 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi Snowheads,
I was thinking about flying to Grenoble to get to Tignes in March as the schedule times are kinder but the google reviews are awful about excessive waiting times.
I usually fly back from Geneva but it would be a unruly early start to the day and would prefer not to be leaving at 5.30am.
Just after some first hand experience on using Grenoble.
Muchas Gratias
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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've used grenoble and Geneva in equal measure over the last 7 years. From a delay point of view there is no difference. Grenoble is very basic, not surprising as it really only exists as a commercial airport for 40 days a year, bar the odd Ryanair flight midweek in the summer.
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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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@jason.peter1986 It's not waiting/delays; it's queues.
It really is a case of;
Arrive - find the queue to check in
Check in - find queue to get through for Security (it's not difficult it's huge)
Security done - Passport control queue
And that's on a Sunday.
Personally - I now book to go through Geneva!
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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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I’ve been using Lyon for past couple of years. Biometric passport readers, no need to queue for passport control on way out. Proper airport facilities. Absolute bliss.
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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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I thought the big prob with grenoble was that it got shut down with fog an awful lot?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Isn't that Chambery?
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Personally, I try and avoid Grenoble. As others have said, when flying from there you just go from one queue to another. I've had even worse experiences of landing there, where we've been walked from the plane in the pouring rain, then queued outside in the rain for passport control, as there is very little space inside. The hold baggage had also been left out in the rain, and not all bags/suitcases are waterproof.
Getting up earlier is a small price to pay for avoiding Geneva (which closes more often than Grenoble, but is still far preferable).
Looking for flights from Lyon is a good call. I've flown there a couple of times and it's far nicer than either Geneva or Grenoble and not that much further.
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@jason.peter1986, I find the differences between airport options near the French Alps greatly exaggerated.
If the timing is convenient and flights available from my preferred UK airport, at a decent price, then I wouldn’t hesitate to use Grenoble.
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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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Lyon has been nicely upgraded over the last couple of years. Quesyjet refused to allow any check ins outside 2 hours of flight, that can be a pain.
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Grenoble is rarely affected by fog, it has approach aids to a standard of quite a few UK airports, i.e. you can land with a 100 ft cloudbase and 300m visibility.
Geneva dies have a zero zero capability for landings but as it is so busy delays ensue as the flow rate is reduced to allow greater separation between aircraft to meet the safety criteria.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Having used it last year to get to Alpe d'Huez...we're using Geneva to get to Alpe d'Hez this year.
There's nothing WRONG with it per se, it's just as others have said it's tiny and has all it's flights in a 4 hour window.
Arriving:
Passport control is tiny and, even with the extension tent not big-enough to take a full plane worth of queuing passengers...and at least one more flight will have landed before the last person from the previous flight has cleared through! Dress warm, dress for rain.
Departing:
We had one of the last flights back, but with only 2 Bens Bus transfers per-day were dropped off well before. Much like passport control on the way in there are only check-in desks to handle two or three flights at a time - and only enough gates to handle the same. This means we initially had to hang out in the (heated, but not sure how well it would keep that heat if it ws cold/windy outside) pre-checking gazeebo, waiting for check-in to open for our flight. Thankfully the rest of the queues had gone by the time out turn came around but for the earlier ones it was:
1. Wait in pre-checking tent till checkin opened.
2. Queue for check-in.
3. Wait to be called to join the pre-security queue queue.
4. Join pre-security queue queue.
5. Get released to join the security queue.
6. Queue for security.
7. Wait at gate to board.
And that was on a day of calm, clear skys across Europe, so no delays due to late arriving flights, etc.
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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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Arriving at Grenoble isn't too bad as you have the "holiday excitement" to get you through. You will queue (a bit of it outside as well, so sucks in bad weather) to go through the two passport control desks.
It's the going home that is the worse. I've not been there were it hasn't been rammed, with no seats available. And once you go through security, unbelievably it gets worse.
I would always now chose Lyon over Grenoble. It's actually like a proper airport, with actual facilities designed to cater to more than 15 people at a time. And it's roughly the same time/distance as Grenoble.
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I would avoid Grenoble if at all possible. On our way home at Easter 2018, we arrived at the airport 2.5 hrs before the flight. We were still in the security queue 45 mins after the flight was supposed to have departed - we spent almost 4 hrs in queues of one sort or another (they held the flights for everyone which was about the only positive thing).
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You know it makes sense.
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Grenoble Airport is a tiny, part-time box in the middle of a field run by yellowvest maniacs.
Prepare for delays, lost luggage, and cr*p service.
Other than that, all good.
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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'd avoid Grenoble airport like the plague! It simply cannot cope with the peak volume. Probably my worst airport experience ever on the return to the UK. I will never travel via this airport again.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Arriving there isn’t too bad, as said, you have holiday excitement to get you through - but the departures experience is horrendous. Huge, huge cheque-in queues and then ages to get through security. The airport simply can’t cope with the number of flights.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| HoneyBunny wrote: |
| Arriving there isn’t too bad, as said, you have holiday excitement to get you through... |
Humm, I'm not sure how long my holiday excitement would hold up standing on the tarmac in the outside part of the passport queue if it was bucketing it down with rain. And if you had children in tow...
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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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Went through there on a Saturday last year. Yes busy and crowded, but not worse than any other busy airport. Compared to Geneva or Lyon waay less walking, and a shorter transfer too.
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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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| skitrack wrote: |
@jason.peter1986 It's not waiting/delays; it's queues.
It really is a case of;
Arrive - find the queue to check in
Check in - find queue to get through for Security (it's not difficult it's huge)
Security done - Passport control queue
And that's on a Sunday.
Personally - I now book to go through Geneva! |
And that's different to GVA?
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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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| Mjit wrote: |
| HoneyBunny wrote: |
| Arriving there isn’t too bad, as said, you have holiday excitement to get you through... |
Humm, I'm not sure how long my holiday excitement would hold up standing on the tarmac in the outside part of the passport queue if it was bucketing it down with rain. And if you had children in tow... |
I think the people who found their hold luggage wasn't waterproof and hence had wet ski gear found their holiday excitement was insufficient to counteract it as well.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| SnoodlesMcFlude wrote: |
| skitrack wrote: |
@jason.peter1986 It's not waiting/delays; it's queues.
It really is a case of;
Arrive - find the queue to check in
Check in - find queue to get through for Security (it's not difficult it's huge)
Security done - Passport control queue
And that's on a Sunday.
Personally - I now book to go through Geneva! |
And that's different to GVA? |
In my experience of both, yes it is.
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@SnoodlesMcFlude
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| And that's different to GVA? |
Oh yes
Been flying back Sleazy Jet on Sunday Morning from Geneva - Queue for baggage drop/check-in less than 10 mins. Queue for Security about the same (and that's with the failure of our Priority Boarding "ticket"). The comparison below is also on a Sunday morning
At Geneva - Total less than 30minutes
At Grenoble - make that at least 2 1/2 hours
Skitrack
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| SnoodlesMcFlude wrote: |
| skitrack wrote: |
@jason.peter1986 It's not waiting/delays; it's queues.
It really is a case of;
Arrive - find the queue to check in
Check in - find queue to get through for Security (it's not difficult it's huge)
Security done - Passport control queue
And that's on a Sunday.
Personally - I now book to go through Geneva! |
And that's different to GVA? |
At Geneva you just queue for things.
At Grenoble you queue to get in to queues for things!
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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.
|
I've used Lyon, Grenoble and Geneva three times travelling back to Edinburgh in the last month and quite a few times over the last 7 years.
Geneva -
Pros - Good range of flights at a reasonable cost.
Cons - Everything just expensive from travel to get there(public & car), once you are there food expensive, car parking expensive, vignette rip off, lack of plug points/USB compared to Edinburgh. Passport control on way back was a joke(at the end of the escalators as on a easy jet flight) only two police checking passports, oversized luggage can take an age to come through.
Lyon
Pros - Good access, new terminal excellent with more '10 min free' spaces.
Cons - Security took forever on way out as so many trays had to be rescanned.
Grenoble
Pros - Proximity to Alpe d'Huez etc. Cheaper for coffee! Smaller and friendlier. McDonalds and supermarket close by.
Cons - Can get extremely busy with queues for queues.
Edinburgh was ok but too long to get through security. As I mentioned they have loads of charging points which is excellent.
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| Alpinebear wrote: |
Grenoble
Pros - Proximity to Alpe d'Huez etc. |
While geographically true there's not actually much in it time-wise.
Grenoble-Alpe d'Huez is 78km but almost all on slow roads, so 1hr 30min drive.
Lyon-Alpe d'Huez is more than twice the distance at 155km, but connected with much faster roads so only 30min longer, with a 2hr drive.
Geneva-Alpe d'Huez is the furthest, at 210km, but again a lot of fast roads so only an hour longer, with a 2hr 30min drive.
Not that we're doing Alpe d'Huez in Feb. and looked in to all the different options or anything... 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Jesus Grenoble must be bad. I've spent 90 minutes in the SleezyJet queue at Geneva before...and well over an hour in security too.
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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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thanks folks all booked in geneva
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I knew I'd be in a minority, but I quite like Grenoble. I've probably landed there 6 times, departed 4.
Yes, it is small and all the flights take off at the same time, but I've not found the queues to be worse than many airports. Because it's small you don't have to walk for miles until you get to immigration, or wait ages while your bags do the same distance through a huge automated baggage system. Facilities are limited, but like any airport it has all the basics covered.
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FAQ
