TheTeapot Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Why don't they fly to Luton anymore? 20 minutes on the train to St Pancras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Not enough demand? I flew out of and back into Luton last summer. Got there via Stansted and caught the bus over and travelled from Luton to Gatwick on Thameslink to get home. If there is one Airport serving London that is worse than Gatwick it's Luton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTeapot Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Its 20 minutes on the train to st pancras. There are lots of them. I fail to see how that is badly serving London. St pancras and kings cross are pretty much the same and Euston is a 3 minute walk. You can get everywhere from there easy. It probably takes longer to get into London from Heathrow, Gatwick or standstead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Read what I said. Nowhere did I mention transfer times in to central London. Nor did I say it served London badly. I said that Luton airport was worse than Gatwick. It's a hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 If there is one Airport serving London that is worse than Gatwick it's Luton. Gatwick is excellent for London from the IOM and a great place from which to transfer to the rest of Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Maybe Pongo. Didn't say it wast, but it's a horrible place, poorly designed, badly laid out and appears to be operated without any regard for its passengers. It's not a pleasant place to travel through. It's the worst airport I regularly travel through. As I observed above Luton is worse, and so is Liverpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Manchester terminal 3 isn't great. London City, since its development, is the best one I've used in the UK for as long as I can remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Maybe Pongo. Didn't say it wast, but it's a horrible place, poorly designed, badly laid out and appears to be operated without any regard for its passengers. It's not a pleasant place to travel through. It's the worst airport I regularly travel through. As I observed above Luton is worse, and so is Liverpool. It would be great to be charged a little bit more and for it to give up on being a shopping mall / theme fake pubs. Both terminals. The worst thing is all the geezers. My specific criticisms would be: There are no shower facilities in the air side lounges in the South Terminal. And the South terminal seems inadequately cooled. And, the same as Liverpool, it's annoying having to pass through the shop after security. And they still haven't got rid of the body scanners or introduced an opt-out (the metal detector buzzer goes off at random by design according to someone who works on the security there). I doubt it will turn out that those scanners are safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzi Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Pongo, you seem to be criticising airports, your description fits most large airport I've ever been to. If you would like to pay a bit more to to escape the fake pub/shopping mall experience, then buy a lounge pass. Many have showers, as well as a quiet ambience, comfortable seating and free drinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 I just find travelling a really painful experience these days. I'm aware that security these days has had to be ramped up but the whole experience generally is very painful. There is a charge for everything (at Liverpool i'm surprised they don't charge you to take a piss yet) and they've designed airports with very little seating to force people into paying areas (like the Costa's etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 I just find travelling a really painful experience these days. I'm aware that security these days has had to be ramped up but the whole experience generally is very painful. There is a charge for everything (at Liverpool i'm surprised they don't charge you to take a piss yet) and they've designed airports with very little seating to force people into paying areas (like the Costa's etc). True. We were saying the same thing last week. It takes the fun out of going on holiday or taking a trip away. Trying to catch a flight now is more akin to entering a high security prison and being forced to endure a mini shopping mall in the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 +1 notwell and Lxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellanvannin2010 Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Interesting comment put out by Easyjet operations control yesterday on their flight tracker for the LGW rotation ." Please be aware that we are seeing poor weather conditions on the Isle of Man. Operating flights to and from the Isle of Man can be challenging when certain weather conditions exist. The relatively short runway and fog conditions can lead to aircraft not being unable to make a safe approach to land" First time I have seen the runway length being mentioned as a problem for the flight, perhaps we are going to have to extend it further although I am not sure how runway length helps in the case of fog. This was also issued by Flybe in its trading statement of 27th July Recognition for strong and improved punctuality · Flybe was ranked by the CAA as the UK's most punctual airline last year for the second consecutive year. The CAA's punctuality statistics for airlines operating more than 30k flights a year showed that 84% of Flybe's flights were on time, ahead of Ryanair (82.1%), British Airways (72.7%) and easyJet (71.7%). · Flybe's performance also improved year-on-year from 82% to 84%, while overall industry performance was reported to have dropped from 79% to 76.6% over 2014. · In Q1 2016/17 Flybe's On Time Performance (OTP) has been impacted by ATC strikes and poor weather in line with other UK airlines and declined 5 ppts to 82.4% (arrivals within 15 minutes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Interesting comment put out by Easyjet operations control yesterday on their flight tracker for the LGW rotation ." Please be aware that we are seeing poor weather conditions on the Isle of Man. Operating flights to and from the Isle of Man can be challenging when certain weather conditions exist. The relatively short runway and fog conditions can lead to aircraft not being unable to make a safe approach to land" First time I have seen the runway length being mentioned as a problem for the flight, perhaps we are going to have to extend it further although I am not sure how runway length helps in the case of fog. Or perhaps they are going to bugger off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Maybe Pongo. Didn't say it wast, but it's a horrible place, poorly designed, badly laid out and appears to be operated without any regard for its passengers. It's not a pleasant place to travel through. It's the worst airport I regularly travel through. As I observed above Luton is worse, and so is Liverpool. Manchester terminal 3 isn't great. London City, since its development, is the best one I've used in the UK for as long as I can remember. Travelling around the world and then back to the UK I find British airports in general are dire. Heathrow and Manchester in their constant states of "redevelopment" and "improvement", to squeeze the last retail penny can be like walking through a war zone. I've often wondered what foreign visitors think of their first impressions. So many international airports elsewhere have a far more relaxed and opulent feel to them. Same with many foreign trains. Ours look like they've been designed by a wartime austerity committee by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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