, nothing i've not had worse elsewhere. Plus as you're flying with Espirit, they have a reserved area in the airport for the kids to run around, toys, games, staff, bottle warmers and changing/feeding areas for the babies.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I was always under the impression that punters preferred Chambery due to the shorter transfer times it offers compared to Grenoble and Geneva.
I don't have the figures to hand but it would be interesting to see how much disruption it causes the airlines vs the cost saving of cheaper landing fees and transfer times (although that is built into the holiday cost, if a package)
From an airline operational point of view places like Chambery and Innsbruck are a pita, crews need to have special training to fly there (so less flexibility if crew issues arise), aircraft need to be in tip top technical condition and when they get delayed it always knocks on to the rest of the program, this weekend I have been delayed two hrs each day thanks to crap weather at Chambery delaying my flights.
I think the question has been asked before and some years you will find there is no problems with Chambery, therefore the punters love it. It's all down to statistics if the airline starts getting delays every weekend and starts costing them extra money then they might think again.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
| FastCarver74, Few problems with Chamb, nothing i've not had worse elsewhere. Plus as you're flying with Espirit, they have a reserved area in the airport for the kids to run around, toys, games, staff, bottle warmers and changing/feeding areas for the babies. |
though just a word of warning - if you go that last week of the season it is closed on the day you are flying back 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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One New Year we went through Grenoble en route to ADH , on arrival we were surprised to see friends of ours who were going to La Plagne, tunrs out they had been diverted from Chambery. We've used Chambery a couple of times at Easter with no issues. We just drive now, less hassle all round even taking into account Eurotunnel!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
aggage reclaim is fast. Just 2 belts that are operating within minutes of landing. You walk past customs and you are at the baggage belts. The airport is very small.
_________________
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Most airports put customs after baggage reclaim.
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| chopkins13 wrote: |
| We're flying into Chamberry in 12 days - doing a DIY job and picking up a hire car - is baggage reclaim a bit of a nightmare in poeple's experience? And yes, we land at about 10am on a Saturday morning! |
It depends on the number of recently landed flights. The last two times I went through Chambery (in 2012 and 2013), there were 2 and 3 flights respectively allocated to the two belts. It was a nightmare not helped by them switching the allocation of one flight to the other belt and switching it back about 5 to 10 minutes later.
If you land during one of the quiet periods, it is great, straight through passport control, pick up the luggage and go. (Passport control can be a problem as well. On the "3 flights" occasion, the entire third flight passengers were held outside the passport control marquee; luckily it wasn't raining but I suspect that the weather would have made no difference to the Chambery authorities if it had been otherwise.
PS Geneva in 2013 was worse. A Monarch Airbus (IIRC seating capacity of around 360) allocated to a single luggage belt in the charter shed. That took over 90 minutes for all of the luggage to be delivered.
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| jtr wrote: |
| chopkins13 wrote: |
| We're flying into Chamberry in 12 days - doing a DIY job and picking up a hire car - is baggage reclaim a bit of a nightmare in poeple's experience? And yes, we land at about 10am on a Saturday morning! |
It depends on the number of recently landed flights. The last two times I went through Chambery (in 2012 and 2013), there were 2 and 3 flights respectively allocated to the two belts. It was a nightmare not helped by them switching the allocation of one flight to the other belt and switching it back about 5 to 10 minutes later.
If you land during one of the quiet periods, it is great, straight through passport control, pick up the luggage and go. (Passport control can be a problem as well. On the "3 flights" occasion, the entire third flight passengers were held outside the passport control marquee; luckily it wasn't raining but I suspect that the weather would have made no difference to the Chambery authorities if it had been otherwise.
PS Geneva in 2013 was worse. A Monarch Airbus (IIRC seating capacity of around 360) allocated to a single luggage belt in the charter shed. That took over 90 minutes for all of the luggage to be delivered. |
One advantage of travelling with young children, I was carrying my 1yr old queuing up in the freezing cold trying to keep her warm using my coat, we got ushered out the queue by the security staff and sent they queue jumped us 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| 2planks wrote: |
| From an airline operational point of view places like Chambery and Innsbruck are a pita, crews need to have special training to fly there (so less flexibility if crew issues arise), aircraft need to be in tip top technical condition |
I remember a thread on PPRuNe a couple of years back entitled "I am too young to die" from someone who was told he was being allocated to the Innsbruck flights and would have to undergo the special training. He was given a bit of a b0ll0cking by the "old lags" who seemed to think it wasn't too bad. IIRC, most expressed a preference to fly 757s, given a choice, on that run.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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johnE, Oops - I meant passport control. Passport control is a tent before the carousel. There is no customs check. You pick up your case and walk right out the front door. In fact you can walk in and pick anyone's bag off the carousel if you are that type of person.
NickyJ, True. I was carrying my two year old and got smooth passage to the front of the queue.
jtr, We also experienced this a few years ago. More than two planes in at the same time. Chaos around two carousels.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
2. Technical problem then bomb scare (nine hour-plus delay Confused ).
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We were caught up in that bomb scare. Spent a few hours locked on a bus away from the terminal building then finally arrived back in Edinburgh to find that Jet2 had, yet again, taken our money then not bothered to bring our skis home. Since then have used Easyjet to Geneva without any issues.
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Used Chambery 3 times and Geneva once and to be fair Geneva was as much of a nightmare, stood in a massive queue last year at Geneva waiting to go through security on way home. Yes there is a wait for baggage at Chambery but then you sit on your coach waiting again for other flights to arrive from the UK so the TO's can fill up the coach.
Incidentally 2 years ago whilst awaiting for luggage at Chambery we heard over the PA system that the Jet2 flight just in from Edinburgh was minus all skiis and snowboards, bit of a nightmare for people considering that was the only flight from Edinburgh that weekend, oops, big ski/snowboard hire for Jet2.
Landing in Chambery 2 weeks come Saturday and heading for Les Arcs, fingers crossed.
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You know it makes sense.
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There was a bomb scare at GVA yesterday which made getting dropped off interesting, but in the end got through fine. Chambery is a lottery, if it works it is fine. I have been there in off season and all went well, but I have heard too many stories of problems at the airport to want to go there at a peak week. I did hear from our transfer driver yesterday that GVA rules and continued new rules on transfer companies might mean that EJ would pull out of GVA - see who blinks first on that one
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I now wish to enhance my newly discovered misery at the prospect of flying into Chambery by looking at how many flights are due to land at the same time as mine!
Anyone know where I can get a timetable of all flights due in to Chambery on a particular day of the week? The Chambery Airport website has days but not times, and only by individual departure airport, rather than a nice combined one that tells me how many are landing with us!
We land about 10am on a Saturday morning
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Poster: A snowHead
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chopkins13, IME you can't predict this from timetables. The charters are all subject to various delays and by the time they get airborne and then get to Chambery, it is all pretty much pot luck on the subsequent baggage reclaim congestion.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We land at Chambery at 1045am 25th January from Glasgow IIRC there was a number of flights landing at the same time all from the UK when I landed there 2 years ago, total bedlam but organised bedlam. Make sure you are wrapped up as the queue for security snakes outside of the tent brrrh!!!!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I've been to Chambery once, I saw immediately the problems a busier week would bring and I arrived in the 2nd week of January!
Its not the worst Airport I've been to, that honour is given to Verona, which was a glorified Bus station.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Only used Chambery on one trip - and then only on the return flight as we were diverted on outward journey. 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.
Another Chambery fail; don’t bring heavy baggage (without wheels) for Chambery; they don’t have baggage trolleys as there isn’t room for them in the check-in area.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Exeter to Chambery £43
Cardiff to Champery £27
That's why
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Oh gawd, we had a choice of Chambery or Geneva and chose Chambery in favour of almost an hour shorter transfer time. Hope we've done the right thing
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| NickyJ wrote: |
We have used it twice now (with Esprit) and had no problems.
Personally I prefer it as it normally means shorter transfer times (by that I am referring to time spent on the bus).
In fact we did have a bit of a delay one time for the coach because of a flight, but they rearranged things / dropoffs etc so that the coach left without that flight and we dropped some people somewhere to meet a minibus, to not delay us too much. |
+1
Touch wood, (but I won't say it out loud!!!! as we're heading to Les Arcs from here in feb) I would rather shorter transfer time on a bus as I hate coaches!
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We have been going to the 3 valleys for many years ( at least 2 per year for the last 15 or so) at different times, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr. If we have the option we always choose to fly to Chambery due to the reduced transfer time, even though we almost always have a private transfer. Only once have we had any significant delays and part of the problem was the TO's handling of the issue. It is obviously a more weather sensitive airport due to its location and I would agree that it is a glorified shed and gets stupid busy if more than 2 planes land at the same time or if you have have to get the TO bus 4 hours before check in time, but I don't think its quite as bad as some would portray in terms of issues.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ok, final question on this one from me - any experiences (good and bad) of picking up or dropping off a hire car at Chambery Airport? We're using Citer - are the desks easy to find etc?
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| chopkins13 wrote: |
| ok, final question on this one from me - any experiences (good and bad) of picking up or dropping off a hire car at Chambery Airport? We're using Citer - are the desks easy to find etc? |
They're in glorified sheds just outside the terminal building (turn right on exit). Used them a couple of times and never had a problem.
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