So i need to go to London next week (Probably Gatwick, but Heathrow acceptable).
Edinburgh to London.
Im reading in the news that its chaos with long queues at check in and security alongside flight cancellations, but also have read/seen some anecdotals that its all overhyped (in an 'only bad news sells' stylee).
So, has anyone been in an airport recently to give first hand experiences? Internal scheduled flights?
Or maybe i should take the train (and tube if they arent striking), or even drive there and back if im going to spend 4 hours+ extra in an airport....
Been in MCR recently for a flight to Italy. Arrived 2.5 hrs early. Queue at check in and queue at security meant we made it to the gate with 10 mins to spare (joined queue at gate, straight on plane.) No pottering around in terminal, no chance to peruse duty free or even get a bite to eat.
Got on plane, pilot announces some bags were missing so we missed our take off slot. Plane delayed 50 mins.
Arrived destination. Off plane, passport check, collect bags, onto transfer bus within 20-30 mins.
Several people due to be on our coach never got their bags, coach left without them.
Recently been through Birmingham, albeit for a flight to Ibiza.
Security was busier than usual but not as bad as I feared, we waited 30 mins to get through I think. Check in was completely pain free.
Air side was loads busier than usual, i suspect as people had all arrived early after reading about delays.
In your shoes I’d be look hard at trains, the faff of flying outweighs the time saved IMO.
Heathrow isn't particularly chaotic at the moment (certainly not to the degree that I've seen in pictures of Manchester / Leeds etc).
similarly have flights Glasgow to Birmingham and back wed and thu next week for work meetings, train times really don't suit. Am hoping that it's not too busy GLW for an 0700 departure midweek, however the chances of the flights being cancelled short notice does seem quite high..
Let the train take the strain mate.
Hope it doesn't get cancelled though.
Perhaps not massively relevant, but I'm just back from a week in Corfu, flying from Luton....
Our flight out was around 7:30am so we were at the airport by 4:30am, expecting it to be nice & quiet. LOL....the queue for check-in was almost out of the door, and that was with the obligatory shuffle backwards and forwards between rows of tapes as you got nearer to the check-in desk.
No idea why, but people on our flight got called out of the queue and whisked through.
Security wasn't too bad but once through there, the queues for something to eat were massive & there was nowhere to sit.
One the way back we arrived to a similarly massive queue at Corfu, but it turned out that was for TUI passengers. For Easyjet, there was a 5min queue and we were through check-in & security in under 15mins. I wouldn't have wanted to be a TUI customer though - there were a lot of unhappy travellers!
We were very lucky, as it looked like some customers had hours of delays and there were some very stressed people who were potentially going to miss their flights.
A lot of it seems to be down to who the flight operator is. At Luton, the Wizzair check-in was virtually empty, while Easyjet were drowning. On the way back, Easyjet was fine but TUI was screwed.
I'd be looking at the train, if it was me.
Birmingham airport a few weeks ago, arrived at 4:30am for a 6am flight and I’ve never seen it so busy in my life. Chaos!
Im thinking train, LNER return Edinburgh to London is cheaper than the flight, but need to get to SW London and if the tube is on strike!
EDI-LHR would be British Airways, EDI-LGW would be EasyJet. 3 hours before flight, then one hour in the air vs 4.5hrs on a train assuming no delays but arrive wrong side of London and have to traverse.
OR Google says 7.5hrs drive from where i live to SW London (all going well)
The flight would be easiest TBH.
Think of the carbon footprint and take the train. Not trying to be holier than thou, but we all have to start factoring this in more.
Heathrow is fine at the moment, if you’re there at the right time. If not, it’s ridiculous.
BA check-in is better than it has been but queues for security can be horrendous depending on time of day.
As you’re flying on a domestic route passport control isn’t an issue but waits of up to 2h for baggage aren’t out of the ordinary in T5 at the moment so I’d advise travelling with hand luggage only if you fly.
been a few times, haven't had too much chaos but I generally travel through security fast lanes or family lanes, both of which skip the worst of the queues. I also didn't fly during the school holiday weekends which are always chaotic even when things are going well (higher %age of travellers who travel less frequently mean things get held up more)
Definitely the train if it works out time wise - much better carbon footprint, it's a really easy trip and I wouldn't be flying now with all the issues if I didn't have to. It might be other airports that are the problem but that might conceivably spill over somehow.
whats Edinburgh to London on the train? 4-5 hours?
train seems a no-brainer even without delays. probably 5x the price though.
Went through LGW 10 days ago; 10am flight with Ryanair, got there at 8, got through without any real issues - 30 minutes from arriving to sitting in departures wondering what to eat.
I'd possibly avoid Easyjet right now given the headlines (might be unfair, but still); but as others said the train could be the way to go.
I'd definitely do train. Even if the tube is on strike there are other options, e.g bus / Uber. Driving would be mental. I recently flew Edinburgh - Milan, Bologna - Heathrow, Gatwick - Edinburgh, all with just hand luggage so no waiting on baggage handlers.
First leg with Ryanair, the security queues were longer than I've ever seen at Edinburgh, though this was 6am and by all accounts they died down a bit later. The flight was fine, departure delayed by half an hour but made up almost all the time en route. Partner flew out a few days later, again long queues, flight delayed by 2/3hrs.
Bologna - Heathrow with BA. This was originally supposed to be Milan - Gatwick but flight was cancelled. This was fine for us though as we were in Bologna anyway but hadn't originally booked to fly back from there as it was ridiculously expensive - cheaper to train to Milan and fly from there, BA were great though and transferred flights. Departure was an hour late due to incoming flight being delayed as a result of no fly/airspace restrictions for the jubilee flyover. No queues though.
Gatwick - Edinburgh with Easyjet. Flight delayed by an hour, no idea why. No queues but was hearing of some issues elsewhere in the airport.
Think of the carbon footprint and take the train. Not trying to be holier than thou, but we all have to start factoring this in more.
I agree.
However for a trip forthcoming - Scotland to Southampton for our staff team of 9.
Train: total cost £238 each and 9 hours travelling, on last day we would stay extra night in hotel to depart on a morning train.
Flight: total cost £132 each and even with extended check-in under 5 hours. Flight home on last day at 6pm means one less hotel night.
That said, I'm proposing this will be our last ever internal flight. Not justifiable in future, we will suck up train costs.
Think of the carbon footprint and take the train. Not trying to be holier than thou, but we all have to start factoring this in more.
This! Please! Regardless of the governments insane logic of incentivising internal flights, we really should not be flying within the UK (or much of NW Europe).
@jam-bo LNER its just under £100 return. Thats not peak time trains however. 4.5hr journey time Edinburgh - Kings X or Euston. I need to get to Victoria or Waterloo for onward train
Flew to Munich from Manchester last Sunday and security was 1.5 hours wait! Flew from Munich to Manchester on Friday and security was 5 mins wait.
People have apparently forgotten what a liquid is and what 100ml is over the last couple of years. It was chaos.
We arrived at BHX last week at 1000 for our 1340 flight. Checkin was fine, security was quick.
But we didn’t get airborne til 1945. It was a long day with the kids, and 3am arrival at the hotel was *rubbish*.
Airport was bonkers, full of folk who arrived early (like they’d been told to!) but we’re then delayed.
All that said, Heathrow if pretty much like normal, and it’s the holiday airlines that are cancelling flights.
However: take the train. Really.
I like trains.
Flew out of Bristol. Queues were huge - got to gate after 3+ hours. It was 20min after the stated departure time.
As we were on a chartered Tui flight - the plane was waiting for us and others.
I suspect for a scheduled flight the plane would have taken off.
. I need to get to Victoria or Waterloo for onward train
where's your onwards train too? thameslink go from east croydon to kings x avoiding faffing around with the tube
My boy flew to Ibiza from Manchester airport this morning with 9 mates. Seemed to go all ok. Not sure he care what happens coming home.
I was in Prague last week and met a bunch of people flying Easyjet that had had flights cancelled, re-routed r pushed to other days. Some were ending up at Gatwick instead of Luton, or going a day later... It was chaos. A load just took the offered refund and re-booked with BA.
In contrast, my flight to and from Arlanda was fine.
Flew back from CDG to MAN last night. Both airports were running pretty quickly apart from passport control in France. However all bars / restaurants shut at 9pm, but could be a French bank holiday thing.
Flight itself was 90 mins delayed.
Went through Heathrow recently, not as bad as I expected, security and check in was fine (can be busy Friday or Saturday mornings but you'll still get through), coming back on Sunday at 11 am it was actually really quiet and immigration and bags were quick.
If you were more than 14 days out I would be wary of booking domestic routes on BA because they are the first services that get cut right back when they know staffing issues are coming up. But if you are booking a few days ahead you should be good (and would be due compensation if BA pulled the schedule). EasyJet might still be recovering from their last week with a lot of planes and staff in the wrong place and out of hours. But in 7 days I would expect them to be fine and back to normal.
Getting to Leatherhead, personally I would punt on the train, using Thameslink from St Pancras to get across London. You might wait 24 hours to see if the RMT declare strike dates for June (they are meeting today, they have to give 3 days' notice before affected services).
I'm flying to Geneva in a few weeks, I'm hoping the current chaos is at least partly due to it being half-term with a 4 day weekend tagged onto it.
Off to Croatia in August then... I've far less faith about that, middle of the school holidays Bristol to Pula in the middle of the Summer Hols via Easyjet... I don't see it being smooth sailing at all.
Flew out of Bristol on 6.10 am flight Sunday just gone,parked the car in silver zone parking, checked in on line, cabin baggage only and was through security in five minutes.took about half an hour including the bus transfer to get airside.
Felt sorry for the guy in Brunel's bar on his own trying to serve the hen and stag parties.
Heathrow T5 ok at the moment (well, Sunday). Security and bags slow, but not perilously so.
As above, domestic BA/EZY flights can be the first to suffer cancellations.
Try this site to see the recent history of your preferred flights. You’ll see if they are regularly cancelled, which is a great indicator of whether they are likely to be again soon:
www.flightaware.com
How would you plan to travel from Heathrow to Leatherhead? Other than taxi, can’t think of a quick way to do that reliably atm.
For a trip like this I'd take the train every time, not least because it's so much less stressful. In fact I'd probably take the train or drive for most trips in Europe and leave planes for long-haul.
Going through Manchester on Saturday with a 4 year old. Flying TUI.
Dreading it tbh!!
Manchester Terminal 1 short haul:
Utter chaos.
Neighbours just returned from Tenerife lost 2 days in delays from a 10 day holiday.
Manchester Terminal 2 long haul:
'Er indoors has recently returned from Nepal. No issues at all, quick, efficient and hassle free.
Just came through Gatwick, from Oslo on Norwegian. Gate to exit in about 15 mins. No busier than I've seen it before, but I only had hand luggage. HTH!
@andrewreay id have to come into London then back out again by train. Hence Gatwick preferred
@konagirl i'll have a look at Thameslink - just found out Kings Cross and St Pancras are the same 🙂 so yeah, that would do to get the Leatherhead (need to change though from ThamesLink onto Southern)
Have unfortunately been in a few recently, they're all as bad as each other, Massive queues at security as only half the machines manned, e-passport is rubbish never work properly and only 1 or 2 border staff on - don't worry it's not just Britian, france is just as bad Eurostar back from Paris was aweful. However i flew ito Orly and their way t deal with was just to let everyone striaght out of the terminal with no checks (i think it was a mistake and they opened the wrong doors- sending everyone striaght into arrivals lounge)
Flew from Manchester to Majorca last Thursday. 2hr queue for customs, another 50min wait apparently if you’re bag is siphoned off by the X-ray machine so make sure you’ve definitely taken out everything that needs to be for the scanning bit.
Thought it’d be worse tbh, but still got to get back on Saturday!
Flew Edinburgh-Oslo-Tromso two weeks ago. Edinburgh was empty security wise, but then I was travelling mid-afternoon. Departure lounge was pretty busy. OSL was completely dead on arrival, but insanely busy for the redeye up to here in the morning (busier than I ever remember it).
Newcastle-Amsterdam-Bergen last night & newcastle was empty for check-in and security, but departures was absolutely rammed with holidaymakers who all looked like they'd been there for hours. Likewise Amsterdam last night where they appear to have totally run out of staff for everything: passport control, dispatchers, shop staff, burger king burger flippers, all strangely absent.
I think it all depends on what time you're flying. Early morning I'd expect chaos, later in the day then normality,
@dashed we were with TUI at Manchester, I'd think about giving it 3-4 hrs before your flight to make it less of a worry when you're stood in the queue!
We're coming home tomorrow! 😬
Sitting in an airport industrial estate restaurant planning a day out for tomorrow as our (Easyjet) flight from Porto to Bristol tonight has been cancelled. We may or may not be returning to Luton (we live in Cardiff) on Thursday.
The cats can stay in the cattery a bit longer, the car is costing £15 a day to park, my fork and shock which TF Tuned just serviced are going to have to stay with Messrs DPD for a few days. But we're cool.
As it is we were going to visit the kids in London at the weekend, so we may bring that forward a smidge if we can shift the hotel booking. There will be an issue with clean underwear plus I was going to give daughters bike a service but won't have any tools.
If Thursday's flight is cancelled maybe we'll move here.
If we still had patients to treat, students to teach and small kids to keep amused it would be different of course.
Avoid Schipol and KLM if you can, got delayed 2 weeks ago and no baggage .Today missed my Manchester connection from Stavanger and a 5 hr wait for the next flight.
Flew out of Manchester on Thursday. Security queue took just over an hour. I didn't bother with checked baggage, but the check-in desks were queuing out the door.
Was due to fly home from Berlin on Sunday with easyJet, currently in Brussels as my flight was cancelled and no alternative with easyJet until Thursday.
I do think the problems are limited to a couple of airports and airlines. Most flights were leaving on time and we sailed through Berlin and Brussels this evening.
I'd swerve Gatwick & easyJet though, given a choice.
Overall most flights seem to be going, even Easyjet ones. It's just a bit of a bugger if you are unlucky. Anyway, we are hoping we don't get delayed twice. Nice though airport hotels are...
Gatwick to Barcelona and back over the jubilee weekend with easyjet. Zero issues either direction. Arrived 2.5h before mid-morning flight and no queue for security.
No food available on the plane either way, and apparently 1h passport control queue at LHR Monday evening.
