 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone affected by the airport chaos? Not sure if there is a knock-on effect as passengers booted off the planes try to get trains, automobiles, ferries etc.
We’re not skiing but just endured the horrors of Gatwick plus Easyjet as we try to get back to Lisbon. Flight delayed, delayed, bags loaded, canceled, not canceled, canceled. Only answer from EJ “do it through the app” on a dying phone at 9pm for the three different reservations I had to make to get four of us here. Scary button “If you confirm you cannot change it later” but I can’t even see what I’m confirming. Stunned young lady in orange gilet says just to screenshot everything, book something else and claim back. All flights full for next two days at least, hotels around LGW starting at £700 a night for 4 (clearly we’ll need at least two nights). They unload our bags and one has had the corner smashed off.
Thank heavens we have parents with spare rooms an hour away, others probably have it far worse.
No-one else had a dampener on their Christmas break?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not this particular time but I was getting flashbacks to 2020 when we got stuck in France for 2 extra days due to fog in the valley and flights cancelled out of chambery. Won’t ever use that airport again now!
Saturday was busy in GVA - many of the flights were delayed.
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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.
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We flew into LHR longhaul late on 28th and were very fortunate with no issues but we were told Gatwick was a nightmare. Really hope you get sorted soon OP and back home.
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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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Just need to get 1000’ up! Perfect sunshine over the last week in the Lakes, Moors and Pennines above the inversion layer.
Pity we didn’t have a foot of snow to ski in 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Peter S, Leeds Bradford was 200 foot too low then!!
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@mountainaddict, my local airport too! I’d have been quite annoyed if that happened!
We flew from there in summer and it was great. I think there was maybe 4 flights the whole day 
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| chocksaway wrote: |
| @Peter S, Leeds Bradford was 200 foot too low then!! |
I live quite near the Guiseley end of the LBA runaway and quite a few mornings recently we've been above the inversion layer and I can see towards the Aire Valley and that's in mist. Friday was a great example of this and planes were flying all day.
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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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Sons flight back fm NY got cancelled by Virgin during the night so woke up to the news spent morning frantically rearranging for later flight same day
Eventually rather than waiting the two days for seat on next Virgin flight ended up with KLM via Schipol to Heathrow where his BA flight to Salzburg was fine
His return flight out of Munich to HRow at 07-25 got cancelled at half midnight fortunately he was awake. Woke me up and rebooked EJ Salzburg Gatwick to catch a BA Heathrow later same afternoon
Nope fog stopped his Ej flight taking off back to Gatwick in time to get across to LHR
So BA ironically wanted another 3k to change his seat to a later flight for cabin seat when he was business on his original flight
Decided hotel it was and early dep on American Airlines next morning FoC switch on business class
No wonder he wishes we still lived in Sherborne!!!!
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Compared to some I had a very minor inconvenience when my BA return flight from Munich to LHR on Saturday morning was delayed about an hour and a half due to earlier fog related restrictions by LHR air traffic control on landing slots there. The delay meant that I missed the National Express coach from LHR I'd booked by about 10 minutes and had to wait for the next coach two and a half hours later.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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At least yours took off because presumably your flight started at LHR
His 7-25 was originally due into Munich the previous night and got binned so no aircraft in situ to dep back to LHR
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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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@jafa, yep, as I said it was a very minor inconvenience for me, I know many people (as was the case for your son) experienced cancellations and much worse inconvenience.
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The upside for me was though he woke me up just after midnight to get on my computer, rather than waking up at two thirty to drive him to Munich.
At least it was then a leisurely drive at seven to Salzburg
Though our journey back was painful
Rather than come the slow nose to tail Bad Reichenhall Lofer way we decided to go via Reith in Winkl Kossen way
We hit stationary traffic behind a bid transit van and was stationary for half an hour with no traffic coming in the opposite direction ( naturally bad accident we thought)
Nope it was a queue in both direction of cross country skiers trying to get into a car park that was full
Fortunately the van decided he’d had enough ( he could see ahead what was happening as a number of cars had turned round now) and decided to go for it. Much to my wife’s disgust I did the same and thank god we did otherwise we would have sat there for hours
There’s was a queue of at least a couple of miles the other direction doing the same just waiting
Realistically I don’t know what they could do as it’s one road etc but really frustrating for people like us just transiting through
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You know it makes sense.
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You'll be pleased to know that Chambery, Lyon and Geneva have been enveloped in a pea souper lasting days - actually it all started on transfer day so probably the drivers causing the fog with their exhausts.
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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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| Quote: |
Nope it was a queue in both direction of cross country skiers trying to get into a car park that was full
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 crying out for a policeman to move them on!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@davidof, said Geneva pea-souper from the air, arriving just a couple of hours ago. That's the lake and city just under all that cloud
It was very odd landing in it - very clear above, then suddenly dropping into thick cloud at the end of the descent, with hazy visibility just about returning a few hundred metres before the runway started!
Flight was 2 hours late
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Fingers crossed for tomorrow afternoon, LGW again. The wind will pick up but should be reasonable. Unlike further north where I see now Edinburgh has cancelled Hogmanay street parties and fireworks due to impending storms and really high winds.
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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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Yes we were caught in the Gatwick issues on Friday, and then nearly Saturday (fortunately I feared BA would cancel so booked an easyJet flight that took off). This summer I was caught up in that Manchester airport chaos on a flight home from Bilbao with easyJet. They refunded everything no question really quickly. Hoping BA are as good this time, and that insurance will cover the easyJet flights as I don’t think BA will. But I’ll be trying!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We flew from Salzburg to LGW yesterday. Was infinitely relieved to end up getting in just under 2hrs late given all that was going on.
The sea of bags in baggage reclaim that were just standing around belts was very sad to see.
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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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@fixx, interesting. The fog is all over north America too, lots of conspiracy theories doing the rounds
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| NickyJ wrote: |
We flew from Salzburg to LGW yesterday. Was infinitely relieved to end up getting in just under 2hrs late given all that was going on.
The sea of bags in baggage reclaim that were just standing around belts was very sad to see. |
Were these offloaded bags from cancelled flights ? How did the bags get there without their owners?
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| ster wrote: |
| NickyJ wrote: |
We flew from Salzburg to LGW yesterday. Was infinitely relieved to end up getting in just under 2hrs late given all that was going on.
The sea of bags in baggage reclaim that were just standing around belts was very sad to see. |
Were these offloaded bags from cancelled flights ? How did the bags get there without their owners? |
Not 100% my guess is combination of flights cancelled after bags checked in or bags which should have gone on a connecting flight, but not enough time to get them moved onto it.... not sure, just never seen that number like that before
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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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| NickyJ wrote: |
Not 100% my guess is combination of flights cancelled after bags checked in or bags which should have gone on a connecting flight, but not enough time to get them moved onto it.... not sure, just never seen that number like that before |
Bags without passengers is a deliberate decision by the airline. You can't just send a bag onwards without the passenger. It needs a full 3D scan etc. It's one of the reasons they generally can't just pop it on a later flight.
Bags without passengers need enhanced security screening.
It's one of the lessons from Lockerbie. In the UK, the dispatcher who signs off the plane can go to prison for sending a bag without a passenger. Very unlikely to happen but you're the one signing it off to say the bags match the passengers.
So, likelihood is the plane went without bags then they've shipped them over on a later flight. Any that don't get picked up get scooped up and put in taxis to wherever is needed.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
| The fog is all over north America too, lots of conspiracy theories doing the rounds |
From the same people who think 5G is the work of the devil, covid was an international conspiracy to control the masses...and Trump will end the Ukraine war within 24 hrs of taking office 
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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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@mountainaddict, yes, exactly the same
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@mountainaddict, @davidof, all we need to know is "Is the continent cut off?". I rest my case.
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You know it makes sense.
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Well we are home 48h later than planned, and via TAP rather than EJ. Too late for any NYE party, to my wife’s disappointment. Now the painful process of claiming money back.
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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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| Orange200 wrote: |
| Well we are home 48h later than planned, and via TAP rather than EJ. Too late for any NYE party, to my wife’s disappointment. Now the painful process of claiming money back. |
Is that via your own insurance rather than the airline regs on late/cancelled flights?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Returning from France shortly before Xmas, our flight from Chambery was delayed by fog and poor visibility. After waiting about 4 hours the decision was taken to divert to Grenoble.
Not so bad for me but a gruelling day for my ski buddy, who had broken his leg midweek. Still, we just managed to get home the same day, so could've been worse.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| ster wrote: |
| Orange200 wrote: |
| Well we are home 48h later than planned, and via TAP rather than EJ. Too late for any NYE party, to my wife’s disappointment. Now the painful process of claiming money back. |
Is that via your own insurance rather than the airline regs on late/cancelled flights? |
I’ll try them first, they offered vouchers or refund.
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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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@Orange200, so just cost rather than compo, fair enough.
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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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| NickyJ wrote: |
| ster wrote: |
| NickyJ wrote: |
We flew from Salzburg to LGW yesterday. Was infinitely relieved to end up getting in just under 2hrs late given all that was going on.
The sea of bags in baggage reclaim that were just standing around belts was very sad to see. |
Were these offloaded bags from cancelled flights ? How did the bags get there without their owners? |
Not 100% my guess is combination of flights cancelled after bags checked in or bags which should have gone on a connecting flight, but not enough time to get them moved onto it.... not sure, just never seen that number like that before |
I shifted 210 Jet2 bags out of South terminal on the 30th. They were all from either GVA or GNB but weren't on the same flight as the passengers (who were diverted to STN)
If you live around Lewes/Hassocks area, it was me who delivered them to you yesterday morning.
Still nothing compared to the 5000 in 10 days earlier this year after the flooding in Dubai
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