 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone else caught up in this today?
Flippin' nightmare 
So we get to Grenoble 3.5 hrs before our Thomas Cook Manchester flight this morning after being up at some ungodly hour to find there is a one hour delay due to delay of inbound aircraft. OK not too bad, par for the course really.
Then eventually we get processed through their tedious security lanes and board the plane, Grenoble really doesn't seem able to cope with large volumes of people at all well, won't be flying into there again in a hurry if I can help it.
Once on board the captain announces that one of the transfer coaches has broken down on way to airport and we will be waiting one hour for it. OK fine, 37 poor peeps on broken down bus, no probs but why did they have to board us?
To cut a long story short we waited 3.5 hours for them. Loads of announcements in that time; 'oh they are just 20 mins away', 'ok if they are not here by such a time we are going without them' etc etc none of which came to anything.
Apparently a coach had got stuck in the snow in Les Arcs with 10 coaches blocked behind it  then whilst being stuck had broken down. Gendarmes had to be called. Replacement coach sent eventually. All kinds of chaos on the resort roads.
We took off just short of 4 hours late after sitting on the plane for all that time. Must have affected lots of other flights too if that number of coaches really was involved.
Very bad show on the part of Thomas Cook Airlines they offered nothing in the way of compensation refreshments until 40 mins into the flight when there was a free bar, one drink per person  And they had the cheek to pass through the cabin selling 'comfort packs' consisting of pillows, blankets etc for only £5! Hubby pointed out the EU law about their obligations to provide refreshments for passengers for a delayed departure (meal and drink after 2 hours apparently) to the cabin services manager to no avail, he quoted their company policy which, it seems, is against the law, and he didn't seem concerned.
Glad to be home at last, just about to book tunnel or ferry for Feb 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That won't work if the tunnel is blocked by a Eurostar train, or if Calais is blockaded.
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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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Fair comment but at least I will be in comfort in my own vehicle with plenty of food, drinks, entertainment etc. I'll take my chances.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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sarah, what a palaver! I bet the people on the stuck transfer bus were proper pleased the plane waited for them though!
Hope you had a fab trip other than that.
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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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sarah, Fly BA ... less crap ... 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I remember being at Moutiers one Saturday evening. 1 meter of fresh snow, the TGV waiting to head to London and not one of our transfer coaches had arrived from the Three Valleys. A Dutch tour bus had flipped upside down and vanished down a gorge on the way down from Val Thorens the roads were so bad.
The SNCF gave us 20 minutes grace, we were luckily in telephone contact with all the drivers and got everyone on board with seconds to spare. We still had chavs getting off the coaches looking for the Moutiers duty free or wanting a crap before they got on the train. Thank god for electric cattle prods.
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On my first ever ski trip (Serbia Jan 2007), we were bemoaning that the snow was a bit thin & the temperatures too high - then we got a major dump midweek and by our home-day the temperature plummeted with more snow and howling wind. We had just left the resort, no more than 10 mins down the road when our bus stopped on a high exposed road with an ear-splitting alarm going off. To cut a long story short, we sat there for 4 hours awaiting another bus faced with two choices, put up with the alarm and have the bus engine & heating on, or freeze . When we got to Nis airport we had little sympathy with the others on the flight who were complaining because they'd had to wait - in an admittedly small, but warm airport cafe/lounge with toilets! They had no choice but to wait for us as there was one single flight to/from the UK per week from that airport!
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Agenterre,
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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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| Butterfly wrote: |
| we had little sympathy with the others on the flight who were complaining because they'd had to wait - in an admittedly small, but warm airport cafe/lounge with toilets! |
I have no problem with being told to have to wait whilst still in the terminal building - at least they have some facilities, but when everyone has boarded the aircraft, and then they announce a two-hour delay that is unacceptable.
This has happened twice in recent years: once because of fog at the destination airport (which could have cleared at any moment, so almost understandable we need to be ready to leave), but last time (just before Christmas) we boarded on-time, only to be told once all seated that the luggage from the incoming flight hadn't yet been unloaded, let alone our luggage loaded! And this would take at least 1.5 hours: so why the hell did they tell us to board???
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RobW, I totally agree.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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On our way to Nis, many moons ago, the transfer coach, which was being driven far too fast on very icy roads, did a long ski followed by an almost 180 slide, ending with the back end perched over an enormous drop. Told to stay in the bus, by the rep, I led a passenger revolt and suggested we all get off asap and get well over into the snow on the other side of the road rather than wait for our bus to be pushed right over the edge by the next daft Serbian driver. A couple of us went in each direction to slow down any approaching traffic while the driver edged and inched and slid and skidded the bus onto the road pointing in the right direction. Then before we got the airport, when we stopped for a little girl desperate for a pee, she got bitten by a dog (fortunately not on the exposed backside).
Even the big airports can't cope with chaotic transfer days, though. Geneva was closed for 12 hours one Sunday a few years ago (by snow) and coaches were being stacked up in motorway service areas and the like, all around the area.
If humanly possible, don't travel on Saturdays, especially not peak Saturdays.
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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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| RobW wrote: |
| Butterfly wrote: |
| we had little sympathy with the others on the flight who were complaining because they'd had to wait - in an admittedly small, but warm airport cafe/lounge with toilets! |
I have no problem with being told to have to wait whilst still in the terminal building - at least they have some facilities, but when everyone has boarded the aircraft, and then they announce a two-hour delay that is unacceptable.
This has happened twice in recent years: once because of fog at the destination airport (which could have cleared at any moment, so almost understandable we need to be ready to leave), but last time (just before Christmas) we boarded on-time, only to be told once all seated that the luggage from the incoming flight hadn't yet been unloaded, let alone our luggage loaded! And this would take at least 1.5 hours: so why the hell did they tell us to board??? |
Absolutely! Delays are so much easier to tolerate when you have a degree of freedom, even Grenoble's terminal building would have been far preferable to being held on board for almost 4 hours.
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I suppose that the airports insist that customers are boarded - to clear space for the next load of unhappy punters.
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, I think you are right, this is what the cabin staff seemed to suggest, that they had wanted us to remain in the terminal(easier for everyone) but the airport had boarded us. Like you say 'clearing space' very critical at Grenoble
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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 try to avoid Grenoble - apart from the fact that it's very small, it's French, so much more subject to strikes than is Geneva. It's also in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I know many people moan about Geneva but I go there a lot, and I reckon it's the least worst round here.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Nearly had an experience of waiting on the tarmac for hours last Jan at Gatwick - Easyjet
Bad snow at Geneva meant they couldn't take off because they couldn't land, ETA the captain said before takeoff- around 3 hours! Unreal
Amusingly, they opened up the cockpit for people to have a sit in the chair and a look around, didn't get to have a look myself though much to my disappointment, but only because we ended up taking off much sooner than planned, think it was about an hour or so delay so in the end OK.
Very stingey to only give out one drink like that sarah
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| pam w wrote: |
| I try to avoid Grenoble - apart from the fact that it's very small, it's French, so much more subject to strikes than is Geneva. It's also in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I know many people moan about Geneva but I go there a lot, and I reckon it's the least worst round here. |
I also suspect that it doesn't count as a "delayed flight" for purposes of the legislation requiring free food & drink etc. if you are already on the plane. They certainly aren't going to give you the free phone calls and emails you are also entitled to with a delay of over 2 hours.
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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 might well be right alex_heney, although it does suggest a curious concept of "flight" does it not? I have this quaint and probably out-of-date notion that it involves leaving the ground. 
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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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ccl, Agreed, it should do.
I haven't looked up the actual legislation to see how it defines "delay", but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was up to the point of boarding.
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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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Some years ago I was on the way to Washington DC from Schiphol, due to change planes in Boston. The east coast was gripped by a big freeze and as we approached Logan it closed - so they diverted us to Bangor to a military airport. We were fine though - they put on an open bar & refreshments to help yourself to & stuck on an extra film - Cool Runnings! We did get into Logan some hours later & got put up in a hotel overnight - it was a bit nippy -13F . That is an example of how to get it right!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| alex_heney wrote: |
I haven't looked up the actual legislation to see how it defines "delay", but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was up to the point of boarding. |
Delay is delay, I don't believe before/after boarding makes any difference.
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I had the joy of being on a Geneva flight on one of the final flights of Excel Airlines, which was diverted to Grenoble waiting for fog at Geneva to clear. Several hours in the plane on the tarmac at Grenoble, couldn't stand up or get off the plane, probably because 'landing' at Grenoble would cost money. Not nice.
Interesting suggestion above that keeping people on the plane avoids Euro-regs on delayed flights.
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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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sarah, I wouldn't believe any wiki-lawyer opinion, we seem to have inherited a wiki-aviation-expert. Nice person I'm sure, but layman opinion .... the persistence is 'duracell' quality. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| sarah wrote: |
| alex_heney wrote: |
I haven't looked up the actual legislation to see how it defines "delay", but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was up to the point of boarding. |
Delay is delay, I don't believe before/after boarding makes any difference. |
I would hope you are right. I have looked up the regs now, and they don't define the term, so it should take its normal English meaning.
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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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Agenterre, Who are you talking about?
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Grenoble was chaos as usual today. We were only 45mins late departing but the security there is bad. 5 times they checked my passport; Once at check-in 3 times at security and once more to board.
adrian
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You know it makes sense.
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| davidof wrote: |
| Thank god for electric cattle prods. |
Aye. In my time, all we had was town gas. It was a job getting the punters herded down the street with that.
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FAQ
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