How rubbish are BAA & Eurostar ?

[Herr Tubthumper]

like amazing frankfurt and its army beds from the nearest SS garrison and erm hundreds of stranded passengers

Exactly, they are helping their passengers.

 

[beorhthelm]

Why was the BAA boss apologising for their shoddy and tardy response this morning then?

(attempt at) good PR?

but could they honestly not work out which flights are/aren't allowed to go earlier than that?

there is obvious a communication and information problem somwhere. i think they deliberatly leave it till the last minute with plane departures. My college was saying that on Sunday all the boards said the flights were on time, despite being hours late and passengers being told they were not going. i gather only a few dozen long haul made out of Heathrow yesturday and other flights that appeared to be flying weren't.

if they are saying you should go to the airport, then clearly they are at fault for giving poor information and causing a lot of grief and cost.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

there is obvious a communication and information problem somwhere. i think they deliberatly leave it till the last minute with plane departures. My college was saying that on Sunday all the boards said the flights were on time, despite being hours late and passengers being told they were not going. i gather only a few dozen long haul made out of Heathrow yesturday and other flights that appeared to be flying weren't.

if they are saying you should go to the airport, then clearly they are at fault for giving poor information and causing a lot of grief and cost.

An Aer Lingus flight to Dublin took off yesterday about 9am. I saw this, and given that my Aer Lingus flight to Shannon at 3pm was shown as on time, had absolutely no choice but to go to the airport - either decisions had already been made that it would be cancelled and not told as you say, or that it was left to the very last minute, which is even more stupid.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I cannot believe a labour party member has had the front to post this.

I'm all for a modern Britain we can be proud of. Cheap skate companies like BA and BAA are not part of it I'm afraid.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

My cousin lives in Germany and she just said:
"I'm quite disappointed that Germany isn't any better at dealing with snow than the UK"

I'm pretty sure we're not alone.

Quite. A mate of mine has been moaning about Deutsche bahn pretty much every day for about 3 weeks.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

We have finalised our flight schedule for Tuesday 21 December.
We aim to confirm our plans for the following days on a daily basis.

Customers booked to fly into and out of London Heathrow up to 24 December have the option to claim a refund or rebook for a later date.

Please do not go to the airport unless you have a confirmed booking on a flight that is operating.

Due to high call volumes and website visits you may experience delays contacting us or changing your booking.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused.

now admittedly they do say if you have a cfmed booking on a flight thats operating you can go to the airport, but it doesnt say that flight will operate , but if its short haul thats likely to be sacrificed for a long haul one. they dont tell you that but thats been in the public domain since the weekend that thats likely.

reading that i would cuff it if i didnt have to go.

I have no idea where that quote comes from, but yesterday (and Sunday) the Aer Lingus website said that SOME flights would be subject to cancellations and to keep upto date with the status of your own one. Mine was shown as on time right up until I had to leave the house - and as I mentioned above not only that but another Aer Lingus flight to Dublin did leave yesterday morning.

I can't believe you are suggesting that in my situation you wouldn't have gone to Heathrow. If it had gone, not only would I pointlessly have missed out on Christmas with my family, but I'd be down 100 quid.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Quite. A mate of mine has been moaning about Deutsche bahn pretty much every day for about 3 weeks.

But their moaning is probably about the train being 2 seconds late, or only 74 types of sausage on sale in the buffet car, or the version of Metropolis showing on the in-train entertainment system is the 2001 reconstruction and not the 2008 Argentinian copy.

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

hahaha. unless you are on a drip and need a heart like the girl off airplane its not the end of the world.

aw poor people wont get to see auntie joan in moonee ponds on the magical day and so will go ABSOLUTELY f***ing GARRITY at the first person the can find.

Typical of the sort of indifference shown by the operating companies, as is the earlier comment about it being 'toffs getting away for Christmas.' What utter, utter bollocks. My mate is trying to get home to Spain to see his mum who's terminally ill with cancer and won't live to see another Christmas. His reaction to a cancelled flight was to try to make other arrangements to go through Bilbao on a ferry or something, spending more money he can ill afford to try to get home, without complaining in the process.

He is just one of thousands - what if you'd been here on holiday, stayed in a hotel, and therefore couldn't just give up and go home? What the f*** are people supposed to do? It doesn't help that, this morning for example, another mate who's trying to get home to Scotland has been told by East Coast Mainline that trains are delayed but running, but by Network Rail or whatever the f*** it's called that no trains are leaving King's Cross for Peterborough whatsoever - he has no idea which is the truth.

If we hadn't sold all this stuff off, airports, train companies, everything else they could sell to raise money, then people might be treated with a bit more respect. But that costs money, doesn't it, and therefore doesn't even enter the thinking of the Mammon-worshipping fuckers who run these things.

And breathe.

 

[Hunting 784561]

BAA are disgusting nickle and diming cheapskates. Shouldnt be allowed to run a rural bus stop, let alone this country's biggest airport.

Delighted to see that Gatwick has by and large stayed open and run a normal service - mainly as they recently spent £8 Mill on some new snow ploughs.

It's the corporate bean counters who are to blame for the failure of BAA - you really don't need to look very much further.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

It all stems, yet again, that in this digital age and the information super highway, no one (and lets say Europe) can actually give the right information to the people who matter - staff & passengers.

Scandalous.

 

[The Spanish]

the thinking of the Mammon-worshipping fuckers who run these things.

And breathe.

who should run them then.

 

[Hunting 784561]

National infastructure companies should be above simple profit or loss.

This country cant be allowed to grind to a halt because a bean counter doesnt want to spend money on the necessary infastructure.

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

People appointed to run them with the sole purpose of providing the service they're there for, with no difference in payment or bonus for profits made by the operating companies, instead being paid only for the service they provide. I do my job to the best of my ability, as I suspect you do, sir, without the imperative of making a profit at any cost there to drive me. Airports still operated before they were sold off, didn't they? They didn't just start magically working only once profit was there to be made.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

People appointed to run them with the sole purpose of providing the service they're there for, with no difference in payment or bonus for profits made by the operating companies, instead being paid only for the service they provide. I do my job to the best of my ability, as I suspect you do, sir, without the imperative of making a profit at any cost there to drive me. Airports still operated before they were sold off, didn't they? They didn't just start magically working only once profit was there to be made.

The sad thing is most people in England will always want to buy the cheapest version of whatever it is they want to buy. Folk are blind to the false economy of buying the cheaper product or service. This attitude works its way the way through our system and permeates every business. Hence they always provide a rock bottom service at a too good to be true price. There is a reason we have Greggs and the French have nice patisseries. There is a reason why most German taxis are Mercedes. We'd rather buy a huge pile of tat as opposed to a few class items. Quantity over quality every time I'm afraid.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

People appointed to run them with the sole purpose of providing the service they're there for, with no difference in payment or bonus for profits made by the operating companies, instead being paid only for the service they provide. I do my job to the best of my ability, as I suspect you do, sir, without the imperative of making a profit at any cost there to drive me. Airports still operated before they were sold off, didn't they? They didn't just start magically working only once profit was there to be made.

And no incentive to do anything better and completely driven by the unions.

 

[Hunting 784561]

Aldi. Lidl.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

And no incentive to do anything better and completely driven by the unions.

Maybe if staff were treated better then the union would not be so driven. I'll dig out an article about the man who generally, by his own admission, has one of the cushiest job in the world....the Volkwagen union boss.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

The problem is the BAA blame the airlines and the Airlines blame BAA.

Gatwick was a great example....BAA cleared the runway, the planes were being made ready and they ran out of de-icer for the planes....which were stuck on tankers in the snow somewhere outside Birmingham.....so how is that BAA's fault?

Some bloke on 5 Live this morning came on and said , "......why are we all getting so worried about this, its only a bunch of toffs trying to go on holiday whilst the rest of us are cutting back...."

Pssssst! BAA are nothing to do with Gatwick, they sold it about a year ago

 

[The Spanish]

There is a reason why most German taxis are Mercedes.

which are cheaper than london cabs.

mercedes are cabs of choice in a lot of cut corners eastern europe too, skint greece and cheapskate cyprus..

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'm off to heat up my Brocolli and Stilton soup.