Poster: A snowHead
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My GVA app has been going mad since 4am, the airport is closed to all air traffic due to the weather and they are telling passengers not to come to the airport until further notice.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Now saying closed until at least 11am. Flight Radar showing a frenzy of snow clearing on the runway and no aircraft in the hold. The snow is now only light and due to peter out by mid afternoon but Easy are cancelling lots of flights so keep an eye on the app the later ones are going to fill up.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Will if the Swiss are struggling it must be bad
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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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It takes comparatively little snow to close Geneva.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Flights are now taking off and will start landing from 13:00. Hopefully no more snow today, as I go back tomorrow afternoon.
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Hi, we are very infrequent flyers, and rarely use EasyJet, however Mrs WoC booked a EJ trip back to the UK for this weekend.
Given that GVA is closed as is Bristol, what are EJ like in terms of fees for rearranging dates ?
She is happy to go another weekend, but does not want to get hit with full cancellation / rebooking fees.
Also the powder will be awesome this weekend, and the slopes will be just locals as 1/2 term is pretty much over.
Any advice / experience would be greatly received.
Thanks
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WindOfChange wrote: |
Also the powder will be awesome this weekend, and the slopes will be just locals as 1/2 term is pretty much over.
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not sure where your planning on going, but in chamonix its only snowing a little with a really stong foehn wind set to continue today and tomorrow. Looking at reports the weekend is looking fairly horrible, they'll be some fresh snow but it'll be a white out, and windy.
I'm not expecting really to go back out on the hill until next week :/
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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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@WindOfChange, you can certainly change your cancelled flight for free and should have got an email telling you how to do that. No idea about inbound although as that will be on same booking that should apply as well.
We are currently stuck in Edinburgh having had 6 flights cancelled on us (just me and the Mrs) - not that much snow but very cold and a helluva wind overnight.
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eddiethebus wrote: |
WindOfChange wrote: |
Also the powder will be awesome this weekend, and the slopes will be just locals as 1/2 term is pretty much over.
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not sure where your planning on going, but in chamonix its only snowing a little with a really stong foehn wind set to continue today and tomorrow. Looking at reports the weekend is looking fairly horrible, they'll be some fresh snow but it'll be a white out, and windy.
I'm not expecting really to go back out on the hill until next week :/ |
Yes, Saturday is looking like poor weather with snow above 1200 meters with the foehn increasing on Sunday. Not really very enticing.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@eddiethebus, in the PdS where we live at 1250m there was 8" of fresh snow overnight. It is still snowing now, and hopefully the bad weather will put people off from going to the Satellite and Happy Valley until Saturday
Cham has little appeal for us even when the snow is good, so we will certainly not be trekking over that way given your less than positive forecast.
Hope you get on the hill soon ( only 8 weeks left now ).
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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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@WindOfChange We got stuck in GVA a few years ago in similar/worse conditions. easyJet were deliberately evasive at the airport. It was only because we helped a French-speaking passenger with Skyping home and she found their assistance desk, which was behind an anonymous security door back through to the Arrivals. It was only by sleeping overnight in the airport and being there each day that we got a return flight. They initially tried to get us to take a train to Lyon to fly to LGW. Then they pointed us to Swiss who did have flights to London (£400 each). Then they tried to put us on a plane to Paris and then on our own. Basically, they don't give a t**s and actively mislead passengers to put them off persisting.
This taught me that with easyJet, your best strategy is to write them off and re-book a flight and swallow whatever the cost is.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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@LaForet, Crikey - that sounds awful.
Mrs WoC is only going to be in the UK for about 32 hours, so it might just be worth writing it off.
Did EasyJet offer to pay for your train to Lyon and other flights, or the Swiss flights or did they just give you a refund and say it was up to you?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@under a new name, EDI have posted this on their FB page:-
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Travel conditions in Scotland this morning remain difficult and are likely to remain so for the rest of the day. This means that the some airlines do not have the critical mass of staff needed to run operations securely. These airlines have decided not to fly today:
British Airways
Ryanair
easyJet
Turkish
KLM
Flybe
Aer Lingus
Air France
We ask that passengers do not come to the airport if they are flying with these carriers. All passengers should check with their airline before travelling to the airport
Further updates about other airlines and tomorrow’s operations will be made over the course of the day.
For now, our priority is our passengers and our staff. We are working closely with Marketing Edinburgh and the city’s hoteliers to find accommodation for any stranded passengers. We are grateful for the response from the City to assist those in need.
The safety of our passengers and our staff are our priority, and we ask people to make safe decisions regarding their travel. |
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@davidof, ....OK....deep breath....Switzerland labours under impressions generated during the 1950s and 1960s. It is suffering the same fiscal pressures as all other nations. The fact that the CHF was a currency of refuge during the recession has been really difficult for the nation. This is not a sympathy call, just a reality. Local municipalities are under HUGE financial pressure - reduced economic activity has affected local taxation income, local services have decayed in quality. This year, there are mergers between Communes as some become unviable. If a commune has income from a hydro scheme or such then they are insulated. If not, then there are problems...
So...snow which would have been dealt with by a large well-equipped municipal labor force are no longer coped with, since there have been cuts in provision. I have NEVER seen the roads in such bad structural condition as this year, it was shocking driving around the Valais two weeks ago and seeing so many margin collapses and structural defects in the surface.
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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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Looks like the Emirates from Dubai will be the first to land in a couple of minutes, a few departures are on their way.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Gaza, Cheers but I am now far too familiar with the websites of Easyjet, and Edinburgh, glasgow and Newcastle.
Now looking at an early flight thru gatwick.
Basically nothing is going anywhere no buses nor trains and busy geneva winter flights.
Easyjet been remarkably effective TBH. If it had just been an ordinary upset I’m sure we’d have been better & quicker sorted.
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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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Only time I arrived at a snowbound GVA airport with brother law easyjet were v good sorting his flight. Many UK airports closed too and he had choice of overnight accommodation in Geneva or flight to an airport where his car wasn't. He chose the latter. We found the easyjet response quite impressive. They were getting planes out of GVA as soon as conditions permitted and communications were good.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Currently trying to get back to GVA having had our EJ flight from Bournemouth cancelled. Current plan is train to Victoria then overnight coach to Paris and on to GVA. Updates on autoroutes would be good. Does it look like they’ll be ok tomorrow pm?
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gvj wrote: |
Currently trying to get back to GVA having had our EJ flight from Bournemouth cancelled. Current plan is train to Victoria then overnight coach to Paris and on to GVA. Updates on autoroutes would be good. Does it look like they’ll be ok tomorrow pm? |
Can't really help with long term plans I'm afraid, but if you are en route I find this helpful:
http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp
as it shows you traffic status on planned routes (it's helped me loads of times).
Good luck - feel your pain.
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our flights were cancelled this morning london southend to geneva,
trying to work out how to get a refund on car hire booked through easyjet.
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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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I think I've worked out why there's all those delays on the motorways in the webcams posted above
They're all on the wrong side of the road.
No wonder there's delays and obstruction. Its a recipe for chaos
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@TommyJ,
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Waiting in an antifreeze queue at Heathrow... GVA seems to be open again though
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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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For tomorrow Geneva is right in the middle of the battle between the beast from the east and warmer (relative term) air from the south west. This is reflected in the airports forecast which gives everything from snow to sleet to freezing rain to rain after lunch. Almost anything could happen in the morning.
(His forecast is 4 lines long, a normal one would be one to one and a half. Aviation lore has it that when a forecast that long comes out the forecaster is really struggling (that's the polite version))
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WindOfChange wrote: |
@LaForet, Crikey - that sounds awful.
Mrs WoC is only going to be in the UK for about 32 hours, so it might just be worth writing it off.
Did EasyJet offer to pay for your train to Lyon and other flights, or the Swiss flights or did they just give you a refund and say it was up to you? |
All they had on offer were flights. And they pretty much ignored all my emails once we got home. And we were lucky. After a night in the airport and another night paid for by EJ in - wait for it - Albertville (yes, that far from Geneva) they offered us a GVA-LGW flight 5 days later. Fortunately, we just hired a car and went back to our apartment, so we weren't too worried.
What I learned from this is that once things go wrong with EJ, it's better to just give up expecting any help from them, and do the best you can by yourself. Otherwise you waste your time trying to get sense out of them and compesation, which they are now well-organised to avoid. Once you're in this mindset, you can press ahead of the crowd and get your own substitute flights and accommodation.
To be fair, I suppose, what can you expect when you pay so relatively little for a flight?
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You know it makes sense.
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To be fair. The EJ app was offering us hotel accommodation and free rebooking. We’re on a bus at eurotunnel because we don’t trust the weather rather than the airline.
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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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Still pretty grim on the Geneva area roads this AM with freezing rain and snow. The A40 is closed again between J10 and 11 but no signposting in place apparently (according to autoroute radio) so if you don't know you'll end up stuck in a jam!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@davidof, an update around lunchtime would be good. Our driver insists ça roule!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Geneva is open and operating this morning although it has just started snowing. So there will be delays as they have to clear the surfaces. There are a lot of cancellations this morning (due to weather across Europe and aircraft in the wrong place) so for some this will cause frustration for others it will mean the airport is less busy giving them a chance to clear the runway (which takes about 10 minutes at a time).
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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A43 blocked west of Chambery due to snow
Geneva runway covered with snow clearing kit, a few ac in the hold, 2 or 3 diversions. Its going to be a lottery till after lunch
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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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Returning to the slight tangent of cancelled EJ flights from GVA, Mrs WoC outbound flight from GVA has now been cancelled, and she has clicked on the widget to get a refund, however she has no idea how to get the return leg refunded.
Anyone who flies frequently with EJ any idea how to do that ?
Thanks for your help / advice.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Need to call I think.
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Geneva was closed, now open. I have just spoken to a friend who is stuck there and she said its chaos. Looks like the snow is going to ease up after 12h00, then coming our way
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@under a new name, Thanks - Though I might just write off the 30 CHF, as the idea of being in hold for an hour does not really appeal that much.
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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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Latest Geneva forecast is to turn to sleet soon, and rain by 1500 CET (the cheques in the post). Lots of flights cancelled so a chance to catch up for those on an operating flight.
mate currently rerouted from Munich to Frankfurt to Geneva after direct flight cancelled
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@WindOfChange, you have to choose change or refund outbound first then it opens up return leg, my 17.00 flight today has just been cancelled & TBF I changed it to following weekend no problem
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