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Half term flight - Storm Dennis

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Spoke too soon. Delayed, apparently due to prioritization of in bound flights. Looks like going to be sat here for at least 40 minutes.
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@Alastair Pink, I saw that on the bbc, couldn't resist a chuckle, hope nobody has a gender issue with it!

@Dr. Will, Neither, the limits are very similar, Ryanair are obsessed with safety just like any airline.

More likely is Ryanair operating out of bases that are not subject to flow control or Stansted where the runway was more into wind today.
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Dr. Will wrote:
Is the reason Ryanair seem to be cancelling less flights than EasyJet is because the operational limits of the 737 is wider than the A319/320 or because they are less concerned with safety?


One of the two companies is in the wrong here. Either it's not safe to fly in which case Ryanair should be ashamed. Or it's safe and EasyJet are cancelling flights out of some form of commercial self-interest.

Which is it?
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IanTr wrote:
Dr. Will wrote:
Is the reason Ryanair seem to be cancelling less flights than EasyJet is because the operational limits of the 737 is wider than the A319/320 or because they are less concerned with safety?


One of the two companies is in the wrong here. Either it's not safe to fly in which case Ryanair should be ashamed. Or it's safe and EasyJet are cancelling flights out of some form of commercial self-interest.

Which is it?

When it gets very windy, Airports limit the flow - so as Chocksaway said above, the extent of the cancellations could be airport dependant.

When we landed at Dublin during Storm Ciara, we were held circling for an extra 15 mins, as they allowed fewer planes to land in a given time frame.
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Looking at LGW departures this afternoon, only EasyJet have cancelled flights so I don't think that the airport is responsible...
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IanTr wrote:
Looking at LGW departures this afternoon, only EasyJet have cancelled flights so I don't think that the airport is responsible...

LGW will be taking actions based on their judgement on what is safe. I can't comment on why EasyJet are the only airline to cancel flights - it could be safety, politics or logistical reasons.

I was really commenting on the fact, that it may not be as simple as to whether it either is, or isn't safe to fly.
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@IanTr, easyjet are one if not the biggest users of Gatportairwick. As such when flow rates are reduced they take the major hit just as the vast majority of the cancellations out of Heathrow will be BA. Ultimately the flow is dictated by the air traffic control agencies to keep things safe. Every time an aircraft over shoots because the wind is too strong creates two problems, it either completes the pattern to have another go or diverts. Secondly, an aircraft lining up to take off cannot be given immediate clearance as the overshooting one is in the way.

To suggest easyjet are cancelling a Geneva today is being done on commercial grounds is far fetched. They will be one of the highest yielding flights of the year, especially as most folks will have paid a lot for bags, boots and equipment.
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It seems much more plausible to me that Easyjet run their fleets much more efficiently than “legacy” carriers (I.e. make their assets work harder) and so perhaps it’s more essential operationally in the coming days to have more rather than less aircraft in the correct places, minimising overall disruption across this week but appearing today to be over “sensitive”.

Just a thought.
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Flew out of Southend for Verona this afternoon. Everyone was departing on schedule except EasyJet who had cancelled every flight on the board. I think it’s more to do with scheduling and whether they can get back with the potential knock on to future flights and crew placement. More importantly however I’m safely on my way to the Dolomites on the Autostrada with all baggage and an about an hour away from a cold beer or a glass of plonk.
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@chocksaway, thanks for your report on Liverpool airport, much appreciated. Our flight at 13.45 took off on time and landed at GVA early, so I guess we were pretty fortunate.
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under a new name wrote:
It seems much more plausible to me that Easyjet run their fleets much more efficiently than “legacy” carriers (I.e. make their assets work harder) and so perhaps it’s more essential operationally in the coming days to have more rather than less aircraft in the correct places, minimising overall disruption across this week but appearing today to be over “sensitive”.

Just a thought.

Exactly the sort of issue I meant by Logistics.

On the morning we just about managed to land at Dublin, apparently a Ryan Air flight made 3 abortive attempts to land, before being rerouted to Shannon.
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@under a new name, that's also in the mix, FR will be similar in flogging the assets The difference may be that easy seems to be as busy in the winter as the summer. Ryan throttles back in the winter. Different demographics in their business model.

I guess easy do a lot more 'ski flights' than Ryanair.
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chocksaway wrote:
@IanTr, easyjet are one if not the biggest users of Gatportairwick. As such when flow rates are reduced they take the major hit just as the vast majority of the cancellations out of Heathrow will be BA. Ultimately the flow is dictated by the air traffic control agencies to keep things safe. Every time an aircraft over shoots because the wind is too strong creates two problems, it either completes the pattern to have another go or diverts. Secondly, an aircraft lining up to take off cannot be given immediate clearance as the overshooting one is in the way.

To suggest easyjet are cancelling a Geneva today is being done on commercial grounds is far fetched. They will be one of the highest yielding flights of the year, especially as most folks will have paid a lot for bags, boots and equipment.


Sure, but why does it appear that all the cancellations are EasyJet, with none by other carriers? Here are departures boards for Gatwick and Luton...

Flights operating: British Airways, Ryanair, Tui, Vueling, Aeroflot, Jazeera, Enter Air, Norwegian, Iberia, Rossiya, Wizz
Flights cancelled: EasyJet



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You know it makes sense.
Really cheesed off as other flights are landing in Bristol. Easy Jet have cancelled all theirs.
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I can't find the table for Gatwick, but to illustrate my point regarding how airports reduce flow rates to carriers please Google, can't link it on my phone sorry, 'Heathrow procedures for temporarily reduced capacity' and look at Annex 3 which shows BA take the brunt of how many cancellations they have to make.
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erica2004 wrote:
Really cheesed off as other flights are landing in Bristol. Easy Jet have cancelled all theirs.


It’s infuriating. I used to think EasyJet were an OK airline, but after this - and particularly the total failure of their customer service systems in response - they are in the gutter now. Very disappointing. I understand they played it (too?) safe but if their rebooking system had been even half working i could have transferred onto Monday flights instead of Tuesday, and only missed one day’s skiing not two.

Like Ryanair, they will be one of my airlines of last resort in future - I’d rather pay a bit more and have (the hope of) some customer service when things go wrong.
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Going out of manchester..so far no reports of delays
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Alastair Pink wrote:
The current Met Office warning for Storm Dennis implies Wales could be in for some interesting weather..... Madeye-Smiley


Has the Met Office drawn a giant cocknballs over Wales? Shocked
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@moosepig, Laughing
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Does experience of pilots play any role whether flights allowed depart in storms?
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moosepig wrote:
Alastair Pink wrote:
The current Met Office warning for Storm Dennis implies Wales could be in for some interesting weather..... Madeye-Smiley


Has the Met Office drawn a giant cocknballs over Wales? Shocked


"You may very well think that, I couldn't possibly comment" Madeye-Smiley
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Go look on BBC News website under Storm Dennis live feed - link to a vid posted on Twitter entitled "now that's how you land".
Oh my Gawd... Shocked Etihad mega plane literally coming into land at 90 degrees to the runway.
Damn good pilots or very, very clever computers.
I'll stay at home, thanks.
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Grizzler wrote:
Go look on BBC News website under Storm Dennis live feed - link to a vid posted on Twitter entitled "now that's how you land".
Oh my Gawd... Shocked Etihad mega plane literally coming into land at 90 degrees to the runway.
Damn good pilots or very, very clever computers.
I'll stay at home, thanks.


It's a impressive, but certainly not 'literally 90 degrees'
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@peanuthead, no, captain may decide to take it from the co though.

As far as I am aware a captain is a captain when it comes to this kind of thing.

Edit, that Said a skipper with lots of experience of wild weather (been at Leeds Bradford for years wink ) may well get it on the ground because of that experience!).


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sat 15-02-20 22:00; edited 1 time in total
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Posted in the other driving thread, but will repeat it here since flew.

Plane left a wet and windy Exeter at around 08:50 (scheduled was 08:05) supposedly due to fog and flow control into Chambery. Landed at Chambery about 11:20CET - 20 minutes late but no biggie 7th of 8 TUI charters. Held on the plane for 20 minutes coz arrivals was rammed, and off and another 30 minute wait to get through immigration.

We didn't leave CMF till nearly 2PM, partly due to an extinction rebellion protest blocking the main entrance/exit, but mainly due to Crystal incompetence. Coach driver then took the (very busy) back roads to avoid the peages, even though you could see the motorway was flowing reasonably freely at that point. Recon that added at least 30 minutes to the trip.

Then it all ground to a halt between Albertville and Moutiere - probably 2 hours to get through the lights just north of Albertville.

Free flowing from after the lights to about 10km before the Tunnel de Siaix, and another hour to get through those lights.

Then the bus driver ran out of hours on the taco, so we had to stop for 45 minutes in Bourg train station whilst he had a fag break.

Finally got to Tignes le Lac around 20:30. I make that 9.5 hours from Chambery. Should be 3 hours tops, plus 3 hours for traffic, 2 hours for tour operation incompetence (that's you Crystal), 45 minutes for EU rules and regulations and 30 minutes for bus driver cheap-skateness.

Still we're here now, unlike some of you. Never got to see the Yeovil game on TV, coz it was rained off. Probably the best news I've had today Madeye-Smiley
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Damn good engineers who designed the A380 undercarriage...
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@Alastair Pink,

Quote:


The current Met Office warning for Storm Dennis implies Wales could be in for some interesting weather.....



Looks like it reaches almost as far as Llandudno, which reminds me of a very old but possibly risqué joke for such a civilised forum snowHead
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mikeycharlton wrote:
Grizzler wrote:
Go look on BBC News website under Storm Dennis live feed - link to a vid posted on Twitter entitled "now that's how you land".
Oh my Gawd... Shocked Etihad mega plane literally coming into land at 90 degrees to the runway.
Damn good pilots or very, very clever computers.
I'll stay at home, thanks.


It's a impressive, but certainly not 'literally 90 degrees'


I was screaming and I was sitting on the sofa
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You know it makes sense.
PeakyB wrote:
@Alastair Pink,

Quote:


The current Met Office warning for Storm Dennis implies Wales could be in for some interesting weather.....



Looks like it reaches almost as far as Llandudno, which reminds me of a very old but possibly risqué joke for such a civilised forum snowHead


Chuckling here, I'd forgot about that one Laughing
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For those people who had cancelled Easyjet flights back from Europe yesterday: how are you getting back home?
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@PeakyB, I had to Google it, clearly not in Ken Dodd's repertoire. Welcome to the Carribean wink
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@cad99uk we managed to rebook with the app and get back to Luton from lyon an hour earlier on a 30% full plane having juggled the transfer busses a bit. Counting myself very lucky today. Both airports were very quiet (230pm check in, 6pm landing)
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Anyone know if we can claim compensation for these cancelled/delayed flights? I know that under EC261 travellers are entitled to €250 for short haul flights cancelled with less than seven days notice and (if rerouted) landing more than 2 hours after the original arrival time.

However, I realise that EasyJet will state that there's an exemption in EC261 if "The cancellation is due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken, including but not limited to air traffic control, weather..." but I don't think that applies in my case. Specifically, my flight EZY6149 from Bristol was cancelled at 8.30pm on Friday and yet on Saturday AND Sunday (when it was originally scheduled to depart, at 6.55am) there were actually plenty of flights leaving from the same airport (EasyJet was effectively the only airline that cancelled). No problems with arrivals into Geneva either (including EasyJet flights that originated elsewhere) . Consequently I'd argue that the cancellation of my flight could have been avoided since, had EasyJet taken the same "reasonable measures" as all the other airlines flying out of Bristol, our flight could have departed as planned.

Furthermore, the subsequent complete failure of EasyJet's rebooking system (both on the phone, website and app) on Friday and Saturday meant that they did not get us on the first available alternative flights (regardless of airline and fare) either, as the are obligated to do.

As a result, I've submitted my compensation claim and am curious to know if others, especially those who were flying with EasyJet, have done the same. Since I'm stuck at home and not skiing as planned, I may as well...
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@garyyb, Thanks for that info. Glad you got back ok.

Keep those stories coming folks. It is useful when/ if we all find ourselves in that situation.
@chemistry, Very interested in how you get on. Please keep us updated.
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cad99uk wrote:
@garyyb, Thanks for that info. Glad you got back ok.

Keep those stories coming folks. It is useful when/ if we all find ourselves in that situation.
@chemistry, Very interested in how you get on. Please keep us updated.


Will do. If anyone is thinking of doing the same, I recommend getting your complaint in sooner rather than later...they have eight weeks to sort it, and (assuming you don't get a satisfactory outcome) only then can you refer the matter to the industry complaints resolution service. I went through something similar (albeit not weather related) with BA last year...complained, was fobbed off by BA and subsequently ignored, went to complaints resolution service after eight weeks, won and got a decent amount of compensation (and a great deal of smug satisfaction).
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@chemistry, Good luck but I think it very unlikely your claim will succeed.

You were unlucky that your specific flight was cancelled but the airline's alteration to its schedules and capacity was caused by the weather.
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I'm meeting an easyJet flight from Paris to Bristol tonight, which is running an hour late so far. Might still be knock on from earlier delays though we did just have a hail squall - we are on top of Dundry Hill, very near the airport and it's still blustery. Once it goes wrong it goes very wrong. Just one of those things.
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Quote:

Furthermore, the subsequent complete failure of EasyJet's rebooking system (both on the phone, website and app) on Friday and Saturday


My experience was failing to get through the phone queues for half an hour, then fighting the website for a further half hour whilst leaving the phone-queue phone on speaker-phone. I'd put this down to being up a hill and only having access to high-speed data rather than 4G or WiFi, but it was probably due to server load. The site sprung into life and I agreed to the first flight it I saw, knowing I might be on borrowed time, thinking I'd work out transfer logistics later.

Perhaps the app/site/phone failings explain the empty plane?

Quote:

@chemistry, Very interested in how you get on. Please keep us updated.


Me too... I'd like to know.
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chemistry wrote:
cad99uk wrote:
@garyyb, Thanks for that info. Glad you got back ok.

Keep those stories coming folks. It is useful when/ if we all find ourselves in that situation.
@chemistry, Very interested in how you get on. Please keep us updated.


Will do. If anyone is thinking of doing the same, I recommend getting your complaint in sooner rather than later...they have eight weeks to sort it, and (assuming you don't get a satisfactory outcome) only then can you refer the matter to the industry complaints resolution service. I went through something similar (albeit not weather related) with BA last year...complained, was fobbed off by BA and subsequently ignored, went to complaints resolution service after eight weeks, won and got a decent amount of compensation (and a great deal of smug satisfaction).

I did this two years ago - flight back from Geneva to Belfast was cancelled whilst others were taking off no problem. There was a bit of snow which may have affected other flights, but shouldn't have affected ours. I stuck with it and got the compensation, as well as additional money for rebooking alternative flights.
It just took a bit of perseverance with Easyjet customer services - word of advice: copy and paste all conversations and date them.
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chemistry wrote:


Furthermore, the subsequent complete failure of EasyJet's rebooking system (both on the phone, website and app) on Friday and Saturday meant that they did not get us on the first available alternative flights (regardless of airline and fare) either, as the are obligated to do.

As a result, I've submitted my compensation claim and am curious to know if others, especially those who were flying with EasyJet, have done the same. Since I'm stuck at home and not skiing as planned, I may as well...


Had a booking with Easyjet Sunday 16th GVA at 10.45 to Bournemouth, discovered at 23.00 Saturday night that it had been cancelled. Website options to transfer/claim accommodation worse than useless and there were no seats on Monday's flight. Only option working was the refund button, so pressed that and then found a flight with Swiss to Heathrow, then National Express: not ideal but I got home albeit for an extra £250 and not much sleep Saturday night.....

Why can't Easyjet notify passengers if their flight is cancelled?? They are quite happy to bombard us with sales offers pre-flight

No more Easyjet for me, shocking customer service
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