Queue chaos at Airports

[lrdisco]

GT03ROB said:

You sure about that? Its mostly getting airside thats the problem! Airside its not much different to how it used to be. After the CV19 BS travel now feels like a pain but its always been a pain a peak times. CV!9 was frankly heaven for travelling once you got paperwork sorted. Deserted airports, lounges, etc.,

Schiphol 17:30 on a Friday during lockdown. The good old days.

[Condi]

This was an entire day's flights at Gatwick, June 2020.

[Bill]

Just breezed through bag drop and security at Bristol in <20 minutes. The queue for the bar is longer than the one for bag drop. The doesn't seem to be aircon but the beer is cold.

However the plane is delayed as it's only just left Sardinia.

[Bill]

However, while flights with a few other carriers are marked as delayed with an expected time easyJet has just put up "Gate info shortly"...

[Magooagain]

48,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,002 post for Bill.
Congratulations old chap.
Enjoy the trip.
Is it France?
It's hot here.
Be prepared.

[Bill]

29° in the airport! Headed for Chamonix, should be a very pleasant 21° above 2000m.

[CardinalBlue]

98elise said:

K50 DEL said:

Tyre Smoke said:

When travelling with hand luggage only, do you buy deodorant, shampoo, sun cream, etc in the resort then? And leave it behind on your way back?

Travel size bottles are the answer, they're all under 100ml in size, stick them in the clear plastic bag so beloved of airport security and away you go.

We've bought reusable 100ml silicone bottles. That way we can just fill them with stuff from home rather then have to find travel sizes.

Suncream we just pick it up in the departures lounge as we will normally use a whole bottle anyway. It's about £6 in departures Vs £12-£15 at the resort's.

You can also order online and do click and collect at Boots, which is past security at the airports I use - which is ideal for baby milk, but we’ve added a few bits on before such as deodorants etc. if required.

[HJG]

Flown out of and into LGW three times this month. Twice north terminal and once south.
North is the better terminal for queues.
However the Egates at both seem much slower than they were couple of years ago. Today in South terminal passport control was 45minutes.

I've always found security at LGW to be pretty quick but they've now implemented a load of screens with instructions. The security staff can be heard, in a patronising manner, saying "all you need to know is on the screen, just follow that". Now for whatever reason some people just can't do that and physically need somebody to do it for them. The security staff were just watching confused passengers and pointing to the screen.

[Shnozz]

K50 DEL said:

Tyre Smoke said:

When travelling with hand luggage only, do you buy deodorant, shampoo, sun cream, etc in the resort then? And leave it behind on your way back?

Travel size bottles are the answer, they're all under 100ml in size, stick them in the clear plastic bag so beloved of airport security and away you go.

Either that or just find a local supermarket at the destination.

[Greenmantle]

just booked Gatwick north terminal parking for next month. was offered speedy security check for £5 per person. yep i know MUG. At least SWMBO won’t be moaning.

[nebpor]

Dublin security was 25 mins

Been sitting on tarmac for an hour now waiting for ground crew to load the bags, Aer Lingus prop to Glasgow

Cabin crew visibly pissed. I feel for them

[51mes]

Flew easyjet Manchester to Dubrovnik on Wednesday. T1 meet and greet, bag drop fast track security and into duty free within 25 minutes, no queues no fuss no mess. The 3 hour flight left on time, was 10 minutes early landing. 45 Minutes later we were unpacking luggage in our hotel room.

As easy and trouble free journey you could ever expect. (12.55 flight). Hoping on our return at the end of the month - due in about 19.30 it will work as well....

[GT03ROB]

lrdisco said:

GT03ROB said:

You sure about that? Its mostly getting airside thats the problem! Airside its not much different to how it used to be. After the CV19 BS travel now feels like a pain but its always been a pain a peak times. CV!9 was frankly heaven for travelling once you got paperwork sorted. Deserted airports, lounges, etc.,

Schiphol 17:30 on a Friday during lockdown. The good old days.

Always have had overcrowding problems at Schipol lounges in so far as you can’t come in. At the peak of CV would be the only person in the lounge.

[djc206]

GT03ROB said:

Always have had overcrowding problems at Schipol lounges in so far as you can’t come in. At the peak of CV would be the only person in the lounge.

I’ve only had the misfortune of flying via Schipol a few times, well Haarlem arguably as most of the time we’ve arrived or departed via Polderbaan. Security there always seemed to have a hefty queue pre covid and the lounge was always mobbed and a bit st. The only reason I subjected myself to it again was a) flights to Africa in particular were way cheaper and b) it’s so easy to ditch bags at left luggage and head into the city for lunch and c) I can’t quite place why but I really quite like the Netherlands.

[CheesecakeRunner]

It was all going so well. Trip over to the US was absolutely fine, breezed through all security and no delays.

Coming back today, one of my legs was cancelled. Gate agent rebooked me for Saturday. Not ideal, but not bad, I thought.

But in the process of rebooking, they downgraded me from Premium Economy (O) to Economy (Y). For some that might not be a big deal, but I paid for a Premium seat so I want one, plus it had two checked bags (which I have) and the Economy only has one. To top it off, it’s a 9 hour flight out of Houston and I’m 6 foot 4.

I foresee a long time on hold to their call centre in the morning.

[mattyn1]

The eldest travelling to Poland today for a few months.

Arrived at T5 very very early, having already checked in and printed boarding pass. Baggage drop so easy, through security in minutes, and has loads of time to exploit the lounge!

The queue for check in seemed rather long! Again I forget a photo.

[parabolica]

GT03ROB said:

lrdisco said:

GT03ROB said:

You sure about that? Its mostly getting airside thats the problem! Airside its not much different to how it used to be. After the CV19 BS travel now feels like a pain but its always been a pain a peak times. CV!9 was frankly heaven for travelling once you got paperwork sorted. Deserted airports, lounges, etc.,

Schiphol 17:30 on a Friday during lockdown. The good old days.

Always have had overcrowding problems at Schipol lounges in so far as you can’t come in. At the peak of CV would be the only person in the lounge.

I flew through Schipol 2 weeks ago and whilst it was busy, it wasn't over crowded however no-where in the airport had any decent food options; this was lunchtime on a thursday for reference. Queue for the KLM lounge was back down the escalators so that was a bust, and all the main-terminal eateries had almost no stock or the ones that did had massive queues. Away from that the only security chaos I saw was that internal gate you have to go through to get to the gates that fly to China; they were mobbed.

[rustyuk]

51mes said:

Flew easyjet Manchester to Dubrovnik on Wednesday. T1 meet and greet, bag drop fast track security and into duty free within 25 minutes, no queues no fuss no mess. The 3 hour flight left on time, was 10 minutes early landing. 45 Minutes later we were unpacking luggage in our hotel room.

As easy and trouble free journey you could ever expect. (12.55 flight). Hoping on our return at the end of the month - due in about 19.30 it will work as well....

Good luck with Manchester Meet and Greet on your return!

[RizzoTheRat]

djc206 said:

GT03ROB said:

Always have had overcrowding problems at Schipol lounges in so far as you can’t come in. At the peak of CV would be the only person in the lounge.

I’ve only had the misfortune of flying via Schipol a few times, well Haarlem arguably as most of the time we’ve arrived or departed via Polderbaan. Security there always seemed to have a hefty queue pre covid and the lounge was always mobbed and a bit st. The only reason I subjected myself to it again was a) flights to Africa in particular were way cheaper and b) it’s so easy to ditch bags at left luggage and head into the city for lunch and c) I can’t quite place why but I really quite like the Netherlands.

Pre-covid I used to weekly commute through Schiphol. Getting there around 6pm on a Friday I probably had 1 or two occasions in a couple of years where I didn't clear security and passports in under 5 minutes, usually there'd be 1 or 2 people in front of me at security, and not having to remove electronics/fluids from your hand luggage made that really quick. Going the other way on a Sunday night I had maybe 3 or 4 times when there was a queue at passports, although on those few occasions it could be more like 20-30 minutes.

I thought I was going have a big delay the day I arrived on the train and they kicked us straight outside because of a lunatic with a knife but the Koninklijke Marechaussee showed and shot him within about 5 minutes and we were all let back in again

The biggest issue I had with Schiphol was when they ditched the truffle mayonnaise at the Harvest Market cafe at the D gates!

[nebpor]

2.5 hours late out of Dublin to Glasgow last night because of built up ground staff shortages throughout the day

20 mins to get airside (which isn’t unacceptable), but being put on a small plane with the engines off for an hour was, as we sat looking at the baggage truck and waited for someone to come and load it. Was meant to depart 18:15 but didn’t leave till after 8:30

Felt for the pissed looking aircrew and made sure I was nice to everyone working in the airport!!

The most annoying bit is I also had a ticket on the 8:40pm Ryanair to Glasgow flight, but in a late attempt to get home earlier booked the Lingus flight yesterday - we landed 5 mins after Ryanair!!