Associate
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- 20 Oct 2005
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- 1,900
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- Suffolk, UK
John Candy will get you there. Those aren't pillows!! 
Servisair Joy
- Thread starter Darg
- Start date
I'm with the OPs original sentiments on this one, if it were at Heathrow or Stansted I would say tough titties, but as he said this was the ONLY flight in 2hrs, surely the staff in the Airport were aware of this and could have judged early on (i.e. the long security queue) that the last few people wouldnt get on unless they open another or do something else about it, I think that's the issue in the fact 'they dont care'. Their goal was not only to do their role effectively but have the passenger on the plane also. The flight should not have waited for the OP, however, ground staff should have been aware of tight timing, after all, no matter what anyone says, if their check-in closes at a certain time, I think they must logically ensure that there is enough time from check-in closure to flight departure, otherwise whats the point of leaving it open?
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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- Chelmsford
But unless the handling agent is told of the issues at security then how else are they supposed to know? They won't.
The staff at the gates and outside at the aircraft won't see security during their shift. If however they are made aware that there are queues and a significant number of people have been held up then they could look at holding the flight and using security delays for the delay code/reason.
And to the OP, you didn't give yourself 50 mins, you gave yourself 30. Ryanair close the gate at -20. You need to consider your arrival time at the airport to the gate closure time, not the departure time.
The staff at the gates and outside at the aircraft won't see security during their shift. If however they are made aware that there are queues and a significant number of people have been held up then they could look at holding the flight and using security delays for the delay code/reason.
And to the OP, you didn't give yourself 50 mins, you gave yourself 30. Ryanair close the gate at -20. You need to consider your arrival time at the airport to the gate closure time, not the departure time.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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- 33,188
Actually not really, she let them on the flight despite the fact the check in was passed the cut off, they wouldn't have had an issue if they didn't turn up so late.
As for the moaning about how she wouldn't let their baggage on despite it only being 100ft away with minutes to go. Luggage just doesn't get tossed one by one into the back of the plane. If they have a timeline of things to be done, and they say the last baggage crate has to be loaded on the plane at X time, and the baggage is on the plane, you can't easily just go and add another one. There are checks to be done after everythings on board, they are locked down tight, tied in, doors are properly shut, nothings left open etc, etc.
If theres a time and they missed it, they should just delay everyone that was there on time for people who got their late?
As for the plane still being their twenty minutes later, doesn't make the blindest bit of difference, at all. They closed boarding and shut the door ready for takeoff, if something else happened, an extra check needed to be made, thats life, the doors are still shut and final checks being made. You can't just leave the doors open and let anyone on at any time.
There are many airport stories full of woe and anger, yours is not one of them. Yours could be summed up in one line " I was late, it cost me my flight, this other couple were late also, they missed it".
Flights canceled, bum probing looking for coke, a bomb scare, overbooking and getting screwed out of your seat, delayed flights sitting waiting for hours or days, etc, all things to complain about, some fairly, some are just due to life and unavoidable, your's doesn't rank anywhere in list of terrible customer service stories.
I've never had an issue with flights, the biggest issue, and slightly worrying, was my first flight after 9/11(though it was like 2007
) was too New York, and just as we were due to leave, the plane was stormed by armed guards looking for a criminal, who they lost track of in the airport and determined wasn't on the plane.I would also say while I normally wouldn't, I know my loud mouthed mother(in a complaining about anything, not a chavy way) would have probably asked someone, after waiting for ages with the flight approaching, if they can make sure the plane crew, the gate crew, and the security guys know that everyone there was going for the one plane. Could they open up the second security gate now and make sure everyone got through, can they make 100% certain that the plane crew knew they were there and checked in, just a security hold up. They might have happily held the plane, with advanced notice, or done everything to speed it all up. But if they last customers appear to have arrived and its time to go, and they lock everything up at that point its a big ask for them to change everything around. Even I would have asked someone about the situation and seen if they could do something about it BEFORE it was too late, not after. Then again, I would have been there with an extra half hour to spare, and a book.
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Only ever missed a flight once which was in Bangkok, although that was a problem with the bus not getting us to the airport on time since it broke down twice and ended up in Bangkok 5 hours after it was supposed to!
As for the OP, more time would have been better but everything is easy in hindsight. I used to fly regularly (every 2 weeks) and have seen countless number of people missing flights due to long queues at check-in or security
Just make sure in future you always have a time buffer in case things go wrong.
As for the OP, more time would have been better but everything is easy in hindsight. I used to fly regularly (every 2 weeks) and have seen countless number of people missing flights due to long queues at check-in or security
Just make sure in future you always have a time buffer in case things go wrong.
sorry, my bad.
but yes 50 minutes before departure is probably the limit if you've got no luggage and have already checked in online on flight withins europe on proper airlines, let alone Ruinair. with ryanair you really need to be there at least 90 minutes before. you just never know
if you're running late you can sometimes jump the whole queue, but it depends on the staff and the airport.
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