poolboy

hi, the Ry website shows the ALC - Gatwick flight went today at 11am but Gatwick is supposed to be closed!

I am due to fly soon so do they transfer you to say Stansted, if so, do they then bus you to Gatwick or are you left at the only open airport?

Thanks in advance

ausgal

Hi Poolboy
We got caught up with the snow / air traffic controllers strike the other week and were flying with Ryanair from Gatwick...and our flight was cancelled twice (snow on the Thursday and ATC on the Saturday!!) and each time we received a text from Ryanair informing us that the flight was cancelled and to rebook /cancel free of charge via their website.No offer of a flight from Stansted or anything else,so we just had to keep rebooking our flight!

poolboy

cheers ausgal, Ry website now updated saying diverted! as GTW & STN are shut must be Luton. Bus provided - wonder if they try & sell game cards & smokeless ciggies on it.

The scruffy pikey has actually provided a service for once.

rachelk

I'm getting edgy about flying - I can't go until 24th so no room for error.....

BlueChip

I flew Alicante to Stansted this morning arriving at 09.30, there were definitely people at Stansted on planes that had been diverted from Gatwick, dont know if they were Ryanair though.

poolboy

cheers - it says ALC-GTW flight today went on time despite there being pages of cancellations from obscure places you wouldn't want to be stuck in. I think its due to disruption yesterday & planes being in wrong places.

reggiedh

We flew into Gatwick on Thursday just as the snow was starting and flew back yesterday (Tuesday). Kudos for Gatwick airport (who were only down a few hours) and to Ryanair for keeping planes and passengers in the air!
Now Heathrow is another story and heads should be made to roll there. How can the most famous airport in the world be closed for as long as it has been all because of a few inches of snow? It's a national embarrassment.

agoreira

Some info here, and as they say, Gatwick took a bit of a slating earlier in the month. Agree it was pretty grim, but they weren't alone, several other European airports that have more snow than us were also affected. Not defending them, but I was listening to the boss of London Airport and as he said, they have had snow there the last few years, but for eight years, they never had any. That's a lot of seriously expensive kit laying around doing nothing for eight years. But looks like snow could be a regular thing, and Gatwick got it right and invested in new kit, but as regards a national embarrassment, I agree, but the Spanish own Heathrow, can we force them to buy new kit? I bet they do before next year anyway.

The BAA spokesman
“We then watched as five inches of snow fell on the airfield in a little more than an hour. That volume of snow will affect any airport in the world,” he said.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b6573036-0...#axzz18pVdzRTi

Dick Dasterdly

Seems BAA at Heathrow are finally going to invest in some new gear after this further disgraceful shambles.
The embarrased BAA chief has dropped his bonus claim for this year, after word got out that his previous years salary was double the total amount spent on snow equipment for the whole of last year.

EsuriJohn

However according to the Telegraph he will still get his "Secret Bonus" which they don't seem to know how much that is!

Dick Dasterdly

I always thought that bonuses were paid for exceptionally good results.
Silly me.
If a guy can't perform the job he is hired for, he should be straight out the door sharpish and no golden handshake,.. better still dock his pay.
It is beyond comprehension that a business with such a massive captive customer base, which should be generating huge profits from it's excessive charges, cannot even run a half decent service or invest in the necessary equipment to keep things ticking over smoothly.
BAA obviously could not even organise the proverbial P!ss-up at a brewery.

I see O Leary is chomping at the bit hoping for a piece of the action.
No doubt he would make a go of it,....he'd likely remove all the seats to keep all the punters in the shops and charge a fiver a time to visit the bog.

agoreira

You're so way behind the times! Bankers can oversee billion pound loses, get bailed out by us mugs, and still pick up a huge bonus. They don't do bad for pensions either.