Airline passenger news and views

The snow problems at Heathrow have further highlighted the airport’s parking and waiting problems.

A number of families have emailed to say that they chose to travel to the airport having been unable to get any clear instructions from their airline. The problem they then faced was where and how to park.

In reality they did not know whether they would be travelling that day or returning home.  I know this sounds crazy but it appears to have been a common reality.  For their part, the airlines were trying to minimise cancelations and were forced into making last-minute decisions.

Some passengers had commercial taxis, some had family members dropping them off and some intended to park in the long-term car park. Yet others had valet services expecting to park the car for them in an off-airport location.

All of these services are rendered virtually impossibly in the Heathrow crisis environment.

No-one can wait in any form of short-term waiting bay, passengers are effectively committed to moving the family and all the baggage into the airport.  If the flight is not departing, the only option then is to call the taxi or driver back to collect you.

Valet parking is impossibility. They have their own problems and want the vehicle off-airport and into their remote parking depot as soon as possible.  They simply are not able to hold the car. They have a pre-paid booking for say, fourteen days, and from the complaints received have shown themselves generally unwilling to be flexible.

Even the long-term car parks have been described as less than co-operative, particularly on pre-paid bookings.  These bookings are offered at a discount and so one must expect some restrictions on flexibility. However, as one correspondent wrote, “… during the recent crisis we would have expected to be able to go back, explain that the flight had been cancelled and simply pay for the parking period. We did not expect to forfeit out 14-day pre-paid parking voucher and be told to claim it on our travel insurance”.

We know that neither Heathrow nor Gatwick have sufficient space. They operate close to breaking point every day and they also have the continuing threat of terrorism cars to worry about. 

Logically, having people drive to the airport, just to find out if their flight was or was not departing, is stupid.  The information systems were clearly left wanting and the rules relating to no-shows in crisis situations need to be reviewed.

Sadly, however, the recent disaster has shown that there is far too little joined-up thinking and virtually no wiggle-room to aid sensible pre-planning.

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