Airport Transit Times into Ski Airports - Survey Please help to gather data.

A snowHead

As we have seen over the last week there have been very long waits to transit the smaller 'ski airports'. Turin had its own thread, Chambery had significant problems. So it might be useful to detail your experiences. I don't suppose that the authorities read snowHeads, but we know more traditional news services use it as a source. Perhaps one will take up the case and start exposing the fiascos.
So to collect the dates please include the date, the airport and how long it took from the aircraft parking to being landside with your luggage. Please include whether it was you or someone you met in a chalet/ski lift bar etc and what the delay was caused by (passport/luggage)

So to kick off:

22 Jan 22, Lyon, Me, 20 mins, luggage.
22 Jan 22, Chambery, 2 folks on a long chair lift, 4 hours, pass port control. Held on aircraft for 90 mins, then shippied into a holding room. Aircraft behind diverted to lyon as they couldn't handle any more folks.

A snowHead

Today, Lyon, me. 10 mins luggage

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

21st Dec Geneva about 50 mins from plane to train station including collecting luggage. Only delay was British idiots not knowing Swiss entry requirements

15th Jan Innsbruck 20 mins from plane to taxi rank including collecting luggage, almost more efficient than pre covid!

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I see Chambery have had to reduce the number of aircraft arrivals due to passenger processing numbers. Jet2 had to reschedule flights to Lyon and provide ground transport between the 2, so I'm guessing much later arrivals to Chambery for the outbounds and even longer for the inbounds as as long as you arrived before check in closing time they had to get you to Lyon for the flight. Jet2 abandoned Chambery a couple of years ago, bet they are really glad they started going there again.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Saturday 29 January

Outbound from Geneva: worse than previous years.

Arrived 2h40 ahead of noon flight. 40 mins to check in at Terminal 2 (Jet2 / Tui desks), then advised to walk to Terminal 1 for security as the queue was so long. 20 mins at Terminal 1 security, then 15 mins for border control after gate had been announced. Doesn't sound so bad, but with all the walking between terminals there wasn't an enormous amount of spare time - I think anyone arriving the standard 2 hours before their flight would have been cutting it fine.

Inbound to Edinburgh: better than previous years (though it's never bad).

Immediate disembarkation from plane (row by row - we were near the middle), walked straight through border control (no forms checked!), then just a few minutes for baggage to catch up.

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Saturday 15th Jan Verona

Myself and girlfriend. 2hrs landing through to walking to the transfer coach. Around 1 hour for passport control and hold luggage, nearly another hour for skis to arrive.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I'm monitoring Chambery over the next few weeks as I fly in from Stansted on 12th March. Would be good when posting to also include flight depart/arrival time. Here are the arrivals for today:

Arrivals
Saturday, Jan 29
TIME FLIGHT FROM AIRLINE AIRCRAFT STATUS
08:37 X3620 Exeter (EXT) TUI B738 (G-TUKO) Diverted to GVA
08:45 BY6620 Exeter (EXT) TUI Airways 737 Unknown
08:55 BY5676 London (STN) TUI Airways 737 Unknown
09:00 BY7628 Birmingham (BHX) TUI B738 (G-TAWI) Unknown
09:30 BY2614 Manchester (MAN) TUI Airways 737 Unknown
10:15 BY1660 Edinburgh (EDI) TUI B738 (G-TAWI) Unknown
10:22 X3676 London (STN) TUI B738 (G-FDZS) Diverted to GVA
10:43 VLB515 Sofia (SOF) Air Volta LJ60 (LZ-TRH) Landed 10:43
10:45 BY4694 London (LGW) TUI B738 (G-TAWG) Unknown
11:00 BY2626 Manchester (MAN) TUI B38M (G-TUMB) Canceled
11:10 BY7634 East Midlands (EMA) TUI B738 (G-TAWU) Unknown
11:30 BY4632 London (LGW) TUI B738 (G-TAWH) Unknown
11:50 BY2678 Manchester (MAN) TUI B738 (G-TUKN) Diverted to LYS
12:15 LS1861 Bristol (BRS) Jet2 B738 (G-JZHO) Diverted to LYS
12:30 LS843 Manchester (MAN) Jet2 B738 (G-JZHK) Diverted to LYS
13:42 Farnborough (FAB) - C510 (OE-FZB) Diverted to LYS
14:25 Geneva (GVA) - GLF6 (M-OVIE) Landed 14:34
14:52 Paris (LBG) - FA7X (PR-SVN) Landed 16:18
14:55 LS417 Leeds (LBA) Jet2 B738 (G-JZHV) Diverted to LYS
15:20 LS1687 London (STN) Jet2 B738 (G-JZBK) Landed 16:40
15:50 BY4624 London (LGW) TUI B738 (G-TAWL) Diverted to LYS
16:10 LS1359 Birmingham (BHX) Jet2 B738 (G-JZHU) Landed 16:51
16:32 ZT447 London (LGW) Titan Airways A320 (G-POWK) Landed 16:50
16:55 BY6632 Bristol (BRS) TUI B38M (G-TUMG) Diverted to LYS
17:30 BY1620 Glasgow (GLA) TUI B38M (G-TUMO) Diverted to LYS
17:30 BY4662 London (LGW) TUI B738 (G-TAWH) Landed 17:47
17:55 BY4662 London (LGW) TUI B738 (G-TUKO) Landed 18:15
18:20 Bolzano (BZO) - C68A (CS-LTN) Landed 18:04

A lot of arrivals between 10:15 and 12:30 so that must surely overwhelm the airport. Many diversions to Lyon, some to Geneva. We'll be on the 15:20 Jet2 arrival, which I had hoped was a safer time with more of a gap between preceding and subsequent arrivals but was still delayed today.

After all it is free

Apparently bad weather in Chambery lead to diversions.

Chambery was closed due to fog today, we were diverted to Grenoble which definitely could not handle the volumes. Sat on tarmac for 90mins on arrival and then about another hour to clear passport control which was apparently at capacity for non EU arrivals. And then let's not mention the transfer mess at the other end! I would not presume the other airports are likely to be better especially when there are problems at Chambery. We'll probably drive for all our future trips (often do anyway).

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@belette, I sat that some flights diverted due to weather at Chambery, but Jet2 had already been told/decided to reschedule to Lyon before they left the UK, this was from their App. For example the Bristol diverted for weather, the Manchester for 'passenger handling reasons'.

Not sure how non EU arrivals at Grenoble can be an excuse, there were only 4 or 5 of flights that came from within the EU!

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22 Jan LHR to GNB arriving 11, waited in plane once landed at GNB for 1hr15, waited on tarmac in cold for 30 to get in bldg with 2-3 other planeloads, waited for luggage which was stuck because there was no space on belt for new luggage to come through. Moved all luggage on belt off ourselves so rest could come out

29 JAN return 1210 BA arrived at 10a, waited 20ish to get in bldg, 30-45 to get to luggage check in. Then on the scrum to realise they were only allowing flights which were boarding through security. Was told there was bad accident on m-way so staff was late. See reading above more to that story. Anyway, once through security, flightleft 2 hrs late. But got the closest gate to passport control. Luggage took forever to come out at LHR.
Nothing could ruin a beautiful week in the Alps through Very Happy

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@richardajh,
I wonder if the flights with "unknown" actually operated? Did TUI book lots of slots at CMF which got loaded into Flightradar (or whatever) but were not deleted when the flights were changed/cancelled?
For example, BY2626 has just taken off from Manchester (10:37/SUNDAY); according to Flightradar, it’s going to CMF, according to Manchester and Lyon Airports, it’s going to Lyon. For the unititiated, Flightradar decodes a signal from the aircraft to give all sorts of information such as route, etc. Some of which (speed, altitude, course) is automated, some (departure point, destination, flight number) is entered manually by the crew. Draw your own conclusion!
In years gone by CMF used to restrict weekend flights (i.e. 99% of their larger movements!) to five an hour so that under normal circumstances the terminal didn't get too busy.
My experience with CMF (from an weather perspective) is that morning visibility is a problem in early winter until the lake is not that much warmer than the air temperature, but as the winter progresses the lake cools and poor visibility becomes much less frequent. Oh for an approach radar system similar to airports that “work” seven days a week!

@Nemisis, I was interested in the same question, as we're scheduled to be on the TUI flight from Birmingham in a few weeks time. According to Flightradar it landed at Lyon. The arrivals at Lyon show a couple more of the "unknown" flights.

Crystal tweeted yesterday asking passengers to bear with them due to the disruption caused by weather at Chambery. From tweets back at Crystal it sounds like some flights back to the UK didn't depart yesterday and that passengers have been put up in hotels.

You know it makes sense.

@sugarmoma666,
And it's sort of continuing today. BA from Manchester landed but a TUI from Gatwick three minutes later "took a look" before diverting to Grenoble.
As already pointed out Grenoble (much like Chambéry!) cannot cope with lots of passengers. The problem I had with Lyon is that they would always look after their "normal" customers first before allowing diverted flights to disembark. Now that Lyon is managed by Vinci (the same management as CMF and GNB) that might have changed.

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

A snowHead

Returned via Lyon for a 930 flight. 8 mins from bus to departure lounge including bag drop. Passport control was just before the gate, seemed to take no longer than before, just the stamp.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Lyon 35 minutes from 09:30 landing to exit. No luggage. Could have done without the 7 1/2 hours it then took to get to VDI.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It looks like TUI moved some flights from Chambery to Lyon. The Saturday morning Exeter, Birmingham, Gatwick(second one) & Manchester went to Lyon, as did the afternoon Bristol.

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@luigi, start of French school holidays and several accidents. Judging by local Facebook group traffic was also snarled up on local routes from Lyon on through Chambrey as well as back routes in valley.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

If some flights were moved from Chambery to other airports, sometimes even to an airport in another country (GVA) - what happened about the passengers' covid forms which were invalidated as a result? Like 24 or 48 hour test certificates, locator forms or sworn statements etc.

After all it is free

@peerless ploughman, As far as I am aware the flights were only moved to Lyon, so no effect. If a flight diverted for weather there will be an arrangement to cover this emergency as it's not the passengers fault.

In the spirit of research Very Happy

I've booked myself on a package holiday this weekend to join some friends in Val Diz for Half Term. Exeter (06:00) to Chambery (08:30) to Val Diz (Eventually). Should be BY6620 on G-TAWL. What could possibly go wrong Shocked

Anyone running a book on where I'm actually likely to thump into the tarmac, and what time we'll end up in resort? My money is on Lyon and 7 Hours.

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Flown on BA738 LHR>GVA departing 19:15 on last two Thursdays. Touchdown around 21:45 CH time. Arrived in Châtel around 2:10h from touchdown including transiting from the new GVA terminal by bus to immigration, collecting ski luggage and using a local Châtel taxi.

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@Judwin, rather than "thump into the tarmac" remember that "any landing you walk away from is a good landing"

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You know it makes sense.

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

Dublin to Innsbruck 5th feb. Landed, bus to terminal, all the COVID checks passport control was about ten minutes. Some bags through immediately, about a five minute pause before the rest including oversize. Out the door in 20 all in.

A snowHead

"My" plane for tomorrow is almost back from Tenerife, and it's just 12 hours before I have to get up to go to Exeter. Chocks will be along soon promising us all glorious flying conditions rolling eyes

so I thought I'd take a note of tomorrows scheduled arrivals to Chambery (my chosen point of impact with terra firma) - We have....

A snowHead

@Judwin, YWIMC

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Sitrep Exeter (EXT) 04:50Z.

Relatively pain free checkin. 3 Desks open, queue for perhaps 10 minutes. Whilst in the queue someone comes along and checks everything - Sworn Statement, NHS Vax, Covid test, and gives you a little chit of paper to say it's been done. Seems there are a lot of people with the wrong sworn statement, and these are promply whisked away for extermination. Then check-in proper, no probs.

Looks like they've got the X-ray machines turned up to 11. I was worried they were going to want me to strip down to my mankini, but they stopped once my belt, all pockets, glasses, shoes, jumper and cash was out.

So once I'd got dressed again, through to the departure hall. Disaster - the resturaunt is closed. No sportsmans brekkie for me (Bacon, Egg, Sausage, Black Pudding, Beans, Toast, Fried Bread, Tomatoes) - Had to make do with a coffee and a pain au choccy.

Flight aware thinks our slot time is 06:11, and we're still winning the race to Chambery as I type, beating the Stanstead by 10 minutes. Departure hall seems quite empty though - so either lots of people still faffing with paperwork at checkin, or the plane is only half full.

Laters, for the Chambery (hopefully!) arrival report. Probably very laters if the traffic predictors are correct. Confused

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Weather looks ok for Chambery this morning. Speaking to a transfer rep this am just before we started our drive back home and seemed to think still heading to Chambery.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Sitrep - Val d'Isere Hotel Bar 15:30 CET, blowing the froth of a quick one.

Plane was only about one third full - perhaps 60-70 PAX. Got upgraded to Buisness class - they needed someone to sit in an emergency exit row incase Biggles stuffed up and we had to exit via the round windows. Straight into Chambery via the overhead run and break for runway 18. On the Deck at 08:35CET. and Biggles stopped us before he got the tyres wet.

Out into arrivals, and 3 passport stampers plus 3 document checkers . You might even call it organised. Needed to show NHS QR code - scanned, and passport stamped. Through and out into baggage reclaim in less than 10 minutes. My bag was number 3 off, so out into the sunshine, bus 303, find a seat and wait. All ready by 09:10L. Set up notebook and ADSB receiver so I can see what lies the Crystal reps are telling us. We're just waiting for the Manchester. Well yes you will be it's only just taken of FFS. And the Stanstead too. Gatwick, Edinburgh and Brummies turn up more or less on time. Stansted about 1h15 late, and the boobie prize goes to Manchester - 1h25 late.

Anyhow, set off at about 11:10CET. The first 20 miles on the Motorway are busy, but ok. Then it all grinds to a halt before the Split for Grenoble. Our driver is a wylie old customer though, and knows all the back roads. Better still he must have some dirt on the local cheifs of police too, because we are allowed through all the roadblocks stopping people using the back roads. Basically we skip ALL the queues, and are in Bourg by 14:00, and up to Val Diz by 14:45. and in the bar by 15:15.

Cheers snowHead

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@Judwin, Was it the mayor moonlighting? wink

Sounds like a remarkably hassle free busiest day of the year transfer. Enjoy the beer!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Lyon this morning, 5 minutes for passport control (we were in row 4 on the aircraft), 15 minutes more for luggage. (Then four hours on the roads to Oz, should have been two.)

After all it is free

Several years ago a transfer driver who knew the area took to back roads and (I am sure) saved quite a bit of time. Unfortunately one of the passengers towards the front of the coach saw road restriction signs such as "7.5 tonne weight limit" and added the point to the complaint letter he sent in (presumably to get some post holiday discount) saying that the driver had put everyone's lives in danger! He was promptly told that it was a legal rather than a structural limit to enable to local authority to ban trucks. My comment that the driver would not have risked his own life 'cos he wanted to get home that night did not get passed on.

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10th Jan - BHX to GVA through GVA in about 30 mins from door opening to getting onto the car hire bus

15th Jan - GVA to BHX. Slow Easyjet check in as only 4 staff for 11 desks. There were at least 5 flights checking in so it's not as if they couldn't forecast their staffing requirements. Ended up being moved to a separate queue to ensure we were in time for the flight. Slow at security but that's how it is these days. Very quick through BHX. 20 mins from door opening to leaving car park. Excellent.

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Airport Transit Times into Ski Airports - Survey Please help to gather data.

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